Working from home is a balancing act for the whole family and requires everyone’s respect and support. Sixteen year-old, Matt Simon, knows this from first-hand experience. Check out Matt’s illuminating article, and get a teen’s perspective about what it’s really like to have a parent working from home.

When Parents Work at Home: “My Name is Matt…and My Mom Works from Home”

Matt is a teen writer for Radical Parenting.com, a parenting website written from the kid’s perspective with 82 teen interns! He is a 16-year-old from New York City, NY. He loves to be social and spend time with his friends, as well as being an active leader in his community. However, school also plays an important role in his life and he is motivated to achieve his dreams. For more articles by teens please check out RadicalParenting.com.

My mom has officially worked from home for about three years now. Like everything my mom does, I see the positives and the negatives of this drastic change in her life. Because of this, I feel the need to discuss a few things with those teens who, like me, have a parent working at home.

Personally, I LOVE knowing when my mom is working and when she’s open to do whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, however, she can be aggressive sometimes. Because of this fact, I need to know when I can talk to her and when I should stay clear of her office/my sister’s old room. Because my mom is the only source of income for my family (my dad hasn’t worked for over twenty years), I feel the need to let my mom do what she needs to do in order to keep the bacon flowing.

Since my mom started working at home and started her own law firm, the rest of the family developed their own respective “roles” during the my mom’s working time. I do my homework or go to work, my dad prepares dinner and/or does the laundry. My mom does her work. Simple. At 7:30 every night marks the end of my mom’s work time because that’s when we all sit down and have dinner together and share stories about the days we’ve had. I personally love it like this. However, I do understand the other side, where there is a more flexible time of work. In my opinion though, I feel as if the work will never truly be completed. I think we have a balance at my family, and it works out perfectly!

My mom usually stops her work after dinner, however there are those nights where she works all night. To be honest, this really does not bother me because on weekdays and Saturday nights, I am very independent from my parents. After dinner, I either finish my homework or go out and hang out with my friends. Therefore, if my mom were to work after dinner, it would not phase me. However, my time with my parents is Sunday nights. I would be DEVASTATED if my mom worked on Sunday nights. I wouldn’t cry or anything–I’m almost seventeen–but I would be disappointed. We always watch movies on Sunday nights, all together as a family. That includes my mom!

Now, for the main event: How does my mom working at home affect my stress level?

I have a valid answer, in my opinion. I really don’t feel more stressed or less stressed on a daily basis. That may just be because of my personality, or maybe because of my age. However, those days when my mom is stressed… I get stressed! She comes out of her office sometimes, completely frazzled– and I NEVER use that word! She either has just dealt with a nasty client, or hates the case she’s working on, or anything. Whenever she’s in her “mood,” we ALL feel it.

I actually see a correlation between my test grades and my mom’s stress level. When she’s stressed, I’m stressed and I don’t reach my full potential at school. Other than that though, I like knowing that my mom is home most of the time. I feel comfortable knowing that if there is ever a problem, I can always tell my mom, even if it is before dinner.

My name is Matt, and my mom works from home. There are some positives and negatives. In my opinion though, I prefer my mom working out of the house, just because then I can cherish her time at home more. However, either way, I enjoy knowing the fact that my mom is still doing what she loves to do, no matter of the location.

For those teens out there: I’d love to hear your take on this!

For those parents out there: I’d love to hear your take too!

This is definitely something that affects everyone in the family as a whole.

About Real Life E®

Here’s what one of the audience members had to say about what she learned:

Entrepreneurship Panel at Lake Erie College

Gen Next: Do You Need a Schedule Makeover™?

Enjoy!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach & trainer who empowers individuals to build businesses and achieve work/life brilliance™ through Schedule Makeovers™. Her empowerment coaching frees individuals from guilt, overwhelm, and frustration!

Discover how you can start enjoying your life TODAY! Look forward to talking with you!

Elizabeth has been featured in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC, and is happy to be interviewed for your broadcast or publication.

I had to adjust my blog posting last week because I joined the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour on three awesome events in California! We started in Porterville with an event for 500 high school students, headed down to San Bernardino for a teacher workshop on promoting entrepreneurship, and then wrapped up the week with 350 middle school students in Sonora. (By the way–they were amazing!)

It’s so much fun to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs! If you’re looking for a fun, informative, and engaging speaker for your next women in business event, please let me know so we can set up a time to talk about your needs.

I’m so passionate about encouraging current and future women business owners to Dream! Dare! Discover!®

Have a brilliant day!

Look for much more to come this week!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach who empowers women business owners to achieve work/life brilliance^TM If you want to end your feelings of overwhelm and guilt and step into the future with confidence and enthusiasm, contact Elizabeth today.

