Do you know that feeling when you are sure things are *this* close to spinning out of control in your daily life? Especially during this time of year it's so easy to feel that way, so when I had the opportunity to watch a preview of WE tv's hit series Mary Mary season 2 I felt as though it was speaking directly to me! Our family is cable-free, but I've loved Mary Mary for years ("Shackles" still makes me get up and dance every time I hear it!), and I was excited to be able to watch the first few episodes of season 2 which premiered last week.
A bit of background: Mary Mary (Erica and Tina Campbell) is a three-time Grammy award winning gospel music duo - and they were just nominated for two 2013 Grammy awards! Season 2 follows them as they juggle their families and music careers during one of the busiest times of their careers. My head was spinning watching them go from city to city especially with Tina being seven months pregnant at the time and Erica having an infant in tow. While they were dealing with faulty sound checks and wardrobe malfunctions I was thinking back to how I felt at seven months pregnant, and I was in complete awe of how they pulled everything off. I especially identified with Tina - she is a self-prescribed task master! I have to admit there were times that I was nervous for her being so far along, but she made a great point reminding us that just because she was pregnant doesn't mean she has to pack it up and shut it down. Both she and Erica gave their all regardless!
Seeing Mary Mary strive and attain excellence reminded me of when I was pregnant and in the midst of a business plan competition. I had worked on my plan the entire pregnancy, and I knew that a few weeks after giving birth I was going to have to pack my baby up and head downtown on the subway with her to present my plan in front of a roomful of judges. Like Tina said, I saw my task before me and I had no choice but to accomplish it! Now that my daughter's here, and I'm still finding it challenging keeping my business going while maintaining my role as wife and mother there are a few things I've learned to help me prioritize my daily life.
First, I make use of technology. There are apps for everything nowadays and I know there's the whole debate on whether Mommy Brain exists (it does for me!) so I have no choice but to put every task no matter how small into my smartphone before it slips my mind. My ongoing shopping lists are there, daily devotionals, appointments and even errand reminders such as rebates that need to me mailed. It really helps keep my life together!
Second, I reassess. This is part of the reason I sometimes have trouble sleeping! I'm always tweaking my action plan and thinking of areas for improvement and better time management in my life. If there's a way to streamline my life I'm going to find a way to do so even if it means I have to burn the midnight oil.
Third, I ask for help. Whether it be from God in prayer, my husband or my family I go to them when I need something. In one of the episodes of Mary Mary I saw Erica offer to help Tina sew up her pants right before they were scheduled to perform, but Tina refused to accept help. I laughed to myself because that is so me! Sometimes no matter how self-sufficient we think we are we just need to be willing to ask for and accept help. It's still an area that I'm working on . . .
When I get to the end of my day I go through my mental checklist of what's important to me: family, friends and faith. Seeing Mary Mary prioritize these same values really resonated with me and definitely motivates me to keep striving for excellence. It's so refreshing to see them on reality TV using their talent while being amazing moms and businesswomen!
Please share how you're prioritizing your daily life. Does the end-of-the-day checklist system work for you or do you have a different method? (You can see what others have to say here.)
It's situations like these that the three-time Grammy® award-winning gospel duo Erica and Tina Campbell face in Season 2 of WE tv’s hit series Mary Mary as they balance being recording artists, mothers, and wives. You can catch MARY this week when it moves to its regular timeslot on Thursdays at 9|8c, beginning December 13. Watch a sneak peek here!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of WE tv. The opinions and text are all mine.
