As a mom nothing annoys me more than to look back at my week and see where I could have done more.
I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that but sometimes I look back and see where I could have avoided some situations. They say that planning is a preventative measure. But being a single mom doesn’t come with a handbook. Some days it’s all I can do to just get through the essentials. Time management is a work in progress. I’ve learned to give myself room to fail to reduce the pressure I put on myself. It’s in these little day-to-day failures that I learn what works and what doesn’t. Last week I spoke to you about putting more of yourself into the way you do things. This week, it’s all about balance.
I know that as a single mom, I have to make sure the kid, the house, and the paycheck are all in order.
In that order!
Making sure that my child has the love and support she needs to be well behaved is my priority. Next comes keeping a clean and tidy house so that we have what we need to get through our days comfortably. This includes clean clothes, healthy food options (and some unhealthy comfort foods), and a clear space to relax or work. The paycheck is a little more complicated. Since I work a 9-5 for the steady paycheck and I put in hours on my own business in my spare time. The hours slip by quickly when I’m working on this part of my life and it’s easy to get overwhelmed and want to quit one, the other, or both. I know that the sacrifice now will be lucrative later but it’s the day to day part that seems both exhausting and never-ending.
My biggest challenge every day is to be a great mother and a great businesswoman.
– Tory Burch
Looking at this past week in comparison to the coming week is something I do every Sunday. It’s almost like a life experiment – where did I go wrong, what could I have done differently, is there a recurring issue that I can fix. Lately, my daughter’s emotions have been taking over. I’m not sure if the load I shoulder for my 9-5 plus my own business is making me overly sensitive to her or if she’s feeling that there is a distance between us somehow, but I know something’s gotta give.
The choice is simple though. She comes first. If she’s acting up because of some lack she feels, I need to take a step back and attend to her needs first. There will come a time when she has to sleep and that is when I will make the hard choices. I can always rearrange my time and get my work done. But time spent with her is precious and non-renewable so choosing her is a no-brainer. After all, she is the reason I’m building a business at all. My legacy is for her.
