It can be difficult to be a working mother. Motherhood is like a full-time job. It can be exhausting to try and manage work assignments and the daunting task that is child care.
In today’s world, mothers cannot afford to sit back and just focus on being housewives when there are bills to pay. It can be exhausting to manage both, but there are ways to make it easier.
It is really important to find a way of balancing motherhood and work to ensure that you don’t experience burnout. To make it worthwhile, you must work towards a goal. These are some tips to help you get started.
Be specific and smart about your goals.
It is important that you have a goal and a vision when you set out on becoming a working mother. It should not be about money only. While money is important, you also need a career. You must be motivated and work hard to achieve your goals. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the pressure of being a working mother, you can find a way to work smarter using technology to accomplish tasks. This will allow you to use less energy for work assignments. For example, if you can do meetings online or have a specific issue resolved over the phone, then do it. You don’t have to drive all the way for physical meetings. This will save you time and make your work more enjoyable.
Prioritize your health
They often say working mums don’t pay much attention to their own lives. They put themselves last in everything that they do. From the runs of picking children in between work, they don’t even find time to have a proper meal. Experts advise that one must take care of their physical well-being in order to be able to balance work and motherhood. Have some ‘you’ time, work out, eat healthy, drink a lot of water and have enough sleep time, you will be able to juggle the tasks well.
Make a schedule
You need a well-planned schedule to be a working mom. You can plan ahead with your partner if you have one, or by yourself. Develop a schedule, preferably for a week ahead and don’t allow random programs to interrupt it. This means that all days have plans. Create a weekly calendar. This is important because working moms are likely to be distracted along the way. But if you have a schedule it will help you manage them.
A well-organized schedule is essential for working moms.
The beauty of a schedule is that it helps prioritize the most important things and eliminate the ones that are not. Your schedule should include social aspects such as going out with friends, attending a dinner or birthday party. This schedule will help you meet your work targets and prioritize tasks that you can do instead of wasting time on things you don’t need.
Learn to say “No!”
Every day brings new challenges and new people to your attention. They know you at work as the person who gets things done. At home, everything works without you. Don’t believe this. You don’t have to believe this. There are many other people who can do the same thing, at home and at work.
You are not ‘Superwoman’. Learn to say no to certain tasks and to delegate or outsource others. This will allow you to not overload your schedule and make you less exhausted. Feel free to tell people ‘so and so can do this’.
If you have the luxury to have a nanny, or older children, tell them what to do. But make sure you are also paying attention to your own needs. Working mums turn into ‘directors’ at home. As you tell others how to do chores, watch your favorite series.
Be present
Most working moms struggle to balance work and motherhood. Sometimes your mind is at work, but you’re at work because a child has a cold or you need to run to immunize a baby.
Sometimes it becomes tricky and you go through a phase known as ‘parental preoccupation’, where you are at work but actually not at work. While you are in a meeting, you are distracted by scrolling through your phone, dealing with a problem back at home, asking if the baby was fed, and chatting up a doctor, etc.
It will be time and your boss, or employees, if you are the boss, will realize that you are not there. This will have a negative impact on your performance at work. If you are the boss, employees might exploit your lack of presence to not deliver as expected. If you are an employee, the boss might decide not to entrust you with responsibilities because ‘you are not there’.
It also works the other way around, you need to be present at home as well. We understand that you are exhausted and busy. However, when you return home, you should put work aside and be present. Don’t switch on your computer at home. Your children only have one chance to see you. Give them all your attention. It is important that you have a healthy work-life balance. Good luck!
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Source: rnewtimes
