Working from Home with Kids
For the first 5 years of my business, I was working from home with my kids. At first I would get frustrated at how many times I was interrupted. Whether it was to helping with a toy, getting them another snack, breaking up a fight between siblings or answering 5 million questions, I was being interrupted frequently and wasn’t sure how to be productive while working from home with kids and if it was even possible!
Right now so many of you are being thrown into the life of a “work-from-home mom.” And if you haven’t already screamed at your kids, I’m sure you’re on the brink of a major meltdown. So, I’m here to offer you a few of the things I’ve learned that help me to be a good mom while STILL be productive.
Batch your time
Working from home with kids takes strategy and that strategy is a new schedule! Because lets be real… the quickest way to get your kids attention is to sit down and try to do something. Working for 8 straight hours from home is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
But how can we actually be productive and not spend our day feeling like a ball in a pinball machine bouncing from one task to another? The answer is to batch your time.
Watch your kids and ask yourself these things: when are they most content to play by themselves? When do they nap? When do they go to bed? Then, set your schedule around THEIR natural happy times. Then, I want you to write a list of everything you need to get done this week and drag and drop each of them into a time slot that is available for working.
For example, before I hired a part-time nanny, this is kind of what my day looked like:
7 am- Wake up, Eat Breakfast, Get everyone dressed and ready, I get ready
8 am- Structured Play (giving them this one on one attention was key for what was going to happen at 9 am)
9 am- Snack and Show Time. During this time I would check emails. Nothing is worse than sitting down to work during nap time and having 1 million emails in your inbox and that being the only thing you got done. So, I did this during this time. They typically watched 2 shows.
9:40 (ish)- Free Play, Go for Walks, Normal Mom Activities
12:00- Husband comes home for lunch. I would go upstairs to start working. He would lay the baby down for a nap at 12:45 and put the big girls to “quiet time.” That way I would generally get a full two hours to work. NOTE: Interruptions during this work time are pretty much a guarantee. Typically I can get 45 minutes (on a good day) with no interruptions. So, during this time I typically do work that doesn’t require tons of thinking where it would be hard for me to pick up where I left off. So, for me, I would choose to edit during this time.
2:30-7:00- Normal Mom Stuff
7:00- Bedtime. Because I have worked from home since my oldest was around 10 months old. We’ve always done a 7:00-7:30 bedtime. I know that the majority of my work is going to get done in the evening when they are not awake!
Plan your week
While that is all fine and dandy, sometimes life doesn’t work out perfectly. So, every single Sunday afternoon while my kids nap, I plan out my week. I use my favorite *FREE* tool TRELLO! I made a “weekly planning” board.
Then, once you click that board, I organize it like this:
And I plan out every single hour for each day this week. Because the truth is….
IF YOU DON’T TELL YOUR TIME WHERE TO GO, YOU’LL WONDER WHERE IT WENT…
But The cool thing is that whatever I don’t get done this week, I can keep and drag it to a slot for the next week!
Put your Phone on airplane mode
How many times a day are we waiting on Lightroom to load or something and we end up picking up our phones. During really busy times, I’ve begun to put my phone on airplane mode and have even put it in a room. Try this for even 48 hrs and I’m certain you’ll be shocked at just how many times you reach for it.
Mindset
Right now during this crazy time we are everything. Our kids teacher, mom, chef, chafeur, coach, worker, etc. And when you are trying to do it all, sometimes it feels like you are failing at it all. But going into it knowing that this is just a season and you need to do what you can to survive will be helpful when it comes to your expectations for yourself AND for your kids. Also, we need to mentally prepare ourselves that typically when trying to do it all, we will have to give up either some sleep, relationships, or health (diet & exercise). However, it SHOULD only be for a season, this is not a sustainable way to live your life. But, there are certain seasons of life where we have extra things added to our plate (like right now) and it is helpful to know that it isn’t forever.
“when I have time” list
One thing about working from home is that it is SUPER easy to get distracted. I keep it on Trello and any time I’m tempted to get distracted by a task that needs done and not stick to my outlined schedule, I add it to this list. And then, during those moments when the kids decided to actually play nice or take an extra long nap, & I know I have things to do but can’t think of WHAT to do… I look at that list. Some of the things on this list are:
update words on website
organize folders
review email list
eisenhower matrix
Dwight Eisenhower used this strategy for organizing tasks and deciding on where to take action first. Using this decision matrix below, you will separate your actions based on four possibilities:
Urgent & Important (things you need to do immediately)
Important, but not Urgent (tasks you will schedule to do later).
Urgent, but not important (tasks you will delegate to someone else).
Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you will eliminate).
perfectionism
One of my favorite productivity tips is to let go of perfectionism. Whether it’s hinder your ability to finish your work or influencing your relationship with your children. STOP! Sometimes done is better than perfect! We HAVE TO start seeing “perfection” for the lie that it is. It’s a figment of your imagination that can NEVER be a reality. Do your best, move on, and acknowledge that DONE is better than PERFECT. Know that YOU are your worst critic.
Final Thoughts
Time management and productivity when working from home is a struggle! But, having a plan for your days will keep you (and your kids) happy and healthy. You’ll feel happier being able to look back and feel like you actually accomplished something and your kid won’t hate you for being the “worst mom ever.”