Setting Priorities is a Must when Working from Home

This week we have Mary Lutz joining us as our guest blogger. Today, Mary is going to be talking about why you must have priorities set when you work from home.

Priorities are Part of Our Everyday Lives

Whether we realize it or not priorities are part of our everyday lives. Whatever we put first in our lives is our priority. I’ve heard it said you can tell what your priorities are by looking at your check register (or what you spend your money on).

So then it goes without saying that whatever we spend our time on is also our priority. Some things naturally become our priority such as family or work and it’s easy to put those things first. Other things, or activities, we have to MAKE our priority in order to be successful or organized. This is especially true for those who work from home.

Whether you’re just starting out in your work at home business or you’re a seasoned veteran and have been doing it for years, you MUST continually set priorities in order to have everything run smoothly and to ensure that you’re not wasting time or money or neglecting your family.

Setting Priorities isn’t Always Easy

You may have to sacrifice some “fun” things in order to spend time building your business, or you may find that you need to sacrifice time building your business in order to spend more with your family. It’s easy to get caught up “working” all the time and the next thing you know your husband is pulling up in the driveway and dinner hasn’t even been thought of yet.

Priorities are different for everyone. While a fellow work at home friend can spend 8 full hours a day 4 times a week working their business, you may only be able to squeak out 1 uninterrupted hour a day while your two year old naps. You have to determine what is going to work for you, your family and your business. And your priorities may change from day to day, week to week or month to month depending on your families schedule and other activities you may be involved in.

The Best Way to Set Your Priorities

Write them down on a calendar or some other type of scheduler. At the beginning of the week or month, whatever works for you, schedule in all the activities and appointments you know you have coming up. Then be sure to schedule in family time. I literally have “Family Time” blocked off on my calendar and I try to stick to it as much as possible.

Once all of your family and personal priorities are on the calendar, then you can determine how much time you have to work your business. From there you can determine which business activities are going to take priority based on the amount of time you have available. Then when a project comes up that you know is going to take 4 hours, you can look at your calendar and schedule it in accordingly.

Priorities are a MUST for every work at home business owner. If you haven’t set your priorities yet, then get out a calendar and a pen and do it right away before anymore time is wasted or your husband is pulling in the driveway.

Mary Lutz is the owner of Full Blog Support and works from home full time. She offers blog installation packages, writing packages, custom graphics and more. See how she can help you save time and make more money for your business.