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Tips on staying focused and motivated as a work at home mom

Tips on staying focused and motivated as a work at home mom

Julianne Wish, Member Contributions

Moms are busy and by necessity you have to wear many hats.  People tell you to focus in order to succeed in business, but how can you focus and stay motivated when so many things demand your attention?  Here are some tips for busy moms who need to keep their focus and motivation.
Choose the Right Job.
If you are just trying to bring home some money and are willing to take on jobs you dislike, you will burn out before long.  This is not to say that you can just do what you want and earn money at it, but it does mean that finding the right work at home job is important to your motivation.  Choose topics that you care about, and use skills you enjoy using.  Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you want to do it all day.
Establish a Routine.
New and intersting things are fun and exciting, but routine helps keep you grounded.  It’s a good idea to set your alarm for the same time each weekday morning and to head to the home office/computer at approximately the same time each day.  Trying to scramble and figure out your work hours each day only wastes time and energy, and hampers your productivity.
Stay on Task.
It’s amazing what you can do if you buckle down and shut out distractions.  It’s easy to think you spent two hours writing and article, but if you cut out the trips to the refrigerator and the bathroom, the email reads and replies, and the few minutes here and there you spent on social networking sites, you probably spent less than one hour actually typing.  Taking breaks is fine – in fact, it’s necessary to avoid burn out – but schedule your breaks into your day rather than taking them at a whim.
Delegation is Fine.
Presumably, your family is going to benefit from the extra income you plan to generate with your home business.  It would behoove everyone to support your efforts.  Delegate some of the household chores and errands to the kids and husband (or whomever is in your family).
Ask others to help.
You might consider getting a friend to act as a motivational partner who can hold you accountable if you haven’t accomplished your business goals.  He or she can check in on you at regular intervals to see how you’re doing and to encourage you if needed.  Tell this person what your goals and intentions are so that he or she can check your progress.  For some people, it really helps to know someone is ‘looking over their shoulder.’
Be a Nice Boss.
Just because you are your own boss doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be a nice one.  Give yourself time off and frequent breaks, but also crack down when things aren’t getting done. 
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.

Work/Life Balance Part IV – The To-Do List

Work/Life Balance Part IV – The To-Do List

Julianne Wish, Member Contributions


by Julianne Alvarez-Wish

A to-do list is a list of tasks to be completed or steps toward completing a project. DUH! We all know this – so what’s the point in going any further with this topic, right? Not so fast…

The reason we will continue is because it’s hard to argue the benefits that come from getting your commitments out of your cranium and into a consistent format.

Let’s begin by breaking down a to-do list by starting with the obvious: a to-do list should contain things that can and should be done. You say, DUH! again? You may be surprised to learn how many items wind up on to-do lists that don’t belong there – as well as how many are missed. So let’s continue on. To-do lists should have items on them that are:

  • something for which you are responsible
  • actions
  • something that can be accomplished in a short period of time…say a sitting
  • something that works toward achieving a larger goal

David Allen, in Getting Things Done, talks about the ‘next action’. He defines the next action as ‘the next physical activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion’.

For example, most people might put something on their to-do list like ‘get ready for the trip’. The reality is that this is really a project (here comes my PM background). Projects should be broken down into the activities required to complete it. ‘Get ready for the trip’ is too vague. Instead, it should be broken down into activities such as:

  • call the kennel to make reservations for dogs from x/xx to x/xx
  • take suits to the dry cleaners
  • go to the post office to stop mail delivery until x/xx

These are specific and actionable – it’s easy to determine when they are done. Notice theses are all physical activities. Breaking these projects down into physical activities will help you

  • clearly and completely think through the project
  • make it easier to complete the project
  • make the project more manageable for you

By taking this approach and have a ‘proper’ to-do list you may find you’re really not as busy as you thought you were (because you are now working smarter!), you’re better organized and have a better handle on what needs to be done!

Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She also blogs at Wishful Thinking. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.