Creating A Work Life Balance For The School Holidays - Warrnambool Family Photographer

I am so lucky to be self employed but with that comes the responsibility of keeping a healthy work life balance and at no other time is this more important for me than during the school holidays.

During these periods my aim is to remain fully present with my family. I always try to give them the attention they deserve but I still need to maintain my work commitments and that’s not always easy.

When you run your own business, especially if you work from home, achieving a balance can be tricky as all too often the life/work lines become blurred.

The following tips are good to keep in mind for your own productivity and family life balance as we head into the holidays. Our time really is precious and even more so when family is around.

I am going to give the following tips a go and thought some of you might appreciate them too.  

NOTIFY your clients of your intentions. Provide clear information from the outset that the school holidays may impact your deadlines and let them know precisely what process you will be taking to meet their needs.

PLAN in detail what you’re going to do each day. Productivity experts advise spending 5 minutes at the end of each day planning what you’re going to do the next day. Stick to your plans and don't try and stretch your limits.

DECIDE what hours you’ll work each day at the start of each week. Write them down and share them with your family or partner so they can help hold you accountable to sticking to them.

PRIORITISE and focus on one thing at a time. Juggling too many balls at once usually ends up in something getting dropped.

BATCH similar tasks together.  While your head’s still ‘in the zone’ and you’ve got everything you need open and set up, you may as well do a few more similar jobs at the same time. This way you will get more done than if you did one separate task at a time, on different occasions.

TURN THE COMPUTER OFF when you finish work for the day (as per your agreed ‘office hours’) 

TURN PUSH NOTIFICATIONS OFF for email and social media on your phone so you only know emails have arrived when you are working during your 'office hours'.

REMEMBER you’re human. Just like everyone else, you’re allowed time off. As long as you’ve looked after your existing clients and managed expectations, it’s ok to have an out of office reminder saying you’re away for 2 weeks and won’t reply during that time. The world will keep turning, your clients will still be there and you’ll be all the more refreshed and ready to look after yourself and your business when you get back.

ENJOY YOUR PRECIOUS TIME WITH FAMILY xx