Barassie Scotland
Working from home challenges every blogger from time to time.
But choosing the right motivator moves you past these temporary obstacles.
Blogging for fun and freedom goads you to get the work done with your WAH gig. More importantly, choosing these drivers inspires you to rest, recover and recharge. Finding balance between online and offline life is critical for your long term career.
Most bloggers make the painfully common error of working longer and harder when:
- more money arrives
- no money arrives
Some overwork as a way to try to turn 4 figures a month into 5 figures a month quickly. If 8 hour days yield 4 figures than certainly 12 hour days yield 5 figures, right? Burnout follows for this crowd sooner than later.
The other crowd works desperately for 16 hours a day or more as bills pile up with zero blogging income coming in. Failure follows leading to eventual quitting.
Wise work at home entrepreneurs know how working effectively and resting adequately accelerates your success, amplifies your freedom and feels fun in the process.
Follow these tips to find work-life balance when working from home.
1: Train Your Mind
Train your mind.
Become aware of your:
- thoughts
- feelings
- actions
Being aware of your mind gives you an honest assessment of your work at home habits.
Most bloggers do little mind training then wonder why they struggle.
The majority push fears out of awareness which leads to self-sabotage.
Of course, if one seems unaware of self-sabotage how can the individual address and fix these sinister inner wars manifesting as WAH struggles?
Train your mind to bring unconscious fear into awareness. Find a sense of WAH balance by becoming aware of damaging thought patterns kicking around your unconscious mind.
As for mind training ideas consider:
- reading and applying A Course in Miracles or
- meditating or
- simply spending time in quiet daily
Quieting the mind reveals your experience to you.
Finding balance hinges on spotting your thought patterns causing a sense of imbalance regarding working from home.
2: Do Not Go Online Until You Begin Working
Never check emails via your phone before your online work day. Do not check social media until your work day begins.
Appearing to work before your work day begins screws up any semblance of balance. Even if worldly success accelerates expect to burn out sooner than later. More than one blogger working from home slams into mental and physical issues due to taking on an overwhelming work load.
Who cares if you succeed when the price is peace of mind and bodily health?
Spending time online before working – even if you set a strict no-work policy – is too great a temptation for most home based entrepreneurs. What one intends to be casual web surfing becomes an easy excuse for checking email. After reading and replying to 5 emails you just worked for 45 minutes before your work day allegedly began.
8 hour work days become 10 hour work days. 10 hour work days become 12 hour work days. Eventually you work 18 hour days and spend almost no time offline save sleeping.
Life is not work.
Life is working and enjoying the fruits of your labor offline.
Set an alarm to start your work day. Honor the alarm to achieve balance. Work. End your work day. Hop offline to enjoy life away from the laptop and phone.
3: Create an Office Schedule and Office Space
Set up an office space. Work there. Set up an office schedule. Work only during those hours.
Find order by setting up an office schedule and office space. Get work done. Move on from work. Establish a work life balance by setting up boundaries to differentiate between work and life away from work.
Setting up office space lets you work solely in one spot. Work from your home office. Step outside of your office to take time off from work.
Establish a home office to reduce family distractions. Set firm boundaries to complete work and to enjoy family time outside of the office.
Home Office Tips
- set up a tidy work space
- reduce clutter around your home office
- find a quiet spot for your office
- Set boundaries concerning your home office space and work time for family to respect
4: Take Frequent Breaks
Take short, frequent breaks to maintain a sense of balance about your day.
Think clearly. Energize yourself. Detach some from online business outcomes.
Thinking clearly, feeling energized and detaching from work lets you maintain a work-life balance seamlessly.
Bloggers lose balance by not thinking clearly, feeling de-energized and by being heavily attached to work.
Consider taking a 5-10 minute work break hourly. Toss in a 30-60 minute lunch break to pull back from work mid-day.
Setting aside time for breaks increases your productivity. Well-rested bloggers blog intelligently, effectively and generously to become professional bloggers. Plus these energized bloggers spend ample time offline to enjoy the chief benefit of living the internet lifestyle: being free to do what you want to do, where you want to do it, when you want to do it.
Use mechanisms to snag your attention span. Alarm clocks do the trick. Any device screaming at your consciousness pulls you away from work to take a break. Drop everything to take a break the moment your alarm clock goes off.
5: Make Freedom Your Intent
Hold the intent to be free.
Freedom seekers establish a sense of balance because these entrepreneurs know the importance of both working at home and pulling back from working at home.
Work at home entrepreneurs often forget why working at home benefits you. Being free to:
- work from where you want
- work your preferred hours
- spend time offline doing what you want to do whenever you want to do it
are usually the prime reasons why online entrepreneurs begin their cyber businesses.
Not choosing a freeing intent – or picking sole money drivers – creates a work-life imbalance swaying toward work
Chasing money leads to long, hard work days without any thought given to freedom. Even if your 18 hour days yield monetary success how can you enjoy wealth if you have no time to spend money?
Seeking freedom guides you to put in work and to take frequent breaks. Working diligently lays a strong foundation for your work at home business. Taking frequent breaks underscores the importance of kicking back, relaxing and enjoying the benefits of running a business from your home.
Conclusion
Finding balance between your blogging work and offline time takes practice. Experience serves as your greatest ally in this regard.
Work. Play. Make freedom your dominant intent to remember why you work at home.
Enjoy the fun and freedom of building your work at home business.
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