Motherhood gave my career more than I expected

Back in my consulting days I could have been working on 4 to 6 projects at a time. As you can imagine, I dealt with many concurrent project timelines and competing priorities. I thought I was organized and efficient, but the truth is I frequently stayed late an extra hour or two or logged on during the weekend to keep up.

I returned to work with a 1 year old and I had to do a daycare drop-off before work and leave no later than 5:15 pm. I wondered how I was going to pull this off and keep my performance level high. Well, I did and I still do.

I became very aware of what can wait until tomorrow or Monday. If I got asked to jump in on something urgent or to get something done by EOD, my first question was what task was being replaced. Something's gotta give and it wasn't going to be my time or my performance.

You know what teaches you patience, empathy, and to take deep breaths in high-stress situations? Toddler tantrums.

Nothing prepared me more for escalations, upset customers, and high-emotion meetings like getting down to my son's level on the grocery store floor and handling the situation with all eyes on me.

Whether the meltdown is coming from a CFO or a Chief Diaper Officer, the steps are the same: let's calm down, let's empathize, let me hear you out, let me give you the options we have.

I am not afraid to bring out the mama bear when needed.

I, like many people, had a portion of my career and life where I would let disrespect slide because it was easier or because I was afraid of confrontation.

One of the things many of us hate about parenting is that kids follow what you do and not what you say. If I want my son to stand up for himself, his beliefs, and his values, I need to do the same.

At work, I started to push back with some why and some no. I set the tone for my day, my week, my year and my career.

If you enjoy thinking on your feet, adjusting when things don't go to plan, or having to constantly find solutions in an ever-changing fast paced environment, I'd highly recommend parenting.

For an elevated experience you can also try working from home during an unprecedented pandemic where everything is closed.

Let's not forget to stay calm, poised, assertive and still hit our priority items for the day.

At work or home, sometimes I do get caught by surprise and flustered. What I know for a fact is that I can handle it.

Now that I've been working full time for almost 15 years, I find myself asking what is it all for?

It really is about the journey.

Every year my son and I take a few weeks off together. We take at least one trip, have one stay-cation, and make memories. It's a heavy investment of time and money.

Each year your child gets older is a year you won't get back. I've prioritized slowing down and enjoying this time of his life.

The childless version of me would wait until I was ready or until things calmed down at work to book time off. That time never comes. The years are going by and the work will be there when you get back.

I have never taken a trip I regretted. It took my son to make me actually schedule them.