5 Sanity Strategies for Successful Mompreneurs

Do you have your own business as well as support the needs of a busy, growing family? 

Then you are a Mompreneur and know the delicate juggling act that includes the MANY different aspects of managing your tasks, supporting your family, getting things done – and feeling like you have a life of your own!

One of the critical areas successful mompreneurs learn to master is managing time effectively. To do so, we must become experts at planning, task management, quickly prioritizing with the winds of change, and making effective decisions.

One of the keys to staying sane as a Mompreneur is establishing good habits. Routines, practices, and even rituals built from your core values will help to ensure the vital tasks are completed daily, family needs are met, your home and family are maintained, and your growing business goals are achieved!

These strategies will help you begin aligning your life and creating the systems you need to work more efficiently. That means you’ll accomplish the important tasks within the time you have!

Systematize Your Sanity. Each of us defines sanity differently for ourselves. The great Albert Einstein defined ‘insanity’ as doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. So, to avoid driving yourself and everyone around you insane, it’s important to create systems and strategies that put those niggly, but important maintenance tasks on autopilot.

One person’s sanity strategies may not be the same as another’s. But, examining these five areas (what I refer to as your Sanity Dimensions™) will reveal the small shifts you need to make to take steps toward more sanity and achieving your big business goals:

• Create Sane (and Sacred) Spaces – Where do you work, play and live? What is the sacred space you’ve set aside for yourself? Examine your spaces. Take a snapshot of each and then look at that snapshot in another location. The snapshot will reveal an objective look at what is going on around you in the spaces you choose to live and work. When you view the snapshot, what needs to be changed? What could be tweaked to create more sacred space for you?

• Create Sane Systems – Most of us have hundreds (if not thousands) of meta-systems in place to make our lives run smoothly. If you constantly feel behind the eight ball, take a moment to breathe first, then examine your day to day tasks to uncover anything that you repeatedly do. What happens daily, weekly or monthly that must be repeated again? What routines and processes do you use to support your day in and day out activities? Identify what those are, and ‘ink them’! Write them down in an easy to follow, step-by-step format that allows you to review them and then potentially delegate them to others! Create routines for maintenance tasks. 
Scheduling routine maintenance tasks for both your home and business will ensure these tasks are completed and alleviates stress for you and your family members. For the work-at-home-mompreneur, create maintenance routines for office cleaning, organizing, inventory, billing, as well as such things as laundry, groceries and home cleaning. Sane maintenance systems can truly help you save time and get more done.

• Make Self-Care Sacred – If it’s one UNIVERSAL gap we moms have, it is that we consistently tend to give up ‘me time’ in favor of whatever is happening for our families. The great ‘Sandwich Generation’ – (those typically between the ages of 30 – 60) are not only caring for our own children, but many of us have also taken on the care of one or both of our parents. Never before in history, have we seen so many women pulled in different life zones, each demanding our full attention. Now more than ever, it’s important to establish habits, practices and rituals designed to support your needs. Making them ‘sacred’ means putting self-care as having the highest importance! If you’re feeling worn out and ragged, stop working now, and do something nurturing for you.  Create a special me-time practice today. Even just 15 minutes spent on renewal can make an incredible difference for you. For instance, the 2 R’s of Routine and Ritual can be critical success factors when implementing new wellness practices. Paying for a gym membership or fitness class increases your commitment to yourself and enhances your accountability. Finding a self-care partner may really help you systematize your self-care and make it more sacred. Accountability, commitment and financial output increase your motivation to show up regularly for these opportunities.

• Get Support! I’m so tired of hearing martyr stories of women who are trying it do it all. Most often, those are the same women that are constantly sick, tired and resentful. If you’re feeling those emotions, check in on the level of support you receive daily. Support includes any and all people you rely on to help you manage your business and personal life. Use your negative emotions to navigate toward getting support in those areas first! Where would having an extra pair of hands help you with your home-related tasks? What type of support would help your business operate more efficiently?
• Systematize Scheduling. Scheduling is an activity that places all your tasks into like categories and blocks out time on your future agenda for completion. Just as you can schedule time for grocery shopping, you must schedule time for business development and marketing tasks. When possible, chunk your tasks into categorical functions and then block out time for completion.

Which Sanity Strategy above is the one that causes the most difficulty for you? Please share your struggles, comments AND best practices below!