If you are a work at home parent, there will come a time when you wonder if you have chosen the right path. Whether the
question is born of work seeming to take over your family time, a lack of disposable income (yes, not all work at home
parents are fabulously wealthy no matter what the television commercials tell you), lack of time, lack of tolerance, or just
a feeling that you really still don't have the time you thought you would have to spend with your family at the end of the
day.
Many of us decided to work from home so that we would be able to spend more time with our children and family. Isn't it
amazing how building that business can take so much time and effort that at the end of the day we barely have the energy
left to call Domino's much less actually read a book or toss a ball with our kids. We will reach the point at some point,
where we will seriously question our decision and doubt our commitments.
For those times, I encourage you to sit down and make a list of why you chose to work from home in the first place. Make a
Letterman worthy top 10 list of the reasons that you wanted to work from home. It's important that the reasons are yours
alone and do not belong to anyone else, because when the day comes that you are doubting yourself and your decision to stay
at home, your top 10 list will get you through that day so that you can try to do better tomorrow.
When you have a day when dinner is not done, your house has been destroyed, it is raining outside, the sink is full of
dishes, and even Calgon cannot take you far enough away from home, hearth, and home office, pull out your list and remember
the reasons you wanted to work from home in the first place. Do you experience the good things on this list more often than
you experience the days like this (it can go on for about a week in many cases)? If you are not enjoying the good more than
the bad, then you need to decide how to make it better.
Revisit your business plan, re-establish office hours, make appointments for family time, organize, 'hire' your children to
help out in the office one day a week so that they don't resent your work time as much, and schedule time each and every day
for 'you' time. If you aren't making some time for yourself, even if it means you have to get up five minutes earlier each
morning in order to do this, then you aren't going to have any time or mental energy to plan where you're going. To enjoy
the greatest benefits that working from home has to offer plan your days. Plan time for work, family, self, and other
obligations and stick to the plan. If you don't get everything you hoped to get done accomplished, get up earlier tomorrow
and try again.
Another important thing that I had to remind myself is that you need to schedule a day off from work every once in a while.
If you never take time off you can't renew your commitment to your job, craft, business, etc.
