Have you ever really thought about the many hats that you wear? Most of us who run a home-based business have many other responsibilities. We may be married, have children, do volunteer work, care for a family member and the list goes on.
Sometimes I find that I am trying to wear more than one hat at a time, especially in working from home. In the middle of my day I might have to take care of an errand for my husband. Or I may have to pick up my kids from school, only to go back a couple of hours later to pick up another one from track practice.
Then there is the housekeeper hat that I sometimes slip on in the midst of my work day, trying to get that last load of laundry done. Or I want to quick unload the dishwasher.
It can be difficult to balance the many hats we wear. So what is one to do?
I think the first thing we need to do is come to the realization that this is life. No matter what organizational system we adopt or how much we try to schedule and order our lives, there will always be something that knocks us off course.
We may last a week with one way of doing things but it takes just one day, one interruption, or one change in the schedule to cause us to lose balance. So don’t get too set on thinking you will always be able to juggle those hats on your head.
The key is to try and wear only one hat at a time. Sure, you may find yourself having to do a quick switch-a-roo, quickly donning a new one. But save yourself a lot of stress by focusing on one thing at a time.
Now keep in mind that I am preaching to myself here. I really struggle with this.
So let’s say that you have decided it is time to sit down and get your work done. You put on the work hat. But then you remember that your son needs his shirt ironed for work later on. It would be easy to put the mom hat over the work hat and just “quick” iron that shirt.
But unless it absolutely needs to be done in the next 5 minutes, save the mom hat for later. Give yourself time to make full use of your work hat. If you have to, give yourself a timeframe. Set the timer to work non-stop for an hour. Then switch hats.
Try the one hat at a time method and let me know if this works better for you than the 10 you have been attempting to carry on your head.
Related Articles:
Getting an Organizational Tune-Up
Avoiding Distractions While Working from Home
Balancing Families with Working from Home
Photo by Procsilas Moscas in Flickr