Want to have the success you see in your mind actually start to come to life? One of the biggest things moms in business struggle with is finding a successful work life balance. Working from home can make that an even bigger struggle when you feel like you are never able to be fully present with your kids or fully focused on your work.
 
Today I want to share with you the four pillars of success for work from home moms to take you from overwhelm to confidence. You can have the life you want, you just need to know how to get there and I can help you do that.

Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast

Four Things Holding You Back from a Successful Work Life Balance

We can’t talk about the four pillars of success without first talking about the four biggest mistakes I see moms making that cost them a good work life balance. Each of these areas need to be addressed before you can have success.

1. No Plans in Place

I know you’ve been there. You reach a point in your day where you don’t feel like you have something you absolutely need to do. So you sit down to relax for a couple minutes and then suddenly realize you have spent 30 minutes mindlessly scrolling on your phone.

Or how about this? You’ve been running around putting out fires when you look at the clock and see that it is 4:00 and you have no idea what you are making for dinner. The kids are in that fun, after school frame of mind that brings its own brand of chaos. Next thing you know, you are in the drive thru grabbing a quick meal before soccer practice.

As Blaine once said to me, “Fail to plan, plan to fail.”

2. No Systems to Lean On

I can think of two people who communicate this clearly. The first is Jame Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. He said, “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are for making progress. We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.” You know I’m all about systems here.

If you don’t think systems are that big of a deal, let me point you to Jenna Kutcher. On episode 401 of her podcast, Jenna said the following about implementing systems: “Those systems I created led to accomplishments that weren’t even on my vision board because I didn’t even know they were possible.”

Systems work. Good systems help you create a massively successful work life balance. You need them and I can help you get them going.

3. Pouring From an Empty Cup

I want you to take a moment and think about this question. When in your life were you told to care for yourself first before caring for other people? Has anyone ever said to you, “If you keep this up, you’re going to burn out?” I can almost guarantee that your answer is no.

I want you to know this: It is impossible to serve in any capacity at all if you are weary, hopeless, and defeated. If you want to start producing more, aka be successful, then you have to start prioritizing yourself and your time.

4. Allowing Social Media to Steal Your Time

You are literally spending hours per day on your phone and complaining you don’t have enough time in your day to get everything done that you need to get done. This may be a hard truth, but I want you to face it head on.

I have a lot more to say about this and a system to help you conquer this area, be sure to read How to Reduce Screen Time and Why It Matters because you can have success in this area.

“If you are sick of wasting time on meaningless tasks that only lead to frustration for you and your kids, you need to start creating systems.”

Four Pillars of Success for Work From Home Moms

Now that we have addressed the four biggest mistakes, and I truly hope you have taken the time to consider where you are with those, we can talk about how to create a successful work life balance with the four pillars of success. If you haven’t already, grab that notepad and take some notes. Each of these pillars is going to have four components or tasks to give you a solid foundation.

1. Motherhood

You have a purpose and for most of us, motherhood is a super important part of that. You want to be pouring into your children in meaningful ways. To do this, I want you to do these four things:

1. Create a positive mindset. Change anything that is creating a negative environment for you. Read books that frame motherhood in a positive light. Unfollow accounts that only focus on complaining about raising children. Your mindset matters, make sure that your choices reflect that.
2. Put your fundamental needs first. I’m not talking about wants. I am talking about your needs, the things you need to make you feel human. These are the things that fill your cup and sustain you. Know what your needs are.
3. Craft time blocks that fit your major responsibility buckets. We love to talk about this in the Facebook group, come join us and ask all the questions. You can also read Everything You Need to Know About Time Management for a deep dive into time management.
4. Automate systems in motherhood. Create systems to help you be the mother you want to be and communicate them to the members of your household.

2. Business

The business pillar is 1/4 of the work life balance equation, but can often feel like the most overwhelming. We often think we need more time than we actually need to run a successful business. These four steps can help change that narrative for you.

1. Know what tasks need to be done every week and every month. Do a brain dump and figure out what tasks you need to repeat for your business to thrive.
2. Create a workflow. You can use Trello, Asana, or you can use what I use, which is MeisterTask. Whatever you choose, put those repetitive tasks into a workflow so your work hours can be more efficient.
3. Time blocks specifically for work. Stop multitasking. You need to stop parenting from behind your phone. Set up time to specifically pour into your business so you can have the time to intentionally pour into your children.
4. Think outside the box and ask for help. You can not do this alone. If you are unwilling to ask for help, success will elude you. Don’t try to be a super hero. Ask your husband to make dinner or take on bath time if doing so would free up your mind to focus more fully on your work block.

3. Marriage

Without a successful marriage, your work from home mom life will crumble, not very good for work life balance. You need to be on the same page as your husband. These four items will help you build a stronger marriage team.

1. Create a communication system with your husband. We talk about this all the time on the podcast (check out episode 77 specifically). For Blaine and me, we have our Sunday Sitdown. It is one of our fundamental needs.
2. Talk about your dreams. Talking about my dreams with Blaine changed my life. Tell your husband what you dream about. What do you lay in bed and think about every night?
3. Talk about your fears and expectations. What do you need from your husband? He can’t know unless you tell him.
4. Ask your husband what he expects from you. Oftentimes we don’t know because we are afraid to ask. When you don’t know what he expects, you can overexert yourself trying to serve him in ways that he doesn’t even expect or want you to.

4. Home

Finally, you need a safe, comfortable home. Taking care of your home is an important way to serve your family and to care for yourself. Focus on these four tasks to bring balance to this area of your life.

1. Simplify, declutter, and organize. Do not let your stuff run your life. Take the time to get your home into a manageable state.
2. Automate your cleaning with routines. A cleaning system doesn’t have to be complicated or take a long time, but it does need to happen intentionally and with some sort of regularity.
3. Prioritize and simplify healthy, whole foods and family meal times. I believe this is a lost art and something that needs to be valued again. What we eat has a huge impact on our health. If we want our children, husband, and ourselves to be healthy, then healthy food needs to be a priority.
4. Encourage family involvement in all household activities. Your home is not your sole responsibility. Yes, you run the ship, but the other people who live there should also be on the crew taking care of the ship.

The Hard Truth About a Successful Work Life Balance

A four legged table can not stand on three legs. What does that mean? You and I are the same woman. We believe marriage, motherhood, home, and business are an important part of who we are. These are the four legs of our table and when one isn’t measuring the same as the others, our tables are wonky and things slide off.

The best way to figure out your work life balance is to get serious about how you think about your time. Because it all comes down to this hard truth:

You can manage your motherhood and your home, succeed in business, and have an incredible partnership in your marriage IF YOU REALLY WANT TO. There are no excuses. It is absolutely possible.

Homework

Hopefully this post has helped you see that a successful work life balance is achievable if you are dedicated to doing the work. So now you have some homework! Come over to the Facebook group and answer these two questions:

• What is currently holding you back from reaching the success you desire?
• Which pillar are you strongest in and which pillar are you weakest in?

Let’s work together to get you out of the chaos and into confidence!