Balancing Work and Family
25 February 2017
“Work-Life Balance Hacks”
- “Oxygen to the mother first”—if you’re taking care of many people (children, clients, pets), you need time to get yourself in order.
- Create space in the morning and evening. Have a space and protect it.
- Spiritually create your perfect day. The Lord created things spiritually before physically.
- Affirmations—positive statements in the present tense (or even past tense, as if you’ve already succeeded).
- “My work is valued by everyone who hires me.”
- “My clients appreciate and value the work that I provide.”
- Know why you work
- Doesn’t have to be “culturally acceptable”—for example, for women, whether you come from a culture of working women or stay-at-home mom women.
- Erin wants the younger generation to know that she worked while raising kids. It can work! You will be fine! Your kids will be fine!
- Know your personality type
- Color Code, Meyers-Briggs, etc.
- What is your mission or calling?
- When you’re a young mother, keep your skills alive!
- Emulate
- Emulate the examples you want to become. Seek knowledge from the best books.
- Ask questions—listen.
- Goals: if you want to be a good editor, you have to immerse yourself in good writing and hang around good editors—networking, conferences, meeting with others in your field.
- Read or listen to audiobooks, TED talks.
- Isolate
- When you work at home, create boundaries.
- If not a door, masking tape on the floor! J
- Boundary of time—with kids, add a reward. (If you give me a couple hours, I’ll take you to get McDonald’s chicken nuggets!)
- Obey your own boundaries.
- Manage distractions. Daycare is okay! Churches often have good, affordable preschools. Maybe part-time preschool/daycare for one or more of your children (they usually only need to be potty trained). Daycare can be good for kids too—be around other kids, be taught.
- It can be temporary if you’re working on a difficult long-term project
- Some people do not check email before 10:00 or do one-minute email replies.
- Use timers—such as to remind you of breaks, lunch, to start dinner.
- It is not mean to create boundaries!
- Automate
- Receive payments online, pay bills online—autopayments!
- Savings—UESP college program for your kids. (You can invest as low as $10/month! It’s an insurance policy).
- Home maintenance—look at opportunity cost of DIY vs. paying someone.
- Simplify goals, resources, time—focus them.
- Avoid bringing in clutter, things that have to be sorted or kept clean.
- Groceries—you can order groceries online and have a regular, standing order. Walmart, Smith’s, Amazon pantry. Order and pick it up.
- Meals—here’s what Erin does: Plan meals on Sunday. Have your older kids (help) cook Monday to Thursday on a $20 budget. Friday night—pizza night! Saturday, go out for lunch and eat leftovers for dinner. Mom cooks on Sunday.
- Dress code—how much time do you spend looking at your clothes and choosing outfits? Consider coming up with system if that helps you. Slim down your closet so there’s less of a choice. Coordinate. Make grab-ready outfits.
- Whatever you decide to automate, make sure it’s efficient.
- Integrate (“Compound Activities”)
- Combine activities for multiple benefits—example: going for a walk. Exercise (health), spend time with kids (time/love), teach them (education), pick up trash (service).
- It becomes a game to look for ways to maximize time!
- Erin listens to TED talks while typesetting.
- Audiobooks or conference talks while doing dishes or other mindless tasks.
- Call family on speaker/hands-free while driving.
- Delegate
- If your ten-year-old unloads dishwasher . . . adjust expectations for quality.
- Have to delegate time to teach (whether kids or personal assistants, etc.) how things should be done. Follow up, correct when needed.
- Give general goals—sometimes the people you delegate to know a better way.
- Trade babysitting.
- Volunteering/service—don’t overdo it. Your church calling counts! Or if you can donate money to something instead of donating time, that works too.
- Room stewardships for kids—one kid in charge of keeping each room clean.
- Independent, self-reliant kids. Kids can do their own laundry as early as ten years old.
- Innovate
- “Think Week”—idea from Bill Gates. Take one week each year to just read a lot, think, come up with new ideas, set new goals, innovate. Brainstorming.
- Try new things, new technologies. Stay with the times.
- Be open to feedback and seek to improve.
- Give feedback, praise, prizes to the people you work/live with.
- Erin gives prizes to her kids for good grades—$10 for A, $5 for A-, for example, starting in 7th grade so by 9th grade A-grades are automatic.
- Take all of your “jobs” seriously.
- Celebrate!
- To-do list à ta-da list!
- Things you accomplished, even those unexpected wins!
- Plan rewards for yourself! Something to look forward to! 😉
- To-do list à ta-da list!