Spending more time with your family is one of the most rewarding things that you can do as a parent. Your little one’s are full of some many significant moments just waiting for you to share. However, if you’re a working parent, it can be easy to feel like you’re missing out. Of course, this isn’t your fault, and you should never feel guilty about having to work to provide for your family, but it can get disheartening at times.

Luckily, there are things that you can do to squeeze as much family time out of your daily life as possible, all without seeing your career suffer. So, working parents out there, here are just three top tips for spending more time with your family. 

Make Time for Time Management

If you commit yourself to mastering the art of time management, it can become one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal as a working parent. While time management doesn’t come easy to us all, there are steps that you can take to improve. It’s a skill, after all, and all skills need to be practised to make perfect.

The evolution of the digital world that we live in has ensured that there is an app for everything, and time management is no exception. Apps such as MyLifeOrganized allows you to manage and keep track of your tasks. And, when you use one app for work and family life, you can get the full picture of your day and plan in more time with your little ones.

Consider Remote Working

If the pandemic taught us anything, it was just how many careers can be undertaken from the comfort of our own homes. And without the commute to and from the office, you’ll find that you have even more time in the day.

If you work from home, you’ll always be able to ensure that you’re there for the school run, just make sure to schedule your meetings around this. And, if you’re a business owner, software such as Oleeo can allow you to automate time consuming tasks such as recruitment and even schedule in virtual interviews, so even your hiring can be done from your home office.

Make the Most of the Small Moments

Even the smallest of moments and the most seemingly mundane of daily tasks have the potential to be turned into family bonding experiences. For example, depending on the age of your children, you could make household chores a group activity. Take cooking dinner; recipe boxes such as Gousto come with handy easy to follow instructions, so let your little ones help you cook. Not only is this a great way to spend more time together, but you’ll also be instilling them with useful skills that will serve them well in later life.

Have you discovered the secret to more family time? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.

This is a collaborative post.

8 Top Tips for Working from Home

Since 2020 more and more people have made the switch to working from home. Not only does this allow employees to strike a better balance between their work and personal life due to more flexible hours. But it also avoids unnecessary commuting that saves precious time and it can increase productivity, reduce distractions and increase the level of job satisfaction. However, working from home can also become a great challenge for those who have never done remote work, since it involves taking on new responsibilities and demands being able to efficiently self-manage. 

So if this is you, hopefully this post will help you, as I share 8 top tips to be productive while working from home! 

Set Office Hours

Although it may be tempting not to set the alarm clock, if you want to be productive you need to stick to a schedule. Since you will be working with other people and you will have to respond to emails, be present in the corporate chat or answer video calls, it is important that you adjust your workday to your company’s working hours. Setting office hours will also help protect your personal life and prevent teleworking from ending up consuming every minute of your day. 

Set up a Work-Only Space 

To work productively from home, the best thing to do is to separate work and leisure spaces. If you have an office, it will be easier for you to adapt and focus. It is important that you set up this space so that you feel comfortable. Remember that working in a pleasant and orderly environment will increase your productivity. If you can’t turn a room in your home into an office, at least make sure to use a desk. Avoid lying on the sofa and working because your productivity will plummet as your brain will immediately associate this space with leisure and rest, disconnecting from your work. 

Establish a Work Routine

Even if you have a home office, you should follow a routine similar to that which you’d follow if you were going to work. Don’t stay in your pyjamas all day. Getting ready and dressed as if you were going into the office will help your brain prepare to enter 'work mode'. Organise a routine like the one you followed in the office, such as planning short breaks and trying not to eat while sitting in front of the computer. These little breaks are very important because they will allow you to get back to work with even more energy and fresh ideas. Avoid doing housework during the office hours that you have set because you will lose your concentration and work rhythm.

Plan Priority Tasks

Working from home is not the same as being in the office, where project managers usually have tighter control over daily tasks to ensure that nothing important has been left undone. To be productive, you must become your own boss, which means learning to manage your time and self-regulating. Before starting to work, spend at least 10 minutes organising your day. Check what tasks you have pending and organise them according to their priority. Try to be objective and don’t plan out more tasks than you can do, because you will end becoming overwhelmed and frustrated.

Take Advantage of your Peaks in Productivity

Your energy levels, motivation and concentration will change throughout the day. When working remotely, it’s essential to know when these spikes in productivity occur, so that you can plan your schedule based on them. Most people are more productive in the morning, so it’s best to spend those hours on more complex projects that require more focus and energy. You can spend your less productive hours on tasks that are more repetitive or that require less mental effort, such as checking work emails or planning tomorrow’s tasks.

