Most people work very hard today and work more and more hours. When they do arrive home, they find it tricky to unwind and can many times find themselves opening up the work laptop and doing more Work From Home. Work laptops seem to be normal now, which encourages workers to do some of their jobs in their own time, at home, at night.

I used to have a push email client on my smartphone, which meant that staff who were working in China or India, for me, and were sending emails when they arrived at work, would gain my attention during the evening. Added to this I would receive emails from suppliers based in USA, so I was on call 24 hours a day, which often caused frustrations for my husband and children. We were woken during the night by messages arriving in my inbox, so I had to remember to switch off the smartphone at night.

There were lots of Online Jobs which I could not get done at work, because of interruptions from staff, so would spend evenings catching up on this work. I found it very difficult to relax. Because my husband and children advised me, constantly, how much work I was doing at home, I made a determined effort to leave my computer at work so many evenings each week, to be sure that I would spend quality time with them, and this worked in everybody’s favour.

After that job finished and I chose to work for myself, I opted to Work From Home, running an Internet Business, which again involves many Online Jobs. Because, from my earlier experience I know I will work long hours if I do not check myself, I determine that at certain times I turn off my laptop, forget about my Internet Business, and concentrate on my husband and children. We may go for a walk, we may just sit and watch tv together, or we may do something special, but that time is precious and is not interrupted by work. If my phone rings, I ignore it and I do not worry about who may need me. If I do not answer and they have a specific reason to call, they will leave a message which I will collect once I am working again.

I feel it is very important to give husband and children full attention when you are with them, as you give work full attention when you are there. Your husband and children should be much more important to you than anything else, so why would you make them suffer by giving them less than 100% of your attention?

Try and put yourself in the position of your husband and children. What would you want to see happen in a different way? How often would you want to spend with the whole family, enjoying each other’s interest? What would you want to do during that time? Once you have solutions for these questions, you will see how you can improve family life for you and your husband and children. Undertake the changes and you will then have the textbook work/life balance and will find you can cope with both much better.