How to set boundaries
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Work-Life Balance for Working Moms: The Power of Transitions
Do you ever close your laptop at the end of the day and walk into your evening still thinking about work? Or sit down at your desk after a hectic school drop-off, only to realize your brain is still in the car line? You’re not alone. Work-life balance for working moms often comes down to those in-between moments. In this episode, I sit down with executive life coach Rebecca Olson to talk about how to move through your transitions with intention, so you can feel successful at work and fully present at home.
Key Takeaways
- Separate having intentions from actually being intentional.
- Get clear on your priorities before you try to commit to anything.
- Decide what matters most when the same problem keeps showing up day after day.
- Take five minutes before an open block of time to define what a “slam dunk” looks like.
- Build a work-to-home transition that helps you end your day satisfied and step into your evening on purpose.
Intentions vs. Being Intentional
When I asked Rebecca how she balances coaching, speaking, running a business, and raising two kids, she boiled it down to one word: intentionality.
However, she’s quick to point out that good intentions aren’t the same thing. Many of us live what she calls an “if-then life.” If I get all my work done, then I’ll go to that workout. If the kids don’t need me tonight, then I won’t log back on.
The problem? There’s no real commitment behind those intentions. As a result, everything is left to chance.
Being intentional starts with clarity. Rebecca calls this the clarity process. In other words, you have to decide what’s important to you before there’s anything to commit to.
Rethinking the Morning Rush
For Rebecca, the push to get her kids out the door every school day felt awful. Some days, she came home in tears. And yet it kept happening, because nothing about the morning had changed.
So she stepped back and named what mattered most. She decided that feeling connected to her kids in the morning was more important than getting them to school on time. With that clarity, she started getting down on her son’s level and asking what was going on. As a result, his resistance dropped, she felt better as a mom, and they almost always still made it on time.
Her biggest lesson? Be willing to experiment until you figure it out.
How to Use an Open Block of Time
Even with clear priorities, an unscheduled block of time can feel overwhelming when there are 10 things you could be doing. Ideally, you decide ahead of time what that block is for.
But when that doesn’t happen, Rebecca takes no more than five minutes to list what she could work on. Then she decides what would make that time a “slam dunk.”
This matters because ending a work block feeling like you moved the needle makes it much easier to end your workday feeling satisfied.
Work-Life Balance for Working Moms Starts at the End of the Workday
In the It’s About Time Academy, a daily startup and a daily shutdown routine are two of the five essential routines I teach. (You can hear more about all five in Ep. 17.) So naturally, I loved hearing Rebecca’s approach.
She calls it the work-to-home transition, and it includes three parts:
- Celebrate your accomplishments. Ending your day feeling successful helps you walk into your evening with good feelings instead of stressed ones.
- Plan tomorrow. Rebecca keeps it simple with a sticky note and three things. That way, you start the next day knowing exactly what to do.
- Envision your evening. Spend two minutes picturing how you want to show up. Not a perfect evening, but one where you choose to play Uno instead of folding laundry.
Rebecca says that last step is the one her clients resist the most. Yet once they try it, they come back saying they walk into their homes feeling totally different.
This is especially helpful if you work from home. Without a commute, going from home office to living room can feel like whiplash.
Building Your Inner Cheerleader
Rebecca believes balance and productivity are about 80% internal. After all, the most powerful thoughts we think all day are the ones we think about ourselves.
That’s why she keeps an “I am” notepad on her desk and jots down affirmations throughout the day. She also uses AI to build personalized talk tracks. She asked Claude to ask her questions about her business goals, then had it write a two-minute talk track grounded in her own voice and experience. Finally, she recorded it and listens to it regularly.
A voice memo on your phone works. Rebecca also uses the Retrain Your Brain app, which lets you record affirmations in your own voice with music in the background.
About Rebecca Olson
Rebecca Olson is an executive life coach, speaker, and host of the Ambitious and Balanced Working Moms Podcast. She helps high-achieving working moms create sustainable work-life balance without sacrificing their career ambitions or family presence. She also leads Ambitious and Balanced, a group coaching program, and speaks to conferences and companies about sustainable leadership and work-life balance. Rebecca lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two kids.
Episode Links + Resources
- Visit Rebecca’s Website
- Download The Daily Kickstart for FREE – A simple morning practice to stay ahead of stress and overwhelm – so you feel in control of your time, your mindset, and your priorities.
- The Ambitious & Balanced Working Moms Podcast
- Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn
- Follow Rebecca on Instagram
- Watch Rebecca on YouTube
- Ollie Use the Code REBECCAOLSON
- Retrain Your Brain app
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