The issue of work-life balance is really common in my Life Coaching work and so I'm writing this series of hubs to address some of the common problems involved in achieving this wonderful state of balance.

This is the third in the series and will look at ways of getting a balance if you work from home (full time or part time).

I welcome comments, suggestions of links and other information relevant to this topic.

Thanks,

Dan O'Neil

Life Coach

Getting The Balance Between Work-Life and Home Life

I've been working from home now for over 6 years full-time and 2 years part-time before this and the biggest challenge I've faced is how to get the balance right between work-time and home-time.

If you go out to work and then come home there is a clear distinction between the two, however when your home is your work and your work is your home, there is the tendency to blur or merge the two.

There are five areas that can generally improve your work-life balance and we'll look at each of them. If you have any comments, links, tips or advice to add, then please use the comment section at the bottom.

Perhaps the most difficult of the tasks facing work from home people is their partner and to an extent their children and extended family. It's very difficult for them to be able to release you to your work - if you went out of the door every day, they wouldn't think about it, but you're only in the office and if they have a question or want to see you it's hard to resist!

Example: Your partner spills a drink on the sofa in the living room and they immediately call you to come and help. Now it's possible you're free to help, but it's not that serious an issue and you're busy. If you tell them you're too busy, it can seem very rude to them because it would only take you a minute.

The truth is, that minute breaks you out of your concentration and now when you've helped and returned to your work, it will take you about 10-15 minutes to get back to the level you were at.

Kids are a great one, because they really can't understand why Mummy or Daddy can't be disturbed. If Mummy or Daddy were out at work, there would be no thought about it!

The key to this challenge lies in communication. It is vital that you and your partner (or whoever is in the house) have a conversation about your availability. In my house, if I am working in the office, then unless there is a serious issue, I'm not disturbed. My wife understands this because I've explained how important it is to me. Most of the time she is able to prevent our daughter from coming into the office and disturbing me too.

Each week I set out my timetable so that everyone knows when I will be working in the office and when I'm free to chat and play.

If you avoid this conversation you will not make the best use of your work-time and will have to catch up the time in your home-time.

One of the major challenges we have is our email. Here's the bottom line...

CHECK YOUR EMAIL ONCE OR AT MOST TWICE PER DAY.

Most people have a panic attack at this point... The truth is I've never been that good at this, however about 6 months ago I made a real point of sticking to this rule and I've got so much more time in my day. I allow myself a maximum of 15 minutes (yes only 15 minutes) to check my email every day and believe me, my replies are to the point and quick! Previously I believe emails would eat up about 1 hour a day at least - and there's the added factor that when an email comes in while you are working, you're instantly distracted from what you are doing and lose your concentration.

The other thing is, if you work from home and you check your emails when you are not supposed to be working, it's really easy to be dragged into work and eat up all your play time.

This rule also applies to your other admin - such as blog comments, sales leads or enquiries etc.

Find an amount of time that is good for you, it may be that 15 minutes is too short, in which case use your best guess and then squeeze it to as little as you can. It takes between 3 and 6 weeks to change habits, so have a go for a few weeks and see how much extra time you get in your day.

This is a tough one, in fact, I'll admit this is perhaps where I struggle the most. However I know that for my own sanity and the health of my home life and work-life balance, if I do not take a strict stance on my timetable then I'm so much more stressed.

For some people, the timetable bit should be straightforward, however if not, then I've some suggestions:

1. Break it down into 30 minute slots
2. Include breaks, lunch and other appointments that you must keep (such as if you take the children to school or a club)
3. Start at whatever time you need to start - if you are really bad at keeping time, then it might be a good idea to start from when you get up and finish when you go to bed. Schedule in breakfast, shower, dinner etc if you need to.
4. Clearly mark on your timetable when you are working and when you are not. For myself I like to work in the morning for a few hours and then later on in the evening after my daughter has gone to bed. Afternoons are generally family time.
5. You may choose to have different schedules at different times of the year - for example I have a summer holiday schedule that looks different as my daughter is not at school, so I spend more time with her.
6. If you have a partner then it is vital to talk it through with them before the week kicks off so that they know what you are planning to do that week. It helps them focus on keeping the house quiet and you undisturbed during those times.
7. You can make it fancy with lots of colours if it helps you, but frankly you're adding time to the chore. It's time better spent not checking your emails!

BE STRICT

The whole point of this timetable is to enable you to schedule your time in order that you create the balance you want. If you are strict on yourself it will stop all the unnecessary things that you do and make you far more productive and help you to be able to leave work behind once you have finished.

Again, remember that 3 - 6 weeks of doing this can create a new habit for you and it will become automatic.

Hopefully by now you'll have picked up some tips that have been useful in gaining more time in your day to do the things you want to do.

Prioritising your time is going to make a huge difference. This is a vital exercise and one that you will be doing daily. There's a wonderful book called "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey and one of the sections is devoted to prioritisation. It's Habit 3 - Put First Things First. I'd highly recommend you get a copy. The other book I recommend to my clients is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy which will help you get done the things that you need to do that you put off.

To keep it simple, one of the easiest things you can do is to spend some time each evening, writing down all your tasks for the following day. Rank them in order of importance and give yourself an idea of how long each will take you to accomplish. You can now check this against your timetable and ensure that you have set realistic targets for the day's work. If not, then replan or add the non-urgent, non-important items to the following day's list. When you start work, start by doing the most important job and then work your way through your list.

For so many people I work with who have difficulties with work-life balance, there is a great focus on work and business goals. The problems lie in the lack of personal goals. For many people, they come at the bottom of the pile - it's important to work, make money and be successful, then they can spend time on themselves.

In order to achieve a sense of work-life balance and have minimal stress in your life, you must set personal goals. Things you really look forward to doing when your computer is off, the phones are out of reach and your office door is firmly closed. Otherwise, the slightest little thing is going to drag you into work and you've lost some quality time with your partner or family or yourself.

Write down a big list of things you like doing - you know that one that has the things on it that you can't seem to find time to do! Then make sure you get excited about doing them when you're not working. For many people this really is all there is too it - to others, they say, but I love doing what I do! That's great, but to stay fresh in your work, you need to have time doing something else. If you have a partner or family, they'd like to see you once in a while (probably for a couple of hours every day). If you don't have a partner, then get out of the office and go out and get one. Join a gym, take up horse-riding, do whatever you really wanted to do when you were younger and had loads of dreams! They don't have to be really expensive (especially if you're building a business) but they do have to exist.

Work-Life Balance comes when you inject Life into it.