I recently listened to a seminar from Mary Jo Tate, author of Flourish at Home Called, "How do you do it all? Balancing Family Life and Home Business." It was very helpful and there were several things she said that really got me thinking.
photo from flourishathome.com
If you're homeschooling your children, I'm sure someone--your husband, your mom, your neighbor, your friends--has said, "I don't know how you do it all." Or, "How do you do it all?" Well, that's quite subjective. Because they're "all" might not be the same as my "all." I am guilty though, of getting overwhelmed trying to juggle it "all."
Mary Jo Tate posed the question, "What is your all?" I think that is the first place we need to start! We literally can't do everything. A few years ago, I sat down trying to make a "scope and sequence" of extra-curricular activities I'd like my children to be able to participate in, and then literally tried to figure out how I could squeeze them all into a schedule. Ha! Needless to say, it did not take long for me to figure out, that I was going to have to prioritize and figure out which ones we could do this year and which ones we could put off until later, if ever. We have to first determine what "all" we want to fit into our schedule. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. And we should be sleeping at least eight of those hours, that makes 16 usable hours in every day.
photo from http://www.worldmarket.com/product/world-clock.do
Then we need to have an honest conversation with ourselves. What is most important to us? For me and my family, God comes first. But what does that look like? If He truly comes first, shouldn't He get a big chunk of time. I was never a big fan of scheduling time with God, if you just do that for a little while, until it becomes a routine or habit, then it won't feel scheduled. Personally, I am still trying to get in the habit of rising early to start my day with a hefty dose of scripture and prayer. But for several years now I have been in the habit of starting my day with prayer, regardless the time I wake up. And we always start our school day with our Bible lesson. Then we have other times throughout the day were we spend time in scripture, prayer, and praise. So what does this look like for you?
Then we have to decide what comes next. Mary Jo Tate mentioned in her seminar that we cannot live life constantly in triage. Constantly focusing on the urgent. Because when we do that, we neglect the other important, but not as urgent things. Like getting on the floor playing with our children, teaching them how to cook or sew, putting on some music and twirling them around the living room, or spending the ever-elusive quality time with our husbands!
So if you're struggling trying to juggle it all, join me this week in making a list of the things that are important to you. We cannot possibly do EVERYTHING that EVERYONE else is doing. But we can do it "all," when it's "all" that's on our list.
I highly recommend checking our Mary Jo Tate's websites. She has several websites, but I especially like the tips she has on this one about managing home life and home business.
So in the Direct Sales world, we're taught to "touch your business every day." So how many hours do you spend on your direct sales business a day? And what are you focused on during that time? As you're making out your list of what is important to you, and you add your business to that it, be thinking about that time you spend on your business. Is it incoming-producing activities that you are focused on? Depending on your product or service, these activities will vary. If you're in a home party business like I am, you're going to want to use your business hour(s) making booking calls, customer care calls, sponsoring calls, and a post or two to social media. If you're a Beachbody Coach, you're going to have to do your workout, share results and encouragement on Facebook and other social media, and make coaching calls. If you haven't decided on which direct sales company you want to go with, make sure it is something that you love and or feel excited to share. You will quickly find working your business to be a chore, if you do not love it! Whatever your business is, being a parent and homeschool teacher will automatically limit the amount of time you can spend on your business. So make it count! Work smarter, not harder!
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