I am a working mother of 5 children aged 10 and under. When I figure out how to balance my life as a working Mama, I’ll let you know! However, below are a few tips and tricks that I use to help me balance my busy day!
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1. Always get up at least an hour before your children do! Rachel Hollis, one of my favorite authors and podcasters, uses this in her top 5! She states that you should get up an hour before your children and that hour is yours. I would argue that hour, or in my case 2 hours, is my time and my jobs time! I spend at least an hour in the morning working, getting ahead, sending the emails, and organizing myself for my day! When I finally get to the office, I feel like I am ahead of the game….and that feeling can last all day, or in HR world, about 25 minutes. Regardless, it is blissful to work quietly, before the dings of texts, bings of emails, and screaming babies. If mornings don’t work for you…..evenings maybe?
2. I don’t work in front of my kids. This is one I cheat at a good bit, but I am a work in progress. My time with my kids is already split 5 ways, they are already competing for my attention, work can’t get in the middle of it too! Which is why #1 is so important to me!
3. I’m crazy organized! Read the book “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy. It’s life changing! I share it with everyone I can. My favorite part of that book is its command to plan before you start. The book states that for every minute that you plan, you gain back 10 minutes of productivity! That’s amazing and I have seen it work!
4. Give yourself some credit for all you do! I’m over apologizing for taking my kids—plural—lots of kids—to the doctor or showing up for their school play! I’m at Starbucks writing this blog post, at 7:15pm on Sunday night, procrastinating a 401K work project. However, I will get the 401(k) project done, so I can be at baby C’s doctor’s appointment at 2:45pm on Tuesday, I’ve got my priorities in order!
5. Where are all my daddies? Ya’ll need credit too! I see the daddies dropping off their kids at school and racing to work. It’s not all mama’s doing it alone in most cases! They get the credit too! Or in my husband’s case, a statue in his honor every time he takes the baby to school!