I’m still learning my boundaries.

Because I work at home, most people still tend to assume that equals bunches of free time for me.

When I left my morning docent class for my evening one, everyone assumed it was because of a bus conflict. The truth is, I write better during the day and having to go to a day class was like me missing part of my work.

Others assume that I don’t have distractions working from home - no co-workers to pester me, no children to worry about. The truth is I have a lot of distractions such as being able to see the messy flat all the time, having people call me during the day to “chat” since I’m “free.” And if I’m not careful, doing dishes will seem far more important than writing an article.

Since I create my own schedule, people think that I can work 24hours a day and I admit to being guilty of this sometimes too. Currently, instead of just writing, I am running several high profile websites, doing PR work for some of them, planning my high school reunion, planning two major trips while maintaining the household expenses, bills & grocery list.

That’s a lot. And I’m not even an overachiever or a workaholic.

I think part of it is just what people perceive me to be doing and how much I buy into it. Although I know I’m busy with writing, I tend to think that because I control my own time, I can be more than flexible with my hours instead of just saying, “No, actually, I have work to do.”

I’m getting better, slowly. Monday through Friday I work during the day and save chores, errands and catching up for after dinner or the weekends. I’ve designated Friday’s to marketing days and Monday’s to catching up with email days.

I see now why people have assistants.

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