Recently while I was in a hotel room in Tusayan, Arizona, the sun was coming up around 8a. The family's asleep, internal clocks still set to Eastern Time.

So was mine, but I had been online for the better part of 3 hours.

As a writer, my work travels with me to wherever my laptop-in-tow sniffs out an Internet connection. That day, that was 5 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I emailed editors back East, scheduled some interviews for when we return, written a client blog and Facebook note about our adventures and reviewed the Nikon D3100 digital SLR that's chronicled almost every moment of our trip.

A fairly full morning from a quiet hotel room

My clients often wonder aloud why I "work" while on family getaways. They chide me, though their comments are offered as gentle, constructive advice about powering down. They're not suggesting I just turn off the laptop now, but that I disconnect in the greater sense - from work while away. Absorb the vacation, they say. Get into the moment.

Twenty-two years into workshifting, almost 20 years navigating that intersection where home-based entrepreneurship meets parenthood - and just as many years spent traveling with family and work in tow - I've discovered a thing or two about getting into the moment. I realized long ago it's a deeply personal thing, ingrained into each of our DNA.

Frankly, my moment comes before the first family member stirs in the morning. By the time they'll awaken today, I'll have logged more than 1,000 words of varying sorts - both billable and non-billable. They'll be none the wiser; my clients will feel, well, if not "lucky," then thankful that I delivered their project (even though I warned them before leaving home that I would NOT be working - and IF I happened to deliver work, then that would not be an invitation for them to open the floodgates to more requests or obligations).

Workationing is about managing expectations - of family, of clients, of yourself

I don't push the issue with the family, though as the children of an entrepreneur, my kids can connect the dots between work, paycheck and vacations. As for myself, I abide by the limit we seem to have worked out here: once the family is awake, the laptop soon closes, likely until we hunker down for the night. Then my time is my own again.

So working from the road means different things to different people. To me, it's about finding balance in life and work - and frankly, I love what I do. As a writer, I enjoy the writing and editing process. I find catharsis in creativity and release in the moment I hit Send to deliver a finished product. I feel blessed that freelancing affords me the chance - or shall I say, the freedom - to pursue my career from anywhere: a hotel room near the Grand Canyon, a lodge in the Ozark Mountains, or a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

As the family awakens, it's time to power down (the laptop, not my workshifting). I still have my BlackBerry; I still get work emails and correspondence in need of response. And I respond. My family won't chide me if I peek and reply here and there.

They're OK with that.

And so am I.

Photo Credit: chrissam42

In my experience, unless children are asleep, it's pretty hard to get work done around them, especially if the work requires mental concentration. That's why when I work from home my husband is still the primary caregiver - I'm mostly just there so I can see the kids on breaks and be aware of what's going on with my household.

Once in awhile, though, I have to pull double duty. When my husband has an appointment and we can't find a babysitter, I sometimes have to figure out ways to keep two kids occupied for a half hour or so while I attend to business.

So I give them work to do.

Not my work, of course, but work of their own. While I finish a task, they can draw and color, make a card for Grandma, work on their reading or math workbooks, build a new Lego masterpiece or even pick up toys.

I like working side by side with my children. I feel as though I'm setting an example for them, and they're getting an idea of how the grown-up world works. They're learning there's a time for work and a time for play, and that both can be satisfying and fun.

Who knows - maybe someday we'll workshift together for real?

Not that I don't hope they'll move out on their own eventually, but I'd be proud to have them workshift with me during extended vacations - ideally at their houses, where I'll be the cool workshifting grandma who's still cranking out copy at a ripe old age. And then I'll give the grandkids work to do, too.

Photo Credit: plums_deify

Have you heard about the study published in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior that found the eroding boundary between work and family life takes a greater toll on women than men?

That's right - while some see workshifting as a woman's best friend, the study found that the constant availability via cell phone or email adds more stress to their lives, instead of decreasing it.

Paul Glavin, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Toronto, led a team that looked at the emotional aspects of the balancing act between work and home. They surveyed 1,000 working men and women and found that women who were contacted frequently by work while away from the office reported feeling higher levels of psychological distress than men who were contacted frequently.

