Have you ever just sat down and stared into the air in a cloud of your own thoughts and everything is so chaotic in your head that you just want to grab a glass of wine, run to the bathroom, lock the door, start the shower and never come out? 

If you are a woman that runs a business and wants a life….this sometimes is exactly how we feel. So you grab the wine, take off the bra, throw the hair up and call it a day. But then you remember that you have that paperwork to get done, the kid’s projects for school, that fundraiser, oh and don’t even think about forgetting taking the dog to the vet and grabbing groceries!  

Women want it all. There is no reason we can’t have it all, we just have to try to find the balance between life and business. The greatest struggle for women of all time.  Don’t even get me started on listening to all the “right” ways to find the balance, nobody lives my life but me, I know what will fit in my schedule and what won’t – said every woman everywhere.  

My life gets so crazy sometimes, I work a TON of trade shows, I coordinator all events for my division in my job, I have an assistant, 5 service techs, I am the marketing person in my husband’s business, I network like crazy, I have 7 children, 3 sons-in-law, 1 daughter-in-law, 4 grandchildren, I am attached to my phone making calls to set more appointments or I’m in meetings and appointments moving my needle forward in my business. Oh and I do have a house and love to have fun…I have this balance thing all figured out….or so I thought.

When did I decide I needed better balance? The end of 2018. I love my job, I will never apologize for that. However, when there is an empty spot on my calendar I tend to think I need to fill it.  So when my adult children ask me to go to lunch and I let them know I am 3 weeks out but I could get them in my schedule then, you see the issue? Balance was needed.

What I found works for me is to have a planning session with myself, use my calendar in color coded blocks for different areas of my life and business.  One of the blocks is a 2 hour lunch gap once a week, it’s not filled with anyone.  I left this open so I would be able to have lunch with my kids, husband, or friends if it works out for them. Another block is once a month to pick up the grandkids and spend quality time with them.  Another block, one of the most important ones, date night.  I also hired a housekeeper so I can free up time in my schedule to do the more important things, like living life.   I decided to dedicate one day a week for admin, planning and getting my shit together so that I can be successful in more areas the rest of the week, notice I didn’t say be perfect or every area, small wins people.   It’s an uphill battle for me…but the view from the top is pretty incredible.

Tara Michielli
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