If you've been in Direct Sales for any length of time, you've probably heard the saying, "Your Calendar is Your Best Friend." Well, guess what? If you homeschool your children and you're in Direct Sales, this is doubly true!
Free Simple Printables I use at Vertex42.com
{Just search planner or calendar on pinterest for tons of options!}
Being able to juggle living a homeschool lifestyle and working from home can be a struggle if you don't manage your time wisely. I found that out the hard way. The longer I have been homeschooling, the more I realize how good it is for me to have a schedule anyway.
This is how days go when I don't have the day planned out: I lay in bed praying and dozing way too long. I finally get out of bed between 7:30 and 8:30 to the kids screaming and fussing over something. While we're all eating breakfast, I get on my phone to peruse facebook, see what's new on pinterest, and skim emails. Then I get dressed, corral the children and try to start school. By this time, they've already started playing with toys and they continue to be a distraction while I'm reading. I ask question after question that they can't answer because they were too distracted. I wind up getting frustrated, scooping up toys and marching them off to the taken-away toy box. Then no one is happy! So then, we drudge through the rest of school, hurrying to try and finish before lunch. We never do. Twelve o'clock rolls around so we break for lunch. I wait 15 minutes just for the kiddos to tell me what they want to eat and by the time we sit down to eat it's almost 12:45. They pop in a video to watch with lunch, I sit at the computer to try and get some emails checked, read a devotional online, post some business posts on facebook, check on order statuses, make a new polyvore set, post a business pic on pinterest, skim through articles I've been wanting to read, try to go through and close at least 5 tabs in firefox, the list goes on. Before I know it, it's 2:30. I tell the children it's time to do chores. I get up to help with chores and make sure everyone is doing what they need to do. Then it's time to let the kids play. I get back on the computer to do more of the same, hoping this time I'll be much more productive! But before I know it, it's 4:15 and I have not even started cooking supper yet. Yikes! Let me go reference my menu plan and see what we're having tonight....Oh no! I never finished the menu plan. I go and look in the pantry and the freezer and spend the next ten minutes pacing back and forth trying to figure out what I can make from frozen chicken, canned tomatoes, lentils, and broccoli. I scrounge up something, and hope it's done at a reasonable hour, but I realize I still haven't checked-in with my folks yet nor have I made any calls yet. So I put family first and call my mom. We talk for 30 minutes while I'm loading the dishwasher and chopping lettuce. Then I call my dad and we talk for 45 minutes, while dinner is finishing up. Then the hubs is home and it's time to eat. After dinner, it's family time and before I know it, it's time to get the kids ready for bed, put them to bed, and I'm exhausted.
That was pretty much a day in my life with no planning (on a day when we didn't have anywhere to go). This is why your calender should be your best friend! Or better yet a schedule. Now I know, I know...it's hard to have a set-in-stone schedule when it's always changing. One day there's soccer, one day there's violin, one day there's a meeting at church, the next it's going to the library. It's always something. I agree it's nice to keep things flexible, but when there's no plan, things that need to get done, get neglected, and we wind up wasting too much time on things that don't matter.
Find a system that works for you and your family. Maybe try taking five minutes each evening and scheduling out your next day. Most of it will be the same, unless you have some special activity or it's co-op day or something. But those times that are blank on the schedule, like my time right after lunch and after chores...that's the important times to really have a plan for getting things done in your business. And it's important to have a schedule so that time with your precious family doesn't get neglected as well. There's a balance we have to strike when we're homeschooling and working at home. I know we all have visions of the super mom we want to be, but we won't be anywhere near that if we let work take over. On the other hand, we won't succeed at a business in direct sales if we focus all of our attention on everything else and never touch our business. "If you never change anything, nothing will ever change."
So pray, pray, pray. And plan, plan, plan.
photo credit: versifylife.com
Free Simple Printables I use at Vertex42.com
{Just search planner or calendar on pinterest for tons of options!}
Being able to juggle living a homeschool lifestyle and working from home can be a struggle if you don't manage your time wisely. I found that out the hard way. The longer I have been homeschooling, the more I realize how good it is for me to have a schedule anyway.
This is how days go when I don't have the day planned out: I lay in bed praying and dozing way too long. I finally get out of bed between 7:30 and 8:30 to the kids screaming and fussing over something. While we're all eating breakfast, I get on my phone to peruse facebook, see what's new on pinterest, and skim emails. Then I get dressed, corral the children and try to start school. By this time, they've already started playing with toys and they continue to be a distraction while I'm reading. I ask question after question that they can't answer because they were too distracted. I wind up getting frustrated, scooping up toys and marching them off to the taken-away toy box. Then no one is happy! So then, we drudge through the rest of school, hurrying to try and finish before lunch. We never do. Twelve o'clock rolls around so we break for lunch. I wait 15 minutes just for the kiddos to tell me what they want to eat and by the time we sit down to eat it's almost 12:45. They pop in a video to watch with lunch, I sit at the computer to try and get some emails checked, read a devotional online, post some business posts on facebook, check on order statuses, make a new polyvore set, post a business pic on pinterest, skim through articles I've been wanting to read, try to go through and close at least 5 tabs in firefox, the list goes on. Before I know it, it's 2:30. I tell the children it's time to do chores. I get up to help with chores and make sure everyone is doing what they need to do. Then it's time to let the kids play. I get back on the computer to do more of the same, hoping this time I'll be much more productive! But before I know it, it's 4:15 and I have not even started cooking supper yet. Yikes! Let me go reference my menu plan and see what we're having tonight....Oh no! I never finished the menu plan. I go and look in the pantry and the freezer and spend the next ten minutes pacing back and forth trying to figure out what I can make from frozen chicken, canned tomatoes, lentils, and broccoli. I scrounge up something, and hope it's done at a reasonable hour, but I realize I still haven't checked-in with my folks yet nor have I made any calls yet. So I put family first and call my mom. We talk for 30 minutes while I'm loading the dishwasher and chopping lettuce. Then I call my dad and we talk for 45 minutes, while dinner is finishing up. Then the hubs is home and it's time to eat. After dinner, it's family time and before I know it, it's time to get the kids ready for bed, put them to bed, and I'm exhausted.
That was pretty much a day in my life with no planning (on a day when we didn't have anywhere to go). This is why your calender should be your best friend! Or better yet a schedule. Now I know, I know...it's hard to have a set-in-stone schedule when it's always changing. One day there's soccer, one day there's violin, one day there's a meeting at church, the next it's going to the library. It's always something. I agree it's nice to keep things flexible, but when there's no plan, things that need to get done, get neglected, and we wind up wasting too much time on things that don't matter.
Find a system that works for you and your family. Maybe try taking five minutes each evening and scheduling out your next day. Most of it will be the same, unless you have some special activity or it's co-op day or something. But those times that are blank on the schedule, like my time right after lunch and after chores...that's the important times to really have a plan for getting things done in your business. And it's important to have a schedule so that time with your precious family doesn't get neglected as well. There's a balance we have to strike when we're homeschooling and working at home. I know we all have visions of the super mom we want to be, but we won't be anywhere near that if we let work take over. On the other hand, we won't succeed at a business in direct sales if we focus all of our attention on everything else and never touch our business. "If you never change anything, nothing will ever change."
So pray, pray, pray. And plan, plan, plan.
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