Are You a Celine?

Celine-Pilates-Yoga-Barre-Cardio-Strength-Training

Full-time working mum with a 5-year old

Daily exercise is a must for Celine who works full-time and has an active 5-year old boy at home.

Exercise gives Celine a boost in energy and helps her be more productive and present, so she can be her best self at work and at home.

She also encourages her husband and son to exercise with her, so we often saw her little boy appear in LIVE STREAM classes joining his mum for Barre!

‘Maintaining good health and a positive mindset benefits the whole family.’

Celine’s Top Tips for Fitting It In

It’s all about planning and regarding exercise as part of your life.

Talk to your family, show your determination and get their support. Life with young kids can be full of surprises – tell your partner or parents that you ARE going to exercise and ask them (nicely) to cover you. It’s easy to get your family’s support but you need to ask in advance and ‘book-in’ their coverage while you are away.

Make use of those bits and pieces of free time throughout the day. I’m using the time between two of my meetings right now to jot down some thoughts for this piece. Write down next’s weeks groceries list while waiting to pick up kids from school. Consider how you can automate repetitive tasks at work while cooking (but not right before bedtime). You will be surprised by how much you can complete using these intervals of free time during your day.

Stay focused and log off from social media. This is easier said than done but an important tip to create time for exercise. I have stronger sense of achievement and higher productivity if I’m able to complete challenging tasks in the morning. Figure out your energy level and work pattern by observing how you feel and how much you achieved. Since I work form home, I take advantage of this by starting the day with the most time-consuming work and clearing smaller tasks at night. During tasks I try to avoid disruptions of housework, calls or the temptation to browse social media – I simply put my phone outside and reply to personal messages in one go during my lunch break.

What tools helped you get the time you want for exercise?

I use my phone notepad for my shopping lists, random thoughts for work and reminders.

I also use a paper planner to list out work tasks and mark any important family and work events on my calendar.

My company’s employee assistance program kindly offers a premium membership for the Calm app. There are thousands of soothing music, meditation classes or talks I can switch on if I feel overwhelmed or distracted.

What’s your view on work-life balance? Do you need work-life balance to find time for exercise, or would you make the time for exercise to get work-life balance?

I never dreamed of having a work-life balance after my son was born and I decided to continue full time work. Especially after moving to Sydney while my parents are 10 hours away, I was clear about what I would face and started to prepare my mind months before the relocation. I understand it’s all about prioritisation and making choices that suits the current stage of my life.

There are things I feel I have to sacrifice (personal interest, shopping time, going out regularly with friends, spending hours in a fine dining restaurant with my husband, etc) if I want to operate my young family and have a career at the same time. I cannot survive without a good nights sleep so getting up at 5am to work is definitely not for me – this means I can’t schedule a hectic timetable that asks me to be functional from early morning to late night. I think about what the most important things are for me and how much I can achieve without burning out.

For me, health, family, career development (slower but sustainable) are the top 3 things I don’t want to give up. After the priorities are set, I don’t feel upset if there’s little time left. Life is long and I will be able to have my personal life back later, but I need to stay healthy, strong and happy to enjoy my life later.