career mama {ten changes @ work}

earlier this week, i talked about the difference between a working mama and a career mama. today, let’s look at some baby steps that you can take toward being a better career mama while you are at work:

|1|  limit the amount of "personal" things you do at work (emails, phone calls, errands, etc). if you do a lot of  this, try eliminating just one of them for a week and see how that works.

|2|  think about how you'd want your employee to act if you were the boss. spend one day doing exactly that. no exceptions.

|3|  cut down on the office gossip. you certainly shouldn't be starting/spreading gossip, but try eliminating your exposure to it as well.

|4|  consider your co-workers. think about people at work that may negatively affect your attitude. you probably can't eliminate them entirely from your day, but try to limit your exposure to them (without sacrificing job performance).

|5|  the next time you are tempted to say or think something negative about work or a coworker, force yourself to replace it with something positive. do this once a day.

|6| stop silly dreaming. i am not telling you to squash your dreams. i’m telling you to stop dreaming that you will win the lottery so you can stay home with your munchkins. it’s not going to happen so stop torturing yourself.

|7|  take your breaks!!! whether you have scheduled fifteen minute breaks, lunch hours, whatever. take them!!! it's not always possible, but the mental time away from the nitty gritty will truly help.

|8|  have contingency plans in place. prevent unnecessary stress by having a list of "back up plans" (family, friends, sitters, etc).
|9|  talk to your boss. i know every supervisor and workplace is different, but often times employees simply don't communicate their desires well enough.

|10|  pray. God has this all figured out already. try chatting with him about it.

one thing to keep in mind is that if you are whole-heartedly miserable in your job, changing your attititude will help but it’s not going to fix everything. be realistic. if you are incredibly unhappy, look for another job. create a career plan and start working toward it. lay out baby steps to achieve long term goals.

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this post is part of a new focus here at the chronicles:

the career mama

balancing work & home, while loving it all.

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