I know a lot of you are working from home (with your kids around) for the first time, and that can be a big shock to the system. Working from home is awesome, but it’s also challenging. Especially for moms! It’s hard when you do everything from home. You parent, cook, clean, work, often work-out. It can feel so distracting and also monotonous. Now throw in the fact that all our kids are home 24/7 with us right now, and it can feel tricky if not impossible. I have been working from home for a decade and for all but 2 years of that, I’ve had babies and small children with me. No nanny, or sitter, I’ve just always found a way to make it work. I want to share some of my best work-from-home practices that I have developed over the years to increase my productivity and stay sane.
I know that this situation feels incredibly challenging right now, with all the additional stress of worrying about a global pandemic, not to mention trying to do your job at your normal pace, with your kids home. I hope these tips can lighten your load a bit and made the burden a little easier. Some of them took me years to discover and I wish I had known them all along.
1. Get Dressed.
I know I say this over and over again, but getting dressed everyday is the key to productivity. It’s so easy when you work from home to just stay in your sweats, but getting dressed, even in something comfy, fixing your hair and putting a little make-up on, will lift your mood, help you be more alert and focused, and help you show up for life and your work as your best self. Getting dressed sends a signal to your brain that it’s time to switch into work mode. You can see my comfy capsule right here.
great work from home outfit pieces:
2. Create a separate working space.
This is such an important thing for women especially to do when working from home, because our brains naturally want to try to multitask and working in a space that you also do life in makes it really hard to focus. It’s amazing how much physical things can effect our abilities to perform mentally. This is especially true when working from home. Creating a separate working space has been one of keys for me to increase productivity and success. For a long time I was working from my kitchen table and I had such a difficult time focusing. I would get distracted by everything, the dishes in the sink, the load of laundry, etc. I felt like I was straddling mom mode and work mode all day long and not doing justice to either. I rearranged the rooms in our house last summer and turned one of our bedrooms into a guest bedroom and office for me. My productivity shot through the roof, I was getting twice as much done in half the time. Your work space doesn’t need to be fancy, find a quiet corner and set up a small desk or folding table. Just make it a place apart, so you know, when you sit down you mean business.
A few of my favorite desks and home office pieces:
3. Schedule your working hours.
When you’re working from home, and especially when your kids are there as well, it is very easy for the work day to become one long distracted drag. Schedule your work hours. Start and finish at specific times, it will help you work more effectively and it will give your day some structure that will keep you sane and productive.
4. Create transitions into and out of work.
I started implementing this practice last year and it was so effective for me. I was finding that I was having a hard time going from the rush to get everyone out the door into focused work mode. I was too distracted. So I started doing a 30 minute transition routine. I think of it like a commute. I would get ready for the day and everyone out the door and then I would turn on some music and spend half an hour tidying up the house and setting things up for my work day (prepping lunch, etc.). Then when I sat down to work I had transitioned out of mom mode and into work mode. At the end of the day, I’ll sit quietly with my eyes closed for 5-10 minutes and then go start some laundry, or vacuum something, or go outside for a few minutes. This helped me transition out of work mode and back into mom mode.
5. Take breaks and really disconnect.
It’s important every hour or so to take a break, and really take one. Give yourself 5-10 minutes off of screens, go outside and get some fresh air, stretch, play with your dog, do 10 burpees, call a friend and chat for a bit. Taking breaks frequently will help you keep focus. Your brain will do it anyway via distractions, so take a break intentionally and your focus during work time will skyrocket.
6. Utilize naps/bedtime to get work done.
When you have small children and shutting yourself in an office away from them isn’t an option, utilize sleep time to get your most important work done. Get up earlier than your kids and get your fist hour of work done in the morning, use those 2 hours of naps and finish up in the evening. You’ll be amazed how much you can get done in 3-4 hours of focused time.
7. Cultivate independent play with your kids.
If you have small kids there’s this feeling like you need to entertain them all day, but that isn’t true. Boredom is good for kids. Learning to play independently is really good for them too. When I first started my business and Ethan was 4 I used to have him come in my work room with me, he would play on the floor next to my desk for hours and it was such a great time. When Ava was a baby/toddler, and I had a studio, she came with me everyday, she’s play on the floor next to me, nap in her pack n play, eat lunch at my desk. I’d take breaks to walk her to the park across the street to play, and read her books. We made it work and those times are some very precious memories. My kids have all grown to be incredibly independent and I can see now how well that has served them.
Read more about how I embrace boredom with my kids here.
Read more about how we’ve kept our kids on a schedule here.
9. Pick a daily top 3.
Prioritize your work so that you make sure to get the most important things done first. I call this my daily top 3. 3 non-negotiable things I must accomplish, then I can use whatever time and energy I have left to get as many other things done as I can/want to. But by prioritizing my most important task, I am able to accomplish more, and also give myself permission to stop working even if everything isn’t done. It also helps keep me on track during work time and makes it easier to accomplish more between breaks.
9. Give yourself grace.
This situation is unprecedented and transitioning to work from home is always an adjustment even in the best of times. Don’t expect perfection, just do your bed and let God cover the rest. Give yourself grace, make tweaks when you need to and be patient with yourself, your kids, your spouse and the situation. I know it feels like this will never end, but better days are coming and you can thrive even in this difficult season.
Do you have tips for working from home effectively? Please share them in the comments!
Love these tips, especially the one about transitioning. Thank you for sharing!
Love this! Thank you for sharing such an insightful article!