As some of you know, I am expecting my first child in March.  And while I don’t intend for WCW to suddenly become a regular forum to discuss either my pregnancy or parenting experiences, since I began this journey I have made a few observations about professional women and the impact of the decision to have a baby.  Among those that have affected me already:

• My ambition is going to have to be tempered:  There are only so many hours in a day, and ideally, you want to spend at least some of them on good, solid parenting.  Since I currently work 50-60 hours a week, this means that something on the career side of the equation is going to have to give.  It’s more important to me to give my child the best possible start in life than to pursue any and every business opportunity that comes knocking.

• I will have to work with a laser focus:  If I thought it was challenging to balance a marketing communications consulting gig with a career as an author and speaker on twenty and thirty-something business issues, I’m in for it when it comes to raising a child.  Once the baby is here, I’m going to set specific days and times to get work done when I’m lucky enough to have childcare available.  I’ll need to be extra selective about how I choose to spend my work time and my level of efficiency in completing projects will need to reach an all-time high.

• I will need to modify my definition of success:  At the beginning of my career, I based my success on how quickly I climbed the corporate ladder, and how much money I made.  Later, I prided myself on selling books, growing my expert platform, and helping as many people as possible.  In the future, though, I can see defining success by how well I’m able to sustain the momentum I’ve spent the last 9 years building, while giving our new addition the stable and happy home life that eluded me as a child.