My 100th post! Yay!
“It can be difficult juggling family and work, mostly because I am a perfectionist. I’m still learning how to throw perfection out the window, take care of my family first, and then tend to my clients. I have a ways to go on my time management skills, but I’m getting there.” – Amy Bellgardt, Mom Spark and Mom Made That
Like most mom entrepreneurs, I’m finding it very challenging to balance work and “living.” I’m usually able to cope but lately, I’ve been thrown to my limit. I’m finally starting to poke my head up from a six-week long journey of picking up everything and moving across the country. It goes without saying that life has been more than insane:
- Bought a house in Vancouver.
- Visited with family on a previously planned vacation, which should have been relaxing but ended up stressing me out because it was delaying all the things that I needed to get done for the move.
- Staging our house in Toronto, staying at family’s while people toured through it, and then finally (thankfully!) selling it.
- Finding daycare for my daughters in Vancouver. A surprisingly easy process but still worthy of hair-pulling.
- Saying goodbye to our friends and family and a city that I’ve called home for 13 years and my entire adult life.
- Packing up the house (a two-day ordeal with movers), which also included sorting and purging everything except essentials.
- Staying at family’s for two weeks and living out of suitcases.
- Having my daughters get adjusted to their new caregivers and environments.
- Finding out that we would get our belongings about three days after expected – excruciating considering that we were sleeping on an air mattress.
- Unpacking our house and discovering that furniture won’t fit up stairwells and that new furniture will need to be purchased and old furniture unloaded.
As a result, my work has completely suffered. I’ve been completing my work in thin slices of time but I haven’t been able to sit down and devote a good chunk of time to my business. On top of it, I’ve got a bunch of new projects that I’d like to start or gain momentum on and it’s driving me a bit crazy that I can’t tackle them in a meaningful way.
But it’s turning around. Yesterday, I finished a two-day process of pulling together a complete to-do list. I managed to catch up on email and have a ton of writing that needs to be done. And as of today, I am vowing to get myself organized, back onto a routine and implementing some of my habits that I used to do while I was working as a director for a major Canadian corporation. I’ll go into detail in some upcoming posts, but here is the summary.
- As much as possible, make “getting to Done” your goal. As Leo Babauta of Zen Habits says in his post, “Focus on every single friction, and find a way to reduce or eliminate it.” This includes limiting meetings, limiting distractions, picking simpler tools and paths, focusing on smaller tasks. Do one thing at a time – which seems to be surprisingly challenging.
- Pick one or two tasks that you absolutely must get done in a specific time period. For me, the task I had was to create a task list so that I could have clarity around what I needed to do. Commit to doing those two tasks. Allow yourself not to tackle anything above and beyond those two tasks if you accomplish them early.
- Manage your email. Limit the hours that you check it. If you are working, turn off your email software or if being in your email is required for your work, turn off your auto-checker so that it doesn’t try to retrieve email. Even if you have a smart phone like a Blackberry or iPhone, resist the urge to check your email constantly or to respond immediately. Designate times during the day when you will check, read and respond to email.
- Manage your Twitter and Facebook activity. Like email, designate time to check your Twitter and Facebook accounts. I rely heavily on Hootsuite which allows me to manage multiple accounts and schedule Tweets. If you can afford it, use an assistant to manage the mundane tasks of social media tools. Leverage productivity tools and tricks like having Hootsuite automatically publish content from a feed so that you can ensure you have a constant stream of content that is relevant to your followers (note that I said relevant).
- Limit the hours that you’re working. This is so hard for mom entrepreneurs who often juggle around family commitments or are frequently interrupted. It means getting creative about when you can do you work – for so many, it’s when the kids are napping or after they’ve gone to bed. If you can, try to find care for your children so that you can have uninterrupted work time.
- Focus on your children when you are with your children. Turn off that computer or iPhone when you are supposed to be with your kids. I admit that this one is really hard for me. But it will force you to be more productive with the time you have and allow you to feel less guilty since you are giving your kids the time and attention they need when they need it.
- Make sure you take time for yourself. Jesse and I went and saw Mom’s The Word at the Arts Club the other day. I didn’t want to go but knew that it was essential for my mental health. I’m so glad that I did! It meant that we could have some couple time, take a break from the grueling epic called “Jesse and Christine Move to Vancouver”, rediscover our beautiful city and be entertained by a terrifically funny play.
I know that it’s easier said than done. As I write this, I can hear my toddler struggling with her nap time and keeping my other daughter awake. My mind has been distracted by her sleepy wails and I’ve already gone into their room to check, soothe, change a diaper and re-tuck in. As soon as I finish this article, I’ll likely do the whole process again.
If you’d like to read more tips on juggling being a mom and entrepreneur, scan through the various 5 Questions posts, where I’ve asked each mom entrepreneur how they do it. Incidentally, if you haven’t subscribed to Zen Habits or its companion blog mnmlist.com, I highly recommend that you do. He’s also recently launched Zen Family Habits.
What are some of your juggling tips? Post your comments below!
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It is never easy being a WAHM mompreneur. I have tried it before with my kids and it was leading to a burnout. I found it easier to focus if I had a place to work outside on home to concentrate on my business. so that I can do my best for both business and family.
Christine-
First of all, great tips. And congratulations on your 100th post!
I’m a writer for thinkofthat.net, and going through our stories on successful entrepreneurs, I’m always amazed by some of these mothers who find the time not only to raise a family but… say, invent and market a product, or create and run a business.
It’s truly amazing to me that they can juggle it all. These tips for time management, along with many of your other posts, are an invaluable resource for moms aspiring to manage their own business and have a family.
So, thanks for the great post. And good luck on your next 100 posts!
Benjamin – thanks for your encouraging words!
Great post! Very helpful tips. I can’t believe you just went through all of that! Congrats for making it through!