Setting at home office hours

Hat: Lack of color / Bracelets: An Old Soul Jewelry / Shirt: H&M / Denim: H&M / Sandals: Splendid

I have never set at home office hours over my 7 years of full-time entrepreneurship. Do you have set home office hours? Or do you go by any schedule post corporate job? I recall when I started on my own, single woman with bills and a mortgage to pay, I was cautioned by a fellow friend who said I would work more hours than ever but would be happier. It was true.

I worked for 12-14 hours a day and my social life was equally as busy  – because as a single girl my time was however I wanted to spend it and with whomever. I enjoyed the flexibility tremendously but what happened is I worried so much about working and making a dollar (I was completely supporting myself) I would rarely not work – work came first, I was flexible, sure but I never gave myself enough me time. But, fast forward seven years and also married, lately I’ve noticed it’s been harder to figure out how to stop working.

Sometimes at the end of the day I feel like all I did was sit in front of my computer and wait to answer emails. Have you ever felt that way? Or maybe you just worked and worked.

Sometimes at the end of the day I feel like all I did was sit in front of my computer and wait to answer emails. Have you ever felt that way?

Now there’s nothing wrong with sitting in front of a computer all day as a girl boss when work is coming but I can’t help but think I can do less screen time if you will, and still get equal amount of work done, if not more.  Plus, my conscious choice to not return to the corporate world was to have more free time to do random things – life things, enjoy the flexibly.

I’ve heard about entrepreneurs setting office hours – I assumed it was more for the mom bosses who also needed to set boundaries with kid time, schedules, nap times, or just love having a schedule in general. Since life is simple with me and my husband, I never felt like I needed office hours, besides, I LOVE working because I love what I do.

However, back to what I was saying, I feel like I need some structure. And trust me, I skirt the rules all the time because while I am incredibly disciplined, I’m also incredibly laid back because the last thing I want is to be rigid. If you make the rules, you can break them. Besides, a schedule isn’t a rule – it’s a suggestive guideline. Because life is not exactly a perfect schedule, right?

So here’s my tentative plans, just sharing if you were wanting to create your own as I’m definitely not saying this is the way to go. I may change my mind in a month but it’s been a few weeks and it’s been pretty awesome!

WORK DAYS – Monday, Wednesday, & Friday

Blog posts are guaranteed to be published on those days so I may as well work.

9:00 Work. Answer emails, schedule blog posts, pins, be participating on social media. Take photos, respond to blog comments and social.

12:00 Step away form the computer. Lunch, errands, meet friends, watch a Netflix movie, do laundry, dishes.

3:00 Back to work. If work is done and there are no emails past 5 pm, close down computer. Turn it OFF. Do something else around the house, make dinner on time.

These at home work days are likely to be in loungewear unless I’m meeting a friend for lunch but if I can, it’d be great to keep those meetings on play days. Again there’s lots of flexibility here.

PLAY DAYS – Tuesday & Thursday

If I can afford them. Still happy to shoot on those days if work is available.
Otherwise, I’m cutting back on office hours.

8:00  Workout/go on a walk/garden. Walk around my neighborhood to stir up creative juices, sort out thoughts, jot down notes in my phone,  walk around – maybe with camera in hand – and scout locations for shoots.

9:00 Shower, get ready for the day, answer any emails that need a response. 30 minutes tops.

2:00 Check back in on emails that need a response by end of the day. Hoping this is just 30 minutes tops.

Play days can mean I’m super casual at home doing my own thing but also I can be running errands, shopping, doing creative things. Meet a friend for a casual coffee, lunch, whatever. If I find myself working on these play days I’ll turn off the computer to keep myself from working.

Benefits of setting work days/office hours

• It helps you schedule beauty appointments, casual friendly lunches and if they cancel, you won’t be upset you could have “done something else like make money” during that time.
• Discipline with less time. Kids who did sports or extra curricular activities are known to have higher grades because of time management – why wouldn’t the same work for business?
• It helps you schedule shoot days, work meetings, and forces you to sit down and WORK!

Would love to hear if you have thought about making an office hour schedule or if you already have and how you enjoy it. Or any type of schedule you have to make yourself do things. I was thinking maybe of interviewing some lady bosses who have had office hours. xx

Photos by Bloguettes for An Old Soul Jewelry at Montelucia.