Working from Home? Getting it All Done Means Making A Plan
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Balancing Diapers and Deadlines is a course by Lisa Tanner Writing, a Mom who has been finding her way around kids and working for quite some time. As a Mom-preneur my skill set is stretched thin most days. Though I am out of the diaper stage and am far from free and clear of the many responsibilities mothering a bunch of kids lays on. We have seven kids at home, but I write, review curriculum, homeschool and work away from home part time. How? With tips exactly like the ones Lisa shares in this course.
Most of what I have learned, I have had to do on the fly. Staying up late into the night or getting up insanely early. Lisa’s course is like having a good friend come along side of you and share her heart, but like at 12:30 at night when you have actual free time to read it.
Communicate Your Plan
The first lessons deal with setting your plan and letting your family in on what their parts are going to be. I know this is an area that I was not really clear with my family at first. I did not really know what my plan was going to look like for the day or even what my goal was with writing. Lisa walks you through ideas of how to talk to your family and set a goal together to get everyone on the same page. Managing expectations is highly important in relationships. We need to speak to eachother to know what those are.
Lisa shares the ways she found extra minutes in her day to pursue goals and still meet her family’s needs. Flexibility and creating a good frame work of your day are both skills that I have had to implement as a mom who is working from home.
A couple of great suggestions from Lisa’s course were:
- Using a Meal Plan (and you get to download one)
- Enlisting the Help of Your Family Members
- Simplify the Cleaning Schedule
- Involving You Children
Some of the lessons were ones I have down already. Re-doing chores because the kids have done them poorly is never a temptation to me. Quick clean-ups is how I keep my sanity, so I am already the Queen of the ten minute tidy. I don’t really do any laundry because the kids do their own and my husband (God bless) does ours. But if these are areas that challenge you, Lisa has some great ideas and might just open your eyes to ways that you are making more work for yourself. I do however need help delegating, asking for help and identifying places where things are not working well. Balancing Diapers and Deadlines helped me see those areas with fresh eyes.
Management Need to Make Some Changes
Sometimes a thing that has always worked in your house is not working so well any more. Kids age out of the chore racket and move to college. Room assignments might not fit the age group you now have. Balancing Diapers and Deadlines gave me the nudge I needed to recognize the places we need to do some tweeking to make our system better. My chore chart need a serious update.
Food, the Bain of Mother Productivity
If you are a mom, a huge part of you life revolves around food. The purchasing of food. The prepping of said food. Cooking and then cleaning it all up. Though you can delegate a great deal of those tasks out, still, a lot fall on us moms. Lisa shares a whole section of her course on meal problem solving and the material is worth the course its self. From shopping to meal planning and chose themed weekdays to spare you decision fatigue, there are a lot of ways to ease the load and free us a few more working hours every week. Which is really what the whole course is about.
Diapers and Deadlines gets personal too
Are you really getting enough sleep? I just started a new job and I am writing a book. Sleep was taking a huge hit so I could meet my goals. Reading Lisa’s words was a good reminder that I still need sleep. I had slept in a few mornings (like until 6:30) and I was feeling bad for falling into “bad” habits. I needed to hear that sleep is still something I need to prioritize if I want to build a sustainable working habit. I keep my coffee date with my girlfriend every week, but it took me years to recognize this as vital and not just an indulgence. Lisa reminds us of the need to take care of our personal needs even when business is demanding.
Make the Fridge
One of the final pieces of advice that Lisa shares is to get your family involved in your work. She shares lots of ways to get them involved both big and small. I put a copy of my latest paid magazine article up on the fridge for all of us to celebrate. Sure, I wrote it, but the kids allowed me to have hours of quiet time to dedicate to writing. We all were a part of the process, so we all got to celebrate.
No matter what age your kids are, Lisa has a section for you on how to grow your business and involve your kids. My high school daughter edits my articles and copy. My younger daughter loves to make lunch a few days a week, so I can work through the lunch hour during our homeschool day.
You can also check out Lisa’s ebook The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Family Writing Time for ways create productive working space that matters.
You can find out more on Lisa’s site and as always click the box below to read more reviews and find out what other working moms have to say about Diapers and Deadlines.
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