In addition to managing the bulk of child care and household duties, regardless of if they are the primary breadwinner in the home, data show that women manage 71% of family tasks such as planning, organizing and scheduling.
Welcome to the Messy Middle, when work, parenting and everything else, collide! It’s an exhausting and emotional time that presents a very real push and pull between career ambitions and parenting duties and desires, leaving many to ask themselves, “Who am I letting down today?”
Increasingly, we begin to doubt our choices and quite possibly, burn out.
But there are consequences to decisions you make now – both financial and otherwise, and it’s critical to see your career as a marathon, not a sprint. Pain points today will give way to different and new ones down the line, and therefore it’s important to put the tools in place to survive the messy middle and make work work for you.
To help with that, I’ve created a framework that can set you up for success at work and at home.
But first, let’s settle into the idea that it is YOUR TURN.
You have worked hard to get here!
As women and mothers we tend to put other people’s needs before our own and in so doing can lose a bit of ourselves. We underestimate the VALUE we bring to the table. Don’t do this!
You being in the workforce contributes to the bottom line at organizations and contributes to the GDP!
Stomp your feet – wave your hands. Jump around. Say it out loud. It is MY TURN to ___…
Then, ask yourself these questions:
- What skills, experience, education and accomplishments have brought you to where you are today? (Make an exhaustive, detailed list.)
- What does work do for you personally? For your family? What does it do or mean for your family? (Feed your mind? Feed your family? Both? A certain lifestyle or education?)
- How does your work impact your team at work? (What do you bring to the table that is valuable to the success of the organization?)
- What goals are you working toward and how does the work you do today help in that effort?
The purpose of this exercise is to help you be clear on your value to yourself, your family, and your profession. It provides a foundation for creating priorities and boundaries in all parts of your life. What makes sense to say yes to? What does not?
So grab some coffee, find a comfortable place to reflect, and write down the answers to these questions. Keep them somewhere accessible, and refer back to them when circumstances change (kids get older, child care needs change, other life happenings).
It is Your Turn!
