Working motherhood is one of the greatest juggling acts there is—and if you’re feeling like one dropped ball could send everything crashing down, you’re not alone. In this episode, I sit down with Sarah Armstrong, seasoned marketing executive, author, and mom, to talk about what it actually looks like to navigate a full-time career while raising kids—and how to do it in a way that’s sustainable, intentional, and aligned with what matters most.

Sarah brings not just wisdom from her book, The Art of the Juggling Act, but decades of real-life experience. From setting clear boundaries at work (and communicating them without guilt), to putting her laptop away on purpose, to giving herself permission to shift her work hours around her family, this conversation is packed with honest reflections and practical strategies.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Why communicating your boundaries is just as important as setting them
• How to manage “Grace time” (and what that really means)
• What transference of hours looks like and how it supports working moms
• Why removing your laptop and phone from view can shift your presence at home
• How small intentional shifts add up to feeling more in control

Grab Sarah's book, The Art of the Juggling Act, at https://shorturl.at/MRc33

Connect with Sarah

• www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-madden-armstrong
• www.thejugglingact.com

Listen to the episode here!

Or watch the episode here!

I’d be honored and grateful if you would head over to iTunes to leave a review and let other female entrepreneurs know what you learned! While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] If you are someone currently struggling with juggling a true, what I call like a W2 job, job, you are working outside of the home where essentially someone kind of owns you for a certain amount of hours per day, per week. And also I. Raising kids, you know how crazy it can feel. I remember back in my, you know, early days after my daughter was born where I was still working in corporate.

[00:00:23] I felt like one of those plate spinners with all the plate spinning all the time. And if one of them fell, I was afraid that they were all going to crash down. Well, today's guest is here to talk exactly about that, and she has actually written a incredible book. All about this juggling act that is full of bite-sized actionable things that you can implement right away.

[00:00:45] So without further ado, let's go ahead and jump on in. I can't wait for you to meet Sarah. I.

[00:00:53] Megan: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Work Life Harmony. I have a new guest here today that I am so excited to bring onto the show because it is something I am passionate about. It's something I have navigated and I'm, I'm supporting many women navigating this as well, which is really around, you know, juggling work.

[00:01:14] Motherhood and how do we master this juggling act, which I don't think we ever master it. We just find systems that work for us. So I am thrilled to have Sarah Armstrong here, who is also an author, has navigated this, is navigating this. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:29] Sarah: Thank you so much for having Megan. Great to be with you.

[00:01:32] Megan: So I would love if maybe we could kick things off. I can certainly read your bio, but I think it's far more impactful to let you introduce yourself a little bit about your background and kind of what ultimately inspired you to write the book that you wrote.

[00:01:45] Sarah: Great. Well, it's an interesting, it's been an interesting journey, I'd say. And so, yeah, it's an interesting one. So I, I'm a mom obviously. I have actually a 22-year-old daughter named Grace, and she's graduated from college this year. So I kind of can look back. Thank you. Very excited. So I can look back on the journey we've been on together as I've been a working mom, managing the juggling act.

[00:02:06] I started my career back in the day a long time ago. The agency side then joined the Coca-Cola company, was there for 20 years in global marketing, then went to McKinsey as a partner and set up a practice for them in the world of marketing operations. And then five years ago joined Google as their head of global marketing operations.

[00:02:25] So I've, you know, had different, parts of my career. But through that whole career journey my big focus was how did I ensure I could be there for grace and, manage what, as you referred to and as I talk about in my book you know, it's called The Art of the Juggling Act, a bite-sized Guide for Working Parents.

[00:02:42] And the reason it's, name that, and as you said, there's, it is a bit of an art form 'cause there's no, you know, it's, there's no exact way to do it, but it, and it's constant, the balls are constantly being juggled. So what led me to. Write this book. As you know, over the years I would interact with both colleagues and friends and we're all trying to figure this out, but I reflected on the fact that we learn a lot about different topics in school, but we do not learn about parenting in school.

[00:03:09] Megan: Or time management.

[00:03:10] Sarah: Exactly. And we also don't learn about how to manage our careers in school. We learn about a topic to, to, to focus on in our career, but we don't actually talk about how you manage a career and then we don't learn about how to manage both of these aspects of our life. There are two of the most important things we're gonna do in life.

