Putting Mommy Skills To Use At Work
Motherhood has taught me a lot of very useful lessons. Always cover an infant’s privates when your changing their diaper, unless you want to get a mouth full of pee. It helped me improve my spelling skills. It me how to sleep in fifteen minute increments. I’ve learned a lot of things in the past 4 years.
It only makes sense that I would try to apply this new knowledge in other areas of my life. First and foremost, I’d like to share how I use the skills of motherhood in my job.
- I can ignore absolutely anything. We already know that moms have to deal with the most annoying sound in the world, whining, on a daily basis. So after a while, we become champions at blocking out everything around us. If you work in a crowded office or with some talkative co-workers, this ability comes in very handy!
- I have the patience of a monk. It takes some intense focus to stop yourself from screaming when you’re child says, “Hey Mom, watch this!” for the ten millionth time in one hour. So the ability to sit through a two hour sales meeting, where the terms “service-oriented” and “go the extra mile” have been used to within an inch of their life is just another day in the life of a mom. Heck, I can even smile through it.
- I have no problem explaining every decision I make. You know how your child asked “Why?” about two hundred times yesterday? Even if you ignored half of them, you still had a lot of explaining to do. This type of practice is very useful when you work under a micro-managing supervisor who wants to know the inspiration behind even the smallest of decisions. Just remember, for your little one, curiosity is a good thing!
- I stopped caring whether or not anyone agrees with me. On a weekly basis, my daughter thinks I’m the meanest person in the world, my husband thinks I’ve gone crazy and my mother thinks that I have no idea what I’m doing. Often, none of them are wrong. But if I spend all my time working about that, I’ll really show them what crazy looks like. So instead, I do the best I can and hope it all works out. I just stopped worrying how it looked to everyone else. This ability helps at work because I don’t have to worry about every one’s opinions. I just do my job to the best of my ability. It’s worked out so far.
- I can work no matter how sick or tired I am. We all know, moms don’t take time off. Not from mothering. It doesn’t matter how exhausted we are or what flu we picked up, we still get meals on the table, baths run and children in bed. So a workday with a sinus infection? Please. It’s no big deal. Moms can work through anything.
I’m not saying that being a mother has made me a better employee, but it’s made me a different employee. I’m a different person. And a couple of my mommy tricks have definitely been useful.
(Photo: Thinkstock)
