It’s back to school time. My two older kids have been back for a couple of days and I’m still getting used to the routine. In fact, I’m working on a new one, adding in more specific fitness time and fun time for my youngest. Of course, I also want more work time. These hours with fewer kids are something any work at home parent should take advantage of.

Start the Day Well

I’m lucky. My school is walking distance, as in takes less time to walk there than to load the kids, drive there, find a parking space and unload the kids. Like most schools, the first few days are the worst for drop off, with cars parking almost up to my house. Of course we walk.

This is a great time to make sure that my day gets off to a good start. I’m up, out and about. Perfect time to take a longer walk, so I go around the school block, which is about 1.3 miles, almost entirely on a hill. Downhill is pretty easy, but that uphill is on the steep side. Not San Francisco steep, but respectable enough.

I’m alternating this with walking my toddler to the playground. It’s a longer walk total, but with the playground time I get a good break between sections. She loves the time there, as she’s well aware that there’s a playground at the school, and she’s not allowed to use it. Giving her time to play outside while the day isn’t too hot helps tire her a little too.

This is a great way to get the day going if you want to be sure to include exercise in your daily routine. It’s nice to get it done before the day gets hot or you get too involved in work and suddenly realize you forgot to exercise again.

If the weather isn’t right, you can simply play with any kids you still have at home. Give them some attention before you get busy with work.

Plan Your Day

One of the things I do early each day is a bit of marketing work. It may be link building or other very basic marketing activities. Nothing too intense at this point, because I have a toddler who demands attention at random intervals, so I want these times to be work which I can leave and come back to easily.

As my littlest one naps while her siblings are at school, that’s perfect serious work time. Time to work on video marketing, article writing, anything which requires focus and/or quiet.

After the kids get back from school, it’s back to less focused work for me, if I do much at all. There’s homework to be dealt with most days, plus talking about their day, things like that. Things aren’t always terribly productive later in the day for me, up until the kids are in bed, at which point I may choose to work again on things that require more focus, assuming I have the energy.

Your own schedule may well vary from mine. You could get up before the rest of your family because you’re more productive in the early mornings, a thought which makes me (a night owl) shudder. If it works for you, make the most of it.

If all your kids are in school, you probably have a good number of solid work hours, and you should really take advantage of them. Get away from distractions as best you can and get some work done.

I suggest you have at least enough of a schedule to ensure that you do all the things you need to get done every day. If you have a home business, be sure you include some marketing activities every day, for example. If you have a work at home job, see how much you can get done with the kids out of the way.

A to do list or a written out schedule may help. Think about what you need to get done each day and write it down. If you like schedules, estimate the time you’ll need for each and what time you will work on it. Do something so that you’re accountable to yourself at the very least.

Don’t Overdo Activities

Some kids love to be signed up for all sorts of activities, and back to school is a big time to hear about activities to sign up for, clubs to join and so forth. If you have to take your child to a lot of activities, you may be eating into your own work hours or your child’s homework or relaxation time, both important.

Same goes for you, of course. Don’t give yourself more work than you can handle. Work hard, yes. Overwork, no. We all need time to rest and clear our heads.

Most of us procrastinate, at least from time to time. It’s a habit that’s hard to avoid. When you do too much of it, however, it seriously limits your progress.

When the procrastination impacts your home business, there may be a more direct financial impact. Just think how much better your business could be doing if you just cut out the procrastination.

Try Scheduling

One way to avoid procrastinating is to create a schedule for working. Pick times that you’re going to work and plan what you’re going to work on. This bit of time invested can help you get more done.

There are different ways to schedule. Some like having a physical planner to look at. Having things written down on paper is just that much more motivating. That one drives me nuts. I don’t do so well with schedules on paper.

Put it on the computer and keep it more general, and I’m content. My schedules are more general, with tasks and/or priorities and I’ll deal with it. I think it’s mostly that a schedule on the computer feels easier to change when things aren’t working out. My daily life is generally not that amenable to a strict schedule. Three kids will do that to you, especially when they’re young.

Your schedule can help you to limit the time you spend on activities that are good in moderation but can easily become a time suck. Schedule an adequate time for things such as checking email, blog commenting and social networking, and don’t let the time you spend on these activities become excessive. You may need to schedule multiple times throughout the day for these depending on how you’re using each.