Turns out the study showed that it's not that women didn't have the chops to handle both roles. It's that they felt guilty about having the roles blurred.

"Initially, we thought women were more distressed by frequent work contact because it interfered with their family responsibilities more so than men," said Glavin. "However, this wasn't the case. We found that women are able to juggle their work and family lives just as well as men, but they feel more guilty as a result of being contacted. This guilt seems to be at the heart of their distress."

I assume the guilt has a lot to do with the "traditional" mother and wife roles that were (and still are) assigned to women. As a result there is likely more guilt associated with the fear of not meeting those expectations - regardless of whether they are verbalized or not, or whether work contact at home actually hindered either of those roles.

I'm wondering also if it has a lot to do with setting unrealistic expectations, both on the home and the work front.

What do you think? Have you experienced these feelings of guilt? If so - how have you dealt with them? And what about those workshifting couples out there - have you noticed that your partner handles stress differently than you do?

Photo Credit: Surreal Sways

Did you know that hospitals have great wifi?

Granted, a hospital is a weird place to workshift. But it can be done. Of course, I don't recommend a steady dose of it, because it tends to mean that you or someone you love is stuck in one. In my case: my mom. Without delving into the details, suffice it to say she was in the ICU for a week and in the hospital for two.

I've written in the past about how to avoid work pitfalls when you get sick. When someone close to you is in the hospital, however, you have to adjust to that, too. It's just not in the same way.

Here are my 5 tips for workshifting from the ICU:

1. Assess the Limitations. As workshifters, we're used to typing away in unusual venues and talking business in sub-optimal places. I even initiated a client call once when I was in a bar (disclosure: I was hosting an event, and I did give the client a heads up about the timing). But the ICU is not a place where you should be making or taking phone calls.
   
   
2. Give Clients (or Bosses) a Heads Up. Clients don't need (or want) the nitty gritty details, but they do need to know your schedule's in some flux. I was supposed to be setting up interviews for one project; we negotiated what had to be done and what could be postponed a week. (It helps to have great clients.)
   
   
3. There's a Human "Need to Know," Too. It's useful for clients and bosses to know your head isn't fully in the game. It's okay. We're human, and it happens. We just have to share that fact with other people from time to time.
   
   
4. Think Pen and Paper. There were enough machines in the ICU without my computer to get in the way. I used a pen and paper to draft several blog posts and work on some client stuff.
   
   
5. Books Are Good. I had a book review to write, which meant a book to read. The ICU is a quiet place to catch up on reading. I also used my Google Reader app to skim through posts on my Droid.

Yes, I did put the wifi to good use--after my mom was moved to a regular medical ward. (She's now back home recovering.) And I discovered that the cafeteria serves a good breakfast, making me wonder if it might be a good place to hang out and get some work done in the future. That is, if I hadn't already decreed that my family should boycott hospitals for a while.

Where's the craziest place you've workshifted lately?

Photo Credit: nerissa's ring

I remember the days when I used be able to go to work early and stay late. I'd wake up naturally to the sun peeking into my room, jump in the shower and get ready for work. Now that I'm a full-time working mom, my mornings and evenings are a bit different. It's more like a Barnum & Bailey production with me as the ringmaster. Well, perhaps it's my son who is the ringmaster. Either way, it's certainly a circus and probably entertaining enough to be a new reality show on Bravo or TLC.

Our nanny doesn't arrive until 8 AM, so I can't head out the door and start my day any sooner. Then, I have to get out of the office early enough to relieve our nanny and try and spend some quality time with my son before his bedtime - no easy task with a hectic workload. During the first few months of leaving the office with time to do that, I found myself quietly grabbing my keys and walking the furthest route to the door in order to leave undetected. I didn't want the potential glares and grumbles from co-workers as I strolled out of the building at 4 PM. So I'd slink off and hear the run-down of my son's day, play until his bedtime, and then go back to work in my home office. So why did I feel like my walk to the car at 4 PM was something to be ashamed of? I was getting my work done; it just wasn't in the traditional 9-5 time period.

