AP 0878: Any Advice on Working at Home When My Kids Are in the House?

AskPat 878 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 878 of AskPat, and also welcome to June. That's awesome. Of course, as always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.

We have a great question today coming in from Chad, but before we get to that, really quick … Hey. If you're stuck on ideas on how to develop your logo, website, or business cards, you can connect with creative minds from around the world with DesignCrowd.com. It's a website that helps businesses crowdsource custom graphics with over 500,000 designers worldwide. It doesn't matter what kind of business you have, you can get a perfect design every time or your money back. All you have to do is check out DesignCrowd.com/askpat. You'll get $100 off your next design when you enter the promo code “AskPat” and also be able to download a free guide. One more time, go to DesignCrowd.com/askpat. All right. Now here's today's question from Chad.

Chad Johnson: Hi, Pat. My name's Chad Johnson, and I have a website, DontDietDiet.com, where I'm working towards teaching people the right habits and behaviors towards being healthy and fit. My question is in regards to working at home when your kids are there. So, my two most productive days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have very few clients that I actually train and work with on those days, so I use them to get the administrative and the big to-do list knocked down. Some days my kids are home, because of school cancellations, and those really interrupt my days. This last Tuesday was very much a struggle for me to get anything done.

I have an 11 year-old girl and a 5 year-old boy, and they want my undivided attention, and I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't just shut down the work and just spend the time with them, since they are young. But if I do need to get work done, do you have any tips, suggestions, or anything for me, where I could use that to get my work done? Any help you would have, that'd be great. Thank you for what you do. I listen to a ton of different podcasts, but you're the only one that has stayed the course. Many of them I have left in the dust, because they don't provide what you do. Again, thank you.

Pat Flynn: Hey, Chad. Thank you so much for the question and also the kind words. Let me first say: The struggle is real, my friend. Chad, I know exactly where you're coming from. I have two young kids myself. It's almost impossible to get work done when they're here in the house if it's just me and the kids. Now, if you have somebody else home with you who can help support during those kinds of times, then definitely make sure to communicate. Then, if they are able to help out, reward them like crazy afterwards. For me, I'm talking about my wife. She's a stay-at-home mom, so I'm very lucky to have her support here as well, but she can't always support.

When the kids are at home, if they're off from school in a similar way, and my wife is not here, then I give them my undivided attention. I mean, it's only right, because the kids are young, and you want to give them all the daddy time because they're going to grow older. You know, you want to spend as much time with them now, when later on they're going to have friends and other things that they're involved with where they don't want to spend as much time with you. At least this is what I've heard.

But here's the thing. You have work to do. Right? You had a plan, and then all of a sudden school is not going on that day, and so you are left with the kids. There's a couple of ways to approach this. For me, I consider those kinds of days as blessings; I often feel like they happen for a reason and that that just means, hey, I get to have my time with the kids. Now, even though I know I have work to do, I know that those things can be done later, but the time that I have with my kids is so precious now that I would focus your time with them as much as possible.

Now, if there is something absolutely crucial that you have to do, then you would hopefully find a solution around that or perhaps put on a movie or something and work in the other room just for a little bit, but even then I'd feel bad, and probably personally I just wouldn't be able to work as well knowing that they were right there in the other room. I'd probably rush through things, and things like that. For me, if things like that happen I don't even try to work. I focus all my attention on the kids and then try to make up for that work later, whether it be waking up earlier the next day, or staying up a little bit later that night, or working with a spouse to have extra time or get that time back in some way, shape, or form.

If there are things that you have to do that are less time-consuming or things that you could do sort of one-off—meaning emails or answering questions on social media or something—I mean, you could mix them a little bit. That way you don't need to be away for an hour or more, but maybe you just need five minutes here, and five minutes there, and five minutes here to do those kinds of things. You could do those things while the kids are there, but again I personally don't like to do that. I would recommend doing it if you have to, but if you don't then don't even try, because you want to give your kids all that attention.

If they see you like, for example, on your phone answering questions while you're supposed to be playing or watching a movie together, what is that saying to the children? It's saying, “Wow, this phone, or this device, or this thing, or daddy's work,is more important than me.” They're not going to tell you that straight up, but you know, subconsciously or whatever I feel like those things actually do matter.

Anyway, that's just my take, Chad. I am sure everybody else has different opinions on that, but if you want to continue this conversation, I love talking about work/life balance and the struggles with that, because it is a real thing and I know a lot of people come up with really creative solutions. For those of you listening, if you have an idea or ideas for Chad on his work/life balance when the kids are unexpectedly at home, if you agree with me or feel like there's compromise somewhere else, use the hashtag #AskPat878 on Twitter, and we can continue this discussion there.

Chad, thank you so much for bringing this up, and I think you're awesome. Keep up the good work. You know, just the fact that you're asking about this shows that, you know, you're being conscious about what you're doing, and that goes both ways, with work and knowing that you need that time to focus for work, but also knowing that your kids need that attention. Yeah. Props to you.

Everybody, #AskPat878 if you have comments about this. Chad, I want to send you an AskPat teeshirt for having your question featured here on the show. For those of you listening, if you have a question that you'd like potentially feature here on the show, all you have to do is go to AskPat.com and you can ask right there on that page.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Here's a quote to finish off the day by Syndey J. Harris, and that is, “A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past. He is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.” Oh . . . That's good. Hey guys, thank you so much once again.

Also, next week is open enrollment for Smart From Scratch. Just a couple days left to get on the wait list before open enrollment. All you have to do is go to SmartFromScratch.com. I, and many other people who have already gone through that course, will be there to help you. It's an amazing community; it's an amazing way to hold yourself accountable to the start of your online business career. If you already have a business, then this isn't for you, but if you want to get started on the right foot, and you've been just kind of putting things off, well, now's a good time. Head on over to SmartFromScratch.com, sign up there, and you'll hear from me in the next couple of days with the open enrollment plans and where to go from there. Thank you so much; I appreciate you. One more time, that's SmartFromScratch.com. Cheers.