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Being a work at home mom is hard. Whether you’re freelancing or you’ve been forced into the world of working from home, there’s just so much to do.
The kids are possibly around all the time. If you’re like me, you’ve sent them to school or daycare, but there are times they’re back in the house. Snow days, sick days, isolation days, you can’t guarantee the kids will be out of your hair.
And then there are people in your life who don’t think you actually work as a work at home mom. People see that you’re at home, so that must mean you have time to babysit their children, come out for a coffee, or chat on the phone.
Honestly, it can be a nightmare.
That’s why you need to take back control. It’s up to you to say no to people. And that’s perfectly fine!
The more you say no, the more people hear it
Okay, there will be times you won’t say no. You’re not going to tell your boss no when he wants you to do a task that you would have done in the office anyway. You’re not going to say no to a good client.
I’m talking about the people who don’t respect you as a work at home mom. Or they don’t realize they’re interrupting. Not everyone interrupts maliciously.
When your mom phones for a chat, you can say “not right now.” When the mom at school asks for you to babysit for a few hours while you’re meant to be working, you can say “that doesn’t work for me.”
Saying no is a good thing. You get to set boundaries.
And the more you say no, the more it sticks. The less people ask you to do things, because they’re used to hearing that two-letter word.
Balanced: Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom
You feel the freedom of saying yes
There will be times something does work. I’ll answer my phone at lunch time to talk to my mom. That’s the time I’m taking a break anyway, and it doesn’t interrupt anything (except me eating). I don’t speak to my mom that much anyway because we live in different countries, so I will make time for her calls when she does call.
But I have that freedom of saying yes. I know that if I am in the middle of a meeting, I can ignore the call and then call back once I’m free. There won’t be any hard feelings because my mom understands I am working from home.
If I want to help a friend with childcare, I have the freedom to say yes. I’m not taken for granted, and it’s all on my schedule. That doesn’t mean I’ll step in every single time, also making your own hours it means you can take care of yourself, maybe exercise or going to beauty salons in cranston ri and go back to work later, as long as you accomplish all your work goals, it could be fine.
A work at home mom can also say no to work
During the working day, you’re probably not going to say no to your boss or a client. However, there will be times that you have to say no.
One of the problems with being a work at home mom is that your work is there in the house. It could be on the dining table or in an office that you have. Wherever it is, it’s right by you.
Your emails may be connected to your phone. It can be so tempting to do work outside of the usual hours.
It’s time to say no. Get your life back. You can start by shopping for briefcase for women.
A work at home mom can suffer from a lack of work-life balance. Work takes over, and your boss may want you to do a “quick five-minute job” at 8 p.m. at night because nobody else is available to do it.
Out of your working hours? Say no. Or just don’t see the email or message until the following morning when you’re back at your desk.
There may be times you’re happy to do the work, but there are other times that you just want to escape everything. You want to spend time with the family and not do that “five-minute task” that always ends up taking an hour!
It is okay to say no.
MORE: 7 top tips to plan your day as a work at home mom
Do you struggle to say no as a work at home mom? What do you find difficult in your daily life? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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