Let's get real here for a second here, though. Workshifting is a privilege and not a right. Of course there will be some people who abuse it. Heck, maybe even more than some. But that shouldn't ruin it for others, who truly care about their job and need more flexibility to create a proper work-life balance. There are far too many remote access and online meeting tools out there to be confined to your office building. When I tell people about my schedule and situation I usually get an expression of shock, envy, or both. But I keep saying to these people, working from home doesn't have to be reserved for online survey takers, ad clickers, or cold callers. It's just another option and tool that everyone should be able to have. Perhaps employers and organizations need to think less about the potential abuse and more about making life easier for their employees. I no longer look at my departure as a walk of shame, but rather something I've earned over time and am proud of doing.

What do you think holds companies back from allowing their employees to workshift?

Photo Credit: dcmetropeople

It's Telework Week, a nationwide effort dedicated to encouraging organizations and individuals to pledge to workshift. While this week makes it especially easy for me to workshift, I've had the fortunate situation to be able to do that whenever I need to. I became a first-time Mom in April of 2010 and was able to work from my home office three days a week. That time gradually diminished and now I only telework when I need to but it was an incredible stress reliever knowing I had the option.

Below is a video of my workshifting story:

Are you a new-Mom (or Dad?) with a similar story? I'd love to hear it!

Note: This is one of 5 real-life workshifting stories that we're sharing as part of Telework Week. If you enjoyed this story, make sure you check out the other stories.

Note: This is one of 5 real-life workshifting stories that we're sharing as part of Telework Week. If you enjoyed this story, make sure you check out the other stories.

As I stared into the steel grey eyes of my newborn for the first time, I asked myself the question: "How will I ever leave this beautiful bundle of joy and return to work in 3 months?!"

As a working mom of a dual income household, I'm not the first to ask that question nor will I be the last. There are endless articles on "Mommy Guilt" and the inevitable return to work but it doesn't have to be a date marked on the calendar with a big red pen and tears blotted on the page all around it. It can actually be a date to look forward. For many mommies like me out there who love their job and enjoy what they do, the key to making this transition as smooth as possible is having the option to Workshift.

A few weeks before I was scheduled to return to work my husband and I discussed the idea of my working remotely a few days a week. I set up my home office with all the working mommy essentials: A nursing pillow specifically designed for my office chair, my giant coffee mug, a Costco size bag of trail mix, a hands free headset, and plenty of bottled water. As the days went by with my Booboo (my affectionate nickname for my son) and that big red circle on the calendar came near, I actually started getting excited to work! I have to hand it to full-time moms out there. Staying home with your little one as amazing as it is begins to feel a bit like the movie Groundhog Day eventually. I just couldn't keep going for walks in the AM, meeting friends for lunch, and doing laundry in the afternoons. I was really looking forward to getting back into the fast paced action of working for an innovative collaboration company.

The truth is that the hardest part about returning to work is the challenge you face with trying to continue to breastfeed. From the moment you have the baby, you are required (in the state of California) to watch a series of 15 minute videos in the hospital about the benefits of breast milk for your baby. These videos essentially program you to believe that giving your infant anything other than your homemade 'fresh from the breast' milk makes you a selfish undeserving Mother. Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the idea. So as you spend the next three months providing this liquid gold to your child every 1.5-2 hours, you are suddenly supposed to deprogram yourself, break the bond, and return to work, in a cold dark room and pump. I have to hand it to California though as they legally require your employer to allow a break and provide a room for a mother who desires to express milk in private. The point is that it's a messy and unnerving transition as you suddenly go from breastfeeding mommy to pumping mommy. Not only is pumping generally uncomfortable but your body also needs the touch and smell of your baby to produce breast milk. So there you are, sitting in this room all by yourself with only 15 minutes before your next big meeting, watching a video of your baby on your mobile device pumping when only the day before you were snuggled on the couch with your little one. Now tell me that situation isn't stressful!

