I am writing this with my 4 1/2 month old sidekick Daisy, rarely leaving my side. It has been a long time since I worked like this as my older two are at school. Some of the issues are slightly different when you have older school age children on half term so I have added a section for that below.
- Do bits of the work around them that you can. The stuff that is easy and that you can almost do on autopilot. Social media posting and responding, packing orders (if that is part of your business), replying to emails (obvs this depends on the nature of the emails) but a lot of my emails are of this nature, forwarding emails etc Don’t feel guilty, you can do this stuff while you are feeding, while they are in the bouncy chair or under the playgym. I am not saying spend the whole day doing these things but it is ok to do bits of this around them.
2. Use naptimes to do the stuff you need to fully focus on, the important tasks and don’t waste a moment of this precious time! Washing? No, that can wait for later! Make sure you have no distractions while its naptime. That is a big fat no to social media and your phone. You need to make this time the most productive time of the day.
3. Be as organised as possible. Plan your naptime tasks ahead so you don’t waste time working out what you are going to do while it is naptime. Plan your social media schedule ahead of time. Don’t have one? Now is the time to start! There is a social media planner as part of the bonus materials with the “Grow Your Business on a Budget course.” Carry a notepad around (or use you notes on your phone). When you aren’t working as much, chances are things will come to you when you least expect it and you want to be able to write them down.
4. Be realistic with what you can achieve. You have a baby (or small child). You can’t get a full days work done or anything close to that. Celebrate the small victories. Most new mums are at home on their mat leave. You are running a business and looking after a small person / people. That deserves a big pat on the back.
5. Ask for help. Sometimes you will need to ask for help. If you are lucky enough to have family near, call on them for help. Otherwise maybe your partner, your friends or anyone else. Sometimes that couple of hours of guaranteed undisturbed time is vital. Don’t be afraid to ask.
If you have school age children and it is half term…
Don’t feel guilty for using the electronic babysitter for when you have to get stuff done. A TV day (or even two will not harm them). We used to have chilled mornings like that in the hols where I would catch up on work and then we would do something in the afternoon.
Plan some nice stuff but also know there will be days where you juggle it all. They don’t need to be out every single day doing activities.
Consider a swap with a friend. I used to do this with a local friend and we would swap halfway through the day, so we each got a half day of work.
Being organised, being realistic and doing some stuff around them, also applies to school age children. Happy half term!