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Ask the Expert: Finding Balance Natalie Gahrmann is a success coach and owner of N-R-G Coaching Associates, a private coaching company that specializes in helping working parents achieve mastery of work and life. Her clients experience more clarity, direction and alignment while reducing stress in their busy lives.
Household ChoresJennifer writes, "I am looking for a way to not stress over keeping the house clean and orderly without taking time away from my 2 year old daughter. Ideally, the time before 8PM should be devoted to her, and everything else after that, but I find myself worrying about how I will get everything done during our quality time and it ends up not being quality time. Please help!"Answer: Your concerns about maintaining your home are shared by many new mothers. The problem is that you haven't given up the notion of perfection and high standards for keeping your house clean despite the fact that you work full-time. The added pressures and stress are caused by your unreasonable expectations of yourself and others. Your time is far too precious to spend it doing things that really aren't that necessary. Begin by examining your standards and the amount of time you spend performing the tasks around your home. Decide what standards are absolutely critical and be reasonable about how much you can accomplish in the limited time you have available. The 4 basic principles to keep in mind are to: (1) clean only WHAT you need to clean (2) clean only WHEN you need to clean it (3) have ALL THE TOOLS you need in one place (4) consider HIRING SOMEONE for the huge cleaning projects that only need to be done a few times during the year. By taking a new perspective about when and how you clean your house, you'll alleviate much of the pressure you've put on yourself. Realize things don't have to be perfect all the time!
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