I love working from home - and I especially love having a flexible schedule. It makes life a lot easier on a single parent who is trying to raise the kids and manage a home at the same time. There are appointments, days that the kids are sick, the plumbing goes haywire... or any number of incidents - take your pick!
But for the most part, I enjoy my work and I put in a decent number of hours on my websites and projects. Having a 'flexible schedule' doesnt mean that I only work when I find the spare time. I take my career very seriously, and am generally at least somewhat structured in the way I manage my time...
But summer months, well that's when things tend to get a little too flexible 😆 . Here in Tennessee the weather is hot, the kids are out of school for the summer, and everybody feels like taking a little time off and getting outdoors.
Flexibility is good, and fun is great - but a little structure is still in order. Lately I've found myself looking back over my goals for the year and current projects, and figuring out the best way to manage my time during these summer months. Moving forward with my plans, while still leaving plenty of room for fun and family time.
Even when I homeschooled, I found that the winter months were more structured and scheduled, while the warmer seasons brought more flexibility and additional activities.
Time off any time of the year cant always be helped, of course. I've had quite a bit of it myself over the last few weeks, as I'm sure you've noticed. I took a bit of time off to deal with some health issues, enjoyed time away to celebrate my birthday, and spent a weekend out of town for the benefit tournament.
Of course there's the usual 'life stuff' going on lately as well. Spring cleaning, the drippy faucet, yardwork, yada yada yada. But I'm finally catching up with everything on my end, and am anxious to get back in the swing of things with my work.
Fortunately, my income is based mainly on passive income sources - so being in front of the computer every day is not a requirement. Still, I do notice a slack in traffic on some of my internet marketing related sites - and especially blogs - when I am away for more than a day at a time. And I do feel a certain sense of obligation to those.
Ideally, it would be best to set things up to be a bit more automated. Especially if I know in advance that I am going to be away. Blogs can be set up to post on specific dates, newsletters can be scheduled to go out, and you can always contract any work that needs to be handled manually.
This is something I am putting some serious thought into for my primary sites, as I like the idea of taking time off on a whim. Its things that I do on my affiliate sites without a second thought, but I've always had more of a hands-on approach with my 'public sites'.
What about you? Does your schedule change with the seasons? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and what works best for you. And in the meantime, I'd better head over to my forum. I've been told they're waiting on me to check back in 😉
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About Lynn Terry
I try to compensate for getting out early by starting earlier in the summer. Hopefully I can carry the early rise philosophy into future seasons as well.
In the following post, Steve Pavlina points out that if you were to wake up one hour earlier each day of the year, you would wind up with an "extra" 365 hours per year. Assuming an average of 55 hours working per week, that's 6.5 extra weeks worth of work you can get done by waking up one hour earlier each day. See his post here - http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right-away-when-your-alarm-goes-off/
Thanks for the link, Greg - that's great advice!
Here in the south its very humid by mid-morning, so I find that I enjoy getting out in the early morning. It's a perfect time for yardwork, working with my plants, taking a walk, etc. The rest of the day is just entirely too hot for anything but swimming - which is what the kids love 😉
I'm finding I'm more productive in the evening hours when the day is winding down and the kids are tired from a full day of fun. Of course, by the time I get a good routine going... it will be time for school to start back up - LOL 😛
Amen to that, Lynny!!
Interesting you should mention that, Greg. Getting up earlier and ending sooner in the day is exactly what I do. I always try to be wrapped up in the summertime by noon or early afternoon so my boys can get Dad time.
I love the freedom of working from home also. I try and have a daily schedule of marketing tasks to do, if I want to finish earlier, I start earlier..or I can do these in the evening...just so long as I get through them, the rest of the day is mine
Rachel
http://www.computerincome.net
That's a great idea, Rachel. I used to always keep what I called "my quick list" in front of me which was my daily 'have to do' list. I'm glad you reminded me of that, because it always worked very well!
Lynn