How Do You Define Success as a Mom?

According to Mr. Webster, success is defined as a “favorable or desired outcome, or the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence”.  In Mr. Dictionary.com’s words, its defined as “the attainment of wealth, position, honors or the like”: two different sources, but the same meaning.  However, I’m sure that if I asked a few of my fellow moms, how they defined success for themselves, I’d get a multitude of answers according to that particular person.

When I think about the word success as it relates to being a mom, it definitely has a much different meaning to me today, than it did sixteen months ago when I was still working outside of the home.  When I had to spend one to two hours on the road each morning & evening for a twenty minute commute, success was: being able to get to work  before most of the office got in, getting my “hard-to-fill” positions filled with great candidates, being able to respond to and address all of my e-mails by the end of the day, and completing projects in the midst of the day-to-day stuff that goes on in the office.  Success was being able to present offer letters to employees who were hired into entry level positions, and then later promoted into management.  When I was able to finish all of my work and leave the office by 5:30 to get home to the family by 6:30 — oh, it was a great day!

Boy does my current full-time job put things into perspective for me. The kids could care less what I’ve managed to accomplish on any given day, as long as they are fed, bathed and get to play outside or with their favorite toys.  My success today is being able to keep my sanity on a daily basis (:)) after the diaper changes, potty runs, broken lamps, temper tantrums, food fights, and busted lips.  Being able to do laundry, wash dishes and cook dinner in the midst of all of this is definitely a huge success! 🙂

Whether you work full-time inside the home, or work outside of the home, it’s important to identify and celebrate your successes as a mom.   Both are tough jobs, and we tend to be the ones to give ourselves the least credit, myself included.  So I’ve challenged myself to create a “mommy success list” once a week.  If I’m able to check everything off at the end of the week, then I will treat myself to something small (Target trip anyone?:)).

So how do you define your success?  And how will you celebrate those successes?  Please comment below and share your thoughts so we can keep each other on track and motivated 🙂

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