Working from home and staying focused

Keeping a work and home life balance when you work out of your home can be very difficult. By balance I mean finding ways to give proper attention to my family and household chores and not letting my work suffer and getting my work done without making my family feel neglected. Being a workaholic does not help when my office is the first door on the right coming out of my bedroom in the mornings. It is also tough to concentrate on work when family and pets find their way into the office and beg for attention.

Helpful hints on what has made it easier for me to work out of my home and still give family and pets the attention they need. I wake up at least one hour before everyone else except for the dog who follows me around everywhere. That gives me time to walk and feed the dog, and a little time to take care of myself or have a nice hot soak in the bath. Which leads me to my next hint, get cleaned up and dressed before starting to work. You never know when the doorbell is going to ring. Set a daily time with your spouse or partner. Determine when and how much time you are going to devote to your job and how much time you are going to spend with family or doing household chores and stick to that plan. Work less or not at all on the days your spouse or partner has off from their job. Come up with a daily menu plan so that you have at least one meal a day together. Come up with a daily work schedule at least one or two days in advance and try to stay as focused on finishing those task before starting new ones. And last but not least, know when to walk out of the office door and stay out.