[00:03:27] And you know, I just think it's so important to figure out how you can. Do these two things and be as healthy and happy while doing both. And you know, my goal with this book is to pay it forward to the next generation of working parents and working moms who are, you know, I'm watching a lot of them right now in my day-to-day, and I can see a lot that are surviving, but maybe not thriving.

[00:03:50] And I'd really love to see as many working parents thrive and lead the most fulfilling life possible while raising their kids and also while managing their careers.

[00:04:01] Megan: And I love that you talk about and integrate both together so beautifully. 'cause I, you know, I, I know that I see a lot of resources out there for specifically, you know, okay parenting books and there's books about, you know, leadership at work and all of that. But very few people are integrating the both together.

[00:04:18] 'cause you can't, if you're doing them. There's no way to not live life without them being integrated. So I love that you talk about both of it, especially the bite sized guide, instead of being like, let's look at a whole life transformation here. Right? Because that's overwhelming and

[00:04:32] Sarah: it, it's, and actually my book is WR written in a very specific way where it is those bite-sized piece, so a paragraph or a page for a topic. There are about 140 topics in the book. They're broken into various categories of topics. And to your point, I don't think most working parents are working. Moms have time to read a book, if I'm honest.

[00:04:50] So,

[00:04:50] so I wrote it in a way that it could be the guide, it might sit on your bedside table or in the carpo line and you, and you pick it up and you read a topic and you reflect on

[00:04:58] Megan: Right. And you can even scan even on like, oh, this I'm experiencing right now. Let me jump

[00:05:02] Sarah: Absolutely. Yeah. The table of contents is broken out by topic, so yeah, it's very, it's meant to be very much just for the working mom mindset.

[00:05:09] Megan: one of the things you talk about, which I'm really passionate about is all around setting and protecting boundaries. 'cause this hits in so many topics of how we are, you know, navigating this juggling act. I read a lot of advice. I give advice on ways to kind of start to implement boundaries.

[00:05:27] When you think about, you know, this sweet spot of juggling both parts, first of all, why is this going to be so important? Yeah. I think people intrinsically know it's important, but they don't understand the why and what that looks

[00:05:39] Sarah: Yeah, that's a great point. So I think one of the most important things with boundaries is that you need to think about what are those boundaries you wanna set? But then you need to tell those individuals in your life around you that you're setting those boundaries, both. You know, with your partner, your spouse, and really importantly at work, because there's not anyone in the world that can really respect boundaries that they don't know exist.

[00:06:04] And people will walk right over your boundaries if they don't know they exist. But if you say, this is what I'm trying to do, can you, it is almost you're, you're, you're asking them for help. Can you help me with this? Like, I, I'm trying, but I also need help around me to be able to both set them and protect them.

[00:06:19] And so I do think it's one of the most important starting points. Is figuring out what's important to you, then you need to share them. But then it is up to you to do all you can to protect those boundaries. And that's where I think,

[00:06:31] Megan: I, I love the sharing them part because I think a lot of us think in our head, okay, well I'm not doing this anymore. I'm setting a heart. But then we don't ever say it anywhere. So people are like, why is she acting

[00:06:40] Sarah: exactly.

[00:06:41] Megan: I know that there will be folks listening, and I'm even thinking back to, you know, my, my corporate career days.

[00:06:48] We've, we've all had maybe that boss or that supervisor that. Was a little more challenging or that, you know, we butted heads with. Do you have any tips on how to kind of start that conversation? If it is someone that you are maybe feeling uncomfortable about setting a, you know, educating them on your boundaries because you're afraid perhaps, of the repercussions that may happen within your

[00:07:10] Sarah: Yeah, no, I think it's a great question. I, I do think we can all envision that individual in our career path that might have, we've all had one. You know, I do think it's, it can be a delicate topic to bring up but I do think it's a matter of trying to set the tone for what's important to you, and if there's a repercussion, the, the challenge with that is.

[00:07:32] That is something that sometimes you can't control. But if the boundary is a boundary that you need to set for you and there is a repercussion, then you kinda say, okay, you know, I'm gonna, I'm going to take that repercussion because this is more important to me. And you know, I'll give you my personal is, you know, raising Grace over the years I had blocked on my calendar six to 8:00 PM.

