As a working mom, summer can be hard. In fact, this summer I felt like I was continually stopping and starting. My plan was to have the boys in summer camp, so that we could spend afternoons hanging out at the pool or going to fun places. I wanted to enjoy this summer like we do most summers. It’s also have we try to approach the rest of the year so that we can bake, read books, do activities, etc. after school. That was my intention, but it wasn’t my reality.

Here is what my summer did look like: I had about half the work hours of the school year with a book launch fast approaching. We had sick days with pink eye and tummy troubles. In general, I had a hard time focusing because, by the time I hit my groove each day, I had to head out to get the boys from camp. I tried to get more work done in the afternoons while the boys played together. They interrupted me constantly, so it took hours to do something that should have taken 30 minutes. Can you relate?

Last week our older son started school. He was excited (and so was I). All that remained to get things back to the norm was one week before our younger son was off to pre-school. Of course, pre-school had to start a week after the elementary school started! And then a hurricane hit Texas and it rained and rained and rained in Austin. And pre-school didn’t start on Monday.

Summer was clearly not what I had hoped for. And that’s OK. I made it work. After all, I’m a working mom. On top of being a working mom, I’m an entrepreneur (mompreneur if you like).

Here’s another thing I realized. The things I did during the summer can work during the school year, even when I have more time. And for those who work from home or who are dealing with everyday obstacles, you might find these ideas helpful as well.

Part-time Isn’t Easy

I’ve had people say that I work part-time, so I have it easy. Being a professional part-time working mom isn’t easy. It can make things easier, but it still demands focused time. In fact, in many ways you don’t have time to waste because you have to be incredibly efficient with your time. And, since I want to fit it things like self-care, I am very specific with how I use my time. I want to do whatever I can to fit in everything and be the mom I want to be.

When everyday obstacles as a working mom get in the way, I need to deal with them immediately. I need to know how to combat the time sucks, nagging questions, or simple obstacles or I become inefficient. What working mom has time for that, part-time or full-time?

Mindset Shift

I decided to shift my perspective on the everyday challenges and have them show me how much I really wanted something. This summer that something was launching a book. Instead of focusing on the struggle, I have started trying to focus on my enthusiasm and determination. I am shifting the focus away from the annoying obstacles. Or, I’m trying to see what I can learn from the obstacle, instead of focusing on the obstacle itself. It requires taking a step back sometimes. Ultimately, it keeps me focusing on the long-term goal, right?

A mentor of mine and I met a few weeks ago and we ended up talking a bit about mindset. He talked about setting your intention and how that impacts your goals (more on that in an upcoming post). That’s part of what I’m working on. Setting that intention for long-term success for the book and my marketing business. It’s a work in progress, but I like the results I’m seeing when I do it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still get discouraged when yet another obstacle drops in my path. And sometimes I need reminders by looking at my did list to see what I’ve accomplished or an amazing sweet text from someone in my tribe. I take a deep breath and refocus on that intention and the long-term goal.

What Changes did I Make?

In addition to the mindset shifts, I have also made some changes this summer to help me keep my eyes on the prize. These are the things I did over the summer and I’m making adjustments as the school year starts.

Focus on efficiency. To be most efficient with my time, I look at productivity + time management + staying on task. I needed to make changes to my usual productivity. For example, unlike during the school year, I didn’t schedule calls in the morning during the summer. I had 15-17 hours to work, so I needed that work time. Period. I started my days with a power hour where I worked – no email, no opening up social media. That way I could complete my most important tasks. I might have scheduled a few calls when afternoons weren’t an option, but I didn’t take away from work time. I did schedule calls while I was driving (assuming I didn’t need to take notes) or when I was waiting for my kids at a morning activity (e.g., tennis camp 8-9 am).

I found help. I ended up hiring a college student to come over a few hours a few afternoons, so that I could get work done and the boys could have fun. They went swimming, played at the children’s museum, built with LEGOS, and played more board games than I could probably ever have managed.

I have done this during the school year for a month or two, when things get really busy. That way a sitter feeds the boys dinner and gets them ready for bed a few days a week. It’s a short period of time, so it doesn’t break the bank and it definitely helps with stress.

I didn’t let mommy guilt get in the way. Most summers I can spend more time with my boys. I deliberately slow down business to have more fun time. I realized that my boys could have fun time, but that I still needed to work. I could feel bad or I could be change how I looked at it. I was enabling them to have fun, albeit with someone else. That helped me keep the mommy guilt at bay because I thought through what I needed, what they needed, and didn’t focus on what other people were doing.

I asked for more support from my husband. I’m fortunate to have a supportive husband. With that said, this time of the year is tough for him. It’s his busiest season. Even with that, I asked for him to step up. He did more of the meal prep on the weekend for the week or putting the kids to bed when I had major deadlines. And then he was back to work in his home office and he didn’t have to deal with morning duties. The thing that really helped was that I was specific with what I was asking of him. That made his time more focused for him and for me.

Being intentional with time. Not only were we intentional with our work time and trading off household and child-related duties, but we were very intentional with our weekends. We did something fun in the early morning – breakfast out, a bike ride in the neighborhood, a short hike – and then we headed back home and out of the Texas heat. (By 10am some mornings it was already 90.) And we traded off work time, so that we could both get stuff done over the weekend.

It’s still a busy time for both of us and will continue to be for another month or two. We’ll keep up these adjustments and then start being a bit more flexible with our time. For now, I have a head down and get things done approach to life and work. It’s not the most typical fun part of things, but I see the impact that I’m making and the benefit of the changes I’ve made over time and this summer. And I try to remind myself of those things when I deal with obstacles on my path.

How do you deal with the overcoming the everyday obstacles? What mindset shifts have you taken?