I luckily got to avoid that scene at least three days a week as I sat in my home office workshifting with my Booboo in the other room playing with our Nanny. I was able to be a more productive and less resentful new mom while making the transition back to a working Mother. Our nanny would bring my son to me when he was hungry and I could breastfeed him comfortably while still attending my online meeting with my hands free headset on (thankfully no video capability at the time). Now that my son is a bit older, I only workshift when I need to but I'm incredibly thankful for the workshifting movement that allowed me to maintain the work life balance I desperately needed at the time.

Photo Credit: eamills

As any worker knows, the holidays and work clash.  We want to enjoy time with family, overeat on Thanksgiving, shop like mad on Black Friday, but the demands of work get in the way.

For example, I work 1500 miles away from my family and Grammie.  While I love the beaches of Santa Barbara, I miss being close to them in the cowboy country of Oklahoma.

As my Grammie's health has been declining this year, my company and remote technology has allowed me to work from Oklahoma for the holidays.

This has made my Grammie happy and my life that much richer.  My Grammie has written workshifting a thank you letter as a result (below).

Thank you to workshifting (from me and my Grammie), and thank you to the innovation of technology that allows all of us to work from anywhere.

Your most loyal supporters,
Jessica and Grammie J

I started working from home full-time a little over 2 years ago, when my partner and I decided to give up our downtown office in an effort to simplify and cut down on some expenses. It was a great decision, and we've never looked back. Our team of web developers, graphic designers, and video specialists all work remotely as well, and we find that it makes us all very agile and highly productive. We've had to work through the occasional communications glitch, but overall it's been the best thing for our company's growth and success.

There's only one problem with being home-based. A good proportion of my work now takes place within the same physical space as my leisure time, and that can create some conflicts. It's all too easy to just "hop on the computer" for a few minutes, and suddenly find myself caught up in various work tasks, when I'm supposed to be relaxing with my family or sleeping. I don't know how many times my husband has said to me "Are you STILL on that computer?" at 11pm, as I do "just one more thing" before going to bed.

Working from home can easily throw off the work/life balance. I've learned the hard way that it's critical to maintain a balance between downtime and work time, or all sorts of disastrous things can happen. Here are a few of the things I've managed to figure out to help strike and keep my work/life balance.

Lift and Separate

For the longest time, my office was in one corner of our basement rec room. This caused two problems. One, I'd get frustrated when my husband would come home from work and want to turn on the TV to play video games or watch a movie, interrupting my flow (I can't work as effectively with background distractions). Two, even after I shut off the computer for the day, it was too physically close to my "living" space. I would be trying to wind down by relaxing in front of the TV, and my office would be doing all it could to lure me back. I'd find reasons to go back and do that "one more thing", and before I knew it, it would be 11pm and another so-called relaxing evening would be shot.

I've now rectified this by moving my office upstairs to a separate room (which was already being used as a computer room). My husband and I are still in the process of turning this space into a functioning office for both of us, but just by moving my work into a room that I can physically leave at the end of the day has helped immensely. I can literally close the door and walk away, and I've reclaimed the rest of my house as living space again. My home is my office, but my office is no longer my home.

The Big Wind Down

When we work in an office, we leave for the day, go home, or out with friends. Most of the time, we have a good 4 or 5 hours to unwind from the day, have a change of physical surroundings, and get in a good headspace to have a restful night, so we can be refreshed for the morning. When we work from home, we tend to move directly from the office to our beds, and then wonder why we can't get to sleep. We skip over the normal wind-down process because the commute to our bed is only a few steps. I was having real problems with sleep a few months back. I would go to bed and my mind would be racing with all the things I had to do. Nothing I did could help me calm down. Then finally, my wise husband reminded me that I still needed that wind down time I'd had when I was working in an office.

Don't shut off the computer and just go to bed. Spend some time, even an hour, unwinding after you finish your work. Watch some TV, read a (non-business) book, meditate, do yoga, or have a non work- related chat with your spouse or a friend. Giving yourself that bit of time every day will help you clear your mind, rest better, and be more fresh to take on the challenges of the next day.

Working from home is great. But keeping the balance is definitely a challenge. How do you balance work and life when they occur in the same space?

Photo Credit: sarako