[00:07:58] And the reason this's important is I was in a global role, so technically calls could be scheduled at.

[00:08:03] Megan: Oh yeah. They're not thinking it's 7:00 PM for

[00:08:08] Sarah: not worried that it's dinner time or bath time, whatever the case is. So, but I set that as a boundary and I put it on my calendar, literally my work calendar that people could see. It said Grace Time, not her name happened to be Grace, but it had kind of a, didn't realize at the time when I named her that it would have this wonder wonderful double meeting in my life.

[00:08:25] And so I set that and then I said to my assistant, look. No one can schedule during that time. And so, and you know, I would have people ask, you know, over the course of time, oh, could we do 6 37 o'clock?

[00:08:37] Megan: Just this one time.

[00:08:39] Sarah: you know what, I can do 8, 8 30 9:00 PM you know, 10:00 PM again for my Asian calls. I said, or I'm happy to do it after carpool drop off tomorrow morning.

[00:08:47] But that time is Grace's time. And the reason it was so important is as working parents and as working moms, we get so little time with our kids during the day. they deserve the few hours that we have with them. They deserve for us to be there and be present and not be on a call, and not be on our laptops and not, so I just felt very strongly that it was something that I needed to do for her.

[00:09:11] So there it was a ramification in my career because that may be, 

[00:09:15] Megan: and I love that, you know, I'm always a big proponent of block protect your calendar or other people are gonna come take that time and you don't know. You know who else, what other working parent saw that I. And then was inspired to do the same for themselves. Right. I think the more working parents that are willing to shine a spotlight on that and show people, no, these are my boundaries.

[00:09:41] It helps us set the stage for the younger working parents coming up behind us. So they're going, oh, I can do that. Look, here's this person doing it, so that must mean it's okay and I get to do the same as well. So I love that it's, you even labeled it that on your calendar to really set that precedence.

[00:09:59] Sarah: just send the message that that's acceptable. You're right. And,

[00:10:02] Megan: Yeah.

[00:10:03] Sarah: and then there's another angle of this, Megan, that I feel is really important is when you go home and then you're in your, in your home life and figuring out the physical boundaries that you need to set with your, specifically your laptop.

[00:10:17] And I have, or phone, but I, and, and I think phone and laptop. But I, I'll start with laptop and then I'll, I'll address the phone issue. Phone challenge we all have, but on the laptop front, if you put your laptop on the kitchen counter or on the kitchen table or on the dining room table, and it's out sitting in view, I literally think they talk to us.

[00:10:37] You know, they're, they're there, they're pulling you in. They're like, oh, just check one thing. So I would walk in my back door and I literally had a cupboard. I. That I put my laptop case and my, you know, tote bag and my laptop and it, it was out of sight. And for those couple hours that Grace was with me, she did not see my laptop.

[00:10:57] She didn't because I did not want her growing up. And her memory of mom was mom and her laptop. Now we had a personal computer on the kitchen counter for like looking up recipes and, you know, the functional things of life fine. But my working laptop did not come into her presence in her waking hours, and I'm proud to say until she was 15 years old. And then once she was doing her homework in high school, you know, later into the evening, mom would do my homework. You know? Right. And so we would do that in parallel together, but I really felt that that was something, again, it, it's a commitment I made to her and to our time together that I didn't want that to be a part of it.

[00:11:36] And then now phones are an interesting thing and because they become like the remote controls of our lives these days, but I actually, during the dinner hour and bedtime hour, my phone went into a cupboard. In my kitchen. I was like, I stuck it in there. If it was beeping, fine, I could return that text or look at it once she went to bed.

[00:11:54] But again, I didn't want her associating mom and this, you know, piece of electronics that's attached to us. And so that was something I felt really strongly about as well.

[00:12:03] Megan: even with our phones today, I know one of the things I've, I've shared with people a lot 'cause you know, the laptop seems easier to step away from. The phone is such a slippery slope because you can just tuck it in your pocket or whatever. But they're so sophisticated now. I know a lot of working parents are like, well, I can't like.

[00:12:18] Put it away because what if there's an emergency, right? But you can program your phone to make either a unique noise or like, my phone never makes a noise unless it's the few numbers I've said, this is urgent enough that it needs to interrupt anything that I'm doing. And so, you know, if you're listening and you're like, oh, I can't, I can't put the.

