I need a hobby...

I had a conversation with my eight year old this morning, who seems to be involved with every activity and sport he possibly can, about the fact that I need a hobby. I asked him what he thought I should do for a hobby in order to get my mind off work. So he began to name things he thought I would be interested in doing..."you like working on the computer"...yes, unfortunately way too much. "You like spending time with me and Lucas"...that is true...and "you like softball"...yes, but I stink at it.

We had this discussion in the car on the way to the health club where he ran 20+ laps around the track and I walked about half that in the same amount of time. Why can't we have the energy and stamina of an eight year old? My son is like the Energizer bunny.

A valuable lesson that I have learned in the past few years, is the importance of a constant exercise routine the older I get. The doctor says I am healthy, but I need to feel like I can keep up with my children. Over the past six months, it has been a challenge to commit to an exercise routine. What I have discovered however, is that I felt guilty when I was not in the office. I felt like I was not doing my job and letting my employees down. Still struggling to understand why I felt that way. I had very young employees working for me who did not understand the balance of motherhood with running a business and the personal tasks you need to do to stay healthy. They never said anything, but I could sense it.

Fortunately, I have gone through a changing of the guard, and I now work with other mom entrepreneurs who get it. I don't have to explain myself to them because they already understand! The change has been so refreshing. I feel better about myself and I do not feel guilty for taking time to exercise, which I have come to love.

So, back to my hobby story. As most mom entrepreneurs will tell you, our work consumes so much of our time. For me it has consumed too much time. When my son thinks my hobby is working on my computer, I know that is a bad sign. So today, I decided to change my work hours to coincide with school starting back up. School gets out at 3:00pm, so I will pick up my son (instead of him attending the after school program) and we will go to the gym together. Sometimes we will exercise together and other times he will go to the FitSpot program for kids. I am really excited about this change and hope that I can make spending more time with my kids and exercising my permanent hobbies.

I would love to hear from other mom entrepreneurs about what hobbies you do to get yout minds off of work if even for a short period of time.

How do you do it? Balancing being a mom and an entrepreneur

I was talking with a freelance writer today about her services. She is also a mom, an author and the owner of a creative agency. Just as we were about to hang up the phone, she asked me "How do you do it?" I knew what she meant...I laughed. I wonder how I do it, how any of us do it.

Today I am working from my home office, my son is taking a nap and I have a limited window of opportunity in which to hold a phone conference with three panelists who are involved with a presentation I am making at the New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility annual spring conference on May 15th, and finish a proposal for an author with a new book coming out. The goal is to work as effectively and efficiently as possible with the limited amount of time you have in a day.

I am certainly no stranger to working nights and weekends as well. In fact, some of the best conversations via email that I have had with the media have been late in the evening after my kids are in bed. I think I can do it because I have to and I cannot imagine not being an entrepreneur. Working for someone else certainly never gave me the flexibility like I have now for school assemblies, field trips, musical performances, baseball games, etc.

I have a supportive staff and family that also help me balance everything. I am admittedly not a one woman show, but I am a leader. Do you have a story to tell about your balancing act?

Tell me. When I receive enough responses, I will write an article and publish.