Do You Know Who You Are?

 Sounds like a silly question but please take a moment to think about it.   Do you know who you are?

As women, we have so many “titles” WAHM, SAHM, WOHM, Mom, Wife, Sister, Aunt..etc.  All of those are titles that many of us share and freely blurt out when asked “who are you”.  

In my 4 years of coaching I’ve worked with many women who are on a quest to find out who they really are (outside of the above titles).  I find that there are many WAHM’s who struggle with  finding their identity while working a home business, raising their children and taking care of the household needs.  It is so easy to get caught up in titles and skip over our passions and our “inner self”.

Keeping in touch with who we are ‘outside’ of those titles are very important.  I challenge you to tell me who you are without using the following words “Mother, WAHM, WOHM, or wife.”

I will start:

1. I am a passionate women who loves to help others
2. I am very spriritual
3. I am a teenager at heart

Your turn….

How to Reduce Stress

There are many different ways to reduce stress. When you start to feel overwhelmed, take a moment to breathe and do one of the following activities:

• Write down what is bothering you. If someone has made you mad, let your feelings out on paper, then tear up the paper.

• Prioritize and delegate! If you feel like you have too much to do, write down the tasks that need to be completed. Once you have those written down, pick out the most important three and focus on finishing those tasks. The other ones can be delegated to someone else or they can wait until you have more time.

• Allow some alone time for yourself. Use this time to focus on you. Find a place in your home that you can go to and find privacy. You can ask your partner or a friend to take the family out for a few hours while you enjoy your alone time. Do nothing, sleep, read, watch a movie, and just enjoy your solitude.

• Listen to soothing music to help calm you down or your favorite upbeat music to get you pumped up and motivated.

• Stop procrastinating! Procrastination is a major cause of stress. This occurs when someone puts off doing what they need to do, and instead, they sit around and worry about it. Just get it done and over with, and you will feel much better.

I’d love to hear what you do to reduce your stress?

Put Yourself On Your *To Do* List

Hi there moms!

As you know, life can be hectic. Whether you work at home, work outside of the home or stay at home, life is filled with things to do, people to see and places to go.

We all know that life places many demands on us but it is very important to set aside some time each day where when you can just be alone for a little while, without any interruptions and just focus on you. Be sure that when you are creating your daily or weekly To Do lists that you are adding yourself onto the list.

Personally I use the evening times (right after I put my 8yo son to bed) as my quiet time with myself. I make sure that during my “me time” I am focusing on myself and giving me the time that I need to replenish my mind, body and spirit.

So, if you currently do set aside time for yourself - I’d love to hear what you do. If you dont currently add yourself to your To Do list - I would like to challenge you to do so and let us know how it feels.

Finding Balance As A WAHM

Work at home moms face challenges that are very unique. The decision to work outside the home or stay with your children is difficult, with each option having advantages and disadvantages. If you stay home you may lose income and you will lose interaction with fellow employees, and if you work outside the home you live with separation from your children and pay caregiver expenses. Many women are choosing to work at home and finding the right opportunity is the first step in finding success as a work at home mom.

You could use the knowledge and skills you have and become a consultant, develop a career in design or writing, telecommute to a job, or start a home-based business. The opportunities are endless.

It can be difficult for a work at home mom to balance home, family, and career. Even if you are not a parent it is hard to find time for a personal life when you operate a home-based business. It is very easy to become consumed by your work when you work from home and it can be a challenge to find time for yourself and your family.

To successfully balance a home and career you must create a work schedule. Decide what hours will be set aside for work and try hard to stick to that time-frame. It very beneficial to create a boundary between work and home. Setting a work schedule will give you a routine to follow.

To give yourself the opportunity to socialize and meet new people, try geting involved with community or other volunteer activities. If you do not get out of the house regularly you may begin to resent your work and your family obligations.

During your workday, take short breaks to get up and move around. A simple stretching routine or a short walk will do wonders for your outlook. It will be necessary for you to deliberately schedule time for personal activities such as reading, picnics, or exercise.

By adding these activities and free time to your schedule you will ensure that you get some much needed “mommy” time and that your family spends quality time together. You will find that if your leisure and family time suffer too much, your relationships will suffer as well. Make time for the fun things and times shared with children and family.

