23: How do I keep my sanity as a working mum

TRANSCRIPT FOR EP 23:
Welcome to Woman Leadership show. I'm Janet and in this episode, I will be sharing with you how I keep my sanity as working mum Working in a senior position and leading teams would require a lot of investment of time in addition to night and morning calls.  When I was working in the bank, there were periods when I travelled almost 50% of the month for about 2 years to work on various Human Resources projects. I would be away from family at leasy 5 days at one time and had to have facetime at night for few minutes before I would have to prepare my work for next day’s meetings or training. Feeling lonely at times when I travelled on business trip and during longer periods  the hotel was like my second home. Was there a better option and so I moved to another role which required no travelling for few years while I could focus on my eldest son who are taking PSLE . Youngers ones were moving to upper primary which requires more support in their studies. So being in Singapore did got me time to be there for them though I was working long hours and during weekends. I take things easy such as there are some thing that I do not force myself that they have to score perfect marks. If they did not do well in any subject, I will see if there are resources to support. I do not give myself too much pressure as long we and children do our best. I enjoyed travelling but there would be at stages where I would have to sacrifice to be more grounded with the children when they need me. Now I am taking career break to pause and reflect what is next step for me and for my family now my late mum has just passed away. Do I want to continue my career in corporate or start to look into starting a digital business and flexible options  so I can be with my teenager children. I will schedule make it a point to manage my time around family , close friends, health , managing finances and time that I spent will work towards in achieving my goals , to have a consistent time scheduled set aside for family and couple outings. I realized if you do not set aside fixed time regularly, you will be swamped with things that you think are important and take up a lot of your time letting you think misunderstand that you have been very busy which could be good but later on realized it was like firefighting not really sure what we are all busy with at the end of the day, week and months and if those time spent will add value to what we want for ourselves, family , goals, career, business and our dreams. I
learnt to assess what we do benefit us whether for personal growth, for family, work towards our goals and dreams whether is for work and business. We want our time spent to be productive and eventful as everyone has the same number of 24 hours and what we do with every minute counts and that differentiate us from others looking at what we have achieved in life. I use the same principle in managing my various roles and manage my time in prioritizing what are important for me. Do not feel guilty about not being there for the children, mum or husband. It is a choice made with the support and discussion with husband what works or everyone. Should anyone is not happy, we will trash it out and see if there is any changes needed ot tweak to ensure everyone is well supported. There is no wrong or right decision, it depends on what we want to achieve and what is important to us. What is our values and our priorities may change over time such as how it has changed for me over the years in my career and having different stages of growing up children. I hope that through my sharing, it draws inspiration and personal reflection for you. I believe every woman can be a leader in your own way.  I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you tips and ways to realize your full potential as a leader on Woman Leadership.