Getting it all done required an investment in our family by each member of the family.
When I started my part-time private practice, our daughters were in middle school. That was almost 10 years ago. I worked full-time. Both played travel soccer. They practiced twice a week and played matches on Saturday and Sunday. Tournaments required us to travel to South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and around our home state of Georgia.
Both daughters were active members of Girl Scouts. They participated in weekly meetings, camping trips, summer day camp, overnight camp. Additionally, they were active participants of clubs, events, and sports at their schools. We also had a busy family life, traveling to see grandparents and other relatives. This snapshot of their activities does not fully describe how busy their activities made us.
Fortunately, my husband and I worked together to meet the demands of raising two active children. We too were busy with work responsibilities from our full-time positions. The addition of a business, albeit part-time, added to the pressure.
Getting it all done required a decision-making framework and deliberate planning. The decision-making framework began with our family mission as well as my personal mission. The mission created a pathway for us to prioritize our actions and behaviors.
Mission
As a family we made a commitment years before the business decision to “put family first.” My personal mission was “to be the best mommy I could be.” Everything we did had to meet our “family comes first” requirement. Additionally, my actions could not harm our daughters in any way to stay in line with my personal mission.
I discussed my plans with the family before starting the business. I assured them that family, especially our daughters would remain my priority. This played an important aspect of the framework. I decided when to see clients and how many to schedule during the week with our mission in mind. It also influenced where I chose to rent office space. My office is in a building that is about 10 minutes from home.
It was not unusual for me to schedule appointments around our daughter’s activities. I also made sure that the business did not interfere with our quality time. Now that they are in college, I have more flexibility to schedule.
Planning
Our family began using the Cozi family planning app. The app, like most family planners has a free and paid version. We invested in the paid version because of the enhanced features. It includes a calendar, shopping and to-do lists, and recipe box. The recipe box provides recipes and assists with meal planning. It also integrates well with the shopping list feature.
The calendar provides an agenda view and a monthly view. The calendar was so simple, our daughters could use it with ease. It helped us to keep up with events in real time. Each of us was responsible for putting events on the calendar and for designating who needed to participate. Color coding made it easy to see if an event required our personal attention. Family members may also receive alerts to inform them of newly scheduled events.
The Cozi calendar was only one part of our planning strategy. Every weekend, we met to review the schedule for the following week. If travel was involved, we assigned specific tasks so that preparation did not fall on any one person. For example, during soccer season, our daughters were responsible for making sure their soccer gear was clean, packed, and ready to go. If anything needed to be washed, they made sure their dad, or I knew ahead of time. When they were in high school, they became responsible for washing their clothes, including soccer uniforms.
Cooperation
Cooking meals posed another challenge. It is tempting to drive-thru a fast food restaurant on the way to soccer or Taekwondo practice. I began preparing meat entrees on Sunday. I would cook two to three different meats. I often cooked more than necessary for one meal and used the extras in another dish. I started keeping a variety of frozen vegetables that could be heated in the microwave. We could heat vegetables and the meat in a few minutes for a nutritious, home cooked meal.
Once a month we had a family meal that required each of us to prepare an item. Those were so much fun. At first the girls chose easy items like salad. They used bagged salad mix and supplemented with some of their favorite ingredients. As they matured, they began experimenting with entrees.
Chore distribution was a major part of our plan. We each had designated chores. We were expected to complete them. We emphasized the value of individual contributions to the family. Fortunately, our daughters cooperated with the planning. They understood the payoff our family gained with a small investment of time and effort.
“I want to be happy, whole, satisfied and successful. What about you?”
Visit the M.L. Bailey Consultants website. We are sprucing it up, so please be patient with us. You may join the conversation like our Facebook page, follow me on Instagram and connect with me on LinkedIn.