Getting through the school holidays...

by Alice Johnsen

FOR many of us the school holidays are not far off. So, here are some thoughts on how to maintain work/life balance for those with and those without children at home. Read on to find out why the next few months affect us all.

Unless you have full-time childcare and holiday camps block booked for the entire school break, you are going to have to adjust the way you operate. You WILL have less time, energy, mental space and emotional resilience to work.

Your outputs will be different. And there's the nugget already. We're not grinding to a halt, just shifting our focus to what CAN be achieved.

Fact – the people you normally interact with, sell to, work for etc – they're going to be a bit distracted, too. So, whether you have school-aged children or not, you might want to start thinking differently about the holiday period.

August is different from the other months. We go all Euro and have long lunches, long siestas, late nights, late mornings. Actually, does anything get done in August?

If you work from home, what changes do you need to make?

Can you work in a different room or go to a cafe once or twice a week to write or have meetings? What sort of environment do you need to get

School will soon be out for summer PHOTO: Juraj Varga/

Pixabay

your stuff done? Can you re-create that to fit in with the holiday programme?

It's about a shift in expectation. Of your own achievements, abilities and availabilities, and of those you work with.

We know it’s possible to turn a challenge into an opportunity. Here are a few examples to get you thinking.

August can be a great time for reflection and development – for your business, work or home life. Time to take stock and plan. If Christmas is your biggest selling peak, these summer months are surely your biggest planning times? So having a different work pattern with fewer sales now because everyone's gone away is a good thing. You have space to prepare for the next busy quarter. n Alice Johnsen is a life coach (07961 080513; alicejohnsen. co.uk)

Is this a good time to catch up on those slow-burner projects? If so, diarise them and plan how you are going to do them in bite-size steps so they happen.

If you don’t have children at home, why not offer to cover for a colleague who does so they can do the same for you later in the year when you want to take a break.

I hope this helps you keep your head above water over the next few months!