l know what it feels like to be a career woman who has to rethink her career after becoming a mother.
Before having children, the way I thought about work was different. But as my family grew, I realized I wanted something different too.
I wanted to be home with my babies and still have meaningful work.
At first, figuring out how those two things could coexist was confusing and frustrating.
But today, I work from home with four kids while also building my own business.
And if I can do it, you can too, Mama. ❤️
Sometimes motherhood doesn’t mean giving up your career.
Sometimes you simply need a new way to work.
Working from home can give you more flexibility and allow you to be physically present with your family, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
When you work outside of the home, there is a natural separation between work and home life.
You leave the house.
You go to work.
And eventually, you leave work and come home.
When you work from home?
The work is there.
The baby is there.
The laundry is there.
The dishes are there.
The homework is there.
Everybody asking Mom where something is is there. 😂
Everything is happening in the same place.
Over the years, I’ve learned that making work-from-home life actually work requires more than simply finding a remote job.
You have to create an environment that allows your work, family and other responsibilities to coexist.
Here are five things that have helped me.
1. Create Mental Space
One of the biggest challenges of working from home is that you can see everything that needs to be done.
There may be laundry waiting, dinner to think about, appointments that need to be scheduled, homework that needs to be checked, groceries that need to be purchased and approximately 72 other things competing for your attention. 😂
That’s why creating rhythms around recurring responsibilities has helped me tremendously.
Your house doesn’t need to be perfect before you can work.
The goal is to create enough structure that your brain isn’t trying to hold every responsibility at the same time.
When do groceries usually happen?
When will you deal with laundry?
When are meals prepared?
When will you help with homework?
When do you handle appointments and household administration?
Giving those responsibilities a place can create more mental room for you to focus when it’s time to work.
2. Create a Physical Space for Work
You also need somewhere that tells your brain:
I’m working now.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need a beautiful home office with a door.
Your workspace should fit your actual life.
I intentionally work from my dining room.
For my family, that makes sense.
I can work while still being aware of what’s happening around the house. I’m close to the kitchen. I’m close to the laundry. I can stay connected to my family while still having a designated place where I sit down and work.
Someone else may need a completely separate office with a closed door.
Neither one is necessarily better.
Ask yourself:
What kind of workspace would actually support the way my family and my life function?
Design around that.
3. Create Understanding Around Your Work Hours
Being home does not mean you’re available every minute.
This can take some adjustment for the entire family—especially when children are involved.
Obviously, little kids are going to little-kid. 😂
But even young children can begin learning that there are times when Mom is working and times when Mom is available.
Talk with your family about your work hours.
Create routines around them.
Be as consistent as your season allows.
The goal isn’t to create a household where nobody ever interrupts you. Good luck with that. 😂
The goal is to create enough understanding and rhythm that work has a legitimate place in your home.
4. HAVE A CUT-OFF TIME
Yes, this one gets capital letters because I think it is that important.
One of the sneakiest problems with working from home is that there is no natural moment when you leave work.
There’s no commute.
You don’t shut down your computer, drive home and mentally transition into another part of your day.
Your computer is still sitting there.
And there is always something else you could do.
One more email.
One more task.
One more project.
One more hour.
If you aren’t intentional, working from home can slowly become working all the time.
Give yourself a stopping point.
There will certainly be seasons when you need to work later or adjust your schedule, but work should still have boundaries.
Working from home should give work a place in your life—not give work your entire life.
5. Choose Work That Actually Fits Your Life
This might be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned:
Not every work-from-home job is family-friendly.
A job being remote tells you where you can perform the work.
It doesn’t necessarily tell you whether the work will fit your life.
Look at the actual position.
Consider the workload.
The schedule.
Flexibility.
Meeting expectations.
Company culture.
After-hours expectations.
Benefits.
And, importantly, your capacity in this season.
Don’t only ask:
“Can I do this job from home?”
Ask:
“Will this job work with the life I’m actually trying to build?”
Because those are two very different questions.
Your Career May Need to Change When Your Season Changes
I believe God gives us different opportunities in different seasons of our lives, and our responsibility is to steward those opportunities well.
Not perfectly.
But faithfully—to the best of our ability and within the capacity we have in that season.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” — 1 Corinthians 14:40
I’ve found that creating a little more order around how I work has helped me make room for meaningful work without allowing work to consume my entire life.
And I think sometimes we can interpret a changing season as though we’re losing something.
Maybe the career you imagined before motherhood doesn’t fit anymore.
Maybe you don’t want the commute.
Maybe you want more flexibility.
Maybe you want to be home when your children come home.
Maybe you want to build something of your own.
That doesn’t automatically mean your ambition disappeared.
It may simply mean that the conditions your work needs to meet have changed.
There are more ways to build a career than the one you may have imagined before motherhood.
You can work from home.
You can freelance.
You can build a side hustle.
You can create content.
You can start a business.
You can pursue a different position that gives you more flexibility.
You can want to be present with your family and still want meaningful work.
Sometimes you simply need a new way to work. ❤️
Ready for Your Next Opportunity?
And if you’re reading this thinking, Okay, Chauntel, but first I need to get this dusty resume together 😂, I can help with that too.
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If your life has changed, your career goals have changed, or your resume simply hasn’t caught up with where you’re trying to go next, this is a great place to start.
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And Mama, I’d love to hear from you:
What’s ONE thing that helps you get work done with kids?
Whether you work from home, run a business, freelance, create content, study or simply have things you need to accomplish, share your best tip in the comments.
You might help another mom who’s trying to figure out her own new way to work. ❤️