Remind Me Again Why I Do This…

I recently embarked on a large programming project that became the most frustrating, stressful thing I’ve done since I’ve been in business.

I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

With the deadline looming at the height of the crisis, I needed to call my scripting guru for a solution- and I needed to do it quick!

Right at that moment, my 5-year-old decided that she was going to self-destruct if she didn’t have my immediate attention.

Now, mind you my daughter is not the quietly persistent tug-on-your-sleeve kind of attention-getter. No. She’s more of a the-louder-I-am-the-faster-she’ll-hear-me kind of a gal.

As I approached the limits of my patience (and she hers), I had to decide whether to make my deadline or to spend some time with her.

I found myself thinking, “Why don’t I work in an office, like normal people do?” “Why do I do this?”

The thing is, I really wanted to play with my daughter. I mean, wouldn’t you?

But…the fact remained that I had a job to do.

These are the moments that make me think it would be so much easier to go back to a “normal job”. Working for someone else, you do your job and then you go home. When your workday ends, it ends. You’re not tempted to get up in the middle of the night and drive to your office so that you can do that one thing you forgot to do. When your office is just down the hall, it’s just too easy to do that.

I’m quite sure that I’m not the only home-based business owner who has asked themselves this question, “Why do I do this?”

It’s not easy to stay motivated when chances are you’re working longer hours for less pay (or no pay!) than your “job”.

And throw in the challenge of trying to be a professional while your children are arguing over who’s turn it is to use the self-inflating whoopee cushion right outside your office door and well, it’s a miracle we don’t all just give up and lease office space.

So, why do I do this? I think most of all, it’s because I get to decide whether to call a client, or play with my daughters.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded, and it’s almost always my children who do.

Tags: home office, Parenting, personal, work at home, work at home challenges, work at home mom