Being thrown into the world of home schooling can feel very overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to run and grow a business at the same time!
How on earth are you going to fit everything in with the latest national lockdown restrictions?
- Kids stuck at home not being able to see their friends
- All after school activities and clubs cancelled
- Not sure what work they even need to be doing
- Dealing with the never ending “I’m hungry” requests (more like demands or grunts depending on the age of your kids)
- Your business stuff seems to be at the bottom of this increasing pile of stuff you need to be doing and thinking about
- Only escaping the house for essential travel or your permitted once a day exercise session
The first thing is to stop panicking! You can do this!
There are LOADS of things you can do to make life so much easier for you and everyone else in the family
Do a Brain Dump
Just think of it like a download. This takes everything out of your head and on to a piece of paper. Every single task, every idea you have, write it down. Think about projects you want to do, what are the tasks involved. Break everything down into the individual tasks needed
What happens is you’re literally freeing up space in your head so you’re not feeling so stressed that things haven’t been done. You now have this master list which you can use to prioritise the work that will move you closer to your goals and bring money into the business – we all want that don’t we?
Prioritise Work ✅
You now need to go through everything and prioritise the tasks that you need to be doing first. The key here is to ask yourself 2 questions:
- Will this bring money into the business?
- Will this move me closer to achieving my goal?
If the answer to either of those questions are no, then you don’t focus time at the moment for that task … or you delegate the work to get it done (or even delete it)
Congratulations, you’ve now created your to do list!
Create a Schedule
To create the best schedule that works for you, it will be best to start with the requirements from the school
- Are they running a virtual timetable with live classes
- Are you set specific tasks each day
- Do you have times when you have to check-in with staff?
Each school in my local area seem to be doing slightly different things so can soon get confusing!
The key thing about creating a schedule is that you’re putting together all the home schooling requirements so that you can see at a glance where you have pockets of time available to work on your business
The schedule needs to be fluid so that you can easily adapt if things change
Use the 3 Things Mentality
This is where you will choose just 3 things you MUST do each day ✅
Instead of having your huge to do list feeling like something that you’ll never get through, focus on just 3 things you MUST do today – these are 3 tasks that you have to get done no matter what and are non negotiable. You cannot go to bed until these tasks are completed and to give you a guide, these will normally be money making activities!
You can then choose 3 more things that would be great if you can do them but not the end of the world if you don’t
And finally, choose 3 more things that would be bonus tasks if you got them done
This way, you’re only focusing on 3 things each day so this will definitely help you to optimise your time as well as helping to avoid overwhelm
Give Yourself a Break
Finally, you are doing a great job!! ✅ Don’t be too hard on yourself and celebrate the little wins every day
You will find your feet and by working through these steps as the first part of your journey, you’ll soon be navigating home schooling and business like a pro!