Life Hacks for the Working Mom

Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Even when you’re doing it right, it can bring you to your knees. Add a career into the mix, and suddenly even the strongest among us can feel like we’re drowning.

Here are seven practical hacks to help you stay sane, centered, and connected.

1. You can’t have it all, at all times.

Working parents today carry enormous expectations. Social media convinces us that simple dinners aren’t enough, basic bar mitzvahs are extinct, and even our parenting needs to look “next level.”

But the truth? No one can fulfill every expectation, all the time. You just need to be grounded, balanced, and intentional.

Some seasons in life pull you toward your career. Others pull you toward your family. You won’t do everything perfectly. And that’s normal.

Your children don’t need a perfect parent—they need a present one. Let them see you struggle, recalibrate, and keep going. Showing them that hard work and vulnerability is a gift.

2. Set strong boundaries.

If you don’t create boundaries for yourself, everything will bleed together—your time, your energy, and your sanity.

I use timers as a tool to help create different spaces. A timer helps me complete writing projects and helps me know when to stop in order to be with my kids.

Boundaries are healthy, and your kids cannot have constant access to you. When one of my kids was little, he used to pick our door’s lock and sneak into our bed at night. A friend suggested installing a bolt lock, higher up than the knob. It took one night of whining but then he stopped trying, magically. We slept again and everyone won.

Your kids should not have access to your bedroom at all times. The same rule applies to work, like those late night work calls and email checking. If you take every late-night call, your bedroom becomes your boardroom. Protect your space.

3. Guard your priorities.

Everyone is busy and has too much on their plate.

Instead of dwelling on that fact and spinning out, look at your list and choose what matters most. You cannot attend every social event, answer every call, or show up for every request. You are one person with finite time each day.

As Rabbi Aryeh Nivin, an instructor in Jewish Personal Development, teaches, 15 minutes of clarifying priorities can save hours of chaos.

When you guard what matters, you protect your time, your energy, and your peace of mind. Identify your priorities, and make sure those things are attended to each day. Anything you can accomplish beyond those will be a bonus achievement.

4. Master the pivot.

Motivational speaker Charlie Harary teaches about the power of the basketball pivot—the ability to quickly shift focus to the next immediate task.

Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller Gotleib once shared that when she’s working, she doesn’t think about her kids; when she’s with her kids, she doesn’t think about work. That’s the pivot.

Your kids need your face and eye contact. Pivot away from the phone during family time.

The gift of your full attention—wherever you are—is priceless.

5. Give yourself a real break.

This might be the most important hack of all: schedule rest.

No one can parent 24/7. Similarly, no one can work 24/7. Your brain needs to know that relief and restoration is coming.

As a young adult, when I was a counselor for special-needs campers, each of us had one day off per week. With a camper who needed a nebulizer every three hours, even throughout the night, knowing my day off was coming kept me going.

Hire a babysitter once a week. Make one morning yours. Take a power nap. Those breaks keep you in the game the rest of the week. Give yourself permission to pause.

6. Say no (or delegate).

The Talmud teaches, “If you grasp at too much, you grasp nothing.”¹

You cannot do it all, nor are you meant to.

Saying no is actually a way of saying yes—to the people and priorities that matter most.

Delegate what you can. Decline what doesn’t align. There is no other way to manage it all. Protect what truly counts and make an effort not to spread yourself too thin.

7. Accept that you’re burning the candle at both ends.

On Friday night, Jewish husbands sing a song that speaks their wife’s praises. It is called Aishet Chayil, and describes a woman of valor, “whose lamp burns late into the night.” I’ve always understood that as a nod to the super busy, multi-tasking mother—you are doing a lot and it’s good to acknowledge that truth.

In the end, balance isn’t about doing it all—it’s about doing what matters. Guard your energy, honor your limits, and remember: being present beats being perfect every time.

1. lo tafasta