Going through a pregnancy and giving birth to a baby is obviously a world-changing experience like no other, but what I didn’t expect to find was how it would actually make me better at my job. Yes, there are plenty of challenges with trying to make a sleep-deprived brain produce useful thoughts other than how to keep the poop-machine happy — you don’t get around that — however what I didn’t expect was the benefits. So here it goes — the ways becoming a mother has improved not only my life, but also my worklife.
1. Pregnancy made me start taking care of my body
Starting a business and growing it to a team of 40+ with all its ups and downs is not optimal conditions for putting your health first and making sure you get enough rest and vitamins. After 2 years of the company being my number 1 priority, the pregnancy and feeling a tiny human growing in my belly made me start listening to my body and mind a lot more. I was lucky to feel well throughout the pregnancy — actually I overall felt I had better health than before — but that was surely also due to the fact I was for once giving my body enough time for recovery. My training was focused on keeping my body strong and getting my heart pumping, and I was generous with sleep and naps whenever needed. So what does that have to do with running a business? Well, for me an energetic and positive mind that can navigate through challenges and take good decisions starts with a healthy body. Being pregnant made me start prioritise my own human being, making me more clear-headed and motivated in my work.
2. The baby forced me to make myself replaceable
When you start a business, for some time it becomes your entire world. All your thoughts, energy and ambitions go into making your customers happy and creating a great workplace for the wonderful people who choose to work with you. No matter how great an experience that is — after some time it’s healthy both for you and your business with some distance. Becoming pregnant pushed me to start taking myself out of the day-to-day stuff needed for the business to go around. After 2 years of attention on a business that to some extent depended on me, I’m proud to say I was completely confident in the organisation’s ability to go on perfectly fine without me when having a kid. Our organisation! That we have started and built from scratch — running on just fine.
It might sound crazy, but after going through the journey of starting something from scratch there is no better feeling than seeing it thrive without you.
So why is this good for your business? Well 1, you stop doing habitual stupid things — see next point. 2, you delegate to people who are actually better at certain tasks than you are. And 3, having a business depend on specific individuals — even founders — is simply not sustainable in the long run.
3. The baby helped me prioritise and widen my horizon
As my job is my own business and I have the ability to choose, I am mixing maternity leave with a “do-as-much-as-I-feel-like-and-have-energy-for” amount of work. As much as I love spending time with our now almost 3 months-old son, I must say I love even more combining that with heading off to the office, kiddo happy at home with daddy, sitting down with an espresso and activating the grown-up part of the brain. In doing so, I have realised my priorities and perspectives have changed. When building a business, you pick up whatever tasks that needs to get done and typically don’t spend enough time to reflecting on how it’s done and why you do it. When you have a tiny package of energy, new sensations and poop that does not respond well to being put into a schedule, you become aware of your priorities. All of a sudden things I had previously spent endless amount of time and energy on — that come to think of it didn’t give anyone much value — I found easy to clear out of my schedule. And that giving way for something even more valuable — when not occupied with to-do-lists of things that benefitted no one — my mind was suddenly free to start thinking about what I should be spending my time and energy on. So simply put — next year I will continue to build on our code-crunching spaceship with a fresh new set of eyes and a poop-load of new inspiration.
How has becoming a parent changed (or not changed) your perspectives?
