How to juggle your commitment as a mum and a business owner

On Tuesday evening just past I walked up into my office space, closed the door and loaded up my Zoom screen.

I logged into a reunion call with the people I was on retreat with nearly three weeks ago now.

It was scheduled from 5 - 6.30pm - typically the 90 mins of varying degrees of chaos in our house when everyone is getting home and trying to get dinner and baths, while navigating tiredness and hunger all round!

Still, the retreat experience away was really impactful for me. I really wanted the opportunity to see everyone again and share what had been going on for me too.

Long story cut short, about 30 mins in my younger son ended up on my knee and after much prodding and poking of the keyboard, fell asleep.

This is a group of people I got to know really well in a short space of time. And so I know I am one of the only parents in the group.

In the back of my mind there was a little voice wondering what they thought of my multi-tasking.

Would they think I was being rude in not giving them my full attention?

Or being a bad mum for not paying full attention to my son?

The rational me knew that it was likely neither of these. And yet a teeny tiny part of me still cared.

It got me thinking.

One of my own fears that I see reflected in my clients so often, is a fear of being judged as uncommitted.

- Uncommitted to your job if you are also building a side hustle.

- Uncommitted to your family if you are spending evenings and weekends on your hobby business.

- Uncommitted to your business if you don’t want to spend all of your free time working on it.

Sort of a no-win situation when I say it like that….

We see commitment as this exclusive relationship, where only one thing can matter at any one time.

Whereas life as a working mum just isn’t like that!

And I realise that by pretending that it is, I would be undermining my passion for supporting mums in finding a different way to work, outside of what is typical in our society.

It’s hard to prioritise when everything is important. And yet it’s also impossible to get everything done when it all feels high priority!

How does this show up for you in your business? Have you had any recent experiences like mine? Drop me a comment and let me know.