Managing Life Admin When Running A Business AND Raising A Family

Is there any time to do anything anymore? The idea of multitasking seems to be so commonplace in the modern world that there’s no such thing as being productive anymore, more the fact that you just have to be constantly on the go. This is particularly true when you are starting off a business while also looking after a young family.

The feeling of being overwhelmed is something that every parent feels at some point, regardless of what they do outside of raising their family. The big question to ask is that for those people who are so busy, working 12 to 15 hour days on top of raising a family, is where does the opportunity to do life admin slot in? You might feel that you are barely getting a handle on things as they are now, but throw into the mix those essential tasks that need doing, whether they are cooking, cleaning, or running errands and see how far you can get!

These little things appear to be so far down on your priority list, that before you know it, you are relying on microwave meals to feed your family, leaving your house in a complete state, but you also end up being behind payment on your bills. So, how can we address these issues while you already have enough on your plate?

Get Outside Help

This is probably the most obvious approach to take, but for most people who are trying to start up a business, or have more pressing financial matters ahead of them, it means that hiring outside help is usually something that can’t be done. But, regardless of your budget, there may be little things you can outsource. It’s time to put that business head to work in the real world now!

The problem in running our own business, especially when we’re starting out from our home, is that we are within our home environment practically 24/7. And if you are glued to your laptop in your home office, the things like cooking and cleaning are so low on the priority list, that you are very likely to leave them. This is especially the case with odd jobs around the house, so make it a case to prioritize these tasks, and see what you can outsource to cleaners, workmen, and so forth. If you’ve got an issue with your garage door, and you know nothing about it, why don’t you get a garage door servicing company to look at it and to make the problem right again?

After all, if you have no idea where to begin, you are wasting valuable time in getting important work done, or you could be spending time with your children, which no doubt, you feel guilty for not doing enough of right now. And with these little tasks, you’ve crossed so much off your to-do list, that it takes the pressure off you. If you can get outside help, then why don’t you?

Try Not To Work At Home

Yes, this is most definitely easier said than done, but from the perspective of a parent who has to do work rather than play with their kids, it can result in more than a little shred of guilt. So, what is the solution? Because you are going to be knee deep in a project that demands all your attention, but your little one is tugging at your trousers wanting to play, unfortunately, the best approach is to try and minimize this as much as possible by working away from home.

Yes, an office can help to compartmentalize your work and home life, but only to an extent. Your child can still knock the door wanting to play, and it’s much better for you to use your home for family time, rather than it being a place for work. By doing this, you won’t get frustrated, either because you are distracted from your work, or your child is not taking no for an answer.

What is the solution? You can look for shared office space, but if finances are tight, then sometimes we all need to get away from home for a few hours, so set yourself up in a cafe, especially if you’ve been putting off those niggling admin tasks for so long. In trying to work at home, you might realize how unfocused you are on your work, especially with the various distractions. And, it’s not nice to hear your partner explaining to your children that you have to work, so they need to be quiet. It’s not fair on them at all.

Are You Using Tech To Your Advantage?

For any entrepreneur, the buzzword is productivity. So, are you being as productive as you possibly can, or are you limping along with the same tired old tools you used years ago? It might be time to give your approach to work a makeover. This means finding out what tools you can get to make work easier, but also faster.

A very good example of doubling your productivity is by investing in a speech to text program. By using a program where you can, effectively, speak into your computer, and it types out the words for you, not only are you reducing your workload, but if you end up spending hours in front of your computer, you are going to reduce the strain in your wrists and fingers! And, lots of us, very simply, cannot type very fast! So, if you’re able to write a piece of text in the same amount of time as it will take for you to speak it, that would mean roughly 140 words per minute. So if you need to do something that is 1000 words, with an adequate amount of preparation beforehand, you could complete this in 15 minutes!

And it’s not just speech to text that will speed up your processors, if you can find ways to automate certain aspects, as well as sync up your devices, so you can do work while on the move, this will mean your business is going to speed up at an exponential rate. Remember, it’s not about working hard, it is about working smart!

You Are Your Own Boss!

With the amount of tasks that we have to complete, we tend to forget that we are running, effectively, on our own time. This means that you can set your own work hours. Or, you can map out your work structure better. As you are in charge of your business, and yes, it does require a lot of work to get it up and running, you might be better off prioritizing your family and partner around their routines, and you can then do your own work in those gaps in time. This can mean a lot of work during antisocial hours, or a few evenings here and there, but you know when you’ve done enough work, and you know when you haven’t.

So, if you can prioritize what is important to you, as opposed to what is important to your business, this provides a suitable starting point for you to structure your working week, as well as your life. The difficulty we all have when it comes to balancing everything is that we don’t approach it with a clear head, but instead, we get flustered and overwhelmed. You are in charge of your business, and you need to take a business-minded approach to balancing your life. Lots of people talk about the work-life balance, and in this setup, the scales are tipped firmly in your favor. So, this means that you have a lot of advantages over the typical worker, namely you can set your own working times.

So why don’t you take advantage of this for once? You are an entrepreneur, and as such, you can afford to take a few hours off here and there, especially when your business is up and running. There is no point in feeling guilty for not doing a bit of work, as long as the important tasks have been completed, you can focus on what is truly important in life.

Life admin, your family, and your work are not as important as each other. Your family, if it didn’t need reiterating, is the most important aspect. Life admin can pile up to be one of those things that amount to a lot of work, but if you are smart in how you offload it, then it means you’ve got more time to focus on the important things.

The problem we all have in terms of dealing with life admin is that it can overwhelm us for this very reason, that there is too much of it to do. So instead of leaving it pile up, if you incorporate it into your day-to-day dealings, or give it to someone else, or be smarter in how you deal with it, this means a lot less stress for you. Running a business and raising a family are two full-time jobs right there, so why should you sweat the small stuff, when you can outsource it?