Elizabeth is a career coach with YourOnRamp.com and a member of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour. Inc magazine, NBC, and The Chicago Tribune are just a few of the places where Elizabeth has appeared, and she’s happy to be interviewed for your publication or broadcast.

Elizabeth with an Ann Arbor Mom and Daughter Duo

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to share about my entrepreneurial journey, which has been a surprising–yet exciting–walk of faith in so many ways. Not everyone will start their first business on accident, totally shift target markets, start a second business, or partner with other young entrepreneurs like I have over the past three and a half years.

But everyone can benefit from some basic principles that I discussed about owning your business or career:

How to Build Value:
•    The Key to Business Creation: Customers
•    The Key to Business Growth: Systems

How to Stay Ahead of the Market:
•    What are your transferable skills?
•    What are adjacent industries?

How to Be True to Yourself:
•    What is your personal definition of success?
•    What is your ideal lifestyle?

How to Find Help:
•    Who are (or could be) your partners?
•    Who are (or could be) your mentors?

Audience members described the talk as “encouraging,” “inspiring,” and “polished.” If you want to learn more about my speaking, you can click here.

With the right strategies, you can enjoy a brilliant life, no matter the economy!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time strategist who focuses on “Time Strategies to Create a Brilliant Life in a Burnt-Out World.” She teaches others how to control their time instead of letting it control them and practices what she preaches by running two businesses in just 40 hours a week.

Seriously. According to a Kings College study that Tim Ferriss often cites, e-mail and phone distractions lower people’s IQ more than drugs. Crazy!

In response to this national crisis, I have been developing a Complete E-Mail Detox Program that will be revealed next week. But to get the ball rolling, I wanted to share a few effective e-mail auto responders that can help you break the vicious cycle of treating your e-mail message indicator like a fire alarm.

Once you set the expectation that you will not immediately respond to e-mail, these auto-responders will become unnecessary. But for now, the e-mails below can be your “patch” during the detox process.

To brilliant e-mail control!
Elizabeth

E-Mail Auto Responder #1

Tim Ferriss provides a form e-mail auto responder in Chapter 7 of his book The 4-Hour Workweek. This e-mail corresponds with his suggested method of checking e-mail at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

E-Mail Auto Responder #2

This is an auto responder used by Mitch Matthews, a trainer, coach, and connector extraordinaire! Mitch says it’s helped him to psychology let go of the compulsion to constantly respond to e-mail.

Subject Line: “Thanks for connecting! Re: Subject Line of Original E-Mail”

Text:

Hello!

Thanks for your e-mail.

I’m sending this to let you know that due to a number of exciting
projects, I am only checking and responding to e-mail once a day.

You and your e-mail are important.

So… if you need an urgent response, please call the Matthews Group,
Inc. toll-free number at 800.491.5316.

If it is not urgent, know that I will respond to your e-mail as
quickly as possible.

Thanks again for connecting and thanks for understanding this move
towards greater effectiveness.

Have a fantastic day!

Mitch

–
Mitch Matthews,
Coach, Speaker & Connector

www.akickinthepants.com

p: 800.491.5316
f:  515.221.3801

Check out these “kick” connection projects:

www.doyouQ.com

www.BIGdreamgathering.com

E-Mail Auto Responder #3

This is an example of an auto responder from Patrick Combs, an amazing speaker and coach who is on on the road frequently. It lets people know that he cares about their message but might not get back to them immediately.

Text:

Ah, your email has arrived but alas it might take me time to respond. So…

If you need an immediate, time sensitive response please contact me through my office: [office manager's e-mail address] or (858) 759-6994. Phones are more fun anyways.

If you have my direct line, feel free to call me. And…

If you are seeking my coaching, might you consider my coaching program? It puts you on the phone with me on a regular basis and you can ask me anything you wish. It’s less than $1/day. www.coachedbyPatrick.com

Many blessings,
Sharing Success,
—————————————
Patrick Combs
(858) 759-6994
www.coachedbyPatrick.com
www.goodthink.com
And on FaceBook
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=554560093

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a trainer who focuses on “Time Strategies to Create a Brilliant Life in a Burnt-Out World.” She teaches others how to control their time instead of letting it control them and practices what she preaches by running two businesses in just 40 hours a week.

Tonya and I use effective time strategies so we can enjoy activities like a 3-hour lunch last Saturday!

This year, I will be different.

This week, I will be different.

Today, I will be different.

We tell ourselves again and again and again… but often we don’t see any lasting change because we don’t develop systems that will help us to be different. Many people like the idea of “Put First Things First” from Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but how many people do you see consistently maintaining the important when the urgent starts to encroach on their lives?

