For those who think earning a good salary makes it easier for female senior-level executives to juggle their professions with a fulfilling personal life, here's some enlightenment.
These women must perform at the top of their game while taking care of young kids; elderly parents; needy spouses; and demanding clients, partners and customers.
These are the strategies they use to keep their business and home lives better balanced.
Being mobile: Customers really don't care where you are as long as you are accessible.
Randi Grant, a director at Berkowitz Dick Pollack Brant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., uses Bluetooth to free herself from sitting at her desk all day. A hands-free cell phone device allows her to give tax-consulting advice from the beauty salon, her car or a restaurant.
"If I'm on a cell, I can have a conference call with clients from anywhere."
Multitasking: Leslie Linevsky, co-founder of Catalogs.com, runs her own company and cares for her three children and elderly mother.
"It requires a lot of juggling," she said. "I really believe in multitasking to the max."
Recently, Linevsky prepared a holiday meal, supervised sales people from her cell, connected with contacts from her laptop on the kitchen counter and watched her kids.
"I feel though if I'm not multitasking, I'm laying dormant."
Delegating: Are five personal assistants too much? Not for Carol Lasek, a financial-services provider for nurses and medical professionals.
Lasek has four kids and 22 employees.
She barters personal financial services in exchange for getting those personal assistants who help her life run more smoothly.
Networking to save time: Joining certain organizations pays off.
Public relations executive Barbara Goldberg finds belonging to a group of female executives saves her time searching for service professionals.
She found an accountant and lawyer through the group.
Being flexible: Step back from the daily juggle and look at your options. Charlene Golden, a senior manager at Crowe Horwath, has negotiated an alternative schedule at her accounting firm.
She works in overdrive during the school year and busy tax season, when she's most needed. Then she takes summers off, saving the firm money and giving her time with her kids.
Making chaos acceptable: Consider a Zen approach to your work-life balance. Joanne Kunin, an accounting recruiter, gives herself permission to walk into her hectic home and soak it all in without feeling guilty. "I've just learned to let things go and feel comfortable in the middle of chaos."
Exercising: Make your health No. 1 on your to-do list.
Laura Goldblum, president and chief financial officer of Fine Art Lamps in Miami Lakes, Fla., and a mother of two, says waking up early to exercise has helped her steal a little bit of me time without the guilt. "That's the one thing I've never given up," she says.
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