Being a working mum is hard! Leaving the house to go to work can be a mixture of emotions. Leaving the kids behind, feeling rushed, unappreciated and exhausted all before 7:30am isn’t quite the work/life blend lifestyle that you once imagined you'd have. By beginning the day with a positive mindset and a solid plan can help you to make conscious decisions that will change all this.

Here are 10 things that every working mum should do before she leaves the house to go to work.

1. Make time for YOU

Self care is the single most important thing that a working mum can do for herself. We, the mum, are the barometer of our family and when we are calm, centered and fulfilled, then so are our family members. I’ve learnt that self care...

Do you sometimes find it difficult to motivate yourself in business? Like anything else, there are times in our business when we feel more motivated to work and get shit done than others.

We all have those days where the mere thought of walking into the office and getting down to business is overwhelming or uninviting. But as we all know, your business will only ever work as hard as you do!

Sometimes, we just have to pick ourselves up, walk through that door and get to work. But how do you do that when you’re feeling unmotivated? Here are my 5 top tips to help motivate you in business.

Have a spring clean

Creating a practical and inspirational  physical work space is key to feeling motivated to work. When you sit down at your...

What I've Learnt from Owning a Business - I'm not sure there's enough room in this blog post!

But seriously, shall we talk business? Owning a business is so exciting! I could talk for forever about business and all that I’ve learnt and experienced over time, but I’ll stop myself right now and get to the top 10 points...

Setting up a business is easy

Although quite a process, it’s very easy. You get yourself an ABN (Australian Business Number), name your amazing business idea, register it and get yourself a Facebook page (and eventually a website). To get started in business, all you need to do is follow the prescribed list of ‘to-do’ tasks and you’re on your way. It’s actually quite scary when...

With the Internet at our fingertips every moment of the day, it’s impossible NOT to take notice of what everyone else is doing. It wasn’t until I opened an email from a colleague this week that I realised just how paralysed I have become in my own business. I’m so paralysed, that every time I have an ‘idea,’ it already seems so similar to something I’ve seen somewhere else... the language, the image, the message.
How do you know what is actually true to you if you can’t block out everyone else?

• The thing about taking too much notice of what everyone else is doing is that it contaminates everything that you create, and compromises your authenticity. So, how do you stay authentic when there are so...

Last November, I sat in the doctor’s surgery awaiting the results of my pap smear. I’d already had the phone call from the receptionist earlier that day asking if I could pop in on my way home from work, which is never a good sign.

I waited anxiously, reflecting on the last time I was here... a couple of weeks earlier. I’d sat in that same room in the same doctor’s surgery, watching ambulance after ambulance roar past, sirens blazing. The doctor and I chatted about how there must have been a terrible accident. Little did I know that they were going to a fatal head on collision, which sadly my brother was involved in.

Not long after this, my friend lost her battle with Leukaemia and as I sat and waited I...

Remission.

What an absolutely amazing, calming, positive, healing word to hear. Anyone who has ever been in remission from ANYTHING can likely agree that it is a birdsong. A second chance. Remission from Graves Disease can take many forms and you may hear many definitions. Sometimes it is when someone has been off of anti-thyroid medications for a particular period of time and has ongoing normal/stable levels. It can also be for people who have had their thyroid removed, shrunk by radiation and where they are able to manage their own thyroid levels through a lifetime of medication.

I still have my thyroid. There had been mention of radiation and surgery at many different times throughout my diagnosis and treatment. I have been in...

Imagine having all the energy in the world. Imagine having everything you always wanted. Your own home, an investment home too, a husband, an emerging career, a cat, a car with no finance attached and a couple of good, close friends. Imagine being able to work 3 jobs, sometimes all in one day and still have energy when you get home to pursue hobbies. Imagine being able to eat whatever and however much you liked, without gaining a single kilo. Imagine crashing and burning like a failed rocket launch at a rapid speed and completely and purposefully smashing your life to pieces. This is the story of my Graves Disease.

Things were pretty darn good in my life. I had accomplished a lot in my early 20s including getting married, buying two...

I have made no secret of the fact that I am a HUGE fan of erotic novels. I’ve read them on planes, in cars, in the dark with a torch and even more recently, on audio book during my daily commute. I love the promise of ‘everything always works out’ that each unique story holds, even if it’s unrealistic!

You may be wondering how spending time reading this sort of loved-up trash makes me thousands of dollars each month; and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that it’s the biggest load of crap you’ve ever heard. But it’s true.

Reading these novels takes me away from reality, even if just for small increments of time and allows me to dream. It’s like a darling little holiday for my mind and...

I'll say this straight up... working from home with kids is BLOODY TOUGH!

There are days when all you'll think is "if I can just make it to nap time without losing my temper, slipping on discarded food or scrubbing crayon off the walls, it will be a miracle and I can get some work done." Then when you DO finally make it into that silent moment of tranquillity, you are devastated to find your work phone in the toilet and your paperwork decorated with illustrations of goodness-knows-what pink and yellow scribble.

But my darling, you're not alone! Sooooo many women are choosing to work from home these days and their jobs range anywhere from small home-based business owners, to crafters, party plan consultants and even those who have...

Nobody likes being sick.

Sometimes sickness slowly kicks our arse for days or even weeks in the lead up to actually 'hitting' us. Or as I discovered this week, sometimes it only takes a few hours.

To cut a long story short, I left work early on Thursday and went via the hospital and went home with a diagnosis of acute tonsillitis, a sky high temperature and a handbag full of antibiotics.

Although I pretty much slept through Thursday afternoon and evening, it was Friday that stumped me. I had a whole day off at home to rest and get better. But do you think that I could? Yes, I did a lot of nothing. And yes, I felt like absolute crap and could barely move but it was while I lay there high on pain relief, that my mind couldn't rest. Not...