Social media is full of people claiming certain things are #Goals. One of the best things that can be a goal in our lives is to find a way to balance work and home obligations and responsibilities. As you dream about #Goals- never forget to include your family with all your career plans.
Goals should be things you can achieve, so make them good!
Most who work do so because they need the money to take care of their families. Most people who have families have them because they want someone to care about and to care about them. As a result, work and family obligations are common in most households. In many cases, the obligations at work and home come into conflict at one time or another. For example, if you work a typical 9 to 5 job, Monday through Friday, you are scheduled for work when your children have school plays, musicals and concerts they want you to attend. No matter how many sick days, vacation days and personal days you have, there will not be enough for you to attend every school event you would like. This does not take into account events you might be required to attend for your spouse’s work obligations including holiday parties, dinners and celebrations.
If you are going to work and have a family, you must find a way to balance things. This is especially true if you are an entrepreneur or self-employed person who works at home. When your home is your office, it is even harder to keep home and work separate and to balance the obligations to the two. If you want to balance work and home, you must make that your #goal and then work towards making it happen.
The best way to reach one’s goals is to step up and work towards them with a plan. There are three steps you can take to reach the goal of work-life balance. They are:
- decide what balance looks like for you
- use your calendar
- accept that sometimes you will mess up
Decide what balance looks like for you
The perfect work-life balance routine looks different for each person. Some people need to prioritize work and others need to prioritize family obligations. Neither is the only perfect choice. That is because there is no one perfect choice. The thing you should prioritize depends on what is going on in your life at the moment. Do not compare your life to others. Do not feel as if you have to justify your balancing decisions to others. Decide what balance looks like for you and then move forward toward that goal.
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Use your calendar
If you are going to balance work and home obligations, you must become friends with your calendar. Do not make appointments for work or home without looking at your calendar first. When making appointments, take the time to include travel time as well as the time the event will take. It is important not to over book or double book yourself. It will only lead to misery for you later.
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I work from home and it can be very hard finding the balance between work and life. The biggest thing that helps me is keeping my work area separate from my living space. It makes it easier to disconnect.
I have to schedule time in my calendar for some “me” time…or else it just won’t happen. Thank you for the reminder!
Juggling all of my responsibilities is hard. Balance is definitely something you need to achieve.
Setting goals and work for it is really important. I am working at home but this is really a great post.
Finding that balance is so hard. I am a homeschool mom and my schedule changes so much it is hard to find a good balance. About the time I think I get it figured out someone plans a great educational field trip we do not want to miss so I am left juggling things around. It at least keeps me on my toes!
I have to schedule in my downtime or else I won’t allow myself to have it. I’m bad that way.
Setting goals is a way for me to prioritize my time.
I love my calendar. It really keeps me organized. It’s tough being a stay at home working mom, but I some how manage it all. 🙂
I was actually just discussing with my husband about work-life balance. Sometimes it’s hard to juggle all at the same time but we realized that if we stick together and constantly support each other, then we could do it. Nice to see that others feel the same way when it comes to handling workload and home maintenance.
Lisa Favre
http://marblecrumbs.com
Working from home is proving to be more of a challenge for me than anything. When the kiddos are napping or at school its’ super easy and I get everything done but any other time, its a challenge for me….. so i have been taking more days off!
I seriously LOVE working from home! Although, I try not to let work get in the way of family time…and that can be a bit tricky!
One of the best things about working for yourself if you can stop when you need to. There are days that I just need a break so I give it to myself. I always make sure though that I take care of all those that I work for before I take that break.
These are all great tips- Sometimes I feel working from home is a real challenge because I answer to myself when I feel like slacking. Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated and focused!
And that’s why I like being my own boss. Don’t feel like working? No problem! I just give myself the day off!
I am so thankful that I work from home. I really struggled when I worked outside of the home.