Dirty dishes, laundry, school work, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, plus you want to add in a thriving photography business?!
Being a stay at home Mom is one thing, but taking on a business in the midst of all the in-home chaos – well, someone just pour me a cocktail already!
Over the past 6 years of being both a mother and photographer, I have developed a method to calm the crazy so I can balance my life as a “mompreneur.”
I won’t say that it’s easily attained or that it will happen over night, but by making a few simple, yet effective, changes to your lifestyle, you too can become better at this wild juggling act.
And, it’s quite possible that you can do this without hitting the bottle at 4pm everyday – but, you’ll find no judgement here if you still do.
Create a routine
Humans are creatures of habit, so how could you skip this step in the first place when it comes to work/life balance?
Creating a routine sets expectations for yourself for your life to grant you more stability by being able to foresee and plan around your schedule.
You can start implementing this by giving yourself set work hours (and sticking to it) and times during the week to schedule appointments and meetings.
This doesn’t just go for business life, but your personal endeavors as well. Try to only schedule your personal appointments, grocery shopping trips, and date nights on certain days and times during the week. If you can oversee your schedule, you will be able to make the most of your time without getting caught up in overwhelm.
Make a list(s)
Lists are a must if you want better balance with work and life.
Why? Because they give you a clear-cut outline of what needs done, so you can better focus on your tasks when it’s time to get down to the grind.
Nothing kills your productivity much more than sitting down to work only to find yourself scrambling on what to do. Next thing you know, all you’ve done for the last 2 hours is scroll through your social media feed and get entangled in a sea Pinterest pins.
What I like to do to better accomplish this is by working with a calendar. I use this beautifully simple and oh-so affordable daily calendar/planner to write down my personal appointments and schedule, but also my daily tasks I want to get done.
In addition to this journal type of list-making, I also create large lists for big projects I am working on and add them into my daily allotment of tasks in my planner. In the long run, this saves me time, doesn’t kill my productivity, and gets everything done in a realistic time-frame.
Creating goals and outlining lists, and sticking to them, is a sure fire way that you will accomplish more for your business and your life!
Set realistic goals
Nothing can kill your productivity and momentum for success quicker than setting your goals higher than you can reach.
By setting the bar too high, you will likely not achieve all that you intend to do, which will ultimately lead to you becoming frustrated and feeling like a you’ve failed – ask me how I know.
But, if you are honest with yourself and how much you can attain in one given day, week, or month, you will not only achieve your goals, but surpass them. This will leave you feeling accomplished and more motivated to go after even more.
Surpassing our goals and tasks is the ultimate weapon for success – so who wouldn’t try to go after that?!
Set a timer
Whether you are sitting down to answer emails, schedule your weekly social media posts, or just doing chores around the house, setting a timer can be quite the game-changer when it comes to work/life balance – especially if you have the tendency to go off track often.
Think of how long it typically takes you to accomplish a specific task. Set a timer for less than that, then get to work. You will most likely find that when given a certain amount of time to complete a task, you will often finish it before your time is up, which also leads to better time management!
Have a lot of things to do in one given day? Set your goals, set a timer, and get it done – you’ll feel like wonder woman when you’ve wrapped it all up!
Remove distractions
Creating a set schedule, creating lists, and setting a timer is all well and good, but if you want to truly knock this work/life balance out of the park, then you absolutely MUST remove the things that distract you.
If you happen to check your phone 20 times an hour, then maybe you should leave it in a separate room while you are working on a task.
Perhaps you are notorious for taking small little “breaks” that turns into consistently checking your email, Facebook feed, and surfing the net? Well good news my friend, there are apps that can help you with that! My personal favorite is Freedom – for only $29 per year (that’s a whopping $2.42 per month), you can work on your computer and mobile devices distraction-free.
Is $30 worth it if you can cash in on a lot more productivity that will result in MORE money?
Yea, I thought so.
Take breaks
While removing distractions are absolutely essential to instill a healthier work/life balance, we also aren’t robots, so we actually preform better when we can rest our minds and eyes for a bit.
Got a case of writers block? Or maybe your little eyeballs are tired from editing too much?
Change your scenery!
Taking a small walk, a nice bubble bath, or even a drive can help clear out your thoughts and provide you with a clean slate to come back to when you’re ready. Pushing through the work can often lead to sloppy work, so be good to yourself and don’t overdo it!
By implementing these simple strategies, you will be well on your way to become a happier and more productive working Mom !
How do you balance work and life as a Mom? Share your thoughts below to start the discussion – who knows, you might even inspire a fellow Mom who needs to hear what you have to say!
