|
How Not
to go Crazy Working at Home
By Kandi Traxel Posted July 9, 2004 "How do I get it all DONE?" This question has been asked in frustration by many a work at home mom! Usually the one doing the asking has reached the end of her rope, and is ready to throw in the towel. And while racing against the clock is the norm these days, it doesn't have to become a way of life. Taking a time out or slowing down is not going to make you any less of a mother, a woman, a wife OR a business owner! I don't claim to have all the answers! I have many days when the alarm goes off that I would like to shove it under the bed, cover up my head and forget that I exist! But there are things that can make it all just a bit easier and most of them won't hurt anyone one bit! First don't beat yourself up for NOT getting it all done! We aren't super women! Sometimes it is just IMPOSSIBLE to get it all done. We tend to set impossibly high goals for ourselves! And when we don't meet all of those goals, we feel like we have failed. At the end of the day make a list of what you DID do and what you accomplished and focus your attention on those things. If you aren't spending all of your time kicking yourself for not getting things done, then you will accomplish more. Your self esteem will not suffer a horrible death, you will have more energy and you will just plain feel better! So what if you only got one order filled that day, or the only household chore you managed to do was emptying the lint filter on the clothes dryer. Congratulate yourself for those things and move on. Tomorrow is another day! lol Set regular business hours and stick to them! This is the one thing that I have tried to get my own mom to do for years. She has clients that think it is perfectly acceptable to show up, unannounced at 7am on a Sunday morning! As long as she keeps allowing that to happen, it will. Let the machine get calls in the evening and on Sundays. If that makes your customers mad, then so be it. They can't expect their dentists or the post office to be at their beck and call, but sometimes they forget that just because we are AT HOME that we do not want to talk business during dinner or at 11 o'clock at night! You are ENTITLED to your own time. Learn to gently, but firmly say "NO" to friends and family members. Just because you work "at home" does not mean you are automatically available to baby sit, pet sit, or run errands for them. Simply tell those that tend to take advantage of you that you "have plans" when they, once again, ask for free babysitting. Even if your "plans" are to sit on the couch and staring at the TV, while polishing off a box of Chips Ahoy cookies, they ARE plans and you are entitled to carry them out! You are not required to reveal what your "plans" are; basically it is no one's business but yours. Let the kids and hubby help do the work! So you like the towels folded a certain way, stacked by size, and sorted by color. GET OVER IT! Let someone else fold them and put them away. In the whole scheme of things, what difference does it REALLY make if the blue towels are mixed with the pink towels and they are all folded and stacked a little lop-sided! Focus on the fact that they ARE folded and they ARE put away. Then let it go. Let someone else load and unload the dishwasher, cook dinner, or vacuum the floor. So what if they don't back out of the room and leave perfect vacuum marks on the floor! Will that matter next week? The next time you are feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and ready to run screaming down the street, take a deep breath and remember that you are only human! The world will NOT stop turning, your customers will not wither from lack of attention, and your children will not become career criminals if you don't get it all done! You can only do one thing at a time. Don't overlook those small daily accomplishments. If you have to start by giving yourself kudos for getting out of bed, then do that. After all, some days that is the toughest task of all! ------------------------------------------------------------- Kandi Traxel is a WAHM and the Owner of Misty Valley Botanicals a division of Country Moms Online |