If you’re passionate about your career—and about being a great mom or dad—you’re facing an ongoing struggle for at least 18 years. But you can learn techniques to reduce the stress and successfully balance your professional and family roles.
The author, an executive coach who specializes in helping working parents, suggests that you start by identifying the kinds of challenges you’re confronting. There are five core types: those involving transitions (such as returning to work after parental leave, or hiring a new caregiver); practical challenges (dealing with errands, appointments, and all your other responsibilities); communication issues (conversations and negotiations about working-parent matters); feelings of loss (fear that you’re missing out at work or at home); and identity concerns (uncertainty about your priorities and how you define yourself).
To mitigate these challenges, the author recommends five powerful strategies: Rehearse to prepare for transitions; audit your commitments and plan your calendar so that practicalities don’t overwhelm you; frame your working-parent messages effectively; use “today plus 20 years” thinking to put losses into perspective; and revisit and recast your professional identity and brand.
