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

It used to be that office = work and everywhere else = life. I listened to lots of small business owners talk about work/life balance in a focus group recently. A theme that I heard repeatedly was that there's no line between work and life now.  Workshifters have anytime access to work and the people they work with. I couldn't help but ask myself, are we losing the "life" in work/life balance? Here are two different perspectives I heard from the small biz owners group:

Work and life should be more intertwined. The most passionate business owners are those that have made work an extension of their lives. I heard from architects to book store owners about the fact that their work isn't really "work." For these people work and life happen simultaneously where one minute you're drawing blueprints for a house and the next minute you're drawing artwork for your spouse (that wasn't intended to rhyme). You really have to love what you do for this philosophy or you will burn out quickly. But for those who have this nailed down, good for you.

Set expectations and turn off. The other school of thought is that we need to keep work and life separate thus developing a balance. I fall into this group more than the other. I heard from one woman who tells her clients that she's not available on Monday or Tuesday after noon and Sunday altogether. If the client needs something they'll just have to wait. If this is your philosophy then you need to be able to turn off and hold strong. Your customers build expectations based on what you do, not what you say. If you say you don't work on Sundays then you better not answer work email on Sunday.

What do you think? What is work/life balance to you? Do you fit into either of these groups or do you have a different perspective?

Photo by: Kaitlin Shiner

Does the ability to connect with work anywhere and anytime actually improve our work-life balance? That's the question Kelly Services posed in a recent international workplace survey of 100,000 people in 34 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The study concluded that:

• 75% of respondents appreciate the opportunity provided by technology to stay in constant contact with work.
  
  
• This is despite the fact that 35% say that technology contributes to longer working hours.
  
  
• 85% say the ability to work anywhere, and at any time, is a motivating force and a better balance between work and personal life.
  

I am not overly surprised with these results. As Workshifters, we are able to take advantage of many benefits - the most obvious of which is the luxury of being able to use our laptops and smartphones to work (for the most part) wherever we want.

But despite this - or perhaps because of this - employers expect us to be available at all times, possibly even more so than our office warrior counterparts. As a result, there are very few of us who are ever more than an arm's length away from our Blackberries or iPhones.

In spite of this constant connectivity, my first year of workshifting hasn't result in a skewed work/life balance. While I haven't necessarily worked more hours than I did when I worked in an office setting, I have undoubtedly worked harder and A LOT more efficiently than I have ever done so before. There's just something about cutting out all the water cooler gossip and office shenanigans that makes the items on your to-do list get crossed off a lot quicker.
 
So, as personal communications technologies continue to evolve, how will this impact our work/life balance in the future? In his book Elsewhere, USA, sociologist Dalton Conley predicts the rise of the "intravidual." Here's how he explains it:

"Changes in three areas - the economy, the family and technology - have combined to alter the social world and give birth to this new type of American professional. This new breed - the intravidual - has multiple selves competing for attention within his/her own mind, just as, externally, she or he is bombarded by multiple stimuli simultaneously..."

Sound familiar? As professionals, our lives are dictated by multiple data streams and screens - our laptop screen, our TV screen, our smart phone screen, etc. To maintain our work/life balance, it's up to us to make sure that our "real" world doesn't get left behind.
 
What do you think? How has the evolution of personal communications technologies impacted your work/life balance?

Photo by: EngineeringDaily.net

Today Amber Naslund stops by to share her thoughts on developing family balance while being a workshifter.  Amber is the Director of Community at Radian6 which keeps her on the road a lot.  Amber also maintains a blog, Altitude Branding, and can be found hanging out on Twitter.

When you're a workshifter, there's often a perception that you have the ultimate freedom: work from anywhere, control your own schedule, travel to interesting places. Part of that is true, and I'm very grateful for the flexibility that my type of job affords me.

But as other workshifters can attest, it can be demanding, too. Travel isn't always glamorous, and the flexibility that comes with working remotely can also mean that boundaries are hard to set. One of the things that's hardest to balance is family: time with kids, time at home, time for the people that matter most to you.

