I’ve been working from home on-and-off for 11 years (since I started my own business), and my husband works for Cisco & they have a culture of encouraging employees to work from home (hello WebEx!) so this is not our first rodeo when it comes to sharing an office — and doing it while the chaotic four-year-old is home.

⁣I will never say we are perfect, because… no one is, even if they look like it on social media. Throwing a headstrong kid in the mix, while being stuck at home 24x7, worried about our own small family, friends and other family members getting sick, and stressed over our own jobs (I have lost 2 gigs, and Jeff’s is doing well, but it is easy to get stressed that everything could go) — and life gets pretty chaotic during the normal 9to5.

From years of working from home, as well as what we have been doing for the past week, here are some of our work from home productivity tips for planning ahead with your partner:

✔️ Create a plan with your significant other for trading off child care (if this is possible). ⁣
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✔️Sit down with your partner (or by yourself) each morning to drink coffee, and go over the schedule. Write down your three main work goals, either in a day planner, a piece of paper or on your phone. ⁣
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✔️ If it’s your turn to work, close the door to your office or your room, and focus. Set a 15, 30, or 45-minute timer so you can keep focused on the task at hand, versus checking social media for the latest coronavirus news (which we all know can lead you down a rabbit hole). ⁣Here are ideas for some other work from home tools, including my favorite social media tool: a kitchen timer!
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✔️ If you do have to work while watching the kids, try to do simple tasks because we know they take a lot of energy. And save deeper projects for naptime, after bedtime, or first thing in the morning (to be honest, that’s when my brain is the most productive). ⁣
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✔️ Make sure to drink enough water, eat healthy snacks, and move around. ⁣Take walks with the kids when it is your turn to watch them (we broke out the stroller after being dormant in the garage for a year because we don’t trust the 4-year-old not to lick a lamp pole, or stay 6-feet-away from others). I also love this radio flyer wagon for multiple kids.
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Who knows how long this is going to last, but I can tell you from experience that focusing on one thing at a time will get you through your to-do list. ⁣
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Let me know if you have any other productivity tips, I’d love to hear them!!!