9 essential tips for successful working mums

Women like Amal Clooney or Gwyneth Paltrow talk easily about the struggles of combining a successful job, being a mum and a wife. Because they are usually surrounded by assistants and nannies. People who take care of their children, housework, and even the right outfits.  Unfortunately, the majority of us working mums cannot afford such help.

And according to DIW studies, women still do most of the daily housework as well as childcare, compared to men. So it is clear that working mums do need help to help themselves.

And, in fact, it is often only the small habits that need change.

Therefore we have 9 essential tips for successful working mums to increase their job performance:

1. Answer your emails at set times

It is clearly proven: Incoming emails are disturbing your workflow. Between 20 and 30,000 emails are sent to employees on average every year. The constant checking of your inbox is also responsible for the fact that we are less productive and can concentrate less. Researchers even believe that the flow of emails and the urge to react immediately to everything makes us more susceptible to depression and anxiety.
The new success rule: Incoming messages are only checked at certain times. And let’s be honest: What can be so urgent in normal day-to-day business that we would have to answer everything within a few minutes? And those who spend 30 minutes every two hours on their emails, use the rest of their working time more productively.

2. Hold meetings only when necessary

When we count the amount of time we waste in pointless meetings, we could all take a few more days of vacation! Statistics show that a manager spends 7000 hours a year in meetings. But is the weekly status meeting really necessary? Nearly every meeting can be questioned, and some could be simply abolished. Saving us energy and time.

3. Plan your time sensibly and sufficiently

Answer an e-mail quickly, make an important phone call, read a textbook over the weekend… that rounds up to overtime very quickly. Digitalisation is increasingly blurring the boundaries between private life and work. But those who regularly work overtime are ultimately less productive and also belong to the risk group that is most often threatened by burnout. Try to plan and realistically assess your working time.

4. Do the most important things first

Quickly doing the not so fun little things, and then take time for the important stuff? Seems like a good idea, but it doesn’t help us in the end. If you do the “big” things in the morning, with a fresh head, you will have a good achievement feeling for the rest of the day. So, rethink, and go from big to small.

5. Take little breaks

Yes, there is much to do. The children have to be picked up at four and everything should be done by then. Our mind is not designed for an uninterrupted power-play. On the contrary: every 45 minutes the brain and body automatically switch to slow motion. Which means, that you need to take breaks to be able to continue concentrated work.

6. Avoid eating at your desk

You may think that you save some time by eating and reading on your screen at the same time. But when we read and eat at the same time, our brain does not register the food properly. Which means, that latest two hours later we need something sweet to compensate. Plus, our body does not really register the break as such. Which means that the energy level is not replenished and we have only shifted the need backward. Therefore, even if it’s only a short change of scene, if you quickly go to the nearest coffee shop with a colleague and have a snack, or if you sit on the next park bench and enjoy a snack, your brain has consciously saved this interruption as a “break”. And then it is ready for new performance.

7. Start well into the day

Women who only have one or more cup(s) of coffee for breakfast should not be surprised if their colleague is more quick-witted in the morning meeting. Those who have a proper breakfast are more awake and ready to tackle their workload. Note: Protein is a particularly sustainable form of morning power. No matter whether you prefer eggs or yogurt with fruits, the protein contained in both gives our brain the necessary energy to show our peak performance.

8. Renunciation of multi-tasking

Can you really do two things that are important at the same time? Of course, our brain can swing back and forth. But a lot of attention and concentration is lost because it has to adjust to a different situation again and again. Effectiveness looks different and it may be time to come back to the somewhat dusty truth: We do one thing after the other, with full concentration.

9. Turn off your guilty conscience

The children nag because they don’t always get the undivided attention and sometimes just have to work? The project on the job could have been done better? The laundry is piling up? And the windows urgently need to be cleaned? This constant bad conscience needs to go. It is a big obstacle on your personal path to success!
Neither the children nor our partner will be happier just because they can see the world through cleaned windows! But we will certainly be happier if we focus on things that we have achieved instead of constantly looking only at our deficits.

Photos: unsplash