148: How to Juggling Family Life and Blogging

Finding a Balance Between Family Life and Blogging Life Today, we are talking about family and blogging. One of the reasons I was attracted to blogging was because it seemed like something that would allow me to have some flexibility in my life and time for family. Today, I’m going to talk about how that turned out, and the struggle and tensions that can arise when blogging with family around. My blogging career didn’t turn out quite as we expected it would, but my full-time blogging does allow me flexibility and to be involved with day to day family life. By working at home, I can greet my kids at the door after school, attend daytime school concerts, give my kids rides when needed, and take my son to a cafe on Fridays. There are also challenges with working at home and being so close to family all of the time. Family and blogging demands can pull on each other and achieving balance can be a challenge. In Today’s Episode Family Life Blogging Life Balance - Tips on Getting it Right Set aside time for blogging or your business and set time aside for your family - Carve out times where you are 100% focused on each Become as organized as you can be - I get more done when I have less time because I plan better Communicate your boundaries - The schedule doesn’t work unless you communicate it to those around you I talk about my work and share with the kids Set up signals and reminders that I am focusing on work, if I’m in my office I am working - this will eliminate distractions - physical separation and signal - if the door is shut, I am not to be disturbed Have the ability to work outside the home - cafes, libraries, I rented a room in a church, I also found a co-working space - mixing up the working environment helps with creativity and eliminates distractions Have a way to capture ideas on the run - ideas and inspiration in the middle of family time - use a notebook or phone with apps like Evernote Extended time away from blogging is useful - I spend 3 or 4 weeks a year where I don’t check my blog at all - good to unwind - good for business to come back fresher Delegate and outsource - Getting other people involved in some of the work of my business has helped me considerably   Get help in other areas of your life - a cleaner or a gardener Make peace with the tension and be mindful and keep priorities in mind, there will be times that you get out of balance. Further Resources on Family Life Blogging Life Balance - Tips on Getting it Right Virtual Ticket for upcoming ProBlogger Conference Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: You can do it. Mr. Five: I can’t getting it. Darren: Hi there, welcome to ProBlogger. Mr. Five: Hi there, welcome to Progg… Darren: Say it again. Mr. Five: Hi there, welcome to Pro…dagger Darren: ProBlogger. Mr. Five: Pro…B…Blogger Darren: ProBlogger. Mr. Five: ProBlogger. Darren: Pro, I said it wrong. ProBlogger. Mr. Five: Plo…Blogger. Darren: We should change the name to something else, what should it be? Mr. Five: Hi there, welcome to the Rowse Family. Darren: The Rowse Family, that would be much easier and nice to say. Mr. Five: Today we’re talking about family and blogging. Darren: Hi there, it’s Darren from ProBlogger here. That was Mr. Five, we’ll call him. He’s my five year old son. He’s home with me today. It made me think about a question that I get asked quite a bit. How do you juggle family life and blogging life? Ever since I’ve been in blogging, I blog from home. This has been a bit of a juggle for me because I started blogging when I was newly married. We were dreaming of having a family, having kids. Once we didn’t have them yet, one of the reasons that I was first attracted to the idea of blogging as a way of earning money and build...