A working mother's life is challenging to say the
least. Fulfilling the role of mom while holding down a full-time job can leave
you feeling guilty and frazzled. You are torn between giving your best at work
and being a good mother, most of the times you think you're short changing
both. The key is focus and planning. Here are a few tips that might help you
better manage your time and achieve a successful work-life balance. Bear in
mind these tips are not cast in stone but can be tweaked to your own work-life
situation.
First and foremost, get rid of the guilt and
forgive yourself. Instead of dwelling on the time spent away from
your kid/s, think about how your family benefits from you working - the
educational opportunities, ability save or go on vacations. According to Lisa Pierson Weinberger, a lawyer and the founder of the
website Mom, Esq. "The most successful career moms have found ways to
be efficient in both worlds -- and that requires being able to come to terms
with choices and focus on the priorities that are in the moment."
Get a good planner and get organized! Use the
technology available on your phone, tablet or computer and have your kids' and
partner's schedule online, a daily list of your meetings and tasks to be
accomplished, even your meal plan for the week can be uploaded. This allows you to know what is happening when and therefore make adjustments should the
need arrive. Having a plan that you can see, helps you stay organised and gives
you some measure of control. It also helps you to identify when you may need to
enlist help.
Plan your mornings. This means do as much
prepping the night before, pack lunches, lay out the kids and your clothes for
the next day, so there is no mad scrambling to find something to wear in the
morning. Get up a full hour before everyone. This allows you to get dress and
have your morning coffee or tea - in peace.
Have a backup/ support system in place. You are not
superwoman or Mother Lutchmi and you don't have to be. Don't be afraid to ask
for help. Have ready at hand at least three people (family, friends,
neighbours, babysitter etc.) that you can call in times of emergencies.
Plan a work schedule. Itemise the tasks to be accomplished and focus on getting most of them done, try to avoid wasting time. While it is good to have a
rapport with your coworkers, spending extended time on email exchanges, casual
Internet surfing, gossiping, and long lunches are distractions that will make
you less productive. Focus on your tasks at work and leave the chatting with
coworkers for lunchtime.
Plan your meals ahead - prepping in advance. Setting up a
weekly meal plan not only saves you time but also money. A good idea is to
prepare a number of meal combos that could last for the week on the
weekend. Put aside time either on Saturday or Sunday to
prep and cook. Store the meals in serving size containers in the fridge or
freezer to be pulled out and reheated when needed. Invest in a rice cooker and crockpot these go a long way in cutting down the time spent in the kitchen.
Schedule quality family time. Making time
for the kids is crucial. Try not to multitask when you spend time with them,
they know when you're distracted and not focussed on them. Make time to reconnect with your kids - go
on dates with them, have a games night or family breakfast. This
downtime allows you to nurture your family dynamics.
Make time for yourself. By managing
time wisely you can take time out for yourself and reenergize. Reconnect with YOU.
Spend time with your partner. Tend to one your partner feels neglected sometimes. Put aside time to rekindle the intimacy. This could
be in the form of a monthly date night or an intimate late night dinner at
home when the kids go to bed. Sometimes just sharing a glass of wine and
talking to each (about anything except the kids) is another way to get closer
and reconnect.
Let me know if these tips work for you. If you have
any your own we would love for you to share them with us. As they say, we are
all in this together. Take good care of yourself.
Related:
As a working mom there's never a shortage of things to do or plan for. It's nice that you have taken steps to juggle various tasks and stay ahead of the game. Another tool that helps is effective multitasking. Understanding that tasks can run concurrently even ones with different start and/or end times. Just another tool to help you squeeze out more me time for yourself. Remember you're no good to the family if you're not first good to yourself.
ReplyDeleteI like the use of that terminology "effective multitasking" because more often than not we multitask but not effectively leaving some things half way done. Thanks so much for the helpful advice.
ReplyDeleteThese are all really helpful tips to stay organized. Sometimes I find myself getting stressed with everything that has to be done in a day. I think it's important to assign tasks to your spouse and kids too so that everyone is involved and tasks get done quickly. It's also helpful to do a quick cleanup of the house every night before bed. I like to use the reminder and note apps on my phone to keep track of everything. Do you have a preferred planner that you use?
ReplyDeleteHi Shiv Fraz. You are so right about getting everyone in the family involved in tasks around the house, it helps a lot. The planner I use is Microsoft OneNote.
ReplyDeleteI try to do a "to do list" every morning, in order of priority. Yes, things will come up unexpectedly eating away at some of your precious limited time, but with the list you can glance to see what tasks can be shifted to tomorrow instead of stressing out that you are not getting everything done. I find that it helps me and by the end of the week when you do check you have accomplished all if not most of what you set out to do so you actually feel productive without losing it! :)
ReplyDeleteI also find that I slotting in times in my organizer for my gym, hairdresser, pedicure, massage etc ensures that I make time for me. After all "our" time is very important as it ensures that we are in a good place mentally and physically to deal with work, family and whatever challenges are coming our way!