When you are a stay at home mom, homeschooler and entrepreneur with a home office… your worlds start to collide.

There are days that without everything right here at home I know I wouldn’t be able to do all that we get accomplished.

Then there are the days when everything coming at me can be a little too much.

The most frequently asked questions that I receive are about how I get so much done, how our family works with a business and how I stay organized.

Over the next months I thought it would be fun to share some of the ways that I have found to bring focus, balance (is that even real) and intention to the day.

I wanted to first talk about social media and the pull that we can feel all day from Facebook, blogs, Instagram, email and just having a phone with us.

Whether you run a business or not…the above pulls are a part of our lives (whether you like it or not) and we need to learn to manage it without letting it manage us!

Here are some of the top ways I TRY to keep tech and social media from running my life.

I know this sounds silly but it is a major time saver.  Sometimes we just need to check one thing real quick BUT if you sit down you could lose more than a few minutes.  Facebook goes to Pinterest goes to email goes to….you get the picture. Unless you are working on an actual project or need to do some serious writing my recommendation is to do it standing and then get on to better things.

Imagine constantly checking your phone, Instagram and email over a two hour time. Now imagine setting a timer for two hours and at that time checking everything and then getting back to better things.  That is what I do ALL OF THE TIME!  I don’t want my children to remember me as the mom always texting, checking emails and instagram while we were hanging out. I want to be present and that means setting boundaries for myself.  I get lots done because I am very intentional with my time. Now don’t get me wrong…I can waste a day with the best of them but I don’t want that to be my norm.  It is about being distracted and I need when I am making art to really make art, cooking a meal to be engaged with what I am doing and when I am spending time with my family that they know they have my attention.  When the timer goes off I check work stuff, personal stuff and within 15 minutes everything has been taken care of and to think that I could have spent that two hours constantly checking. The sad thing is…I would have!

Lose your phone. Leave it in the car when you go to a restaurant, leave it upstairs while you are watching a movie and tuck it into a drawer while you are reading.  Give yourself a break to not worry who is calling, texting etc.  Losing your phone intentionally may be the best thing you do for yourself each day. The world will live. Promise. Unless you are a brain or heart surgeon…then you can keep your phone on you:-)

I will call you out on this if you are my friend (and they know it).  When you are eating dinner with your family, at a restaurant with clients or having coffee with girlfriends…for the love of all that is good…keep your phone in your bag!  You have someone right in front of you that wants to talk to you.  Let them know you love and appreciate that by actually listening to THEM!

I interviewed a man not too long ago for a small job for my business and the whole time we were talking he kept checking his phone.  I felt invisible and we never really made it past the interview process.  This is make and break stuff in business and definitely with relationships. Don’t just save your attention for clients and friends.  Keep it in the bag with your family the most!

Remember when people used to read a book in bed or get it on at bedtime?  I am serious…this stuff happened!  Nothing like the soft glow of your phone to lull you to sleep. In all seriousness, as a business woman I need to not have work being the last thing on my mind before bed.  I can’t see at 10:45pm that someone can’t get into their class and then feel like I need to get out of bed to see what is going on. Remember that whole brain and heart surgeon thing from before?  I promise you that most people will live until morning.  I have excellent customer service but we also can sleep too.  Do you remember working hours?  It is healthy to have a time of night when work stops and rest begins.  Don’t let your phone be your last contact at night and the first contact in the morning.  This has made a huge difference in how I sleep and the peace I feel as I am going to sleep.   Maybe we can all read more books and do some other things too:-).

You want to know the biggest game changer for our family?  We have chosen Sundays to be our family and no tech day. No joke.  That means no computer, phones, texting, work etc.  There have been a few huge deadlines when we had to do some work after the kids went to bed but for the most part we really honor this.  We go to church or hike or watch a movie together or play games…but together.  No one else is interrupting our day and no one is going off by themselves to work, text, face time etc.  I love what I do so much and I could work 24/7.  When you love what you do it can be hard to stop working sometimes.  This day was put in place for Kelly and me as much as it was for the kids. We are trying to teach our kids all of these things about social media and technology because they are the ones that are growing up in it.  One of the mottos in our home is “People before technology”.  How can we say this if as parents we don’t live it and they don’t believe they come before work or distractions.    Giving up technology for one day a week can be hard for everyone at first but after awhile you just may love the freedom you feel.

Technology and social media are here to stay and I LOVE them!  I am so glad I can keep up with friends that live all over the world, see glimpses into the lives of the people I admire, work from home, take creative classes no matter where I go and instantly know where my kids are.  I just want to also read, take walks, create art, have a quitting time each day and to look at my children and husband when they are talking with me.

I am still working on these things but these are some of my most useful tech and social media tips that have made the biggest impact in my day to day. What about you?  Do you have some tips to share!  Please leave your thoughts below.