What is it like to be a mom, a wife and a boss? Sometimes it’s amazing and other times it’s a huge struggle. Being fully committed and responsible for communicating the company’s mission and vision as well as leading an extremely talented and accomplished marketing team is clearly a big job. In addition, raising a 15 year old daughter and nurturing a 25 year marriage each bring their own challenges.
My top 5 suggestions for creating balance:
- Create boundaries.
I’ve always had a job that has required travel. It’s a perk, but it can also create some challenges. Being away from family during important times and missing out on daily routines often are a result of traveling. I have learned that work events will come and go but there’s only one first day of high school – so I set clear boundaries around my family time to make sure I don’t over-commit myself and miss out on the special once-in-a-lifetime events. Learning this lesson hasn’t been easy. In fact, there was a time when my daughter was about 4 years old and I worked for a company headquartered in South Carolina while I lived in Indianapolis. I would travel to the headquarters about once a month for meetings. I realized it was time to set boundaries when one weekend as my daughter and I were playing outside she hoped on her tricycle and said, “Bye, I’m going to South Carolina!” 
Set priorities.
I learned this important lesson from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective People. In his book, Covey says that we all have lots of responsibilities, and it’s kind of like juggling a bunch of balls at one time. We need to identify which balls are glass, and make sure we don’t drop those because they will break. In effect, make sure that you know which are the most important items, and all of the others can be dropped – some of them may be rubber balls that can bounce and be caught on the way back up.- Allow mistakes.
Attempting to be Superwoman and never make a mistake has set me up for failure on several occasions. I have learned to allow myself, and those around me, to make mistakes. I often remind myself, and others, that we aren’t performing brain surgery. In addition, I believe that making mistakes is a sign of activity. Someone who is making decisions and doing things will more likely make mistakes than someone who is idle. - Have the difficult conversations.
Creating strategies and procedures as well as providing guidance and leadership has its challenges. Tough conversations at work carry over to tough conversations at home. There are times when it would be nicer to just hide in my office or in my meetings and not interact with my team, or hide in my bedroom behind the television and not interact with my husband and daughter. However, I know that relationships take a lot of work. They require time and attention, not copping out or checking out. In the end I’m always glad that I took the time to have the difficult conversations and I think those around me usually agree. - Be light-hearted.
Know when it’s time to be serious and when it’s time to let your hair down. All work and no play is not the best motto for anyone and I often need to remind myself to let loose. Instead of getting caught up in the frantic race of running from meeting to meeting then rushing home to get my daughter to practice, back to the house to get dinner, homework, showers and then to bed. I try to mix things up as often as possible. I’m known to pull pranks or throw in a knock-knock joke to help lighten the mood and keep things light. It can be amazing how serious we can let our lives get, and some levity is usually necessary just to make it through the rough days.
I am very grateful for the opportunity I have been given to fill all of these great roles and I’m learning new things every day about the best way to manage them. I do make mistakes, but I am fortunate enough to have great people around me who realize the effort that I am making to be the best me I can be.
Do you have lessons you have learned that you can share? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.