Working From Home Issues

Working at Home is Not a Cake Walk

Dealing with Distractions When You Work at Home

By Kelly Land, © All rights reserved.

When you work at home, there is a lot more competing for your time than just the demands of your daily work. The line between work and home is very thin, and sometimes it disappears completely. Working from home issues seem to creep in quickly and non-stop.

Here are some of the main distractions most work at home moms face, and how you can tackle these working from home issues today.

Working From Home Issues and What You Can Do

The Kids

1. The kids. Hey, wait a minute! Weren’t they the reason why you decided to work from home in the first place? How can they be a distraction?
The thing is, you may have chosen to be home with the kids, but you also need to earn money. If your kids are interrupting you throughout your workday, you won’t be able to concentrate like you should to earn the money you need.

To deal with that distraction, schedule time each day for you to focus exclusively on the kids. Maybe go to the park during your morning break (leave your work at home) or make a special lunch to eat with them (and leave the laptop out of the kitchen). When it’s time for you to focus on your work, plan to do so when they’re sleeping, at school, or doing an independent activity. If they’re really young, it might be a good idea to hire a babysitter for a few hours each day.

Housework

2. Housework. Sometimes you’ll find yourself surrounded by mountains of laundry and a sea of pet hair. How are you supposed to work when you can’t even wade through the mess to your office? Keeping the house tidy often falls to the person who is at home throughout the day, even if you have other things you should be doing instead.

To get a grip on the housework, set aside a few minutes each day to tidy your home. As much as is possible, clean as you go, and teach your kids to do the same. Designate one day a week for major cleaning tasks, or hire someone to come in and take care of them for you.

Facebook is Calling Me and So Is Farmville

3. Social media sites. These are a great way to network for your business. They’re also a good way to waste valuable hours of your time.

One way to curtail the time you waste on social media is to be selective about who you network with. Look for people and networks that will benefit you. If you aren’t gaining anything from a particular social network, leave it alone. Then set a limit to how much time you will spend networking each day.

I know for me – this has been a really hard aspect of working at home for me to conquer. I like a clean house and I like to cook. I don’t believe in fast food much at all. We eat something like McDonald’s MAYBE once every two months – and it’s probably not even going to be McDonald’s – it’s going to be Subway or pizza. I know – not much better. But even so, if we order pizza, we get it from a pizza place on main street that makes everything from scratch.

But often – I find myself wanting to have ALL the laundry done, ALL my personal emails answered…etc. I have to remind myself that like every one else out there that works – I need specific work hours and that’s that.  I am happier for it and so is my family. Not to mention working crazy hours can really start messing up your health.

So pick a time frame and that’s when you work. NOTHING else. Just work. That’s the best tip I can give to any mom starting to work at home.

Working at home can be a wonderful thing, once you learn to manage the distractions around you!

 

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