Many of you know that I am a work at home Mom, which comes with new challenges each and every day. The hardest thing for me has been the learning curve of how to balance EVERYTHING because running a household is a full time job in itself, especially when you have young kids. Part of my personal reflection lately has been on how far I've come in the past year learning how to find balance in my life so I figured I would share with all of you!
I've found that this list has been my top 10 things to remember each and every day in order to make my life easier, happier, and more fulfilling. I have linked to some old blog posts that I pulled up that I've received some great feedback from, some of them have worksheets that you can fill out while others are blog posts or maybe just a rant or two! Remember that when it comes to you there is no wrong answer – be honest with yourself because you are your own best friend!
1. Make sure your heart and mind are in the right place – before you are able to really be present and juggle a home, a family, a marriage, a business and time for yourself you have to know where your heart is at. Set goals for yourself because you are an individual on top of everything else and you need something that make you happy and a purpose too! Check out my Annual Goal Setting Worksheet.
2. Work from where you are now not where you want to be – know what you want your life to look like and feel like, imagine it as if it were real but be aware of where you're at and what needs to change to get there don't live in a fake reality. For me this was the hardest truth to come to, living in denial is easier than facing up to the facts.
3. Give yourself permission to be selfish – that's right you need to take care of you before you can take care of everything else. A happy and healthy Mom can take on challenges a lot easier than a worn out one. I LOVE to take a time out for myself amongst the chaos and I use One Moment Mediation to do that! Also check out my 4 simple changes to make in our everyday lives!
4. Eliminate time wasters – get off of Facebook or turn off the tv, trust me you will be way more productive in even 30 minutes if you cut out the easy distractions. For this one I don't have a post but I should make a worksheet up – what I like to do is keep a record of what I do in 15 minute intervals and then when I go back to see where my time went I can see where I can be more productive. Remember that you shouldn't dwell on the things you should of done but rather make a plan to be better tomorrow!
5. Be honest with yourself – don't over promise or make commitments your know will add more stress to your life, only commit to the things you actually WANT to do. I find the best way to be honest with myself is to do some reflective journaling, you can see my top 5 reasons to journal or my original post on daily journaling. Make sure to download the journaling pages they have helped me through some tough spots!
6. Celebrate in accomplishments – don't get down when something isn't accomplished from your to do list, instead look at all the things you actually completed and celebrate those. I have a lot of experience in this area being a type A personality I am uptight a lot of the time and I work hard every day not to be but it is hard to change when you've been the same way for as long as you can remember. Take a look at my post on Make Your Day Work For You Not Against You or my vlog on Get Rid of Failure!
7. Compete against the earlier version of yourself – don't look at what the super Mom at school is doing, do what you can do when you can do it but always strive to be better than an earlier version of you instead of anyone else! For me this is simple but I couldn't do it without an accountability partner, what are you doing to stay motivated?
8. Self Care – the best decision I have ever made it to wake up a few minutes earlier than my family and gather my thoughts before taking the day head on! Even five minutes in the morning with some quiet is better than waking up to chaos and rushing to get out the door. Of course One Moment Meditation always comes to mind for me when I think of self care or maybe my post on Clearing my Mind and Learning How to Breathe!
9. Prepare the night before – it is so easy to say, I'll just do it in the morning, do it NOW before you go to bed. Trust me you'll thank me for this one, going to bed with a clear concience instead of thinking of all the things you'll have to do in the morning will help you go to sleep faster and be a more positive mood. At night I always do my Daily Journaling as a reflection tool or maybe you can find some inspiration from my New Year's post – Personal Reflection Time! Whatever you do take a moment to reflect on all the positives from the day and go to sleep in a mood that you'll wake up renewed and refreshed.
10. Routines! I know I've said it they are a lot of work but once they're established it make life a whole lot easier. I'm not saying to schedule your life down to the second but have a general guideline you follow so you and the kids have consistency in each and every day. Whatever you do take it one step at a time! I always go back to my September Restart and Trying Something New because it is so easy to get caught up being A Mom I forget to be me.
Take time to redefine the YOU in your life! After all we have to remember that we are individuals too not just a Mom, wife, employee, business owner, or friend. I hope I've given you a few things to think about and reminded you that in life sometimes we just need to say, I am who I am and that's who I want to be!
Happy Mother's Day from this Real Momma!
