Verdanta

You’d think that working for yourself would make you extra motivated to get to work.  Turns out, that’s by  no means a given!

Recently, my business partner (aka, my husband) and I had a discussion wherein we discussed the amount of time I was putting into Verdanta.  Specifically, he was questioning how serious I was.  I assured him that I was VERY serious, but admitted that I was having difficulty prioritizing my time.  Part of the problem was, I still identified myself as a “stay-at-home mom.”  The very term implies lots of leisure time, so how could I say no to friends who wanted to meet me for coffee, or talk on the phone, or have me attend just one short meeting? 

After our little chat, I decided it was time to start thinking of myself, calling myself, and acting like a working woman.  It was a lot harder than I would have thought. 

Then a couple weeks ago, my husband was working on the taxes.  It was the first time he’s had to deal with a small business tax return, so it was extra painful this year.  Afterwards, he mentioned that he wasn’t sure if there was a minimum number of hours you had to put into a business to call it a business.  Just to be sure, he suggested I start keeping a work log. 

I started to write down each day the different activities I worked on, and the amount of time I spend doing them.  Then I calculated a daily as well as a weekly average.  I’ve been keeping the log for a little over two weeks now, and I’m averaging over 30 hours per week!  That’s pretty darn respectable, considering my full time job as Mom still comes first.  It turns out, for a compulsive list maker like myself, if I have a choice between watching TV,  and reading a book about web design, I’m going to choose the activity that I can write down in my log.  There’s no doubt that I put in an extra 10 hours each week just by choosing log-worthy activities over pure leisure. 

This was just what I needed to kick my butt into gear!