Creating Work Life Balance
I'm sharing my top 10 tips for creating work/life balance. No working mom I know has balance 100% of the time. But some of us have a fragile dance that is working. I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I've got a terrific family, a thriving business and my health. I don't want to discount my successes to luck or timing. Smart moves and good decisions help. I'd like to see more strong independent women business owners rise up in the USA. So I signed on and I'm ready to share!
- If you are going to work and spend time away from the ones you love, find work that feeds your soul. Fashion is something that fuels me. Getting paid to follow the trends is a dream come true. Find a way to turn your passion into a career.
- Surround yourself with excellence. Whether you are hiring a sitter to watch your kids, a cleaning lady to lighten the load OR a CFO to oversee business growtn, make sure you hire someone who can match your standards. Spend more time looking. Don't settle for mediocre. You'll just end up replacing them later.
- Power off.When I spend time with the kids and my husband I try to give them my all. That means turning twitter off, muting the phone and really digging in to the play time. Joy is a powerful thing--sometimes better than 8 hours of sleep to recharge.
- The delete button is your friend. Don't let email own you. Remember "no" is an answer and delete is a response.
- Find friends that share your hobbies. While I love a good cocktail, girls' nights out are few and far between. What does work is killing two birds with one stone. I have a running group that meets every Sunday at 7:00am. We catch up while we exercise. That is my kind of multi-tasking.
- Don't try to compete with SAHMs. I learned early on that I don't want to spend hours a day planning crafting playdates for my kids or creating the perfect brownies for bake sales. Coloring is fine and so are Rice Krispie treats. I only have so much time for the side projects that come with being a mom. I am happy to let the bakers bake and to celebrate their creations. I'd rather get an extra 30 minutes of sleep than bake cookies from scratch.
- Phone calls are the last resort.I'm really, really hard to get via phone. In my world, the cell is for the babysitter to contact me in an emergency and for CAREFULLY planned conference calls. People are distracted on the phone (guilty). I find most teleconferences a huge time waste. I filter the heck out of meeting requests to make sure I am really needed on a call.
- Live close to work or close to school.I can walk to my girl's school in 10 minutes and I work from home. Cutting out commute time has made my life much more sane.
- Routine is your friend.I jokingly say staying very organized helps me be spontaneous. Sticking to a schedule affords me to really analyze my days. When too many things pull me off-schedule and away from the family, I evaluate the opportunities and scale back. I always look at a monthly calendar as well as a daily one to make sure I'm not over-committed. One standing routine is date night. Mr.Momtrends and I have a sitter come one night a week to make sure we get some quality time together.
- Laugh more.You've got to occasionally see the hilarity in trying to be a parent and a business woman. Strive for success, but don't take it too seriously. Even those women who are literally curing cancer need a good giggle.
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