The one thing my husband has insisted on since the day we came to USA is for me to work on learning to take a break. My cleaning the whole house relentlessly for a whole day after a 23 hour long flight might have given him some reason to worry about my single mindedness when it came to achieving a goal!
Going from a being a work for home mom to mom blogger to an entrepreneur has had it’s many challenges. I find myself constantly anxious and worrying about whether I am doing enough justice to all my roles in life.
When I plunged into blogging last year, it was to counter negativity that was seeping into my soul. Following my passion of writing, gave me the freedom to channel my talents into a productive direction. But part of the reason also was to slowly learn how to better balance a working life with kids and home.
With my new endeavor Raising World Children, I found myself facing new struggles in balancing writing, kids, home, husband, parents and the colossal work required to get a new venture going.
Life becomes a hamster wheel which is hard to get off. If I am not worrying about one thing, I am planning for another. If I am not learning a new technique for the website launch, I am writing down ideas for publication. If I am not cooking, I am cleaning. If I am not not taking care of my kids, I am on call with fellow bloggers/entrepreneurs getting podcasts, content lined up.
The only way to deal with the anxiety of being a “mompreneur” while keeping the guilt at bay is to remember to prioritize yourself. Easier said than done but I am getting there.
Schedule Working Hours
When something sits on your shoulders, it is easy to get lost in working towards a goal. You start putting every waking minute and even some sleeping ones into it.
Realizing I was running myself into the ground was an eye opener. I sat down and worked out working hours into my daily schedule. Alarms were set to tell me to stop working. Time got divided into chunks like kids, me, work, food, walk etc.
Of course there is still room for flexibility but this helps me to know that I have put in enough work into my venture. I have a number of hours to hold on to.
Scheduling in time for house work, writing and even breaks for nurturing my mind, body and kids really helped me turn things around.
Stow Away The Work Guilt
I have a strong work ethic. I believe in doing everything I do with complete sincerity. That being said, once I started on my venture I began to hold back on work around the house. Kids, work, hubby were priorities and something had to give! But I cannot stay in a messy home. And I need to focus on myself. Even if I did take a break, I worried about what I needed to do next. That led to major guilt.
People often talk about mom guilt but there is a such a big guilt associate with Not doing enough for your other baby (your business).
Fact of matter is there are only so many hours in a day. And when something gives, you have to let it go. And not just let it go, be okay with it.
Ask for Help
This is a big one. Being someone who takes pride in everything I do, I used to find it very hard to ask anyone for help or advice. I would blunder along, trying to find my way and usually succeeding but hampering my family’s peace of mind in the process.
It takes a lot for a person to admit they do not know something. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone ahead of you to ask for assistance. When someone offers help or if you have an opportunity to delegate even the smallest work, take others up on it. It saves a lot of time running around like a headless chicken!
Change Tracks To Rejuvenate
We all know it. But we don’t do it. Specially entrepreneurs starting on a new adventure. It is after all akin to running a machine with a Lot more moving parts and now you have babies to think about on top of your passions.
The stress is multi fold. Within all this, it is paramount you step back, take a breath and do something different from your routine. This forces you to get out of your self made box and challenges your body and mind to think differently. Which it does automatically. And before you know it, you are way ahead in the game!
Connect and Converse Authentically
When you are real, in your connections, you build bridges that you can depend on. In the time of crisis you will be sure someone has your back. Doing things just for the sake of getting your numbers up, while highly recommended does Not pay off in the long run.
More importantly, when you connect with other entrepreneurs struggling with their projects, the conversations and support you get is tremendous for the soul!
Step Away From The Devices
With the wonderful ways there are to stay connected to those who help you get ahead, it can get awfully addictive to stay on call 24/7. Since you are in charge, you feel you are answerable to everyone at all times of the day. You are not!
The world will keep spinning and there will still be notifications and voicemails for you to answer when you get back. Giving yourself time to process issues or drum up ideas without the crutches devices provide, helps you develop old school solutions to new world problems!
Shut Down The Entrepreneur Brain
Gasp! Is that possible? Yes, it is . Every minute of every second has you planning and organizing things for what new ideas to implement for your venture. Kids, home, Husband aside.
The business itself is a whole hamster wheel in itself. Make sure to take time off to power that part of your brain down. Time to just watch tv, laugh with the kids, listen to music, anything but worry about what to do next. Do Nothing but enjoy life !
