The Key to Working From Home Successfully

Submitted by Lacie Martin

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Ultimately, working from home can be quite awesome.​

No doubt, the idea of working from home is very compelling as it promises flexibility, lets you work in your PJs and eliminates a commute. The reality, however, often includes challenges. In fact, many parents who work from home full-time struggle to juggle the rigors of their work with the demands of home and family, so it might start to feel like you’re working round-the-clock. But it can also be really great, and countless remote working parents can attest to that. The key lies in how you manage your time and leverage the resources available to you. Let this nifty guide help.
 
Turn to Tech
In this day and age, tech has proven to be a real help for many aspects of life, but it can also be a double-edged sword. As you work from home, technology can keep you productive and help you do great work fast. However, it does have a bad reputation as a parenting tool, which can make any parent hesitant to use it. But the fact remains that tech will be vital as you juggle the demands of work and family, making it wise to find the sweet spot as you make use of it.

Tips:

• When you work remotely, you need all the help you can get, so make use of work-from-home apps to keep you focused, productive, and efficient.
• When possible, invest in an age-friendly Chromebook to keep your kids busy. Best of all, it will come in handy for schoolwork
• Make use of online learning tools to ensure that this increased screentime for your kids is truly productive.

 
Hire Help
The line between work and home life can blur when you work from home full-time, so it might feel like you’re trying to achieve the impossible by doing everything yourself. In reality, you don’t have to. Smart parents, who are able, get help where they can.

Tips:

• Outsource some of your tasks (where possible) by hiring freelancers who are experts in their own right.
• On the homefront, you can also hire professionals to do some of your time-consuming and maybe even most-hated household chores.
• While there is a cost to outsourcing tasks and chores, it does offer you priceless benefits, such as the opportunity to focus more on what matters (e.g. making more money or spending more time with family).

 
Revamp Your Routine
When you spend all of your days at home, working and running a household, it can be all-too-easy for those days to lose structure. For this reason, it’s absolutely essential to maintain a healthy daily routine that keeps your work schedule in check, allows for ample family time, and, above all, honors your needs.

Tips:

• Check out this video from Working Parent Stories on how to streamline your mornings to set the pace throughout your day.
• Find ways to stay active while working from home, so you not only stay fit and healthy, but also to keep stress at bay and improve your focus.
• It’s a good idea to maintain a work-from-home schedule and really stick to it to ensure that you’re not taking time away from your family (and vice versa).

 
Ultimately, working from home can be quite awesome. But know that isn't necessarily the default; you may need to work at it, make changes, take advantage of resources, and make adjustments to meet your unique needs. Still, this is a small price to pay for flexibility and getting to work in your skivvies!

Lacie Martin is a working parent. She believes that love is the key ingredient for raising happy, well-adjusted kids. She and a friend strive to inspire parents to raise their children well on their Raise Them Well blog where they suggest prioritizing love over everything else. They believe that all moms and dads raising kids who know they are loved and cared for are successful parents.