Category: Being a Mumpreneur

You just got a call from Brickworks Property Restoration about your upcoming chimney repair. You were at the office, so you had to step outside for a minute. While you were out there, you felt a sense of calm and peace. It made you wonder if you should step outside more often when you’re at work, not just when you get a call. We say, “Yes!”

Here are 4 reasons work breaks are necessary.

Breaks Help with Focus

Believe it or not, breaks actually help to increase our focus. When we’re working, we’re using a part of the brain called our prefrontal cortex. This complex part of our brain helps us to plan, anticipate, and focus. However, just like any part of our body, it needs to rest periodically to perform its very best.

You can think of your prefrontal cortex as a body part. If you’re working out your arms, you can’t keep pushing the weight for hours on end. Instead, you have to take regular breaks in between sets to let your muscles relax. In turn, you’re able to continue lifting for a longer period of time. The same could be said with your prefrontal cortex, you allow it to take a break every so often, so when you get back to the work at hand – you’re more focused and productive.

Opportunity to Be Active

Depending on the type of break you take, it could allow you the opportunity to be active. This is especially important if you work a sedentary job that requires you to sit at a desk for most of the day. A lot of people use their break time to go for a walk or even do some light bodyweight exercises.

It’s a win-win when it comes to taking a break that involves some type of physical movement. You get both the benefit of resting your mind which has been hard at work and moving your body which hasn’t been doing much.

Helps Prevent Workplace Burnout

Workplace burnout is a very real thing. If you spend nearly 40 hours a week sitting at a desk, starting at a screen – you could end up resenting the work you do. You could feel burnt out as you’re constantly being bombarded with emails and calls. This is where breaks come in handy.

Breaks can help prevent workplace burnout. In essence, you’re segmenting your day into pieces. Instead of spending all your time in one place, you’re giving yourself the opportunity to move around and step away from all your to-do lists for a while. If you’ve noticed this burnt out feeling at work, try and incorporate a few breaks and see if it improves.

Establishes Healthy Work-Life Balance

Another great benefit of taking work breaks is that they help to establish a healthy work-life balance. You could use your breaks as a time to catch up with a friend or do something for you that doesn’t have to do with your career.

A healthy work-life balance is a major component to your overall happiness and wellbeing. Allowing yourself the time to reconnect with yourself throughout the day can help you not feel like your identity is wrapped up in work.

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Whether you are a stay-at-home mom juggling 3 different schedules or work for Black Tie Moving, we know that it’s hard navigating parenting and busy schedules. There are a few things to keep in mind to make it a little less stressful.

Here are 4 life hacks for busy moms. Let’s dive in!

Plan Your Meals Ahead

You have multiple mouths to feed, but you barely have time to make breakfast for yourself. Busy moms know the stress of figuring out meals for their families, but it doesn’t have to be so challenging!

Planning your meals ahead of time can take a lot of pressure off your plate. If you find that you don’t have time to cook up well-balanced meals for the family, there are multiple meal services available online. This could be as simple as popping dinner in the microwave or spending a few minutes preparing a healthy dish with all the ingredients provided for you.

Set Aside Some Self-Care Time

You may feel as if you have no time for yourself, but it’s imperative you make the time. After all, by neglecting yourself you could end up feeling the negative effects of burnout. This will spiral before you know it, and you’ll find yourself constantly stressed and overwhelmed.

Setting aside some self-care time doesn’t have to be hours a day. We know with busy schedules – this could be near impossible. Instead, stick to a realistic plan. You could allow yourself 20 minutes each morning to drink your coffee and read one of your favorite books. This alone could help to prevent burnout! It’s a wonderful act of self-care.

Create and Maintain Boundaries

Work/life balance is tricky. This is why it’s paramount that you create some personal boundaries for yourself. You don’t want to be glued to your work phone at all hours of the day. This isn’t healthy for you or your family.

Boundaries are a necessary and important part of life – with work, relationships, and for your personal health. If you find that you’re more of a people-pleaser, this may be a bit challenging. Yet, you will grow more accustomed to it over time. Work to create some healthy boundaries in your life, and you’re sure to reap the positive benefits over time.

Don’t Skimp Out on Quality Time

Part of being a busy mom, is that you are trying to juggle being a parent and a great employee and/or spouse. Oftentimes, it’s easy to overlook the parent part of this equation. You’re working and running around getting things done for your children. Yet, it’s important this doesn’t create more harm than good.

Try and keep your children at the forefront of your mind, and this includes being there for them physically and emotionally. A good idea is to have a family dinner at least a few nights a week. And this doesn’t mean in front of the TV. Try and have a family dinner where you all are engaged in conversation, with minimal distractions. You should have your focus be primarily on your family during the quality time you spend with them.

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It’s easy to quickly become run-down when you wear multiple hats – wife, mom, entrepreneur, friend, and more. We sometimes overload ourselves with activities and cut out self-care to “do it all,” but the result can be devastating to your health. Part of the problem is simply not having enough time in the day to eat properly, exercise, and get enough sleep on a regular basis. 

Signs that your health is suffering include fatigue, a weakened immune system, and loss of concentration. It can be challenging to keep up with everything you should be doing for yourself while coping with all the demands of day-to-day life as a working mom. Fortunately, there are ways you can improve your health and stay healthy without having to carve out activities every day. These options focus on the overall effect on your health without a daily commitment of time. It can be so much easier to do right by yourself weekly or through periodic changes in your lifestyle.

Rethink Sleep

We should all get eight hours of sleep each night, but it’s not a likely scenario. Sometimes you have deadlines, sometimes the kids are sick, sometimes you want some time with your friends. Don’t despair! New research indicates that it’s easier to restore your lost sleep than previously thought. If you’re up late and rising early to get things done, a nap each afternoon for as little as 30 minutes can make a difference. You’ll feel more alert, more energetic, and more focused. Eight hours at night is ideal, but you can recoup lost sleep with naps to give yourself an energy boost when needed.

