Career Women: Balancing Our Time

Forget the idea of being everything to everyone everyday! There’s no way you can achieve complete and absolute balance as a Career Professional, Mom, Wife, Housekeeper, and any other title that you may be in your daily lives. There are days where the kids will need to come first and others where the work you do comes first. As I struggle with Ol’ Father time I realize that we as women really try to do too much.  Laura Vanderkam wrote an interesting article for Fortune.com on Fortune 500 top female execs stating that being a working woman and a mom really isn’t that hard. Reading this article I realized that all of the women made six figures and up. WE working women below the six figure salary index have to think smarter and wiser. We can NOT do it all, all the time. Our jobs require us to be present, the bosses (said six figure execs) lean on us for all of their needs, and basically we just don’t have the money to have hired help.

From my research and personal experiences here are my top 5 ways to assist you with your Daily Balancing Act:

NURTURE YOURSELF

As women who are natural nurturers we must first learn to nurture ourselves. If YOU do not take care of yourself all the people you are killing yourself for will be without. Ladies we must remember to EAT right, SLEEP right and CENTER our minds a.k.a. get our minds right. We must pour into ourselves even more than we are pouring into others so that we are never empty. Nurture you body with these basic principles in order to be equipped to nurture your loved ones, as well as the job that allows us to provide for your loved ones.

TACKLE PERSONAL CHORES ONE DAY AT A TIME

Housework, paying bills etc. is never our favorite thing to do, but it must get done. Take each task one day at a time so you will not be overwhelmed. For ex: Monday may be dark colors day, Tuesday may be bathroom day. If you have children over 6 years old, I highly suggest allowing them to complete chores as apart of their daily routines which helps to build character and a sense of responsibility. Look at that we’ve killed 2 birds with one stone!

ENLIST OTHERS TO HELP WITH THE CHILDREN

It takes a village to raise a child is an commonly used African Proverb. Enlist your village of family, friends and neighbors to assist you with your children when you can not be around. Map out a schedule, stick to it as best you can and do what is necessary to get through your week. You will be surprised the willingness of others if you simply ask.

TAKE AN HOUR FOR YOURSELF DAILY

Daily time to yourself whether it be lunch ALONE, meditation ALONE, or just a break form the everyday monotony is key. Key word is ALONE. Find time throughout your day to recharge. If you break it up throughout the day even better, but I urge you ladies to do this daily and you will see a change in how you feel about yourself and others.

USE YOUR TIME WISELY WHILE AT WORK

Often at work there are people that I call time suckers. They decide to come into your space with their personal business, work issues, projects that are important to just them… oh I can go on and on. Bottom line ladies, is cut them off after one minute max. Time is money and at the end of the day they are on their way home and you are left with only 3 things done on your daily tasks list of 10. Let people know that you are extremely busy and you will have to catch up later. Period. End of story.