[00:12:40] The cell phone away for two hours in the cupboard. 'cause what if we'll program your phone to do something so that you can actually step away from it. So important. Another thing that you, that you talk about, which I have, I have not seen many other people talking about outside of myself, which I love, is the idea of transference of hours as it relates to a corporate job.

[00:13:04] So. Talk to us about what that means and how we start to have those conversations with our boss, manager, or supervisor.

[00:13:11] Sarah: well the, the concept of transference of hours is many of us are not necessarily in what I would deem nine to five jobs, you know, where there's a start and end to your day. And having said that, it doesn't mean that you are meant to be working 24 7 either. At least, hopefully not. So what the transfer hours is really referring to is you may still need to leave.

[00:13:32] The office, quote unquote, or sign off to go and, and be the parent that you wanna be, but there's going to be work that you need to do later in the evening or early the next morning, and you will get your work done. But it might not be in the traditional hours that are defined by, you know, the corporate world.

[00:13:48] And so that was something that over the course of. The years of my career, and especially being in a global role, I knew that, you know, I could, I would take that time with Grace, but I would need to, you know, log back on later in the evening or do a call. And that was just quite honestly the reality. But it was something that I, I.

[00:14:07] Communicated with those that I worked with. We all knew that. And I think that it's something that then it takes the, I would say, the pressure off of feeling like everything has to happen in a certain window of time. And I think that's something we also have to give ourselves a little bit of grace and space to realize is there are only so many hours in the day and we have to figure out what we can do when, and also when do you, I mean, this is one of the things for me.

[00:14:31] When do you do your best thinking? I'm actually a night owl, and I do a lot of my

[00:14:35] Megan: See, and I am

[00:14:36] Sarah: Oh yeah, so, so I do a lot of my best thinking later in the evening. You know, after, you know, I put, grace said that was when the wheels were turning, and so I knew I'd get some of my best reflections on what I needed to do later.

[00:14:49] And so that's where I think I. Again, you have to kind of know your own ways of working, of what's gonna work for you. But I do think communicating and having a conversation about how you're going to get your work done and in and throughout a career, people then realize you will get your work done. And so then sometimes you, that conversation, you don't end end up having to have that conversation 'cause you've already made built that credibility and everyone understands that.

[00:15:13] But I do think it's an important concept to reflect on and think about as you're trying to manage your juggling act, what that means to you.

[00:15:20] Megan: it's so funny 'cause I'm so the opposite. I'm such a morning person. I know there was one of the jobs I had, it was, it's one of those things if I got in my car at the right time, it was not a long commute if I did it. You know, 45 minutes later it essentially would double my drive time. And so I started, I was just like, you know what?

[00:15:36] I would rather get to work at seven 30 in the morning and leave at four than roll in when everyone else did. And I did not work with any other morning people. I ahead of time talked to my direct supervisor and just said, do you, like, do you have any issues with this? You know, I, I can, if there's an emergency, you could call me, but I mean, I'm not saving lives here.

[00:15:56] And so he instantly was like, I have no problem with that. And I noticed he came in a couple times to see was I really rolling in the door at seven 30, which I was, but I began to notice one day, you know, after I'd been doing this for months. I was heading to the, the elevator at four o'clock and a couple of my co coworkers did the whole like, look at the watch, must be nice kind of thing.

[00:16:20] And I turned around and I looked at him and I said, well, I don't see you here at seven 30 when I'm here. And I think there is a, I. People only. Only only what they see is what they believe. And so this is why I love that you're like, have these conversations. Make it transparent. Let everybody know, Hey, these are my working hours.

[00:16:39] So that, you know, other people aren't feeling like, oh, well she's getting away with working less. Like how this doesn't seem right.

[00:16:47] Sarah: Because there's a fairness and equity consideration, you know, in those moments. And so just making sure everyone understands you're not trying to shirk your

[00:16:54] Megan: and let's face it, you know, daycares and stuff oftentimes aren't aligned with what traditional working hours are anyway. And so there needs to be that communication there. Now for any working moms that are listening right now and they're thinking, okay, yes. I need to take some steps to get, get this juggling act under control.

