The Summer Juggle ~ Balancing Work

Today we are talking about the summer juggle and balancing work at home. For every working Mom I know who spends any time at all trying to make that juggle happen just as seamlessly as she might be able to do from her office, Summer is that big moment where the rubber meets the road as to whether or not you are really tuned into how that actually work out well. Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of different solutions and this summer I want to give you three reminders about how you can best place your energy when it comes to the work at home summer juggle.

1. Be Flexible: In fact I can probably just turn off the camera there. Because the reality is now that your kids are home for the summer and they are underfoot, there are going to be things that happen that you didn’t plan for. Things like an unexpected opportunity to do something special as a family, an unexpected opportunity to visit with friends, an unexpected requirement to take care of something you didn’t see coming, like a flat tire while you are running everyone around. So while you need to set your schedule each week, you need to remain flexible about how it ends up unfolding.

2. Leverage Found Time: I have absolutely no problem at all spending the hour that my child is in swim team, under her Coach’s supervision, receiving dedicated instruction, using my laptop at the pool. In fact location choice is one of the great benefits of working from home! You can use found time when your kids are playing outside in the back yard, go ahead and move your work out to the deck. This will put you within an ear’s shot, but provided they are old enough and you are making the choice for how its safe for them to play, you can enjoy the nice day while getting the kind of work done that won’t suffer from you keeping a visual eye on things ~ think emails.

3. Block Undistracted Time: Totally focused and undistracted ~ I’m telling you there is nothing that I’ve learned, I know that I know that I know, I will feel less stress and my children will get more of the best of me all week long if I give myself those focused work windows. Think things like spending 2 hours generating videos in a batch that I can then later upload to You Tube at 10 o’clock at night and then write the corresponding post the next morning at 6 am. Giving myself that focused block of time is key for me to be productive. Think hiring a babysitter, sending all my kids out of the house one day a week so I can have the place to myself for 8 hours, or bookending my days by working early and late evening. The key is its up to you to find when that focused work time can happen.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that you will be as efficient, as productive, or perhaps do better work than you have ever done before with your children under toe. Multi-tasking is overrated so my suggestion for you when it comes to the summer juggle when it comes to work is to do your best NOT to multi-task. Make your commitment to work as strong as it ever was and give it the time that its due so that its done well. If that means making some changes in how you are handling your childcare, get on it girl! The goal is to have a great summer and that’s a mix of home. Tell me…

What are your best tips for the summer juggle and working from home?

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ we’ll see you next time!

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