Avoid Technological Distractions

When you work at home no one controls what you do, so you can end up developing unproductive habits. To meet deadlines, you will have to impose strict discipline - avoid checking personal messages, browsing social networks or reading the news during work hours. Little tricks, like logging out of your accounts, can act as a deterrent and prevent you from logging in automatically. You can also use applications to block access to social networks while you’re working. And if you want to go one step further, there are applications like Strict Workflow that allow you to create a blacklist of websites that you won’t be able to access during the period of time that you specify.

Use Time Management Tools

If you’ve never worked from home, the first few days you may have a hard time staying focused on a task, or you may find yourself being less productive than you thought. In that case, time management applications can become your allies. Productivity applications, such as RescueTime or Harverst, will help you monitor the amount of time you dedicate to each task, so you can detect the black holes where the minutes seem to disappear into. You can also use timers like TomatoTimer to schedule blocks of time of maximum concentration with rest breaks.

Stay in Touch with your Co-Workers 

To work from home effectively, you must keep yourself informed about all the changes occurring in the company that may affect your projects. This means that you must keep in constant communication not only with your boss or the project co-ordinators, but with your closest co-workers as well. This contact will help you to better perform your duties, as well as to alleviate the loneliness and feeling of disconnection that you could end up experiencing when working from home.

Staying Productive with Children at Home

If you have children, working from home can be twice as challenging, as we all know they can be noisy and easily bored. Consider a daily schedule, realistic and adjusted to your needs. Remember that it’s better to work fewer hours, but without interruptions to get the most out of them, rather than getting frustrated because you need to stop what you’re doing to continuously look after your children.

A good option is to wake up earlier to take advantage of those hours when your children may still be sleeping. If they are already in school, you could consider signing them up to a breakfast and after school club, so that they can be enjoying themselves, and you can work more. Of course if needs be, technology and video games can also become your allies. Don’t feel guilty for allowing your children to use them while you work. If you live with other people, including siblings, parents or flatmates, it’s important that they respect your work schedule and don’t constantly interrupt you. Keep in mind that your brain takes an average of 23 minutes to re-focus and work at peak capacity after a distraction.

So just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you’re available at home. Remember that working from home can be an excellent opportunity to develop new professional skills that could be very useful in the future, as well as demonstrating your commitment, worth and dedication to your company.

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This article has been written and provided by Liberty Insurance.

5 Downsides of Working from Home

There are so many positives to working from home. Not having to commute (saving both time and money), being able to properly relax during a lunch break, and some may even say they enjoy not seeing certain people around the office. But the thing is, remote working is only fun and games when there aren't any technological problems or mishaps. You need to be able to be flexible, and understanding updated information on your computer isn't something everyone is clued up on. But what are the other downsides of working from home?

Miscommunication

Miscommunication is so much easier when you are working remotely. When you no longer have the face to face interaction that you had before, it’s very difficult to read into the meaning of a written message. You can’t hear the tone or the inflection of the person talking to you, so you can easily misinterpret their message to you. Plus you can't easily pop over to that person's desk to sort a problem either, making mishaps harder to quickly solve.

Isolation

Isolation is much more prevalent than working in an office. When you are at home, it’s just you. Of course other people are at the end of the phone and more businesses than ever are making a point of including working with collaborative software, but that doesn't mean that it’s any less isolating to be at home. There is less of a community spirit here, and that means that you have less of a chance to feel included in something.

All the Distractions

The distractions are real. The TV and the fridge might call to you far more when no one is keeping an eye on you at your desk. You are going to be far more distracted in your work if your home isn't a tidy and calming space either - your mind will probably wander to putting a load of washing on, or whizzing the hoover around if you're not in the office.

Lack of Motivation

It’s harder to get motivated if you're on your own at home. If you work in your pyjamas and you are in your home office surrounded by all your things, it’s much easier to want to not want to do any work. I know I find getting dressed and ready for the day gives me much more motivation, but if you're working from home I can imagine a lot of people just sleep in as long as possible before jumping straight onto a computer at the last minute.

Security Issues

Occasionally you might find that you are dealing with poorly run software or issues with your work. You need to be able to keep on top of updates and upgrades and keep your manager in the loop about them, but having to stop to fix these problems can waste working hours. It's also worth keeping in mind that you'll want to consider better home contents insurance if you've brought your work computers and equipment home with you.

This is a collaborative post.

