Can you believe I’ve been a dad for three years.
It only seems like yesterday I welcomed my first child into the world – I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and had constant anxiety that everything small thing I did would have an impact on my child forever.
One of the biggest challenges I found was being able to manage my goals, because, well children take a lot of your time up.
This was particular frustrating at the start, when I was getting nothing done and I thought
“Is this it?”
Fear not, being a dad doesn’t mean your life is not dedicated to serving your children (though in my opinion they should always be the priority) and it’s okay to have ambitions.
This post gives some ideas how busy dads can balance goals…
Work out time gaps
On the birth of your first child you feel like your whole life has been taken away from you.
Despite that initial feeling, it is a FACT that your kids are not occupying 100% of your free time.
When you conciously look for gaps in your time you can find them and eventually you’ll become an innovator in digging up free time – for example in your lunch break.
On the birth of your first child you feel like your whole life has been taken away from you.
Despite that initial feeling it is a FACT that your kids
Be flexible
Just when you think you’ve worked them out and you’ve established a good routine, they suddenly decide one day that they want to do things differently.
It can be frustrating knowing that when your baby was supposed to nap, you were going to spend some time on a goal.
Don’t let this get to you, simply work around them – stay up late or get up earlier if you need to.
Do what matters
Because your life has been turned upside down by this little miracle, you will quickly learn what matters to you the most.
Those goals you said you always wanted will soon fall down by the wayside. With this you can dedicate your valuable time to what you want to achieve the most.
Make them your goal
Yes you will have to make a lot of sacrifices on your goals. As you go through this unique life experience use it as an opportunity to reframe what your priorities are.
This is a good time to think about how you can be a a better dad.
It doesn’t have to be complex, simply setting goals like establishing good habits like healthy eating, reading, brushing teeth & exercise will do wonders to support your children’s development.
Keep learning
When you become a parent this takes you on the path of continuous learning. As your child grows and changes – so should you.
In the time you raise your children you will learn alot, embrace this experience to grow in your character – be the hero they see!
Enjoy the journey
The process of becoming a dad leads to the realisation – your won’t be able to do as much as when you were childless.
Enjoy the time you have with your children, give selflessly & make beautiful memories.
Your won’t get this time again.
Remember
Fatherhood teaches you about the scarcity of time – if you have ambitions you want to achieve, you need to use your time wisely.
And if you’re every question your ability as a father, my view is if you are:
- present
- there for them
- give them love
- trying your best
- trying to get better
Then you’re doing a good job as a dad.
<<Further reading that might interest you: The Parenting Gap / The Parenting Trap – all about balancing family life with work.>>
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Perfect Manifesto 
you’ve just come up with the seven habits of highly effective dads!
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Aww! Talk about a missed opportunity to come up with a more click bait blog title 😅
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