How women in business can achieve work-life balance

1. Optimize tasks for maximum productivity

“Maintain open communication with your employer and colleagues, ensuring realistic expectations for both your professional and personal life. I’ve set strict working hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and I’ve honed my workflow, optimizing tasks for maximum productivity. This means prioritizing crucial assignments and delegating when necessary, allowing me to make the most of my workday. My family and close friends have also played an invaluable role offering help, whether it’s sharing child-care responsibilities or providing emotional support.”

—Lera Gelbart, Gleexa

2. Prioritize health and self-care

“While homeschooling two toddlers, I co-founded and ran a web design business, which now offers marketing services in six different languages. In the early days, work-life balance wasn’t even on the agenda. We went to bed at 2 a.m., woke up several times in the night to change diapers or comfort an upset baby, and got up early, taking turns working and playing with the boys. Despite the exhaustion at the time, both homeschooling and setting up a business are decisions I’m proud of.

“One thing that kept us going was our health, and I would encourage any businesswoman who is raising kids not to neglect looking after herself. If you’ve had a tough client meeting, take five minutes for yourself before you walk through the door. Eat a plant-centric diet and avoid sugar, as this will keep your energy up.

“As they say at the start of an airplane flight, ‘Secure your own mask before helping others.’ Give yourself some self-nurture and you will be more present for both your children and your work life.”

—Allison Carmichael, Indigoextra Ltd

3. Reject the Wonder Woman myth

“As a mother of two boys, wife to a busy banker, and a dedicated career girl, the word ‘balance’ has never been relevant in my life. Juggling a job, parenting, and partnering is hard. Trying to separate work from home, make room for date night, be present for our kids, get some ‘me’ time, and still have a successful career is an impossible goal.

“The idea that we can somehow magically juggle it all is simply rubbish. My top tip: stop believing the Wonder Woman myth. She isn’t real, and even if she was, she only had the ‘save humanity’ career to focus on, no husband or kids to juggle as well. Pfft. Easy. So here’s what I suggest instead:

1. DO multi-task—the more you can do at once, the better.
2. DON’T feel guilty about not doing it all—it’s a myth, anyway.
3. DO exercise—it manages stress.
4. DO teach your kids to be self-sufficient early—you’re not their servant.
5. DON’T believe your friends—they’re not Wonder Woman either.”

—Rebecca Houghton, BoldHR

4. Incorporate family into work life

“It fills me with guilt to recall this image from a late night working in my home office. I kept telling my toddler daughter I’d be done soon. I’d read her a book and tuck her into bed. But before that could happen, she fell asleep sitting up against the desk leg.

“She’s 18 now, and the business is 26. I realized early on: there really is no such thing as balance. No matter how great your support network is, you will always have at least a little mom guilt.

“Women disproportionately carry the burden of parenting, and when they own a business, that business is also their baby. The way I survived was to fold my kids into my work. I didn’t really separate the two. When they were little, I kept them close by, and when they were older, I put them to work in videos, photo shoots, or handing out fliers at a trade show. When guilt strikes, as a mother, you must remind yourself that one of the very best things you can do for your kids is to have them witness your self-drive.”

—Emily Dills, Seattle Nanny Network, Inc.

5. Design your work-life on your own terms

“After burning out three times on my way up the corporate ladder, I got serious about figuring out how to thrive in work, life, and parenthood. Here’s what I learned:

1. Work-life balance is a joke. When we let go of trying to attain an unrealistic 50/50 split, we can take ownership and get creative to craft balance on our own terms. This revelation was the wake-up call I needed to let go of other people’s expectations and to develop and live with my own.

2. Work-life design is a serious solution. A designer’s mindset can help us craft an intentional strategy to manage work, parenthood, and life with agility. My husband and I started using the same human-centered design principles I used at work to design our work/lives. We got serious about what was most important for us, built systems based on our family and work needs, and piloted tools to see what worked best for us.

“The result has been transformational. We have calmed the chaos and found more joy than we thought possible.”

—Marissa Green, Reimagine Ambition podcast;Conspiracy of Love