Time for a Fiscal Checkup

Give your financial records a good “going over.” In the process you might streamline your financial life and free up some valuable time to apply to your home business.

Balancing work and family life has never been easy. Pressures seem especially intense. Just how well are you able to balance the demands of your home business and keep the family happy?

Here’s a little test for you to take to see how well you’re doing. Spend a few moments on these simple questions to find out. Each statement describes a habit or behavior commonly practiced by people with well-developed balancing skills.

If you usually practice the habit in the running of your home business, rate yourself a “3”. Practice it sometimes? Give yourself a “2”. Occasionally? You get a “1”. And if you rarely practice it, you rate a “0”.

1. I have the ability to mentally shift from one project to the next. _____
2. I’ve developed support networks to help me take care of family and household needs when I’m especially busy. _____
3. I don’t try to do everything myself. _____
4. I plan structured time with family members to make sure they get the attention they need. _____
5. I don’t worry about low-and medium-priority household tasks that remain undone. _____
6. I use technology creatively to save time. _____
7. I’ve identified the one or two key stress-producing problems for me. _____
8. I make time for leisure each day. _____
9. I try to make my home office workplace more sensitive to family issues. ____
10. I have backup plans for family emergencies and illnesses. _____
11. I seek out peers who have the same problems I do, and talk with them about our mutual concerns. _____
12. I make the most of special moments with family. _____

Tally your scores. A score of 30-36 means you’re doing very well in keeping everything in balance. You could probably suggest some work-family tips to others. A score of 20-29 isn’t bad either. You might experience bumps in your home business life once in a while, but you usually handle them well. A lower score of 15-19 suggests that you’re having some difficulty with your balancing act and it needs a little work.

You live in a world that often appears to force you to make unpleasant choices between work and family. You can’t slow the world down, or remake it on your own terms. But you can learn the habits necessary to keep up with the demanding pace in today’s world. The result will be a glowing increase in confidence and control over your home business and your personal life.