The country may be open for business, but for millions of parents worldwide, the ongoing challenge of finding a balance between remote work and home responsibilities remains a constant issue. What’s more, the boom of summer vacation is shaping up to be a bust for school-aged kids. And nobody is feeling the pressure to navigate an exceptionally busy home around her job than a mom.
In this interview, published by The Daily Herald, Amy Cook—founder of Osmond Marketing, CMO at Simplus, a wife, and a mom to five children—talks with Michele Bates from Transform Through Therapy about her strategies for coping with stress and using tried and true work methods for keeping control in her home.
Since Amy built her company with a remote work model in place, she can offer valuable insight and empathy to clients transitioning their in-person business to a remote one.
To help in the transition, Amy shared five tips for maintaining balance in her work and home environments. Here are some highlights from the interview.
Shift Your Schedule
To take advantage of early morning work hours, Amy lets her kids stay up later than usual, and while they sleep in, she’s up early getting work done.
Tag Team
Some of her employees and co-workers have found that tag-teaming parental duties has worked well. For example, Mom takes the kids in the morning, and Dad takes them in the afternoon. “It’s been an increase in work, but it’s also been important to me to make sure our children are taken care of,” said Cook.
Be Flexible
Flexibility is one of the key factors for a successful work/life balance. There are going to be certain things that are a regular part of your routine that won’t be possible right now. Putting those things on pause will allow you to focus on what’s really important and vital for your family and your job—without distractions. “It’s actually a really good lesson for me in life for what I care about and what is actually important for me,” Cook says.
Be Transparent
“Being transparent really diffuses a lot of stress,” Cook says. “Some days just aren’t going to be your day, and if you’re upfront with your kids or co-workers, they may not take things so personally.” She adds that being transparent also shows authenticity to who you are as a person, the ups and downs, good and bad.
Be Thankful
Take time each day to recognize the contributions other people are making at home, at work, and as a friend. Whatever it may be, it helps to put you in a better state of mind.
“When you have an attitude of gratitude, a growth mindset, what you’re doing is selecting the portions of reality that are positive and deflecting negative portions of reality. So you are actually experiencing reality in a different way,” Cook says.
As we face a new normal in business, we also need to find new ways to balance our time for those who are counting on us. By being flexible in work hours and activities, being open about our feelings, and maintaining a positive perspective, we can be sure our personal and professional time is focused on things that matter most.
Read the full article published by the Daily Herald here: