The pressure to be everything to everyone is real and exhausting. But what if just a few small changes could completely shift how you move through your day? I’m sharing 3 simple but powerful tools that are helping me find calm in the chaos and show up as my best self at work and at home.
In this episode of our toolkit series, host Barbara Mighdoll shares three of the most powerful, actionable life hacks she learned from Season 1. These are real shifts that are helping her actually manage the chaos of working motherhood. These aren’t vague productivity tips or recycled self-care mantras. This is the practical stuff, the “I started doing this immediately and it changed my day” kind of stuff.
From the art of context switching to recovering from perfectionism and finding ways to rest that don’t come with guilt, Barbara reveals the strategies and mindset tweaks that are sticking with her. The ones she’s actually implemented and that are working.
🔁 Mastering the Transition between Mom Mode & Work Mom
If you’ve ever struggled to shift gears from a chaotic morning with kids to a high-stakes meeting—or vice versa—you’re not alone. Kim Gebbia Chappel shares the simple yet powerful transition rituals that help her mentally reset between roles
“Sometimes I sneak out the French doors and I just walk around the block so that I can have five minutes or 10 minutes of just decompressing—thinking about everything I need to get done for the next day or what I need to pack away for later after bedtime—and then walk into the house and put my mom hat on.” -Kim Gebbia Chappel
📵 The Phone-Free Morning Ritual That Lowers Cortisol and Increases Clarity
It’s no secret that screen time can spike your stress—especially first thing in the morning. Barbara’s phone-free ritual offers a calm, grounded way to ease into your day without being hijacked by Slack messages, calendar invites, or late-night emails from your boss.
“One of the most transformative things I've done is not look at my phone from the time I wake up until the time that I get my last kid dropped off at school. And not only do I not look at my phone, but when I finally do—you know that moment right when you get back into the car, take a deep sigh of relief that your kids are off for the day—I do not open Slack or email. Instead, I use my commute home or to my coworking space to listen to a podcast or hop onto Marco Polo to talk to my friends.” -Barbara Mighdol
💭 Breaking the Perfectionist Cycle with “No Zero Days”
If perfectionism is holding you back, this is the mindset shift you need. Inspired by her conversation with entrepreneur Divya Gugnani, Barbara explores how doing something—even if it’s just one minute—can break the all-or-nothing cycle and build consistency over time.
“I read about, no zero days…So if I have a goal every day of getting some sort of physical activity, I make sure it’s a no zero day. If I'm super busy and I just don't have any time to exercise, I make sure it's still a no zero day. I will literally do jumping jacks for a minute. I will do sit ups. I will plank for one minute or two minutes. And to me, that's a no zero day. So I may not have met my full goal, but it was not a zero to make some incremental progress in your life, no matter what.” -Divya Gugnani
🧘♀️ Redefining Rest as Productive
Rest doesn’t have to feel like a guilty pleasure—it’s a vital investment in your energy and effectiveness. Hitha Palepu’s concept of “Gentle Wednesdays” gives permission to pause, reminding us that rest is not a break from productivity, but a part of it.
“Sometimes it means I’m actually going out and checking out an exhibit at a nearby museum in the city. It might mean I treat myself to a matinee. And then sometimes it’s just sitting on my couch, having GlamSquad come over to give me a pedicure and watching Bravo and eating Pad Thai, which is very much my comfort food. And what it does is it helps me recharge for the week.” -Hitha Palepu
🗂️ Three Shifts You Can Do Today
Barbara doesn’t just share big ideas—she offers a simple, doable step for each life hack so you can actually integrate it into your routine. These micro-habits are powerful because they’re easy to start and even easier to keep going.
“Even if you feel inspired, implementing all of these things at once isn't going to happen. So like I like to say, small steps lead to a big change. For each of the themes—context switching, perfectionism, and rest—I share one small, super achievable action you can try right now. This isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing smarter.” -Barbara Mighdoll
Looking for quick wins that make a lasting difference in your work-mom life? This episode of The New Modern Mom Podcast is packed with them. Tune in, take what resonates, and start building your personal toolkit—one small shift at a time.
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Rather read the full interview than listen?
[00:00:00] Hi everyone. Welcome to the toolkit series from the new Modern Mom podcast. I'm thrilled to bring you this bonus series in between seasons. Each episode will be a quick, actionable deep dive into some of the most important themes from season one. [00:00:13] My goal is to help you build the tools you need so they're ready and waiting in your toolkit. The ones you're going to reach for to calm the chaos of career and motherhood. So today I'm going to be sharing some of those absolute gem moments from season one of the New Modern Mom podcast. I'm talking about those life hacks one-liners, tips and tricks and methods to the madness that I and my team, I should note, have not been able to get out of our heads [00:00:39] and have actually implemented into our lives for the better. In this episode, I'm going to walk you through how to tackle the art of context switching, how to overcome the perfectionist mindset and how to incorporate rest into your week. Let's get started. [00:00:53] Okay, let's talk about context switching. I'm talking about how to go from a chaotic morning full of [00:01:00] tantrums, chasing your kids, rushing out the door, to then immediately hop on a strategic call with your boss, or how to shake off all the stress and annoyances from your workday to get into the right headspace, to be calm and patient with your little ones in the evening. [00:01:17] This is. So hard, right? So for me, the unlock was really thinking about how to layer little moments in the day or into my overall schedule to find time for myself to transition between mom mode and work mode. I think this is a struggle for anyone, no matter your work situation, whether you work in an office or you work from home, however. [00:01:40] if you do work from an office, you do have that built in car time that you should take advantage of to use as your forced transition point. But if you work from home, this is a lot harder. You need to be very deliberate about it. And so I wanna pull in a clip from my conversation with Kim Chapa, who is the chief [00:02:00] brand officer from Bobby. [00:02:01] She shared such great advice, particularly for those work from home days where you don't have a commute to decompress. So let's listen in. [00:02:10] I don't have a transition time. And sometimes I find that to be really hard. [00:02:14] So I actually have this guest room in our house. I turned it into an office and there's little French doors right here. Sometimes I sneak out the French doors and I just walk. Around the block so that I can have five minutes or 10 minutes of just decompressing thinking about everything I need to get done for the next day or What I need to pack away for later after bedtime and then walk into the house and put my mom hat on [00:02:36] Kim's conversation was full of gems, and this one in particular was one that has truly stuck with me [00:02:42] I implemented a very important morning transition ritual after she gave me this advice. So in the mornings, one of the most transformative things I've done is not look at my phone from the time I wake up until the time that I get my last kid dropped off at school. [00:03:00] This avoids that massive cortisol spike you get when you open up your slacks and you see all these messages from your European or East coast counterparts, or that email that was sent from your boss at 11:00 PM the night before. [00:03:11] And not only do I not look at my phone, but, and this has been key when I finally do you know that moment right when you get back into the car, take a deep sigh of relief that your kids are off for the day? I do not open Slack or email. Instead, I use my commute home or to my coworking space to listen to one of two things. [00:03:34] I either listen to a podcast or I hop onto Marco Polo, which is basically voice notes async with your friends, to listen to my friends or give them an update of my own on how my life is going. [00:03:46] Let's move on to our next topic, which is perfectionism. I am a recovering perfectionist, [00:03:53] So I wanna talk a moment about the concept of excuses. An excuse makes you think you have a valid reason. You're, you're [00:04:00] too tired, too busy, the kids are awake. I know this because I've used them all for years. [00:04:06] For years, I believed if I couldn't do something perfectly, it wasn't worth doing. But I first started realizing that you cannot perform at that level all the time, and sometimes done is good enough . honestly, I was forced into this belief at work when I was under insane startup deadlines. I had no choice but to lead my team with the attitude that done is better than perfect. [00:04:29] But for a while, I had a hard time translating that belief into taking care of myself in my personal life. Motherhood and Entrepreneurship taught me something vital. [00:04:40] Consistency is where the magic happens , not in the perfect days. But in the repeated, small, imperfect steps that add up over time, consistency is greater than perfection. This has shown up in my life almost on a daily basis when it comes to my morning movement routine. Often I have an app on and I'm squeezing in 20 minutes of a [00:05:00] workout while my kids are crawling over me, and that's okay. [00:05:02] And Divya Gani, who is an investor, co-founder of Wonder Beauty, which was just acquired and founder of 5 cents, which is the perfume I happen to be wearing right now, has an incredible mantra she uses to overcome any excuse that creeps in [00:05:16] [00:05:17] Divya Gugnani: So there's something that I read about no zero days. That really resonates with me as a mom of three kids and a career mom. [00:05:25] Divya Gugnani: So if I have a goal every day of getting some sort of physical activity, I make sure there's no zero day. So if I'm really super busy and I just don't have any time to exercise, so that 45 minute class is not happening or that 20 minute workout in the gym is not happening. That 15 minutes swimming is not happening. [00:05:41] Divya Gugnani: Like it's not happening. I make sure it's a no zero day. I will literally do jumping jacks for a minute. I will do sit ups. I will do plank for one minute or two minutes. And to me, that's a no zero day. So I may not have met my full goal. It was not a zero. To make some incremental progress in your life, no matter what. [00:06:00] [00:06:00] truly this mantra has stuck with me and it's a really nice reminder when you feel that excuse creeping in. [00:06:06] Okay, finally. Let's talk about prioritizing rest every single week, which is a concept I struggle with so hard. I have to mention hit the pal pus concept of Gentle Wednesdays because it is something that has stuck with me from season one, and it's something I haven't mastered yet, but I've been trying to be more intentional about taking an hour or even three for myself during the week, reconciling with the notion that. [00:06:32] Taking a pause in the day is a reset, not a shameful skip in productivity, I feel very guilty, and I think this is why I struggle with this so much when I have paid childcare thinking that if I'm not being productive for work, it's a very bad thing. But I think rest is something we all should strive for. [00:06:55] So I'll play HIPAA's explanation of this gentle Wednesdays concept now, [00:07:00] and I can't wait to hear what you think. [00:07:01] Now it's Wednesday because now my therapy sessions are on Wednesday and I try to Put my meetings on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays as a result to keep Friday and Wednesday fairly open. [00:07:14] Hitha Palepu: I'm pretty intentional about putting in a two hour block on a Wednesday afternoon to just do me. So sometimes it means I'm actually going out and checking out an exhibit at a nearby museum in the city. It might mean I treat myself to a matinee, which I love to do. And I really want to do more of come this school year. [00:07:34] Hitha Palepu: And then sometimes it's just sitting on my couch, having glam squad come over to give me a pedicure and watching Bravo and eating Pad Thai, which is very much my comfort food. And what it does is it helps me recharge for the week. [00:07:47] Okay, so we just listened to three really powerful takeaways from season one, and I want you to now ask yourself, do you struggle with context switching perfectionism or fitting in rest during your [00:08:00] work week? If the answer is yes, which I assume it is, then let's talk about a tangible tool that you can put safely away in your toolkit on this topic. [00:08:08] If all three of these resonated with you, I'm not surprised, but let's be real. Even if you feel inspired, implementing all of these things at once isn't going to happen. So like I like to say, small steps lead to a big change. So let's start small. Here are three small actions you can take to begin integrating these into your daily life. [00:08:28] Let's start with mastering the art of context Switching. I want you to identify the times in the day where you have to contact. Switch between professional and mom mode. [00:08:39] Now go into your calendar time. Block 15 minutes in between those roles to allow yourself the head space to be free from mom concerns and stress. And professional concerns and stress to distract yourself. This is an investment in yourself to get into the mindset, to show up, present in whatever area of your life you're trying [00:09:00] to be. [00:09:00] The best version of yourself. Pick exactly what you plan to do with that time. Is it listen to a podcast? Is it reading a few pages in a book? Is it going for a walk? Maybe it's going into your room, changing into your PJs, taking off your makeup, so it's one less thing to do later. [00:09:16] Okay, let's talk about combating perfection. I want you to come up with a mantra that you can say to yourself, the moment you feel excuses start to creep in. This could be divya of no zero days. Mine is consistency over perfection. Small steps lead to big change. Whatever resonates with you. Write it on three sticky notes and place one on your nightstand, one on your bathroom mirror. [00:09:40] In one on your laptop. This is [00:09:42] a scientifically proven method called the Illusory Truth Effect in Psychology, and it means that repeated exposure to a statement increases the likelihood that you'll believe it's true. So do this. And start making more of an impact in your day by not letting [00:10:00] perfectionism hold you back. [00:10:00] And lastly, let's talk about how to allow time for a pause in your week. Close your eyes. Imagine you have the day off of work in the middle of the week, and I mean a real day off. No checking emails, no work to play. Catch up on a day just for you while your kids are at school or with your nanny. What would you do? [00:10:22] Maybe finally make it out of the house for a workout class. Maybe book a massage, maybe a long brunch with a friend, maybe a face mask followed by a long everything shower. Or maybe you want to lay on the couch and watch reality TV for hours. I want you now to open your eyes and write down three things you would do with your time. [00:10:43] Now, open up your calendar over the next six weeks. Find three, two hour blocks of time and schedule each of these onto your calendar. And you may be saying, I work in an office, I just can't leave. But the reality is, you can, [00:11:00] maybe you come into the office late or leave early, or if it's truly your busy season right now and you have a boss that's breathing down your neck. [00:11:08] Ask your husband to watch the kids on a Sunday morning or if needed, book a babysitter, make this happen. It's just a few hours over the next six weeks, and you will be thinking yourself. It is an investment in yourself. A reset is not a bad thing. It is something you need in your life. So commit to these three things over the next few months, and you'll be amazed by how life-changing they truly are. [00:11:35] Alright, thanks for tuning into this toolkit series on the new Modern Mom podcast. I hope today's tips help simplify the chaos of career in motherhood one tool at a time. My dms are open. Let me know what you plan on implementing from today's episode. Did one of these life hacks resonate more than others? [00:11:51] Please share. If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to subscribe. Give a five star rating and leave a review. You can [00:12:00] always connect with me on LinkedIn. Follow new Modern Mom on Instagram and subscribe to my newsletter. Your support means so much as I continue my mission to help more moms find work life fulfillment. [00:12:10] Until next time.Author
