Join us in welcoming Tiffany Romero for a guest post today! She is sharing what Balance means to her. I love that it looks different for each family!
It seems everyone is talking about work-life balance. My friends, colleagues, news outlets and the many women I’ve spoken to around the country at our Bloggy Boot Camps are all discussing the many directions today’s working woman and mother are pulled in. From work obligations to family commitments and the underlying pressure of perfection, women are juggling the weight of the world of their shoulders.
The concept of chasing balance is hard to quantify and achieve. Being constantly available in a society emphasizing the need for immediate responses causes burn out. Women become frustrated and feel guilty when they aren’t “doing it all.”
Let me just say – it is impossible to be a stellar wife, mother or friend and businesswoman at the very same time. Balance is bogus.
First, you need to know what you’re doing it all for. What is your end goal?
Why are you working so hard? Is it world domination? Success in your business? Happy and healthy children? For me, I want to create wealth.
Wealth that will allow me freedom to live a life pursuing travel with my family, charitable endeavors and, if you’ve heard me speak, owning a private island. Knowing this, I weigh every decision on how it will help me reach my goal. I need to behave and make decisions now based on where I want to be in 5, 10, 20 years.
I talk to many women who are struggling to multi-task in their daily roles.
The best advice I can give you is to stop. Yes. Simply stop. It may feel necessary to check emails at home during family dinnertime or it may seem like the perfect time at work to order those school pictures, but I challenge you to be present and dedicated in each of your roles when you are there.
In order to make that happen, below are a few tips that help me manage my daily routine.
1. Maintain office hours. Discuss expectations with your boss (if self employed, keep a commitment to yourself) so that you can plan accordingly and stick to agreed upon times of availability.
2. Use technology to work smarter. Organizational apps and shared calendars were designed to keep teams (and families) running smoothly.
3. Multiply your strengths and outsource your weaknesses. Be open with your spouse/partner. Know what it takes to keep your household running. Acknowledge when you may need to hire out services. (Hired housecleaning once a month might just be the splurge your sanity needs.)
4. That said, do your least favorite task first. Just get it done and the sense of accomplishment will fuel the rest of your day.
Balance may be a myth but working towards your end game will make you happy. Set your own terms and if you are living your life as the woman you want your daughter to become, you are succeeding.
Tiffany Romero, President, Influencer Management, Sway Group LLC
Tiffany is a mom, wife, business owner, and entrepreneur who began blogging in March 2008. Just a few months after starting her personal blog, she recognized the need for a blogger-based community and created www.thesitsgirls.com. Tiffany was also the brains behind launching Bloggy Boot Camp, Sway’s official blogging conference.
How do you find balance? What does it mean to you?
This post was so inspiring. It was nice to here from you. I love thesitsgirls.com
Even as a single person, balance is always an issue (at least for me!). Thanks for your tips; and thank you for SITS–you always have great suggestions for everyone!
This is a great reminder for the new year. I think the hardest part for me though, is the fact that I need to let go of somethings (such as worries) for that to take place.
Absolutely the most valuable post I have read in 2014. Thank you! I am pinning, so I can read this, when I start to go off course.
Have a beautiful day 🙂