The Working Mother’s’ Guide To Career Success
60 years ago, for many women, raising a family was considered to be a full-time job, albeit one that we didn’t get paid for! Luckily, things are a little more enlightened now, and it is more than common for moms to work outside the home full time, as well as be involved in the raising of their children. Of course, this can be a rewarding, but also a tough position to be in, especially if you want to be the best you can be in both areas. Luckily, the advice in my post below may just be able to help you to do that! Read on to find out more.
Do negotiate flexible hours.
One of the most important things that you can do for your career when you are a working mother is to negotiate flexible hours. This is when you agree on a certain number of hours a week or month, but have a less restrictive start and finish time.
Why is this so important? Well, it’s because it allows you to put in your hours and achieve what you need to do in the workplace, while not having to sacrifice going to the kids’ school play, watching them at sports practice, or even being there when they are sick.
Something that can not only help you feel as if you are fulfilling your potential as a mother but also help you to focus better when you are at work. The reason being that you know that you can approach things with more flexibility, and attend to the critical stuff both at home and at work when the need arises.
Don’t let stress get the better of you.
A good workout may be just the thing to combat stress.
Stress can be toxic, and there are many sources to watch out for. Sadly for working moms, their burden can be doubled because they not only have the stress of worrying about and caring for the kids but also of their career as well, not to mention the whole can of worms that balancing the two can open!
That is why to be successful as a working mom it’s essential that you know the signs of when stress is negatively affecting you, and you have a plan in place to effectively manage these negative feelings.
Such a plan may include setting aside some alone time which will allow you to process your thoughts without being required to tend to others, be it at work or at home. Alternatively, you may find that the best option is to pick an activity that allows you to relax and let your hair down. Whether that is going on a night out with friends or taking an extra intensive class at the gym!
Do focus on tangible ways to add value to your career.
Next, if you want to succeed as a working mom, it’s important to prioritize things that will add tangible value to your career. What I mean here is that your time is too precious to dedicate it to things that may or may not have a positive pay off in somewhere in the future.
To that end prioritizing taking on some extra responsibility in the workplace is a positive move because this can be used to show your dedication, flexibility, and management skills. All things that will be useful when it comes time for your next performance review or promotion interview.
Similarly, completing a higher education course that is linked to your field, something you can find out more about on this website, will help you to boost your resume. It can also allow you to negotiate a better position or a higher salary in your current role.
However, attending every informal cocktail evening and BBQ, especially if doing so means you don’t get to go home and tuck your kids in at night, might not be the best use of your time. After all, in these cases, you are missing out on valuable experiences for things that have no measurable value in boosting your career. Something that means they are not worth the trade-off. Thriving as the only woman in the office sometimes means making decisions that will benefit your career versus being social all the time.
Don’t expect to keep a perfect home without help.
The idea that you can care for your kids, be successful in your job, and keep an immaculate home is at best misguided, and at worst toxic! After all, it takes a heck of a lot of work to keep a house clean and tidy, especially when you have children. Therefore trying to find the energy and the time to do this when you are dedicating so much of yourself to your career can be impossible.
Therefore, if you still want your house to look as if it has popped right of the page of Home and Gardens or some other glossy magazine, you will need to recruit some outside help. This may in the form of a regular cleaner, a gardener, or even a handy person that can come in and do all those little jobs that you just don’t have time for.
Just remember that there are only so many hours in the day, and if you plan on getting any sleep at all, most of yours will be filled up with working and spending time with the kids!
Do set boundaries and keep to them.
Boundaries are so useful to the working mother in term of success but can be so hard to set and keep to. In fact, we can sometimes feel under pressure to say yes to everything that our work asks of us, even if we know that it is unreasonable, or will interfere with our family time.
That is why it’s hugely important to think about what we are willing to do before the situation arises, as well as how we can politely say no, without being riddled with guilt. Luckily, doing so is a skill that will strengthen the more we use it. Which is pretty significant if we want to remain happy in our careers because without that it will be tough to find the motivation and drive for career success in the long term.
