Being a working mom is hard, and it can often feel like "a day late and a dollar short" is the best case scenario: missed deadlines, forgotten dry cleaning, and never, ever seeing friends. But we don't have to reinvent the wheel to figure out a better way through. Just look around at all the super successful moms kicking ass on a daily basis.
This Is How I Do It is a new day-in-the-life series featuring some of these impressive women, who juggle big careers and families with grace and humor. Their stories won't literally do your laundry and pack your kids' lunches while you answer email, but they offer an honest peek at how someone else gets her life together every day.
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Photo courtesy of Debbie Sterling.
Debbie Sterling, 34, is the founder and CEO of GoldieBlox. She and her husband, Beau Lewis, have a 1-year-old son, Miles.
My day-to-day:
5:30 a.m. Miles wakes up. I make him a bottle and put him back to sleep.
7:30 a.m. I officially wake up, get ready for work, and start the day with coffee. Miles wakes up, I change him, dress him, and feed him breakfast.
8:00 a.m. I get in the car to drive to work and listen to one of my favorite podcasts. At the moment, I’m listening to NPR’s How I Built This, Song Exploder, and S-Town.
8:30 a.m. My parents live close to my office, so I drop Miles off at their house, and then head into work.
8:45 a.m. Arrive at GoldieBlox office, make another coffee, have breakfast
9 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. Every day at work is different. I try to maximize my time in the office with meetings, calls, brainstorms and solo-work time to think about bigger goals and the company’s direction. On any given day, I may be proofing design concepts, interviewing potential new hires, or meeting with new partners. This year alone we released our first chapter book series with Random House Children’s Books, and we launched two new YouTube series: Hack Along With GoldieBlox and Scrappy Robots With Simone Giertz! We have a lot going on at all times, and more in the works, so the day-to-day varies constantly!
6 p.m. Pick up Miles. My husband and I order dinner from the car, and listen to another podcast.
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7 p.m. Arrive at home, feed Miles, play, read a book. Miles’ favorite toys are the Cloud B Twilight Constellation Turtle Nightlight and the Luxo ball from Pixar. Our favorite books are from the Literati subscription box.
8 p.m. Put Miles to bed.
8:15 p.m. Eat dinner.
8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. It’s a mix of work and reading or watching TV. I just started reading Jewel’s autobiography, but if I’m in the mood to watch TV, I’ll usually go for a documentary. My recent favorites include Get Me Roger Stone and Going Clear.
10:30 p.m. Go to sleep
Photo courtesy of Debbie Sterling.
My current passion project:
Writing a book. I’ve been working on a few different concepts, and I spend my time thinking about what stories I most want to tell. It’s been a dream of mine to be a published author and write something that people can really connect to.
Writing a book. I’ve been working on a few different concepts, and I spend my time thinking about what stories I most want to tell. It’s been a dream of mine to be a published author and write something that people can really connect to.
The best part of my day:
My mornings with Miles. Quality family time is really important to me, and our mornings are time we can spend together before the work day gets busy!
My mornings with Miles. Quality family time is really important to me, and our mornings are time we can spend together before the work day gets busy!
The one thing I wish I didn't have to do:
Email. I try to keep my responses short and to the point. My goal is always inbox zero.
Email. I try to keep my responses short and to the point. My goal is always inbox zero.
The one thing I always worry about:
Miles choking.
Miles choking.
The secret to being a successful working mother is:
Accepting that spending time working doesn't make you a bad mom.
Accepting that spending time working doesn't make you a bad mom.
The one thing I would tell other working moms:
Don't be so hard on yourself. It always feels difficult to balance work and motherhood, and you almost never feel like you’re striking the right balance.
Don't be so hard on yourself. It always feels difficult to balance work and motherhood, and you almost never feel like you’re striking the right balance.
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Becoming a mother changed this thing about me:
I don't stress about the little stuff anymore. Becoming a mom has really put things into perspective for me. I have someone else to care for and things that used to keep me up at night or bother me don’t really phase me anymore.
I don't stress about the little stuff anymore. Becoming a mom has really put things into perspective for me. I have someone else to care for and things that used to keep me up at night or bother me don’t really phase me anymore.
Tell us about your village: Who helps raise your kids:
EVERYBODY. My husband, my parents, my husband's parents, our siblings, our nanny, our friends, our coworkers. Hey, we just went on a vacation to Fiji, and the resort employees constantly helped us take care of Miles. It truly takes a village!
EVERYBODY. My husband, my parents, my husband's parents, our siblings, our nanny, our friends, our coworkers. Hey, we just went on a vacation to Fiji, and the resort employees constantly helped us take care of Miles. It truly takes a village!
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking kids or not, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a bigif — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.