Managing Mum Life
Tackling the balancing act
As a Mother you find yourself in a balancing act between your kids, your partner, your work life and of course, yourself. Although this balancing act can be tiring and testing at times, it is also one of the most rewarding this we do as a mum. Seeing my kids laugh and smile throughout their childhood and now adulthood fills my heart with love and joy unlike anything else.
We had been in Australia for just over 4 years. My husband had started a software company and it was in its initial stages, which meant very little income, so we were living off savings. We were true partners in the business where I took care of admin, finance and running the business while he was doing product development.
We found that we often bickered, the children were distracted with gaming and TV. We had lost that sense of engagement as a family. We REALLY needed a holiday, but money was tight. We refused to think that we “could not”, instead we said, “How were we going to do this?”.
We found a really good special on accommodation and airfares to Coolangatta, so we put caution to the wind and booked it.
We had the best time ever! We were close to the beach and even got to do the theme parks once, which was amazing, especially for the kids. We had dinner together every night. The place had no cable TV, so we were forced to play games and have fun together.
On our return, what we found in the business, despite any unfounded concerns, is that we did not lose any clients. what we left undone remained undone (no surprises there) but the workload did not seem to be as overwhelming as it did before our holiday. We seemed to have a fresh pair of eyes and definitely a renewed source of energy and determination. The children’s attitude at school had changed and it was reflected in their performance.
Based on these learnings, we made a pact that from then on that we would schedule, plan and budget for a break from work at least once a year. We found out that sometimes less it more and when you give yourself a break from all the business and chaotic cycles of everyday life, you can achieve great things.
To finish things off, I thought I’d share the lessons I’ve learnt from being a working mum
1. Plan to take time out for yourself on a regular basis as a mum. This includes scheduling facials and personal pampering, or a simple cup of tea in silence.
2. Plan, schedule and budget a break at least once a year. What worked for us is to have a separate savings account with a recurring weekly transfer so that it did not hit us in one go.
3. To get a fresh perspective on business and improve your performance actually requires taking time out for yourself. Sometimes stopping everything for a short period will move you more steps forward than you think.