If you implement these ideas into your life as a work at home mom, you will be better able to achieve balance between work and your home life.

WAHM’s Need Down Time Too

Let’s see. You did the laundry, checked your email, worked online, filed papers, made a few phone calls, dropped the boys off at Karate and the girls at dance class, stopped at the grocery store for a few last minute dinner items…What’s missing? As you were taking care of everyone else all day long, did you remember to take care of yourself? I know it can be hard to carve out space for you, since being a mom is a full time job, but taking care of yourself helps you have the strength and energy to keep taking care of everyone else, from your children to the snake your son left in the pocket of his dirty jeans.

If trying to squeeze out a few more hours a day just for you seems impossible, why not try one of these ideas:

1. Don’t be afraid to start small. It’s better for you to take five minutes to read the funny pages or your favorite inspirational poem than it is to not take any time at all for you.

2. Get up twenty or thirty minutes earlier than usual and spend some time doing something you enjoy, such as reading the paper while you sip your coffee or meditating. By the time the children wake up, you will be ready to start your busy day.

3. Talk to the other moms at your children’s classes and find out if any of them live nearby. See if several of them are interested in forming a carpool, so you don’t have to make every trip to drop off and pick up the kids.

4. Find another mom who has children that get along well with your kids. Alternate babysitting services with her, so that you each have a few hours of free time every week to go to the gym or get your hair done. Don’t be tempted to do chores instead. You need this time for you and you won’t feel very rested and refreshed if you pick up the dry cleaning, do the grocery shopping, and run the car through the car wash instead of relaxing.

5. Delegate evening chores like setting the table, washing the dishes, and packing the next day’s lunch. If everyone does ten or fifteen minutes of work, you will have enough free time to soak in the tub or read a chapter of the newest best seller.

Finally, make sure your family realizes the importance of letting you find some time for yourself. Speak with your children about respecting your quiet time, whenever and however you manage to fit it into your day.

So, do you get enough time for yourself? What would you like to see change?

Let’s See Those Drawers!

Hopefully you saw my post last week where I asked about your work space.  This week I wanted to just give you a few pointers to help you organize your desk and keep it organized.

Lets start with the drawers!  Yes those things that you probably have 4-6 of but only really use 2 (smile). Pull out each drawer and take inventory of what you have there.  Be sure to group like-items together, move things that don’t belong in the drawer to either a new home or the garbage.

Do you see the need for a pencil/utencil organizer in your drawers? If so, jot that down and keep that list handy for when you go shopping.

Be sure to go through each drawer and look at everything to see if it needs to do one of the follow things

• Stay where it is
• Get organized into the same or another drawer
• Move to another spot in your home
• Needs to be tossed

After you’ve done all of this be sure to see if there are things that you need. Do you have enough pens, paper, printer ink, paper clips…etc.  If not, be sure to write that down as well.

Let me know how you are doing :)

Don’t forget about the filing cabinets or filing drawers that you have.  Make sure that all of the papers are in the correct file, be sure the files are labeled correctly and while you are in there - if you see something in there that you no longer need - why not shread it or just toss it out.  If you have a particular file in a drawer that you need access to on a daily basis. You may want to pull it out now and perhaps set up a small filing system on your desk and place it there.  This way it will always be at your finger tips.

How Does Your Work Space Look?

Did you know that having a cluttered and unorganized desk is a huge factor in time management?

When your desk is unorganized it is hard to find the items that you need quickly.  You will end up wasting time sifting through piles of paperwork, envelopes, school notices, art projects bills..etc just to find one document you need at the moment.

By organizing your work space you will notice that  you  become more productive!  You will be more productive and feel less tense because you will be looking at an orderly desk as opposed to a desk piled with paperwork.

Over the next few weeks I’d love to challenge you all to work to get your desk in order.

Why not carve some time out of your schedule after you are done working and start to organize your desk.  I will say that to TOTALLY re-organize and declutter your work space you should start off by taking everything off of your deskand then wiping the desk down with a good cleanser.  Ohh, don’t forget to peek behind the desk (you never know what may have slipped back there.

Post here and let me know if you are up to the challenge of decluttering your desk.  It may take some time to complete but it will be worth it.