5 Ways to Embrace the 'New Normal'

The last two years have brought, at best, havoc to our lives and routines – and at worst, devastation. For many we're now on the brink of optimism as life returns to something resembling the normality we once knew. But since we’re all battling to adapt to the ways in which life has changed forever, could there be some aspects of the new world we’re entering that are surprisingly encouraging?

If not going out is your new default mode then this post may be for you, as I'm going to share five ways in which you can embrace the new normal. 

Meal Boxes

Did you go on a bit of a takeaway binge during lockdown 1.0? We were totally guilty (and that was during lockdowns 2 and 3 too). But although it’s worth restricting treats to one a week or so, the benefits of healthy meal boxes transcend lockdown. There are several providers to choose from, but Gousto is a great pick. The recipe cards are easy to follow, and you can prep many of the meals in around half an hour or less. Plus there are over 60 tasty UK, international and fusion recipes a week to pick, with plant-based and gluten-free options too! 

HIIT Training

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is another pandemic habit that’s worth continuing as we move back to some sense of normality. When your workout time and space are limited, HIIT sessions with or without equipment like kettlebells can give you a full-body workout in as little as 15 minutes. If you aim for three sessions a week, you only need to find a spare 45 minutes to make a big difference to your physical and mental health... plus they can easily be done from home!

Online Learning

Earning a formal higher education qualification is still a great way to spur a career migration. But in the current environment, and especially when you’ve got family commitments, attending a physical campus doesn’t always feel viable. However, trusted providers like ARU Distance Learning offer accredited courses like MBAs, biomedical science MScs and Applied and Clinical Psychology BScs, that you can study from the comfort of you own home. 

No Commute

Has anyone really mounted a convincing defence of the daily commute? If sitting in a crushed carriage constitutes ‘me time’ then maybe it's for you. But I'm sure there are many that won't miss the commute one bit – it’s valuable time better spent with family (or asleep). Not only are you saving time, but not having to commute into work will also be saving you a large sum in travel costs too. Win win!

More Family Time

Don’t get us wrong – trying to work from home whilst also trying to tackle homeschooling was an unpleasant experience to say the least. But now most children are back at school, having that extra time when working-from-home might give you the chance to do the school runs and spend evenings at home together. Take a look at these Parent Club tips on working from home if you’re still struggling to adapt, they might be able to help.

Hopefully these five ways of embracing the new normal help you look on the bright side – good luck!

This is a collaborative post.

Top Tips to Ensure you're Working to your Full Potential from Home!

If you own your own home business or are now working from home, you will want to find ways the maximise your efficiency and keep yourself working to your full potential . Working from home can result in your feeling disengaged from the company you work for, or cause you to feel lonely and / or unmotivated. However, there are many ways you can post your enthusiasm and find ways through those through periods. In this post I'm going to share four ways to help you combat these issues, to ensure you succeed whilst working from home.

Dress the Part

Even if no one is going to see you all day, psychologically, it is better if you dress the part. This is because the whole process of getting ready and dressed will put you into work mode and can definitely give you a little spring in your step to start the day! There's nothing worse than sitting in your pyjamas for a long work day - you definitely won't feel productive this way. You will most likely have many face-to-face meetings virtually anyway, so making sure you're dressed correctly is best practice.

Create a Home Office

Ideally you will want to have a room dedicated to work, or at least a dedicated corner of a room to call your home office, which is free from distractions. You may want to put your personal mobile away while you're working too, maybe in a different room to help stop the temptation of looking at it! Decent home office desks are a must; try to position your desk so that you're near a window to help with natural light. Be sure to check the desk and chair you have are suitable for extended hours of sitting, as you do not want to end up with a long lasting injury or pain from bad posture. 

Have a Structure to your Day

Try to keep to your regular working day schedule as much as possible - if you used to wake up, shower, and then have breakfast by a certain time, try to stick to this routine (although you may be able to benefit from those few extra minutes in bed). It is far better to have a regular structure to your day, as you will be able to work more effectively. Getting up whenever you want to eat or stretch your legs would not happen in the office environment, so try not to get into bad habits at home. BUT do make sure to take regular breaks for lunch and getting some fresh air - you'll need it!

Stay in Regular Contact

If you are in a situation where you are working remotely, ensure you maintain regular contact to stay connected with the company you work for. This can be done in a variety of different ways, for example a daily call, or an open instant messenger chat with one or several of your colleagues, where you can quickly throw a question is another. Zoom meetings are a great way to see colleagues face-to-face, and although you don't have to be on screen, it can be good to see some familiar faces. The more connected and in touch you can be, the better you will feel.

This is a collaborative post.