7 Steps to Achieving Work-at-Home Balance

7 Steps to Achieving Work-at-Home Balance7 Steps to Achieving Work-at-Home Balance017 Steps to Achieving Healthy Work-Life Balance When You Work at HomeBalancing family and career is tricky for everyone. Each isimportant to us, and each makes demands on ur time that, at times, require that the other to take a back seat. When you work at home, this is just as true for you as it is for your counterparts back at the office. However, work-at-home parents are faced with a different set of challenges when it comes to creating healthy work-life balance.We need to be proactive and take steps tomanage these challenges. Read on for 7 ways to help achieve professional and personal balance.02Create and Follow Some Ground RulesDrawing some lines and boundaries around work is essential to creating a sense of balance for everyone in the household when one family member works at home. Creating somework-at-home ground rulesfor family members (both adults and children) can help set realistic expectati ons for what you can and cannotlage do in a workday.Those of us who work at home will need to set some guidelines for ourselves as well so we can ensure that we are not working too little or too much. And these guidelines can help us to handle distractions. Keep in mind that its not always the other people in our lives who may distract us. Sometimes distractions come in the form of housework, TV or social media. Identify your most common distraction and set a daily goal to deal with distractions.03Set GoalsGetty/ArielSkelleyDont let working at home allow you to lose touch with new professional developments or slow you down from networking with colleagues. It takes a bit of extra effort on a telecommuters part, but it is even more important for the worker who is out of sight to stay in touch. In an office, casual conversations alert us to changes in our industry or company. Home-based employees may miss out on that if they dont make an extra effort.Subscribe to professional journals or keep in the habit of checking news and websites related to your profession. Attending a convention or conferences can be expensive, especially for the self-employed, but may be worth it. Consider certification or degree programs in your field. Join professional associations, social networking sites or web groups. Make a habit of reaching out to former colleagues or clients every so often with a quick note or call. Use social media for networking within your industry.On the family side of the balance equation, networking is also important. Other parents at your childs school can help you improve communication with your childs school as well as let you know about other events or opportunities that might be personally or professionally fulfilling.Neighbors and friends are a good source to learn about social and community events for yourself and your family.08Take Care of YourselfWhen you work at home, career and family can blend into such a seamless way that theres no time for self. However it is important that you make time for whats important for your own mental and physical health. Exercise, creative endeavors, getting together with friends, etc., these are the kinds of things that can get eliminated from our routine because we are so busy with our family and work obligations. Dont let this happen because when it does this is really when our sense of balance in our lives begins to fade.Actively endeavor to build a routine that keeps time for you as an important goal. This could be a monthly spa day, a daily exercise routine, date night with your partner or a regular outing with friends. It could be time spent volunteering in your community. Figure out what you need and set aside the time.That said, spending time with your family is likely one of the key reasons that you work at home. Be sure that time is quality time, that youre not multitasking too much to enjoy the people you love. Keep in mind thosereasons to workfrom homeand enjoy your family.