Tips for Achieving Work / Life Balance as a Working Mom

It’s never easy trying to juggle work, family and your social life, especially when there are only 24 hours in a day. As a professional and a mom, your ideal situation would probably be one where your career is on track, your personal relationships are healthy and fulfilling, and your children see you as a loving and involved parent.

While many argue that it is impossible for women to achieve an ideal balance between work and personal responsibilities, we’d like to share some tips on how you can achieve satisfying work/life balance as a working mom:

Tip 1: Find a balance that works for you

The first step is to realise that when it comes to being a mother, wife, and employee, there is no perfect balance -it’s up to you to determine your priorities, and to assign your time accordingly.

When doing this, remember to pay attention to your own needs and happiness – do not allow other people to tell you what you should be doing, or how you should be prioritising the different aspects of your life.

Also, don’t be afraid to make changes. If you find that you’re currently spending too much time at work, and you’d rather spend more time with your family, you can consider various options, such as:

• Working less over-time
• Speaking to your manager about the possibility of working flexible hours (or working remotely)
• Changing jobs

Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Asking for help does not mean that you are failing. Instead, it shows that you are strong enough to pursue your goals. Also, if you don’t ask for help, you are unlikely to receive it.

So if, for example, you need your spouse to look after the children during the evenings while you study a part-time project management course, ask! Don’t let your belief that you have to do everything yourself get in the way of achieving your goals.

Tip 3: Do your best, even if it’s not perfect

Putting pressure on yourself to be the perfect mother, wife, and career woman will wear you out and strip you of your energy.

Nobody is perfect – so rather embrace yourself and what you have to offer in the various aspects of your life. This way, you can get things done without spending all your time worrying about being perfect, and without giving too much of your time and attention to the small things that will inevitably go wrong from time to time.

Tip 4: Stop feeling guilty

Don’t be afraid to say “no” every once in a while. If family time is important to you, it might still be okay to skip dinner with the family once or twice a month to attend important meetings, but you shouldn’t have to stay at the office past dinner time every second evening.

If you take on too many tasks and responsibilities, you’re going to end up feeling stressed out about all the deadlines you have to meet, while at the same time feeling guilty for neglecting your responsibilities at home. (And, conversely, if you agree to too many responsibilities at home, such as serving on six different parent school committees and being involved in three different lift clubs, you’re going to start feeling guilty for spending less time on building your career.)

Tip 5: Celebrate your success

It is important to give yourself credit for everything you accomplish. So what if you didn’t get to make the beds this morning? Stop worrying about the little things, and focus on celebrating the things you do achieve, such as meeting your deadlines at work, and keeping your children happy.

If there is one thing you should take away from this article today, it is that you need to do what makes you happy. If this means that you’ll need to learn new skills so that you can change your career, you can always study a part-time course from home to develop these skills.

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