So far, in my three-year work from  home career, I’ve always had my kids around for some to most of the day. When I first started out, their nap time was my work time. Luckily, as I was just starting out, I didn’t have a lot of work to do yet. As they got older, nap time disappeared but half-day kindergarten and half-day preschool entered the picture so those few precious morning hours became my work time.

And in the evenings. And, on really busy days, during kid movie afternoons. Thank goodness for DVDs! And then there’s always my weekends.

So really, you could say I’ve gotten used to work any time of day I want.

In September, I start mostly full-time work-from-home hours. (I say mostly because I will be picking up my kids from school at 3:30 every day.) And with full-time hours comes the ability to work during the day instead of mainly in the evenings and on the weekends.

But with that comes the ability to easily get distracted by other household chores and the notion that “I can always do it later (read: tonight)”.

With these thoughts of a wayward focus fresh in my mind, I came across this article the other day. It has some good advice for keeping focused when working for yourself — advice on how to stay on track and advice on focus obstacles I hadn’t even thought of yet.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/05/01/8-rules-to-stay-productive-when-you-work-for-yourself/

For some reason, I just haven’t been able to figure out what to write on this blog, here on this website.

Maybe I need to sit down and take a lesson in what I do for everyone else. And then, in my research for someone else, I found this super quick video that I thought I’d share here. Good advice that I’m going to start listening to myself.

And this year, for March Break,we’ll be doing the staycation.

I like March Break — it’s my favourite time to do the staycation because there are so many options of things to do in and around the city. Everywhere that is anywhere seems to run special March Break programs, events and activities. Even the little mall down the street from me has a fun-filled activity calendar this week.

So between deadlines (of which I have two), here’s how I plan to spend my days:

- A trip to a Maple Syrup festival to learn how the syrup is made, walk through the forest, ride on a horse-drawn wagon and maybe even catch a magic show.
- A visit to the Science Centre, where it’s sure to be crowded but always a hands-on fun-filled day.
- A day at the zoo to take advantage of the warm weather and to see the baby polar bear.
- A ride downtown on the bus and subway (this is a big deal for my kids because we drive everywhere) to go for dinner and then to Disney on Ice.
- A pop-in at the little mall down the street or one of our nearby libraries to check out (and take part in) whatever is going on at the time.

So, in all, a jam-packed staycation planned this week — and the best part is although it may be March we won’t be needing our winter boots, coats and mitts this week. We may not even need our spring coats some days either!

It’s all of those times that make the balancing act of being self-employed and being a mom a challenge.

How I handle each situation depends on the situation.

Someone who wants to meet during non-school hours can usually easily be accommodated by my calling one of my sitters. It’s very rare that I haven’t been able to find someone to hang out with my kids for a few hours while I run downtown for a meeting.

A rescheduled call falls into the same category as the phone just ringing. Both are a part of doing business but both are not overly kid-friendly. At least my kids don’t do well when they’re not given proper warning that my attention will be needed elsewhere. Maybe you’ve been on the other end of one of those calls with me – they usually involve me talking to you while being interrupted by someone saying ‘mommy’.

I try to minimize the disruptions during those moments by closing my office door or quickly flipping on the TV but the ‘mommy’ call often still happens.

Other times, I just let a call go to voicemail until a more convenient time – talking to a client while at the grocery store with two kids is never a good time, although I have chatted about a job while choosing loot bag loot at Party Packagers for my six-year-old’s birthday party.

As I said, being in business for yourself while also being a stay-at-home mom is a fine balancing act.

Every work-from-home/stay-at-home mom has different approaches. For me, planning and organization is the key. Here’s what I do before every planned phone call – whether it’s a scheduled meeting or a short personal interview for an article.

1)      Talk to the kids before the call. I’ve been freelance writing for three years now – and my kids are 6 and almost 4. In other words, they should be used to the routine that sometimes mommy needs to be on the phone for work. But that doesn’t mean they always remember the rules. So before every call, I remind them that I need to work, and I tell them when it will be and for how long (approximately) I’m going to be on the phone. Then we plan out what they’re going to do while I work – sometimes I ask them to simply play quietly in their rooms, other times it means TV time.

2)      Spend time with them first. If I know I have a call at 2 p.m., I make a point of sitting down and doing an activity with the kids for an hour or so before the call. They’re less likely to be yelling that they want to play with me if I just spent an hour with them. And they’re more willing to give me a few minutes of peace and quiet. It’s all about perfecting the balancing act.

3)      Be prepared for everything. Before every call – especially if I think I may be awhile, I get the kids everything they may need beforehand. Yup, that means snacks and drinks are delivered before they’re even asked for.

But let’s be honest here, whenever I can, I throw all those rules out the window and schedule phone calls and meetings during the few precious hours that the kids are in school.