[00:17:19] What are kind of the first steps that you recommend for people? Where is the low hanging

[00:17:23] Sarah: Yeah. You know, I think one of the, one of the things that I feel like as a working mom and it sounds really basic, but the things that come at you all week, every week in terms of the birthday party invitation and then the ensuing gift that you need to buy and the permission slip you have to sign and this and that.

[00:17:41] I have something called the Sunday list, and what it is, is everything that comes at me, I put on the Sunday list. Now, some things might be timely and that permission slip has to be signed the next day to get back in the backpack to go to school, but a lot of things are not urgent. They need to be addressed.

[00:17:57] But they need to be addressed, you know, within a couple days, within a week, within two weeks. So I had the Sunday list, and then on Sundays I'd block an hour, maybe two, depending on how much was on there. And then I just try to crash through the list. And what that allowed me to do is not feel like every day throughout the week those things were.

[00:18:15] You know, in the back of my head, kinda like, oh, you haven't done that and you haven't done this, and, you know, beating yourself about the things you haven't done. And so I have found, and, and to this day, I still have my Sunday list and it's part of, you know, my, I call my kind of operating model of life, but it allows me to not feel like I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to do and I can get to them when I can focus on them and do them quickly and efficiently, and then they're off the list.

[00:18:39] Megan: What I love about that is it quiets that anxiety again, of like, God, I don't have time, but when am I gonna do like, nope. I like to call it my c my household COO time. Like I have a chunk of that every weekend. This is when I, household

[00:18:49] Sarah: Oh, I like that. Yeah. Love the term.

[00:18:51] Megan: you know, like particularly at the time we're recording this around tax season, right?

[00:18:54] There's a lot stuff going on on the weekend, school stuff, all of that. But I love that. basically training your brain, Hey, we got this, we, we don't need to do it now. Put it on the

[00:19:04] Sarah: Put it on the list and once you, to your point, once you write it on the list, I have a a saying, it gives you a bit of the permission to forget about it for a.

[00:19:11] Megan: Yeah. Well, you, you're showing yourself we got this just not right now. Yeah. So good. Now where can people find your book?

[00:19:20] Sarah: my book is available on Amazon, on Barnes and noble.com, all of the various book sources. It's in paperback and in an ebook, iBook Kindle version. And then I'm also, you can also reach out to [email protected] and I have all my contact information there and more info and just background on the book.

[00:19:37] And, and so it's, it's there as a resource and really I. I just hope that those working parents and working moms out there know that we recognize the juggling act that it is, and it really is such a, such a big one to, to manage in our lives with our careers. But I think there's a way to do it if you kind of take those bite-sized pieces and reflect on how you wanna manage it for yourself and hopefully go from, from surviving to thriving.

[00:20:06] Megan: I love that you, you talk at a, as a juggling act, not a balancing act. So instantly when I saw that, I was like, oh, this is my people. And for those of you listening, again, Sarah mentioned this, but the way the book is structured is I think what makes it such a, an impactful yet. I hate to say easy 'cause the concepts are so powerful, but the way you have it structured with that table of contents of like, here is just a quick act, this problem, Hey, let's read this.

[00:20:30] Here's some actionable things that you can do. It doesn't have to even be read in order. That's what I think makes it almost just like a little handbook to have. So if you're, if you're a digital reader. You can just download it and have it there. If you are a more physical book like I am, it's an, it's an easy one, very, very portable to have around.

[00:20:48] So thank you. I wish that I had found. This book many, many, many years ago right when, when My Grace was born. You know, working through, navigating all of this, it's such an important conversation to be having and I love that you are giving such practical, easy to implement, pragmatic suggestions out there and that you yourself have navigated this personally, which makes it so meaningful.

[00:21:12] Sarah: well, thank you. It is really my giving back. You know, it's, it's, and it's how I feel like if I could give back to the next generation and help those that are needing it that's incredibly fulfilling and something I feel really strongly about. So that's why I spend a bit of time in my day-to-day each week having these conversations, and hopefully, you know, it, it helps.

[00:21:31] That's, that's the whole goal.

[00:21:32] Megan: Absolutely. And friends, we'll put a link to the book in the show notes as well along with the website. So easy for you to scroll down and grab those If you're listening to this on your podcast player, it has been such a pleasure and a treat to have you here today. Sarah, again, thank you so much.