Have an Overall Plan

Having an overall plan is a help in general. I plan not only what is most important to me, but have options for those times I have a mental block in one area or another. It really helps when writer’s block is driving me nuts to work on something else… so long as I don’t overdo it and avoid writing tasks for too long.

With a plan you can think both short and long term. You can see if you’re making the progress you’d like. It can be motivating to see if you’re approaching the goals you set up in your plan, whether you’re way behind and know it, or see the end in sight. Just don’t make short term goals so challenging that they’re frustrating rather than motivating.

Know What Encourages Procrastination for You

There are probably some things in your life that make you more or less likely to procrastinate. If you can spot the troublemakers, you may be able to avoid or control them.

That said, sometimes procrastination is worth it when you have kids. Time with them is usually well spent, even if it puts you a bit off schedule, so long as it’s not going to destroy the income your family needs to get by. You do need to be realistic about your financial needs and that the kids will usually be just fine if you tell them you need to work. But adding in a late night or early morning so that you have time during the day for the kids isn’t always a bad thing.

My kids love to play the games on the Nick Jr. website. There’s a good range of free activities they can do there. But they were very frustrated a couple months ago when the site changed. Suddenly they were having trouble reaching the games section.

By all appearances it should be easy. There’s a drop down menu for games and activities, and games is the first selection. But then they were faced with an image of a game that requires a membership (free trial) or a list of show titles to click on to find the game they wanted to play. Hard for my son, who doesn’t read yet.

The next click allows them to pick a game. Finally, they’re at the place they’re used to using for choosing the games they enjoy playing. After the interstitial ad before the first game, of course.

What does all this have to do with planning your own website? Plenty!

It’s important to remember what your goals are. The goal for Nick Jr. isn’t only to provide free entertainment. They need to provide value for their advertisers. And if they can get paid memberships for access to certain games, so much the better for them.

This redesign meant that I had to spend some time helping my kids get through the new interface. We’ve since bookmarked the games main page to simplify things, so now the kids just have the interstitial ad to deal with.

In terms of meeting business goals, I’d say the design did pretty well. It’s a bit frustrating for the main actual users of the site, especially the pre-literate ones, but parents should pay some attention to what their kids are doing even on safe sites.

That’s something you have to consider with your website. Provided great value for free is a lovely goal, but what about the parts that feed your family? Are you taking care of that too?

It’s not always an easy goal to reach. Providing content is easier in many ways.

First thing to do is just get it out there. Whatever is going to help you make money, make sure it’s on your website.

See how it does with your initial placement. Are you earning something from it? Is it relevant to what people who visit your site really want?

Now move it someplace else on the page. How is it doing now?

As a general rule, fairly high on the page and toward the left is most prominent, and likely to help you earn the most money. That’s not a guarantee. It’s a place to start.

You also need to test phrasing, any ways you’re drawing attention to your offer or advertising, and anything else you can think of to test.

Don’t assume one offer will always be the best either. I’ve had ads do well here for months, then dribble off to just about nothing. Frustrating, but that’s all a part of the business.

Your goals should be a combination of earning money and bringing people back to your site. Earning money once is nice, but if you can get them onto your list, you have potentially many more chances to earn from them. Not a bad deal if you can make it work.

The trouble with working at home is that it’s at home. There are a lot of distractions, especially when you have young children about. But when you’re trying to earn a living you have to get as much as possible done with the time you have.

These are some tips that I’ve found useful when I’m working. Things don’t always work out the way I want them to, but that’s all a part of the challenge!

Forget Multitasking

The more you multitask, the more you’re distracting yourself, more likely than not. Sometimes you can’t avoid multitasking, but if you can focus on one thing at a time you’ll probably be more productive.

How long you work on a particular area is up to you. You may do best in 10-15 minute spurts on a particular activity before moving on to something else. There’s nothing wrong with that. But don’t start checking your email, twittering, checking on your Facebook friends and so forth when you’re supposed to be focused. Save it for a break.

Do your best in this area for distractions kids cause and things around the house. You can’t always tell the kids “later” but teach them to respect when you say you need to work and when to interrupt you anyhow. That’s harder when they’re younger, but they’ll learn in time.

Make Time for Your Kids

I just said it. Kids are distracting. But if you give them the time and attention they need you can have more control over it.