I'm a single mom of a 2 1/2 year old, a daughter, sister, friend, and pet parent to two dogs and two cats. Finding time for all of that isn't easy, but I've learned a few things along the way.

Have Off Hours

There is no question whatsoever that there have to be times when you're just not on the clock. That also means cutting the remote tethers like the iPhone or the Blackberry that are distractions, even while they're conveniences.

When I'm home, I have hours in the morning and after work where I am not on the clock, because those are the times I have to spend with my daughter. It doesn't mean I can't take a phone call from a friend, but it does mean that my daughter is my first priority. She needs to know without question that she matters more to me than the computer or my phone.

Same goes for making time for family and friends. The weekends can be tempting, uninterrupted time to get loads of work done. But my family and friends live with my crazy schedule all the time, so when I have a weekend home, I make it a point to catch up with folks in person or on the phone, without work getting in the way.

When I travel, I keep "off hours" too, that I can spend recharging, resting, or visiting with people wherever I am. No matter where I am, the work will always be there when I get back to it.

Be Okay with Getting Help

A heavy workshifting schedule often means you can't do it alone, and that's okay. It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help. It means you're aware of your own limits.

For example, my family, my daughter's dad's family, and our regular daycare sitter are enormous and important sources of support that care for her when I can't be there. She's always loved, attended to, and has someone investing time with her (not just keeping half an eye on her). It's critical to me that she never, ever feel like she's an afterthought.

I also have an in-home pet sitter that visits my home and critters several times a day to make sure they're tended to. It's a *huge* relief to me while on the road to know they're cared for in the comfort of their own home. They're family, too. Is it cheap? No. But neither is my sanity.

Tap the people closest to you for support and reassurance, or seek out groups of other parents or professionals that can lend even moral support while you balance priorities. And above all, cut yourself some slack and realize that not everyone is a superhero.

Communicate Often

Little touch-bases really do matter when you don't have the time to connect fully with the people you love. A quick phone call to say hello, or even just a note to say "I'm not there right now, but I'm thinking of you" can go a long way to staying connected to those around you. Perhaps most important is to ASK your friends and family to tell you about what's new in their world. Listening is some of the best attention you can give.

I use phone, email, text message, and even Skype to keep in touch in little snippets. My daughter gets lots of phone calls from the road so she can hear Mommy's voice, and my friends and family get lots of little touch-base moments so they know they're on my mind (and that I'm eternally grateful for their support of my career lifestyle, demanding as it may be).

Demonstrate Your Priorities

How you respond to demands on your time demonstrates a lot to others.

Sometimes that means saying "No" to something that conflicts with other priorities, either professional or personal. Sometimes that means honesty about your bandwidth with the folks asking for your attention; giving them clear timelines about when you CAN respond (even if it's not immediate) can help a lot. Enforcing those off hours can show a great deal, nonverbally; people's feelings really do get hurt when they're sharing your attention with your Twitter DMs or text messages.

It's also important to be in sync with your employer about your family commitments and priorities, and communicating when you need to be off the grid. The key? If you always deliver on your promises, folks won't look sideways at the time you spend in personal places.

Nobody's Perfect

I sure don't always get this balance right. I feel guilt each and every time I get on another airplane, conscious of how fast time flies as my daughter grows up. I'm always seeking balance between my professional ambitions and the security I know I'm providing for my daughter's future, and the time I get to spend with her now - which is the time I can't ever get back.

I have a handful of really close friends that love me unconditionally, and plenty of people that get upset with me because I don't give them the attention they probably deserve. Conversely, I'm sure I frustrate people when it takes me days to respond to an email that's a lower priority to me but perhaps more important to them. I'm human and I have limitations, and I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. But I'll sure never apologize for putting my daughter first, and my family and close friends close behind.  They're what makes all this craziness worth it.

How do you balance family, friends and being a workshifter?

Photo by: doou