A Room With a View

Working from home has brought a difference I hadn’t really appreciated before I made the move: new co-workers. Meet Lexi, Rocki (above), and Lucy (below, who is usually being this ridiculous when she's not sleeping).

I have to say, they are not as industrious or helpful as my previous colleagues have been. However, they are entertaining and they don’t mind if I talk to myself. And they are completely supportive of any decisions I make. Especially if it involves food.

Once difference I was looking forward to was not staring at the wall of a cubicle all day. My office has two windows that look out onto greenery in every direction. The amount of wildlife continually parading before me is astonishing.

Coming from California and Arizona before my move to the Midwest, I’m used to a much more limited range of wildlife. I grew up surrounded by orange groves so we had gophers and lizards and some birds. We could hear coyotes wailing their hearts out at night.

In Arizona I had a roadrunner perch on my backyard wall.

Photo credit: Jennifer Vander Klipp

But with the heat of the day, most wildlife stayed out of sight.

So I was delighted to find that a momma robin was building her nest right outside my office window on a little stub of a branch. I watched her fly in and out with bits of twigs and plant matter. She’d tuck it in with her beak and then stomp around in a circle, treading it in place until the nest took shape. And then she was off for more.

Photo credit: Jennifer Vander Klipp

You can see how her coloring perfectly disguises her when she’s sitting in her nest. You can barely see the red breast and the only other color is in her beak.

My coworkers were utterly fascinated. They were perfectly still all day, only their heads swiveling as Momma flew in and out.

I know nothing about robins so I did what all good researchers do and Googled them. This was how I knew when Momma settled into the nest and didn’t move that she was laying her eggs. At this point, we had to be careful. If the light was right, she could see movement in my office and would fly off. I didn’t want her to be scared away so I started approaching my office with care, moving slowly.

But I had one frustration. (To be continued…)

But I had one frustration. (To Be Continued…)

Why do you work at home?

As you may remember, I recently partnered up with Making Work at Home Work as a blogger. This post is a thought-provoking one on why we choose to work at home.

By Mary M. Byers

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don't know why they are working. Most assume that they are working for money. But when I talk to people about the topic, I hear a lot of different reasons for work. Some work for the mental stimulation. Some to keep their skills up to date. Other work to support their scrapbooking habit or to be able to purchase cosmetics at a discount.

There's a big difference between working to put food on the table vs.working for the "extras" such as summer camp or a vacation. Both are legitimate but it's essential to be honest about your motivation. Knowing what drives you will help you keep your priorities in order. When my children were young, I worked for the extras. However, instead of stopping when I earned enough to help with vacation costs I kept right on going, becoming a workaholic in the process. It didn't serve me or my family. When I recognized my error, I was able to cut back on work in order to create a healthier balance. Now that my children are school-age and I'm working to help cover orthodontia, tuition and retirement, I've increased my hours accordingly.

Understanding why you are working makes it easier to make tough work-related decisions. Will you work on the weekends? Stay up late to get it all done? If you're working to put food on the table, the answer will more likely be yes. But if you're working for the fun of it, you may choose not to compromise family time by late night or weekend work. When you know why you are working, it gets easier to decide what kind of boundaries you'll adhere to.

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Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. You can learn more about making work at home work by subscribing to Mary’s free blog at http://www.makingworkathomework.com/. Interested in more articles like this? Join the blog ring here.

Making Work at Home Work: Managing Your Stress Level

Those of us who work from home (let's face it--that's all of us moms) are always looking for ways to keep everything calm and balanced. Having any luck with that? Yeah, me neither. But here's a terrific piece from Mary Byers of Making Work at Home Work with some tips to help.

Expanding and Contracting: Managing Your Stress Level
By Mary M. Byers

My work is seasonal. I make about 30% of my income for the entire year in one month! That's
the good news. The bad news is that it can be stressful getting through such a busy time. That's
where the concept of "Expanding and Contracting" comes in.

Expanding and contracting requires making a conscious decision regarding how big your life
view is going to be at any given time. For example, I once had a speaking engagement in my
home town. Since my mother lived there, I decided to take my children along so they could
spend some time with grandma.

Several weeks before the engagement, my world view was still large. I could look at the
calendar for the entire month, make plans for later in the summer, and keep an active “To
Do” list for the week. As the engagement approached, however, I narrowed my focus to
getting my presentation ready and getting myself and the kids packed. The day before our
departure, getting out the door and to Grandma’s house was ALL I focused on. As soon as my
presentation was over, however, I was able to expand my focus again and begin planning for
our next trip—a family vacation.

You’ve probably used these concepts of expanding and contracting without even knowing
it. Think about the last time you had friends over for dinner. When you called to extend the
invitation, your life view was still large. As you approached the day of the meal, your view
contracted as you began to plan the menu and make your grocery list. The day of the event,
your view likely contracted even more, to the point of being focused on straightening the house
and getting the food prepared. After your guests arrived, your view could begin to expand again
and by the time they left, you were probably already thinking ahead to what the next day would
bring.

Expanding and contracting your view is extremely useful in staving off stress. As I view my
calendar some days and an overwhelmed feeling starts creeping over me, I simply take a
deep breathe (or two, or three, or ten, depending on the situation!) and ask myself, “How can
I contract my focus?” Doing so keeps me from being paralyzed and gives me a focal point
toward which to direct my energy. It's an extremely effective means of staying sane when you're
running a home and a business under one roof. Having a laser focus is necessary sometimes
just to get you through the day.

What techniques do you use to help you get through your work-related
busy times? E-mail me at mbyers@marybyers.com and I'll share your tricks in my next
post. Until then, now that I'm done traveling for awhile, I'm expanding my focus again and it
feels good!

______________________

Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully
Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. You can learn more about
making work at home work by subscribing to Mary’s free blog at www.makingworkathomework.com. Interested in more articles like this? Join the blog ring here.