Here is my dilemma - how do I actually get myslef psyched up enough to sit at my desk and do some work from home? I usually have great intentions of doing so when Flynn is asleep or in the evenings, but there is always something else to do (as is always the case when running a home LOL!) And then there is always BellyBelly to distract me too! I find once I get started I am fine because I enjoy what I do, but how do other WAHMs get themselves "in the mood", so to speak?
LOL Rory - can't help you there I'm afraid. I'm just as bad! Can't get in the mood at all these days (hence why I've given up the bookkeeping side of my work!) And I have great intentions of doing stuff when DS is asleep too, but I usually end up using that time to have something to eat in peace & quiet, hang out washing or whatever, and the time has gone!
And of course, once i DO sit at the computer.. BellyBelly takes another 10-20mins or so! LOL.
Sometimes DS is co-operative and occupies himself while I do a bit of work. I'm glad now without the bookkeeping I don't require big blocks of time anymore.. it's just a bit of billing here and there and emails.
I'd send some motivation vibes if I had any LOL!
ETA: I wonder if we can get BB to boot us off after a certain amount of time.. and not log back in for a while.. just like the searches are timed. "sorry.. you can't log back in for another hour.. go and do some work!"
I give myself goals to achieve for the day, write a list of things to do...sometimes DH gets frustrated as I am always at the computer 'working'
I also like to sort the house...general tidy up plus load of washing, and when the kids have had breakfast I normally have the computer on for the day, doing bits hear and there around being a full time mummy
I worked from home for over 2 years whilst I just had Charlie and Olivia. (When I was just about to pop with Miss Lexie Lous I did my final project and from then on didn't accept any more.)
It was tough, it really was.
Exactly like you, the getting started was the issue. BB is always so much more tempting!
Once I got into it, I was fine, as I enjoyed the nature of the work (project management, a lot of report writing.)
But I did have to be really really strict with myself.
I had some tough deadlines, so that always forced me to get the work done, but sometimes it was at the expense of evening time when I should have been relaxing with DH, and this caused a few grunbles from him.
The main trick that worked for me was to set "bit sized chunks" as objectives. ie write a list first thing (or the night before) of all the work I needed to get completed, break it into chunks, knowing that I could have a break (BB/coffee/gossipy phone call, whatever) only when I got that chunk done.
The house is such a distraction. "I'll just peg some washing out." "I'll just get the veggies prepped for dinner" la la la la la......... It is all just procrastination! (Or procrast-inaction as I called it, LOL!)
The only way I know how to avoid that is to get up early (as if you were going to a job that was NOT in your home) get showered, dressed, bnreakefasted, laundry on etc, BEFORE 9am. If its not done by 9am, it has to wait until 5pm, or until I finished my work.
For example, for some of my WAHM time I had both Olivia and Charlie in childcare one day a week. I would get us all up, dressed and brekkied etc to drop them off at childcare at 9am.. I made it a rule that once I walked back in the door after dropping them off, NO CHORES until I had achieved a certain amount of work (usually about 3pm. Then I would have a mad hour or so of chores before I picked them up.)
It is so hard to drum up the motiovation. I feel for you.
(I have now changed my work so that I work out of an office 2 days a week. It means the children are in childcare, but it is still worth it for me on a finacnical level and on a phycoligal mummy mental health level. So I guess this goes to show just how tough it was for me to work from home.......I did it for over 2 years and am SO much more productive/happier now that I work out of an office.
The children are happier too, I think.....home time is home time with no distracted Mummy/interference/blurred edges. This is jmho of works for me and my family BTW!)
Rory I am not sure if any of the above helps at all?
Rory... the only way i can relate is when I was studying.... and it was damn hard. I found that the only way I could avoid the call of housework was to wait until my uni work was almost due and work when DD and DH were in bed and it was late... the house had a different vibe then and it didn't feel right to be doing the laundry etc... the hours of 11 - 1am were my most productive. I know you are a morning person so maybe you could try getting up early and locking yourself into your office with a coffee and a bit of toast?
I couldn't imagine WFH these days. I too would be too tempted by BB. I guess I am just waiting for BB to start employing people and then I'll be set!
I'm the same Bath - most of my productive work is done between 11 and 1am - providing I haven't fallen asleep with Tallon whilst putting him to bed! LOL.
Bath, I am a morning person too, but so is Flynn! He likes to get up between 6 and 6.30am - so unless I get up at 5am.....!
Lucy, I like the idea of the bite-sized chunks - I think I will try that. I would much prefer to just work in the office but at the moment its the only way we can manage it. And unfortunately because I will have to go back to work when Little One is 3 months old (in order to get my 12 months clocked over so I can get mat leave for bub #3) I will probably have to work from home in some capacity then, because I don't like the idea of compromising BF to leave a bub at home and express at work. But that said going back 1 or 2 days a week and WFH (which is only 14 hours of work) is a lot easier to fit in than trying to work 3 in the office and one at home.
Liz I love the idea of a BellyBelly boot off time limit LOL!!
Rory, similar to Lucy, I get up at 6am on work days (I WFH two days a week and the boys go to day care those days as I won't always be WFH). I shower before taking the boys to day care, then I come home, make a cuppa and go into the study. They are my "work" cues - sitting in the study, I rarely do it when not working, only sometimes in the evenings for live chat LOL, and drinking a cuppa. I have to get straight into it - it's such a trap to think "oh, I'll just check out bb first". That is bad news, I have to just get straight into work, then once I've started it's not so bad. I also set goals to achieve too, and that helps. But I think the real key is find the work cues - what makes it work time as opposed to normal at home time? For me it's the location, and the cuppa to get started. It could be anything for you. Good luck with it, I know you can do it.
I have trouble too at times getting motivated. Since returning to work after having Maria I have worked 2 days in the office and 8 hours from home. Most of my work is done between 9pm and 2am, as Maria has never been a great day sleeper and often I would fall asleep with her.
Melanie has a good point: cues. You know the Flylady one of wearing lace up shoes to get stuck into housework (as opposed to slippers that put you in a relaxed kinda mood). I reckon think about what some more cues could be? Maybe playing a certain background CD? My musical cue for doing house work these days is my French CDs from the boys music classes... something about that music that makes me a happy worker and gives me the right kind of mental stimulation whilst doing the drudgier jobs of cleaning up. Maybe I should pop it on now!
This probably isn't much help, but actually having a set time dictated by the client helped. If wanted to earn money then I had to do the work on a certain morning. I would get up, get myself and Maggie ready. Drop her off at childcare and then come straight home to work. Normally I don't listen to the radio at home, but I would put it on to work to.
When I have tried to work with Maggie home, she has been more of a hinderance than me procrastinating.
How do you psych yourself up for WFH?
I find once I get started I am fine because I enjoy what I do, but how do other WAHMs get themselves "in the mood", so to speak?
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j/k :P
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