Tips Maintain Work-Life Balance

As a Mom Entrepreneur constantly striving to maintain work-life balance, this contributed post really hit the sweet spot.  Just the title already made me relax. I love the focus in this post on reducing screen time and making time for FUN.

Personal Time Is Just As Important As Work Time

Being a mompreneur is something of which you should be proud.  You’ve taken the initiative and decided to create your own career.

It’s hard to be a working mother whether you have the support of a partner or not but starting your own business is one of the best ways in which to take control of your own life.

• You have time to look after your family and generate your own income.
• You can be your own boss and that’s a great example to set for your children. There’s no doubting that you’re a fantastic role model.

Of course, it can still be hard to balance work life and personal life even if you can work from home whenever you want (whatever type of business you’ve built).

Personal time is just as important as work time.

You might think that’s obvious but it’s very easy to let the two become imbalanced.

You want to work hard to make money in order to support your children and family household but overworking is counterproductive because you don’t get to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

• You need to actually spend time with your children and cherish the life that you’ve built as a family.
• You also need to find time for yourself in order to relax.

What’s the point of working hard if you can’t play hard? If you want to find a way to balance your work and personal life then here are some pieces of advice on bonding with your family and finding some spare time in your busy schedule.

Spend less time looking at screens.

We’re all a little too glued to our screens in the modern age. You don’t have to throw your electronics out of the window because we need technology to some extent. Still, you should lessen your screen time if you want to be a more receptive parent.

You should set aside an hour or so every evening during which you and the family do something that doesn’t involve a screen. You could:

• play an old-school board game
• go for a walk with the family dog
• go out for a meal, or simply
• play a game of hide and seek.
• one of our family favourites is having a music appreciation night where we just listen to old LP’s.

The key is to find some time to enjoy one another; you might find that you enjoy technology more when you use it sparingly. Binge-watching Netflix shows all evening becomes a little tiresome after a few hours. You probably use technology all day during work and your kids might use it a lot at school.

Give yourselves a break; let your brains unwind and relax. You might feel relaxed whilst watching TV but you’re certainly exhausting your eyes by straining them to look at screens all day.

You just need to schedule a little more family time. This requires teamwork from all members of your family.

Go on a family trip.

A family trip is one of the other ways in which you can better bond with your family if you spend a lot of your time working as a mompreneur.

During the week, you might only get time with your little ones and your partner whilst eating meals and perhaps watching a little TV in the evening. It’s important family time but it might not be as much family time as you’d like.

So why not make more family time? You don’t have to check with your employer to book time off work. You are your employer.

And you can always take a weekend trip if you’d rather not eat into the working week. Spend a weekend going on an adventure so that you and the family can enjoy one another’s company.

The key is to simply get out of the house. You don’t have to spend the whole weekend watching TV.

Of course, you might be thinking of something for a little more special than the average vacation. Think of a way to engage your children so that they’re not looking at their electronics (in fact, the same goes for the parents in the family).

You should check out places such as SeaQuest if you’re looking for something a little different. This aquarium is interactive and lets visitors snorkel with stingrays. Wow, cool! 

You could think of inventive trips such as this so as to give you and the family something fun to do that doesn’t involve the anti-social nature of technology.

The point is that your trip should be family-centric. You don’t need to cough up a fortune; you just need to choose a trip which encourages socializing and bonding.

It might be something as simple as a camping trip but it all depends on the interests of you and your family. My son has been asking to go on a camping trip lately and I think it’s time (though glamping’s more our kinda style).  Will keep you posted.

Think of a trip that makes everybody happy to some extent.

Find time for personal relationships.

Maybe you don’t currently have a partner and maybe you don’t have as many friends as you did when you were younger, but you still need to find time for personal relationships as an adult.

Perhaps your work gives you a lot of social contact but freelancing, blogging or other online pursuits do often mean a lot of time is spent at home, alone.

In any case, socializing at work isn’t always a relaxing and fulfilling way of creating personal relationships. You’re probably concentrating on completing projects and the client-business relationship.

It’s important to work on your personal relationships outside of work. Focus on “fun” socializing, essentially.

• Set aside a night a week during which you spend some time with your friends and leave the kids with a family member or your partner.
• Additionally, if you have a partner then you should set aside some time for romantic dates with them. Or strive to go out there on more dates if you’re looking for somebody special in your life.

The key is to be strict with yourself and allow yourself at least one night a week for “fun” socializing in some sense.

You might tell yourself that you don’t have time but that’s only true if you don’t make time.

As a mompreneur, you have the freedom to take control of your own personal schedule. You can give yourself time off if you allow yourself that luxury.

Moms… how are you doing on this one? Are you taking time out for fun?  Do you manage to give yourself and your children an hour off-screen before bedtime?   What trips have you taken with the kids and did you unplug on your holiday?

Image Credits:  Feature Image – Pexels       Pin Image – Pexels