As Seneca once said:

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” 

Unfortunately, time is the only asset that cannot be recovered once lost. Unlike other material possessions, someone borrowing your time cannot return it to you. Even now, as a mother of a one-year-old, I find time management and productivity fascinating. My focus has shifted from seeking tips from productivity experts to finding inspiration from parents who work and study. Therefore, they are my current source of inspiration and true time-management champions, helping me utilize time efficiently.

Having a child completely changes your understanding of time. You feel its fragility more than ever. You chase it constantly. Becoming a parent means you can only fulfill your career goals with excellent time management skills. Finding parents who balance work with parenting and are willing to share their experiences is challenging.

The Need for Relatable Examples

First-time parents need inspiring examples of how to manage a career and parenthood. On social media, it’s easier to find realistic depictions of a stay-at-home parent’s day than examples of busy parents juggling both responsibilities. Parents rarely share the road to successful parenthood and a career. In many cases, they ignore the impact of their daily lives on reaching professional goals. Often, they don’t have time to share their experiences outside of their family. It takes time to find these parents so you can learn from them.

Students and parents can find practical advice at the university.

I found Technion’s mentorship group for mothers in academia very helpful. It helped me anticipate future challenges and provided solutions I may not have thought of otherwise. I could say more about this group, but it’s enough to say that every university should have one. There, I heard academic staff members’ stories and their children’s opinions about what it meant to see their mothers working. Seeing the struggles and achievements of these parents can be incredibly helpful.

The Missing Components in Efficient Management of Parenthood and Career:

• The not applicable portrayal of parenthood in social media for working/studying couples
• The importance of acknowledging and addressing feelings of guilt, exhaustion, and the need for help
• Examples of how to use short periods of work/study while caring for a child
• Not considering each family’s unique situation: workload, background, economic situation, and family support.
  

---

• Dealing with guilt for not being present. Parents often feel guilty at work when they think about their children and at home when they think about their work. Living in the present is the first step to overcoming this. Bringing work home or dealing with home issues at work is pointless. Plan your day to accomplish your work tasks.
  
• Feeling guilty for not spending enough time with your children. Parents often compare themselves with people living a completely different lifestyle. Working parents should not compare themselves with stay-at-home parents. They should consider examples with similar lifestyles or stop comparing themselves at all. I knew what it felt like to be raised by a working mother. My mother worked daily from 7 am to 9 pm. Despite everything, this did not damage our relationship. I still consider her one of my best friends and advisors.
  Even if I knew from experience that it was possible, I had to hear it from others. Thus, I was relieved to hear professors at Technion admit that their careers have not retroactively affected their family life. Hearing that they also felt guilty while raising their children was comforting too.
  
• Fight productivity decline due to low energy levels. Parents and workers need to care for themselves to be productive. This involves asking friends and family for help and resting while the second parent is with the child. If you can share the load, do it. There is no need to do everything alone. Work from home when your energy levels and environment allow—in the morning or at night, depending on the parent. Many people use a weekend day to catch up on work while sending their partner and children to play dates or to family visits.
  
• Seek help from alternative sources. I heard about a mother who paid her teenage neighbor to watch her toddler/baby during her maternity leave so that she could work. It’s a brilliant idea, one I wouldn’t have thought of myself. As she pointed out, she does not need a babysitter at home. She can feed and care for the baby but needs someone to occupy him while working. This is much cheaper than hiring a babysitter and gives parents additional flexibility.
  
• Make time for your kids. Be present, close the phone, and enjoy the moment. Include your kids in family activities. Your chores might be the perfect game for them when they are small and want to get to know you. My baby found it funny that I threw wet clothing into the dryer. Although it takes more time to do the chore, it gives your children a sense of independence and time for bonding.
  
• Make a plan for 20 minutes a day. Free time can pop up suddenly, so make the most of it by planning what to do. Parenting means you value those 20 minutes, and there is still much you can do. You can write an e-mail, pay the bills, exercise, read for fun, or clean a room. In 20 minutes, it’s challenging to do something creative, but other tasks requiring low creativity are doable.
  
• Consider cost-effectiveness. If you can afford it, hire help rather than do it yourself. Ultimately, we choose what we work for. Instead of doing house chores you hate, you can work extra shifts at your preferred job. Your financial flexibility should guide your decision. For 60 EUR/66 USD, would it be worth spending four extra hours with your kid? By working from home or an extra shift, the cost of 4 hours of help for the family decreases, and you still have 2 hours for family interaction.

The career-driven parents: the real heroes of time management

After returning from maternity leave, many mothers report increased productivity at some point. Despite the new need to care for a baby, child sickness leave, on average, they have higher productivity than when they didn’t have children. As my Hebrew teacher said, all changes come gradually: “You are born as a mother or father when the baby is born. The amount of experience you have as a parent is similar to your baby. A two-month-old baby has a two-month-old parent.” The experience you gain in time management equals two months, but as time passes, the experience grows. Stories from many females confirm this, but science has limited data to back it up. It may be time for more research, for more voices to speak up.

Science emphasizes the importance of a support system for females that would allow them to pursue their carrier. According to a study by Matthias Krapf et al. 2014, motherhood boosts female researchers’ research productivity throughout their careers. But Matthias Krapf et al. also found that unmarried women, as well as women under 30, are negatively affected by parenthood. Thus, females need a support system that allows them to pursue a career. An effective support system can be a family member, a mentor from the university, or an example of successful parents who manage their careers and time while raising their children. The world needs more heroes to speak up about how they managed their time to pursue careers and maintain family ties.

Literature Source:

Parenthood and Productivity of Highly Skilled Labor: Evidence from the Groves of Academe Working Paper 2014-001A by Matthias Krapf, Heinrich W. Ursprung, and Christian Zimmermann. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2017.05.010