Whether you’re a professional employee or an entrepreneur, attaining a sense of work-life balance can feel like a never-ending journey. Most of us are constantly seeking ways to work less and live more; but every now and then, someone comes along and shows us a sense of balance is possible. Every single day? Nah. But Brittney Ogike, CEO and founder of BeautyBeez, a modern beauty supply for women of color, wants more Black and Brown women to experience a true balance of work and life.
Ogike’s hack to a balanced day starts with setting solid goals for herself. They keep her from having a messy unproductive schedule and help her remain motivated to knock off things on her list.
“I’m very much a goal-oriented person. It motivates me. So I have certain goals for myself when I wake up in the morning,” she explains in this week’s episode of The Reset with Coach Tish. “Whether it be business goals, family goals—whatever it may be, depending on the hat I’m wearing that day. I just try to have a to-do list and check things off.”
Ogike is a mother of three (including a four-month-old at the time of this writing) and also owns a sports management company where one of her clients is her brother, NBA Champ Khris Middleton, with whom she manages a nonprofit, The Middleton Family Foundation. When things start to feel like they’re moving too fast or she’s not being as productive as she would like, Ogike knows things are unbalanced and it’s time to press pause and reset.
“I focus on self-care. Self-care is very important to me,” she says. “I’m not one of those women who just put themselves into everything and have no time for themselves. So what I do is I’ll watch TV. I’m a huge reality junkie reality show junkie. So I’ll take a few hours out of the day and just watch TV or get on social media. I’m not on there a lot, but it does help me reset and rebalance. I’m very into spas. I’ll get massages to relax,” Ogike adds.
What also gives her a sense of balance is prioritizing time with her kids. Instead of succumbing to the “mom-guilt” so prevalent among busy moms, Ogike helps herself by setting boundaries around her times with her children.
“I have three beautiful kids and they keep me balanced,” she shares. “I will say at the end of the day, they are what’s most important to me. So oftentimes, just spending time with them doesn’t feel like a chore. Doesn’t feel like work at all. And it just helps me reprioritize and get ready for what’s to come,” adds Ogike.
Listening to how Ogike works to maintain balance sounds pretty easy but we all know life gets messy. Things don’t go as planned; new problems pop up; fires have to be put out. Ogike’s advice for busy, burned-out moms is something we all need to hear from time to time: Give yourself some grace.
“It is hard. Yeah. And it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’d also say take it day by day. That’s what I do. Again, I wear many hats. There’s a lot of moms out there that wear many hats, but what I try not to do is wear them all at the same time,” said Ogike.
To hear more of Ogike’s story and how she manages her business and household, watch this week’s episode of The Reset with Coach Tish in our player above.
Letisha Bereola is a life coach who helps ambitious women overcome burnout and reach their career goals so they feel great at work and happy at home. She’s a former Emmy-nominated TV news anchor, Podcast host of AUDACITY and speaker. Learn more: www.coachtish.co.
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