Is there such a thing as an ideal day when you’re a business owning mom?

Do you believe you can have an ideal day?

It’s a fair question. I mean, there’s all this talk of ideal this’s and that’s running around. But do you actually expect to experience it?

Because your answer is going to make all the difference on whether or not you see progress in your life – time management, getting up early, and evening routine included.

So. Let’s dive in.

The myth of no ideals

We’ve been told there’s no ideal day for moms – and we believe it.

• Ideal days for twenty-year-olds? Sure (if they cared).
• Ideal days for retirees? Yeah, they’ve got all the time in the world.
• Ideal days for ME? No, I’ve got way too much going on.

You don’t understand; I’ve got kids and cooking, a husband and housekeeping, job and friends, parents of my own plus hobbies I’d love to get around to – and you’re telling ME to think in terms of ideal, all-day meditation sessions?

No, thank you. That’s just not realistic, and come to think of it, I’m not the type who goes for hot yoga, an hour of meditation, and green juice in the morning anyways.

What does ideal mean to you?

Agreed – so let’s turn this around. What does an ideal day mean to YOU?

You’ll have a far more realistic answer than some self-care-touting twenty-something, because you’re including the kids and the laundry and the house.

But still, you’re allowed to go for something better.

What’s perfection to you?

• Thirty more minutes of sleep
• A cup of coffee before the kids get noisy
• A two-hour naptime so you can do something fun
• Not having to scrub showers (it’s your most hated chore)
• Doing Walmart pickup every week (even if you don’t order enough to make it free)
• One evening a week not cooking

I want to see your own list of #momlife dreams. They’re yours, you’ve got them, so let them out.

How to get your ideal day

Now that you’ve admitted what you really want, let’s see about turning those dreams into reality.

How do we bridge the gap between your now and your ideal?

Here’s how: Give yourself permission to make the fixes you already know about.

• Go to bed half an hour sooner (give your husband a heads-up that you’ve been running on fumes, so this is the new normal until the baby starts sleeping better)
• Drink your coffee first thing (and remind the kids whenever they poke their heads out that it’s not time to get up yet)
• Leave your toddler in bed for those last thirty minutes (to bounce and sing offkey while you finish up your quilting project)
• Request your husband to scrub the showers for you (see if there’s a chore you wouldn’t mind handling that he hates, and lay it on thick how much you’d appreciate not having to do this)
• Do Walmart pickup every week (if you need to cut the budget to fund this, skip any “hop in the cart” items)
• Don’t cook one evening a week (ask your husband if he’d like to grill, keep frozen pizzas in the back of the freezer, or start a leftovers night)

You’re getting the picture.

You already know what you need to do; you just listed it out.

Now you need to take action on it – notify people of your new sleep schedule (or theirs), lay in some frozen burritos, or set yourself a “thaw burgers every Thursday” reminder.

A few changes here and there, and your ideal #momlife is starting to appear.

And now? You get to go live it.

Have fun – and keep making those changes. You’re worth it.