5 Ways to Balance Motherhood, Your Business, & Life!

I'm tired. In fact, I am always tired. The bags under my eyes have taken up permanent residence and they don't seem to be going anywhere soon. Being a wife, a mom to two young girls, working a full time job, hosting a weekly empowHERment podcast, and building my women EmpowHERment brand is exhausting.

It feels like I am always on the go and my mind is like a PC running multiple applications in the background simultaneously. While this is partially true (because I'm never not working), I have also become great at multitasking. As a mamipreneur who is in the business of inspiring women to go after it all I often get asked how am I able to do all that I do without burning myself out. Below, are my top 5 tips to conquering mamipreneurship.

Prep Your Week on Sundays.

They say when you fail to plan you plan to fail. I wholeheartedly agree with this because prepping and planning for the upcoming week saves me not only time, but also my sanity. Sundays at my house is chore day. This is when the house gets cleaned, the laundry gets done, and I plan and prep everything from our dinner, kids’ lunches & snacks, down to the clothes we’re wearing for the week. Yes, I plan out my outfits as well as my daughter’s school outfits on Sundays. I look at the weather for the week and choose outfits accordingly. I iron them and hang them neatly in the closet so every morning I save myself the headache of having to figure out what we’re going to wear.

I also prepare our dinner for 3 days and freeze it. The other two days of the week we’ll wing it or we’ll buy take out depending on how I feel. My daughter’s snacks are prepared in mini Ziploc snack bags and placed in the pantry. Every morning my husband grabs one of the Ziploc bags and puts it in her lunch bag along with her lunch. Though prepping for my week on Sundays takes up most of my day, it saves me a lot of time that I don’t really have during the week.

Put The Kids To Work.

Now before you come at me about child labor laws and all I’m not talking about that kind of labor, but getting your children in the habit of cleaning up after themselves and helping with small chores around the house will not only teach them about responsibility, but it will also give you back some of your time. In my house, my four year old knows that when she takes her toys out of her toy chest to play with them she has to put them back once she’s done.

I used to spend half my day picking up her toys. Now, instead of her taking out every single toy she owns she only takes out what she is going to play with. She has become aware that the mess she makes is what she’s responsible for cleaning. And the time I used to spend cleaning up after her I have reallocated to do other things on my “to do” list.

Focus on Tier 1 Business Problems.

Tier 1 business problems are what I like to call the most important or most critical problems that will have the greatest impact on your business. While there are many business problems that may require your attention, it is important to differentiate between the most critical and the least critical.

Focus your time and attention on your tier 1 business problem before you get to anything else, the one that makes a critical difference in the success of your business. Resist temptation to start on easier Tier 2 and Tier 3 ones—stay with the “mother of all problems” and experience a greater sense of accomplishment.

Know Your “Why”.

To truly succeed in anything in life you have to have a reason for doing it. If you don’t know why you’re doing something chances are you will be easily distracted and you won’t follow through. Getting really clear on your why (and having it connect to your values) is rocket fuel to not only get you moving on doing your best work, but it will help keep you focused and on track. When you know your why you can endure any how.

Ask For Help.

While rocking that S on your chest and strutting in your Super Woman pumps may make you feel like a rock star, sometimes it’s easier (necessary even) to ask for help than to burn yourself out trying to do it all alone. Sorry to break it to you, but your superwoman gig is up. You can do a lot, but you can’t do it ALL, at once, with your hair flawless, and your makeup on fleek. It’s ok to ask for help.

While some may see asking for help as a sign of weakness it really is a sign of strength. Being vulnerable is not a weakness, it’s being human. You may not necessarily want to ask your mother-in-law in case you still want her to think you really are superwoman, but surely there’s someone in your circle, your church, or your family, that you can perhaps barter services with.

They help you with the kids and you can offer to make them dinner, bake a cake, or watch their children a different day. Soliciting help when needed is one of the best things you can ever do for your physical and mental well-being. There is no shame in asking for help if you need it.

#getempowHERed #TheMamiChronicles #motherhood #mamipreneur