Work-life balance may remain elusive, and even being a stay-at-home-mum is a full time job, but you can still stay on top of your game with these 5 tips from wives and mums around the country.
1. Plan ahead: Sit down on Sunday night and visualize everything you need to get done for the week; then write them down, making a to-do list in your diary or handheld device. Be sure to include everybody who is important in your plans; husband, nanny, older children, etc. Balance out your meetings in order to conserve energy. Try to schedule most of your out-of-office meetings around the same time so you make the most of your being out, and schedule late meetings close to home, so you’re not stuck in traffic faraway when you should be home with family.
2. Double up: This is my personal favourite; it has been of great value to me over the years.
Make the best use of those pockets of time you have during the day. Go everywhere with working material or a book you need to finish reading. Make that phone call you’ve been meaning to while you do the dishes. Touch up your nail polish in the cab on your way to the seminar. Listen to your Bible while you sort the laundry. Pack it in, double up!
3. Use services that make life easier: I shop online often, and have my things delivered to me. You’re a wife, a mother, a professional (not to mention daughter, sister, friend) and with such a great demand on your time and attention it’s more than okay to take all the help you can get. When I need to get a nice outfit quickly, I order from
So Necessary and they always deliver. And when I need to cook I skip the market bit and shop at
Jaramall and they deliver fresh groceries to me. My husband loves spring cleaning, but I’d rather he spent time with me and our son, and I can count on
AnyWork Services to handle that. There are no awards for “
suffer-head” in the 21
st century. Get with the programme, girl!
4. Take your R & R seriously: You know there’s rarely free time lying around waiting to be spent in bed napping, or drinking tea while reading a book. You need to
create time for that, and treat it with the same seriousness you would a meeting with a client or an appointment at the doctor’s. You need it to be the best you.
5. Take care of your body: Make sure you eat right and keep fit. Whether you choose to do yoga, run, dance, swim, power-walk or use a skipping rope at home, make sure you’re keeping your body fit, strong and healthy. Getting to and from work, doing the school run, attending meetings and functions, picking up little children, having amazing sex…all these things take a lot out of a wife and mother and they require an abundance of energy. You need that body to serve you well; it’s the only one you’ve got.
Keep it strong and healthy.
About the author: Joy Ehonwa is a writer, editor and online proofreader who is passionate about relationships and personal development. She runs Pinpoint Creatives, a copy-editing, ghostwriting and transcription business, and blogs at www.anafricandiva.wordpress.com and www.girlaware.wordpress.com