Well, when I saw the “First Things First” document and checkbox list to match from one of my mentors, Tonya Ramsey, I was blown away! I knew I had to share her approach with you.

Here’s an outline (that I picked up from Tonya) about how to clearly define what’s most important to you and then translate it into a system that you can do on autopilot on even your least motivated days.

First Things First Plan

Mission Statement: Write down in one or two sentences what you would like to see in your life. It doesn’t have to be eloquent. Even a bulleted list of items like: relational, spiritual, physical, and professional wellness is a good start.

Specific Goals: For each main point, write down specific goals, and if necessary, subgoals. Here’s a great example of how Tonya turns her mission of making family and friends a priority into specific steps:

1. Implement a Sunday planning time to schedule weekly commitments to connect with my family and friends
a) Phone son/daughter-in-law on cell driving home from work.
b) Set weekly visit with grandchildren.
c) Assign one friendship for the week
d) Schedule dinner out with family one night/week

2. Mentally schedule 15 minutes each night to focus on talking with my husband.

Tonya has specific goals and actions for each area of her life. (Clarifying exactly what you want is a huge part of the process.) But where Tonya really supercharges and cements her plans is through a weekly “checklist” that includes all of the “first things” that she wants to accomplish in a week.

I have an example of her weekly checklist at the bottom of this post. And feel free to e-mail me for a “Customizable Weekly Checklist Excel Sheet” and start to experience the joy of turning “first things first” into a lasting part of your life. Basically, in the left column you write down your “Core Priority Activities,” such as get up at 6 a.m., exercise, or do a weekly planning meeting. Then next to that goal you have a box for each day and at the end a box with your “Weekly Goal,” like four checkmarks (i.e. days) in the row for healthy dinners.

For some people this will be the perfect solution for turning their priorities into measurable actions. For others, something this extensive may be a little overwhelming. You might want to start off with a short checklist like “exercise,” “leave the office by 6 p.m.,” and “call a friend.” Then make a target number of “checkmarks” for the week and see how you do. If this system works for you, you can start to add more activities to the list.

Wishing you an end of frustration and a beginning of brilliant, lasting change!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a trainer who focuses on “Time Strategies to Create a Brilliant Life in a Burnt-Out World.” Women in business and Gen Y professionals enjoy her fresh take on work/life balance as succeeding in business and life.

This is an example of a weekly checklist that can help you KEEP "first things first"

In this blog post, Cal shares that:

“As you know, I’m a fiend for a simplicity. I think doing less is the miracle cure for the modern student life. It gives you time affluence which makes you happy. It’s also the only route to becoming famous at something, which will also make you happy.

People often mistake my love for simplicity, however, as a love for inactivity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The goal of my philosophy is to keep significant percentages of your time unscheduled. That is, not dedicated to work.”

I couldn’t agree more. The fact that in 2008 I could build a new speaking business, visit 20 states (including many multiple times), spend 40 days in the wilderness, and create amazing memories with family and friends, is all due to the fact that I pursue radical simplicity in my daily activities. As a rule, I:

• follow a set morning routine (up at 6 a.m., breakfast, quiet time, getting dressed)
• plan the hours I will work each day (8 or 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 or 6 p.m.)
• limit my regularly scheduled events to one to two a week
• meet with people during work hours Monday-Friday only once or twice a week

I’m committed to people, not activities. I follow a somewhat “boring” regular routine so I can routinely enjoy “exciting” adventures.

So the question of the day is, “What can you take out of your life so you can fit in more of what you want?”

Have a brilliant day!

Elizabeth

One of the best ways to save time is to know who to call… or e-mail… or read online… you get the idea.

Cal Newport, the brain behind Study Hacks

That’s why I’ll periodically introduce you to other time strategists with special expertise.

To kick off the resources section, I’d like to introduce you to the one–the only–Cal Newport.

If you are a high school, college, or graduate student, or you ever have to study for anything from an insurance test to a certification exam, you will benefit from reading Cal’s blog: Study Hacks: Demystifying Student Success.

Cal is an incredibly smart (think fourth year PhD student at MIT–yikes!) individual who is also incredibly savvy. Like me, Cal doesn’t think that you have to sacrifice your sanity to be successful. Study Hacks offers practical, relevant advice on how to plan  your life, and particularly your studying.

How did Cal gather his expertise?

A: Personal Experience

B: Extensive Research

Correct response: Both A & B

Cal is the author of How to Win at College and How to Become a Straight-A Student, and he has a third publication on the way. You know Cal is the real deal because he writes a blog and books to help others succeed as a side gig to his graduate studies at MIT.

I highly recommend that you check out Study Hacks and join the thousands of people (like me) who have subscribed to his RSS feed.

To studying brilliance in 2009!

Elizabeth