For the last 10 years I have been working from home. During this time I have had two different businesses and I’ve worked with my kiddos at all stages. When I first started my husband worked in corporate America and was gone from 4 AM until 8 PM and we had a 4 year old. Then we added on our little Nate and I began our doTERRA business with two littles at home and a hubby that was still away most of the time. Then we shifted to hubby joining our business and being home 24/7! (this was quite the adjustment) We also added another baby to the mix and moved across the country!
Talk about changes, adjustments and constantly juggling! Even with all of the changes, adjustments and unconventional, we have successfully created a multiple 6 figure business from our home and shown many others how to do exactly the same thing. It’s one of my biggest passions. To show YOU how to align and flow in a way that works for YOU!
Are you ready for some of my best tips to align as you find yourself working from home with the kiddos too?
I’m not going to say that after the last 10 years I have this down perfectly. But, I will tell you i have learned a lot along the way that I want to share with all of you. I know that many right now are finding themselves in the situation that I have been in for awhile. From the post that I am reading and from chatting with others, I know you are feeling lost, scattered, overwhelmed and a little in between.
I get it! I have been there. And I have found beauty and rhythm to this different way of life that I call my own.
And because of this, I want to share a few of my top tips with you right now to hopefully give you some tools to adjust into your new flow. Maybe this life is just yours for a few short weeks during pandemic. Or maybe this is the way of life you are wanting to create full time from now on. Either way, my hopes are this information lands for you when you need it most and you can take away something from this message that will serve you right now.
I’m going to break it down into three key areas to get you started. I will be adding more of my daily tips and practices to my daily tips on social media and more blogs, but this is all you need to get started today.
Allow Time to Look Different
This is the one that I feel we all have the biggest struggle with. We are so used to our 9-5 / 5 Day a week work mentality that we think this is what it has to look like when we work from home. It’s ingrained in most of us from the time of birth that we go work at 8, get off at 5 and work 5 days a week. Or some version of this.
This might not be the case for all of you right now and you need to allow it to look like what it needs to look like for you. Now, I realize that some of you may be clocking in from home and you don't have this flexibility, but many of you do. Work with this. This doesn’t mean that you don’t put in the hours you need to, but that you work with finding the schedule that works for you.
I know I do my best work in the morning hours and not so much in the evenings. In the early evening I just want to disconnect and veg out. I also know that my best work for calls and such are from about 9 AM to 1 PM and then until 4 PM I like to do more non essential activities. This is ME and what works for me. But, much research shows this is actually a cycle that most of us our in-tune with if we allow ourselves to be.
On the other hand, my kids like to stay up late and get up late. Right now that’s what we’re going with and I’m honestly not keeping them on their regular school schedule. With this schedule, they can sleep in and be lazy in the morning while I work and then we spend time together during the afternoon and evenings.
What would work best in your home? You might be the opposite and want to focus on kids in the morning and work in the evenings.
There are also days I might not feel like doing much work. Yesterday I honored that I read a book, snuggled with the kids and didn’t even turn on my computer and it was a Friday. Today is a Saturday and I woke up with ideas and thoughts that I needed to get out. So today I created what was on my heart.
Get Ready for the DAY
Even though working in my PJ’s every day and being a bum is quite tempting, it’s really not the best every single day. I truly believe in having a daily routine and getting ready most days so that I can productive and feel like taking on the day.
Some days getting ready looks like a shower and back into yoga clothes (like today) but others might look like makeup and hair.
I know it may seem a little silly to do this because there may be no one but your dog that will see you. But there is a fun energy that comes to us when we get ready.
When I have a couple of days of not feeling as productive as I like, this always get me back on track.
I also invite you to stick with your regular morning routine and practice movement, mediation and silence before you begin your day. It can be really easy to dive right into your work. Take the time you would to commute to work and put it into you.
I’ve even heard that some people will still “commute” to work when working from home by taking a walk around the block before they begin their work for the day.
The point of this is that don’t just turn into a bun that stays in your pjs all day. Keep up some type of normal to keep you on track.
Multitasking is a LIE. Don’t do it.
This is a big one.
"When you try to do two or more things at once, you either can’t or won’t do either well. If you think multitasking is an efficient way to get more done, you’ve got it backwards. It’s an effective way to get less done."
This is a trick I figured out early on and this is going to especially apply to you mamas! We try to do kids activities, work, laundry and the dishes all at the same time. No wonder we end up feeling like a hot mess express and exhausted by the end of the day.
I figured this one out with the cleaning and laundry. I started to notice that daily I would throw in a load of laundry while I worked. But then the laundry would lead to wiping down and sink and then to vacuuming or whatever else. I would end up barely getting any of what I really needed to do and have a spot cleaned house and piles of laundry not folded. Sound familiar?
Then I shifted to Fridays being the only day for cleaning and laundry and I worked really hard to ignore it the rest of the week. (this was really hard for me). But the magic that happened because of it was real. I felt way more productive and on top of it.
Try to work when you have concentrated work. This might be when the kiddos are asleep for naps or in the evenings. Or if you have a spouse at home right now that needs to work as well, switch off with them and have hours that each of you can be focused on.
IT’s not always easy, but try to focus on one thing at a time. Especially if you have little kids. Do what you can with this one, but I think if you put some thought and time into adjusting so you can do this, you’ll find some much better peace in your life.
Hopefully this is enough to get you started and begin creating some normal out of the abnormal right now.
Keep following along on social media for more tips and ideas. I am here and committed to helping you create a life that flows with truth for you. That flows and doesn’t feel overwhelming and constricted.
Sending you the light as you embrace on this journey. Now I’m going to go log off and make lunch for by boys!
XXOO,
Katie