We all know that you can have both a family and a career.
But the bigger question is if you can have both a family and a thriving career. Will you be able to hit the goals you set for yourself? Will you truly be able to have it all?
Work Life Balance for Working Mothers and Career Success
You can have both a fulfilling career and a happy home life if you seek balance.
But let’s say you’re determined to be the person who puts in the most hours at the office. You arrive at 8 a.m. and stay till 8 p.m. You say yes to everything, including frequent travel.
Or let’s say you’re determined to be a super mom. You sign your child up for every activity there is. You say yes to everything, including every play date and every opportunity to volunteer at your child’s school.
If you aspire to either of those two extremes, you’re setting yourself up for a life of stress where you’re always coming up short.
Luckily, there is a better way.
Tips for Balancing Family and Work
True work/life balance takes planning, discipline, and—most of all—setting priorities. You’ll obviously have to figure out for yourself what that means for you, but here are a few tips to get you started.
• Have a clear goal. You can’t achieve your definition of career success unless you know what that is. Spend some upfront time clarifying your vision—and begin to build your strategy for getting there.
• Be intentional with your time. It’s easy to burn a half hour reading the news, checking social media, or online shopping—and there’s nothing wrong with any or those things. The trick is to make sure that you’re using your time the way you intended. If it’s time to work, then work. If it’s time to play board games with the kids, put your phone away. Of course you need down time, but it should be time that you plan for and enjoy without feeling guilty because you’re supposed to be doing something else.
• Find a mentor. Ideally, this will be someone who was once in the same situation as you and knows how to pursue a career while raising a young family. Accept the gift of time and advice at this point in your life, knowing that you will pay it forward to someone else someday.
• Find a company that’s flexible. In today’s work culture, flexibility is highly desired by everyone, not just moms. Finding a progressive company will allow you to shuffle things around so that you can make the most of your time at work and at home.
• Lose the guilt. Do you wish you could be there to protect and coddle your kids every minute? That’s called helicopter parenting and the truth is that it’s not all that great for kids anyway.
• Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. You’ve got a clear idea of your goals. Don’t let anyone distract you from what you want out of life. There will always be somebody who is more this or more that than you. Your goal is to be the best version of yourself—not anybody else.
About StorageMart
At StorageMart, we love to celebrate the good we see in all of the communities we serve. Women’s History Month is the perfect opportunity to say thank you to all of the women who work so hard to make their corner of the world a better place.