Rethink Nutrition

The list of minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients your body needs is long. It’s difficult to make sure you’re getting everything you need for energy and immune support. Oral supplements aren’t very effective, as most of the nutrients are destroyed in your intestinal tract. 

Intravenous nutrient therapy, offered through medical spas like the Institute of Natural Health, is more effective and tailored to your specific nutritional and health needs. This IV therapy increases cell renewal, detoxifies, and helps the body regenerate and repair. Typical treatments are given every two to three weeks, protecting you without cutting into your daily schedule.

Rethink Exercise

You don’t have the time to go to the gym on a schedule or the gym’s hours are inconvenient. Nights and weekends are packed with family, friends, and chores. If you’ve given up on exercise because you’re too busy, you aren’t alone. The good news is you can improve your health without having to devote a large block of time to intense exercise every day. 

Researchers confirm that 30 minutes of activity such as walking, hiking, or riding a bike has an impact on your health. Can’t do 30 minutes every night? Do your exercise in increments. If you take a 10-minute break three times a day, you’ll get the same results as one longer session. Try taking a walk, doing some yoga, or riding your bike for just ten minutes after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you’re done!

Staying healthy when you’re a working mom requires rethinking what you need and how you will achieve it. In a fast-paced world, prioritizing your health is easier than ever.

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Just about to return to work, after several months off with your new bundle of adorable joy? This somewhat melancholy time of spending less of the day with baby, but more doing the job you’ve always enjoyed, can be a tricky time for every mother. So, we put together a few quick tips on how to make this process as stress-free as possible.

Go easy on yourself initially

Fictionalised, cinematic versions of women who return to maternity leave (not that these are ever able to capture the real journey of the main protagonist) usually depict a point in time where the woman has thrown herself wholeheartedly back into her work – and begins to struggle.

This, at least, the filmmakers perhaps do get right. So, ease yourself back into your work, don’t go full throttle from the moment you return to the salon, and allow your natural circadian rhythms to return to their routine while you become accustomed again to yours.

Make sure your paperwork is up to date

In the months you’ve been away, there’s a chance that your insurance could have run out or your accounting and administration have fallen behind (after all, you’ve been pretty busy focusing on other things). Check that your insurance, such as beauty therapist insurance, is still up to date and ready to cover you from the moment you’re back at work.

Also, spend a little time on any regular administration or accounting you would normally have been doing as routine – if anything, this will help to get you back to doing everything normally again.

Have a catch-up and handover

Meet up with your colleagues, catch up with your boss (unless you’re your own boss!) and learn what’s new in your work. Have any regular clients started to go elsewhere? Are there certain individuals who have been waiting for you to return to work so that they can enjoy your skills again?

Don’t leave it until your first day back and simply expect everything to be just as you left it. Although nothing may have changed, if something has, at least you’ll be prepared.

Trust in your skills at all times

It may take you a few sessions, treatments, days or weeks to feel like your old self in work again. Don’t worry if some of the routine practices you’ve been doing for years suddenly seem a little alien – you’ll soon be back in the swing of things and performing to the best of your abilities.

It’s these abilities and skills that you should wholeheartedly trust in at all times. They’ve got you where you are today, and they’ll serve you just as effectively again in no time.

Don’t be afraid to say no

Finally, just because you’ve been away for a while, it doesn’t mean you have to take everything on that you’re offered. Yes, this is a little bit like our first point – but that’s why it’s so crucial.

According to Happy You, Happy Family, saying no is essential to helping you in both your work and home life. If you don’t say no from time to time, you could have too much going on at work to handle, and this could impact how you are in all of your spare time.

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It can be pretty tough to get a good work life balance when you work at home. However, it is essential for your own mental and physical well being. Happily, it is something that can be achieved with a little effort. Read on to find out how.

Create an office space.

It doesn’t have to be an actual office, just a space in the home that is dedicated to working. In fact, by delineating such an area, it can really help you to get into the work frame of mind when you sit down each morning. It can also help to prevent all of your work clutter from spreading all over the house, something that can happen pretty easily when we take our laptop from room to room and work wherever we feel comfortable.

Of course, if you can find even a small room to keep your desk, chair and work equipment in, it’s even better as then you can close the door on it at the end the day. This being something that is a fantastic way of keeping your work and home life as separate as possible when you are a WAHM.

Keep your personal and business finances separate.

When starting up a business or freelancing it can be very tempting to use our own credit, cash cards, and personal accounts to pay for things. After all, time is money, and it’s often just easier to purchase the resources we need by paying for them right away so we can get on with the task in hand. However, this can easily blur the lines between your professional and personal life and make it much more challenging to keep a proper eye on your books for tax purposes too.

To that end, it’s well worth going about your resources acquisition properly by submitting a purchase order for the supplies that you need. Happily, you can get just about any resource you need by setting up a business account and using purchase orders, from paper and printing ink to much more specialised items for niche fields like this chip kit use in DNA testing. Something that means you can make it much easier to keep your personal and professional finances lives separate.

Have a work phone and a personal phone.

It may seem like a bit much to have two phones, but if you make a lot of calls for work, it can actually help you keep calmer and more organised. This is because when you are using your work phone, you can be entirely focused on your client and their needs, instead of being distracted by personal things.

Another great benefit of this is that once the end of the day rolls around you can shut off your work phone, without having to worry that any personal energy call or message will be missed.

Oh, and it also means that you get to use your personal phone for all those fun things like playing games, and consuming media without being tempted to check up on work email or the company social media. Something that can help you delineate your work and personal life much better and so help you to achieve a more effective work-life balance.