This last month, I’ve been reminded that it’s important to balance how much work I’m doing with how much much time my family needs.  I’ve been under deadlines, in a major crunch zone, and it’s impacted my family – obviously. But it has also impacted our finances – and not necessarily for the better.

I know – that doesn’t exactly make sense. But it does. When I’m under pressure, working hard, I don’t always get to making dinner – and so we go out more. 

And, to make up to the kids for all the time I have to spend at the computer, I’m more likely to buy them little treats or take them out to do something. It’s my way of giving them a reward for all the help they give me during these temporary crunches. But yet, those things cost money too.

When it’s all said and done, I sometimes look back over the time and realize that I actually spent more money than I made. How insane is that?

So, it is times like this I have to take a step back and ask myself, will this project really be worth the costs in the long run. Will it really make us money or will it end up costing us money?

What do you think? Does this ever happen to you?

A couple weeks ago, I wrote up a great new post for you all and then discovered that earlier that day someone or some program had hacked into this site and blocked me from posting any thing new. <UGH!!>

 Now normally, with databases I know well, I’m a security freak. But apparently I dropped the ball with WordPress. (Gotta love these life lessons).  As you can see I can post again, but in the meantime, I’m sorry for being silent for a while. Technology has its blessings, but also its…well ….downsides.

Anyway, check back tomorrow, as I’ve got a new series on saving money on groceries, and saving some prep time for those of us who are short on time.  Have a great week!

…Shannon

For the last five months I’ve been experimenting with a Success Calendar, a time management concept I ran across in December when reading Carrie Wilkerson’s ebook: Juggling?? Time Management Tips – Strategies for Your Success from 3 Experts!.

Basically, the concept is to plan out first your time off, including vacations and free days (where you aren’t working); and then to schedule out your support/administration days and your focused work days. Everything is color-coded and marked with moveable stickers (so its easy to make schedule changes).

My 2009 Success Calendar (in January)

Since I ran across this concept at the end of December, when I was doing my whole planning and re-evaluating thing, I decided to give this a try. Right off, it proved useful because my husband and I were able to iron out what our vacation/holiday wish list and get those scheduled and start the planning/budgeting process. Definitely a first for us and so far successful.

Next I scheduled the free days, days where realistically I’m not going to get much work done anyway (too many activities or family commitments). Doing this made me realize why I was getting into bottlenecks with my work. I really wasn’t taking much for free days in some periods of time and in others was taking too many. This helped me kind of plan what I wanted to do, and then schedule around it.

Three types of work days schedule with free time and support days

Next was the work days. Now I have three types of work – magazine work (a steady client), client work (project-based), and then work on this blog and other personal projects. So I ended up scheduling those out. First the magazine work, because that’s on a production cycle and I can predict when the work is coming and how much time it will take. Then, I had to look at the client work I was doing. That was an eye opener. No wonder I was working so many late nights! I had a lot more work than I had time. (oops)

After using this for five months, I’ve discovered that 1) my kids like to come look at it to see what type of day it is (a free day or a work day); 2) I needed move things around a lot; 3) I really needed to make some changes to my habits to get this to work. 

It’s interesting moving things around; because the theory is that once the calendar is completely scheduled out, you should only swap days around. Well, it’s harder than you think. I keep wanting to add in work days, skip the free days. Now it’s getting difficult to swap out days because I’ve moved so many free days to the latter half of the year. But it is good for forcing me to really look at how much I’m accomplishing in the days that I am working and how much I’m not. 

I expect that as time goes on and I learn how to use this method more effectively and really carve out those focus times during the day (instead of the middle of the night, which has been my habit for the last twelve years). I find its good for me to go back to the interview Carrie did with Sarah Robinson and re-read how she implements it and how it works for her. It helps me keep perspective and learn more about how to make better use of my time.

For now I’m going continue to work with this method. It’s a different way of thinking about my schedule than I’ve used in the past, and it’s hard to break habits. But so far, I have experienced definite benefits to using this method, and think that over time I can make this work further.  If you are looking for a way to balance work and home, I would suggest giving it a try.  For more information, check out Carrie’s ebook Juggling?? Time Management Tips – Strategies for Your Success from 3 Experts!. The info is in the second interview. (the other two interviews are very useful too!)

Anyway, food for thought

…Shannon

Last week I moved my office and what a difference it has made – to me, to the family, and to my ability to get things done. 

Up until six months ago, I’ve always had my office in a main part of the house, usually the living room or in a room that opens up into the living room – so I could see the kids while I worked.  But six months ago, I felt I needed an office where I could close the doors and not be disturbed while I was focusing or on a conference call. And that sort-of worked.

Unfortunately, what I failed to factor in is how separate it would make me, how much I would miss the view of the yard and kids playing, and how much less space I would have. So I’ve moved again.

My office is now in front of a 12 foot span of windows overlooking the back yard, where I can see the butterflies twitter about my garden and the dragonflies zoom across the yard, and I can see my kids playing. 

Looking to my right I have the rest of the living room, where I can see my 5 year old working on her art projects, my 11 year old reading, and all four of the kids’ computers (and exactly what is on them). 

I’m so much more accessible here. But also have so much more space to work. Everything feels so much more open, and when I need a break I can just look up and remember why I’m doing this. 

It’s amazing what a little location change can do for productivity and psyche.

Eariler I shared that every December I spend a few weeks, reflecting about the previous year and where I want to go in the new year. Part of that process is looking at what I’m commited to for the new year, and clearly understanding what time I have available and what time is completely full.

This has become critical for me, because I tend to overcommit. Large, complex projects and say, baseball or soccer season, are usually not good mixes. I get stressed out and end up working a lot of nights. So, I’ve re-employed a technique I used to use when I was a training manager and coordinating software implementations, and that I used when I was coordinating communications projects – a Production Calendar.

Once upon a time I used to use a monthly calendar with big squares, so then I could just write events on a post-it note and move it around as projects moved around. Now I use a large, laminated, yearly calendar like this:

Using a color-coding system, I write with Vis-a-Vis markers any work commitments I have, any conferences I’m speaking at or attending, and any vacation time.  So then I can see, from my desk, just by glancing up, what is going on when.  The process also helps me see how my work is balanced through out the year (or not…)

Personally, I like to have alternating periods of intense work followed by really light work.  One of my clients is a technical trade magazine that  I help edit and coordinate the production cycle on. Every two months there is an intense burst of activity – a flurry to get things pulled together and out the door. After which, I really like taking some time off to just spend with the kids and do small projects.  By looking at the production calendar, I can see where my ups are and where my down cycles are. And then I can plan accordingly.

It also helps me set expectations with my family. For example, last April looked like this:

I was away for a week, speaking at a conference, then came back to two very large projects overlapping each other. Not great planning on my part, but both timelines were set and needed my attention. By looking the calendar ahead of time, I could tell my kids and husband what to expect that month, and point to the next month and show them where the down time would be.

I usually set this up at the beginning of every year, and then update it as needed through out the year. My large projects are usually booked out months in advance, so that is helpful, but it also allows me to see where I might need to do some extra marketing work or what I call “stirring of the pot” to see if there’s any work coming down the line, or conversely block off time for known, upcoming projects and be able to say “I’m sorry my calendar is booked until…” if things are really busy.

This has been a great tool for me. It doesn’t replace my monthly/weekly/daily planning that I do, but it gives me a year at a glance to know what is coming and where I have some flexibility.