My husband and I both work at non-profit companies and don't make a lot of money. When our daughter was born, we knew there was no way we could afford daycare, so I convinced my boss to allow me to work part-time in the office and part-time from home. To my surprise, she agreed, and everyone thought I was incredibly lucky. My friends and family thought I had it made. I had visions of happily-working-away-in-my-pajamas dancing in my head.

Unfortunately, my romantic notions of working from home were short-lived. In my experience, working from home was a lot harder than working in the office. This is especially true when you have a demanding toddler fighting for your attention day in and day out. There were many days working at home when I yearned to be back in the office again to actually get some work done.

Somehow I survived the year through a lot of trial and error. Then my husband got promoted. His promotion meant a change in our schedules when turned me into the main caregiver for our daughter. I thought I would have to resign from my job, until my boss surprised me again and agreed to allow me to work from home full-time. Although I knew I was lucky to have a boss that valued my work and trusted me enough to let me work from home--and full-time, no less--I knew that double the hours could mean double the trouble for me in terms of juggling full-time workshifting with full-time motherhood. However, three simple lessons I have learned from working at home over the past year will be a strong foundation for my success in this upcoming year...and beyond.


Working in your pajamas is overrated. Showering and brushing your teeth are not.

Don't get me wrong, working in my pajamas felt extremely luxurious the first couple of weeks. Then slacking off on showering and brushing my teeth came next. Working in bed was the natural progression, followed by falling asleep next to my laptop in bed. Working in your pajamas may work for some people, but I had to accept that it did not work for me. It made me feel lazy and unfocused. I needed to start my day getting ready as if I were going to the office--on a casual Friday, of course. This act of getting ready prepared my mind and body for work. At my desk. With clean teeth and hair.


Having a set routine is imperative, no matter what your friends and family think.

A friend once said to me, "So, how does it feel to be a lady of leisure?" It goes without saying that that friend doesn't have kids. Many people think I just lounge around all day because I "work from home"--wink, wink--when, in fact, I have to create a very detailed and exact schedule for my days in order to be productive, and efficient in that productivity. I stick to a set routine so that I can get my work done and still have time for the other aspects of my life, including a little leisure, yes. So, when a friend calls to hang out during a time that I'm supposed to be working, I politely decline.


There's a time for work and a time for play.

This is probably the hardest lesson learned because it involves that tricky little monster. No, not my toddler! I'm talking about guilt--guilt about working while my daughter whines for my attention. This was the single biggest hindrance to my productivity when I first started workshifting. I couldn't handle the guilt! To make matters worse, often times my daughter merely wanted me to sit on the floor next to her while she played. I finally learned that I had to draw a line for both our good. So, I break up my day, alternating work and play. When we play, we play hard. But when it's time to work, I work hard and let her learn to play on her own. This is still a lesson we're both learning each day.

Of course, there were many other lessons I learned over the past year, and I'm sure many more lessons are waiting to be learned over the coming year. I look forward to sharing more with you here.

If you had to narrow it down, what are the three single most important lessons you've learned while workshifting?


Photo Credit: Bright Star