Make time to play with them, but also insist that they play without an adult helping. Kids can and should be doing this daily. Just think of how much fun you probably had as a child playing with no adults involved.

If your children need you when you’re working, try the timer method. Set a time for the time you need to finish what you’re working on or for an amount of time that it’s appropriate to have a child of that age wait. When the timer goes off, stop working and go play.

Don’t do this for more urgent needs, of course.

Plan Your Day

Know what you want to get accomplished every day. Write it down on paper so you have something to check off, if that helps you. Or you can type it into the computer. At the very least have goals in your head. Just something to keep you from working aimlessly throughout the day. That makes it far too easy to goof off.

Trust me. I know.

Having plans and goals help you to realize when you’re allowing yourself to slack off too much. But don’t set them so high that you frustrate yourself because you can never achieve them. Be fair to yourself.

Work at the Times that Are Best for You

Well, at least when possible. If you like working in the middle of the day best, and that’s when other obligations need you most, you’re just out of luck in that area. Pick your next best time for working.

I prefer working at night, after the kids have gone to bed. I don’t get to do that every night, but I try. Second best for me is whenever my youngest goes down for her nap. That one often means working through what would otherwise be lunch time, but a late lunch works well enough for me.

Don’t ask me to get up early in the morning to work. I’ll be cranky. I write at night and then schedule blog posts to come out in the early morning so that early birds can read them if they like, but that does not mean I’m one too.

Take Breaks

There’s a reason why employers are required to give employee breaks. They’re necessary. And even though they feel like they’re taking away precious work time, they will help with your productivity overall. They give your mind the rest it needs.

Separate Work and Home

This is a tough one. You’re home all the time but sometimes you’re working. The two tangle up very easily.

Start with your work space. If you can avoid sharing it with the rest of the home it’s a big help. That doesn’t always work. My office, for example, is also the baby’s play area and my daughter’s homework zone. But they don’t have access to my desk or computer.

This is also why planning out your day is so important. It will help you to separate your home and work life.

Consider Outsourcing

Whether or not you can do this depends on what you do and how your budget looks. But if you can pay someone else to do some of your work you’ll get a lot more other stuff done. Done right, outsourcing will allow you to earn even more money.

But it’s not possible for everyone. It’s more for people running a home business, obviously.

Try to remember that just because you have a particular skill doesn’t mean you shouldn’t outsource it. It makes a lot of sense for many people to hire someone to do their taxes, for example. With modern software you could manage it on your own, but it may not be the right choice.

Similarly, a virtual assistant can be a huge help in some of the basic areas of running a home business. Let someone else handle the routine stuff and focus on the projects that require your special skills.

What Do You Do?

What helps you to be more productive? Any tips you would care to share?

It’s not that long until all the holiday craziness will be behind us. As you finish up your holiday shopping, it’s time to turn your attention to next year and start planning, especially if you have a home business.

What Are Your Goals for Next Year?

Looking at the current economy, next year will be off to quite the rough start. Have you started thinking about how you’ll cope yet?

Depending on the circumstances of your family, this can be extremely important. So many people are getting laid off that it really pays to think about how you’re going to cope with tight finances.

Or, if you have a home business, how you’re going to market your business while people need to cut back.

In either case, you need to have goals. Goals about cutting back and living more frugally. Goals to help you overcome obstacles.

Is It Time to Update Your Skills?

If you have a home business, odds are you do have some skills that could use updating. But even if you don’t keeping up to date on your work skills can be a great investment in your future. Many stay at home moms do eventually go back to work, and it’s good to have skills for in case you HAVE to go back someday.

Sites such as Achieve Your Career can help you to pick an online school for your own needs, or you can research them yourself. If you are interested in starting a career in medical transcription, for example, Career Step is a good school to go to.

For home business owners, however, what you pick very much depends on what you’re doing. I like The Renegade Network Marketer for that industry. Pay per click can be learned through ebooks such as Perry Marshall’s AdWords Guide. I could continue to make recommendations, but I won’t just now. Go for quality, not just low price in your education. Don’t break your budget.

Commit to Action

Don’t just think up what you’d like to do. Commit to it. Write it out if that helps you. Keep track somehow of your progress. Hold yourself accountable.