Let us know what you need to do, what you have questions about and be sure to let us know how your desk looks before and after the cleaning.

Have You Revisited or Created Your Goals Lately?

I always encourage women to make an effort to spend time setting sharp and clearly defined goals. One of the beautifully empowering things about goal setting is that you can measure and take pride in the achievement you make as you get closer to your goals. By setting goals, you will also raise your self confidence as you recognize your ability and competence in achieving the goals that you have set.

The process of setting goals allows you to choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know what you have to concentrate on to do it.

Remember, your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what
is possible for your life.

Here are a few action steps for you to take into consideration when working on setting and pursuing your goals:

• Make sure you set goals that you can realistically reach. Striving to be perfect is not a realistic goal. Striving to eat healthier, exercise more..etc. is a realistic goal.
• Break your big goals up into bite-sized chunks. If your ultimate goal is to launch a new website before September, break the goal down. Work 1st on asking for others to give you the opinions on possible webmasters, make a list of what you want your site to look like, contact certain webmasters, ask for price quotes etc. They key is to take small, thought-through steps to reach that ultimate goal.
• Set a specific time-frame to achieve your goals.
• Write your goals down and force yourself to be very specific about them. You can then refer back to your goals list and you can see how you are measuring up. It is an empowering feeling to set goals and achieve them.
• Celebrate! When you achieve a goal or overcome a hurdle that brings you closer to that goal, CELEBRATE you and your accomplishment!

You can accomplish just about anything you ask of yourself. Make your goals specific and clear. When you know exactly what you intend to do, you’re well on your way to getting it done.

Balancing Your Home and Business Life

For moms who work from home, balancing the home and business sides of their lives can feel downright impossible, especially when the reason they began working from home was so they could spend more time with family. However, many home businesses actually fail because moms don’t manage to balance business and home life. How can you juggle your family’s needs, your business needs and occasionally find some time for your needs without being a super hero?

The first thing any mom should do to achieve balance is to get the family involved. If your children and husband support you, you will find that they interrupt less often and are more likely to pitch in to get household chores done. You’re probably thinking that will happen the day the moon turns to blue cheese, right? However, if you mention that you need to get a major project done and will be able to buy a pizza and rent a video when you are paid, you may be surprised at how quickly everyone pitches in to help out.

If you have young children, they may not be able to understand the concept of waiting for a reward. To get your younger children involved, try explaining what you are doing in very simple terms and having them help you. Set up a small desk or table for your toddlers and add crayons and paper so they can help you with your work by drawing some pictures or writing a letter. Children that are a bit older can put stamps on envelopes and seal them, paperclip papers together or do other simple organizational tasks.

Of course, no matter how supportive your family and friends are, they are not going to be happy if you work 15 hours a day. Make sure that you ask for uninterrupted time to do your job or run your business, but also make sure that you schedule time for your family and friends. While you are making up that schedule, don’t forget your significant other. If you sit at your computer all evening after the children are tucked away for the night, you may end up with some serious relationship issues!

Once your family and friends are involved and you’ve scheduled time for them in your life, it is time to consider a few ways to make the most of your valuable work time. While you may be tempted to work non-stop during the time you have dedicated to your business, you should actually try to take some breaks. Taking a half-hour walk or having lunch away from your desk can really help you recharge your mind and keeps your body from growing stiff and tired. When you sit back down, you can do so with a clearer view of your goals and fresh energy and focus.

Also, don’t be afraid to make a “to do” list for your business. Write the four or five items you absolutely must do on your list and promise yourself that you will get them done before you visit your favorite forums or check your email. This can really help you get more work accomplished in less time.

So, although you may not have super powers, you can still have a home life, a business life and some time for yourself. The next time you are feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath, ask your family for some help and try out a few of these great ideas for balancing your life.

The A-Z of Staying Motivated

With the countless negativities that we encounter on a daily basis, at times roadblocks pop up in front of us that can throw us off track and knock the wind out of us, our dreams and our desires.  Here is an A-Z list of positive ways to stay motivated: 

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.
L – Learn to love your self. Now isn’t that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

Do you see any letters up there that you need assistance with?  Are there any letters up there that really speak to you?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.  I have to say that “Z” feels really great!!

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