One of the beauties of being a self-employed professional like a freelance writer/editor is the ability to work at home and set your own daily schedule. The drawback is that those liberties can turn you into a sloth who sleeps late, works for two hours and then eats on the couch all afternoon, while telling yourself that you are simply trying to break through “writer’s block” with a little Oprah therapy. (Yes, I speak from experience, but this was way before I had kids — I haven’t had a slothy day since the first one was born three and half years ago.)
Both physical and mental fitness can be a challenge for work-at-home pros. I have found this to be especially true since my second child was born in January. My commitment to fitness is being tested every day as I work to lose the pregnancy pounds and stay mentally sharp on about six hours of sleep a night.
Here is how I’m doing it:
- I bought a treadmill. Getting to the gym just wasn’t going to happen with everything on my desk and my kids calling out to me all day. This way I can work out while the baby sleeps in her swing within my view and the toddler is watching TV or otherwise entertaining herself (she is good at that, thankfully). I can step right off if either of them needs me, and then step right back on. No loading everyone in the car; no excuses about bad weather.
- I made a public commitment. I write a quarterly column in our local newspaper and in the last one I wrote, I made a public commitment to do our local Susan G. Komen 5K. A copy of the article is posted right by my desk. There is nothing like telling thousands of people you are going to do something to make you actually do it.
- I keep up with current events. I make time every day to watch the local and national news and to at least glance at the newspaper, if not actually read it. Thinking about politics and what’s happening in the world helps keep my brain engaged in pursuits other than my work and my family, and I think that keeps me sharper than if I focused on my little world alone.
- I volunteer. I manage websites for two organizations as a volunteer (our local Democratic Party and our church). Again, this forces me outside of my own work and way of doing things.
Working at home is a wonderful experience, but it does require some extra planning on your part — including ways to keep yourself mentally and physically fit.
This post was written in response to the “Question of the Week” from the Work-at-Home Mom Bloggers.
