Balanced Leadership

Work-life balance is one of those phrases that either resonates with people or it doesn’t. It’s a term that often gets negative responses like; it’s not attainable, forget about it, balance doesn’t exist or it’s a myth. It also gets renamed to terms like work-life blend, work-life integration, work-life harmony. If what we are talking about is how to have work and our personal life coexist, what does it matter what we call it. I think we can all agree that the term work-life balance does not literally mean trying to equally distribute your time between work and your personal life.

Years ago, the term was used to make sure workers were getting a needed day off; where they were able to rest and not have to think about work. Fast forward to the digital age and now we have continual access to work.  We can now be ‘on’ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The term work-life balance somehow began to take on the literal meaning, that you must...

Self-care is not selfish is a popular statement these days. Women are starting to realize that time for themselves allows them to be better wives, mothers, sisters, friends and coworkers. Women often fall into the trap of not embracing self-care because the idea of putting themselves first is a difficult concept to grasp. But why is that? It’s because, historically, women have always taken care of others before themselves. Women have been taught this behavior and it has been reinforced by society for many years. Unless women break the cycle, they are going to pass down those behaviors and beliefs to their daughters and also their sons who will then have those same expectations in their marriage.

What is Self-Care?

It’s self-love and it’s self-respect. It’s a commitment you make to yourself to take care of your mind, body and spirit. Self-care is as necessary as the air you breathe, so it’s essential that you reject the belief that taking time for...

Now that summer is almost over, it’s back to school time for over 25 million working moms in the U.S. and their children. Independent of the number of working adults in the household, mothers continue to carry the lion's share of household and care-giving responsibilities. That means trying to juggle both work and back to school related responsibilities like homework, after school activities, sports practices and games, teacher conferences and PTA meetings. Just thinking about balancing it all can bring anxiety and worry. Most children today participate in one or more sport or after school activity like music lessons, advanced academic courses and dance lessons jut to name a few. So how do you manage it all?

I remember when my kids were in school (they’re in college now), they were involved in sports, dance, school clubs and volunteer organizations, in addition to a rigorous academic load. To keep them involved would mean driving them to their activities, picking...

We know as working moms how important work-life balance is. It requires a combination of physical, mental and spiritual well being. If you're physically healthy you have the stamina and drive to keep going everyday. If your mental state is healthy you can become resilient in the face of adversity. If you are spiritually grounded, you know that all things are possible because of a higher power working in your favor.

In order to achieve balance in these areas we need the right tools. Here are the 6 things working moms need in their toolbox to achieve physical, mental, and spiritual balance.

The word NO- No is a complete sentence. It is a word that is often hard for us to use. We want to please everyone and not hurt anyone’s feelings even if it means we may have to take on more than we can handle. Learning to say no provides boundaries and reduces overwhelm and burnout.

Me time- Not taking time to recharge can easily lead to burnout. Prioritizing me-time is important and should...