The Real Mother Effort Podcast

What have you accepted as "just the way it is," even though you wish it were different?

In this episode, we're talking about the beliefs that can leave us feeling stuck in motherhood, work, and our own lives. From sharing responsibilities at home to feeling better in our bodies and making room for personal goals, we explore how to recognize real constraints while leaving room for possibilities we haven't considered yet.

• How our beliefs influence what we try and what we rule out.
• Feeling stuck with household responsibilities and little time for yourself.
• Assumptions about our bodies, work schedules, and personal goals.
• How past experiences become conclusions about what will always happen.
• Why exploring change can feel difficult, even when we want it.
• Using small actions and new information to challenge what we believe.

Check out the new email series:

5 Hidden Blind Spots Keeping Successful Working Moms Stretched Too Thin

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching

· Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

We make a lot of important decisions in parenting, work, and life without knowing exactly how they'll turn out. In this episode, I'm sharing something I'm still figuring out myself: how my growing interest in women's health might shape the way I support moms. I talk about the discomfort of uncertainty, the pressure to appear like we have it all together, and how we can trust ourselves to move forward while we're still learning.

• What I'm exploring in my work, and the mission that hasn't changed.
• How my own health experiences sparked an interest in supporting women through nutrition and lifestyle.
• The everyday parenting decisions we make without a clear answer.
• When seeking advice becomes asking someone else to decide for us.
• Taking small steps, learning as we go, and trusting our own judgment.
• What this looks like for me going forward.

Check out the new email series:

5 Hidden Blind Spots Keeping Successful Working Moms Stretched Too Thin

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching

· Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

Sometimes the things we've always done keep running in the background long after our lives have changed. We get used to thinking, "This is just how I am" or "This has always worked for me," without stopping to notice whether that's actually still true. In this episode, I'm talking about what happens when an old way of doing things, or even an old belief about who you are, doesn't quite fit the version of your life you're living now.

• The Saturday night that got me thinking about my own outdated defaults
• Why we love putting things on autopilot
• How parenting forces us to constantly adjust
• When being the one who can "handle a lot" stops working at work
• The quieter feedback our bodies give us
• Why tolerance and something actually working aren't always the same thing
• What I hear behind the phrase "But I've always…"
• How to notice when your old operating manual might need an update
• Why you don't need to immediately have the new answer figured out

Check out the new email series:

5 Hidden Blind Spots Keeping Successful Working Moms Stretched Too Thin

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching

· Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

Taking care of yourself sounds great in theory, until it becomes one more list of things you have to remember, plan, schedule, and manage. In this episode, I'm looking at why some of the things that support us feel like constant work, while others become such a normal part of our lives that we barely have to think about them.

I talk about:

• Why "taking care of yourself" can feel like another job
• The cycle of waiting until something feels bad enough to fix
• Why actively managing self care is unsustainable
• What brushing your teeth can teach us about maintenance mode
• Getting exercise, food, relationships, and rest out of constant restart mode
• How to make fewer decisions around the things that support you
• The difference between making something effortless and making it automatic
• What you can stop renegotiating with yourself

Resources Mentioned:

Sign up for my new free resource:

5 Hidden Blind Spots Keeping Successful Working Moms Stretched Too Thin

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching

· Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

A lot has changed in my life as my kids have gotten older, but most of it has happened so gradually that I don't always stop to recognize just how different things are now. In this episode, I'm taking a step back and talking about where I am in life and motherhood right now: with my kids, my body, my work, and even the amount of space I have to think about myself again.

In this episode, I talk about:

• How my kids need me differently now
• Realizing how closely they're watching me
• Being more deliberate about the example I'm setting
• My changing relationship with my body
• My growing interest in health, strength and longevity
• Having more space for friendships, work and myself
• Being between two different stages of motherhood

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

Life is really full for me right now. We're a few weeks into the school year, schedules and activities are back in full swing, my husband is heading toward a major work deadline, and there isn't a whole lot of extra time lying around.

But I've realized that I'm still finding small ways to do things that make me feel good without waiting for life to calm down first.

In this episode, I'm sharing five things I'm doing for myself right now that fit inside an already-full life, including:

• The surprisingly satisfying way I'm slowly cleaning out my closet
• How I've changed the way I use Instagram so scrolling actually feels good
• Why learning to play mahjong has become about much more than the game
• The personal appointments I refuse to cancel, even when the day feels way too busy
• Why getting outside with my kids has been one of my favorite parts of settling back into the school-year rhythm

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

A few weeks ago, I was having a really tough week. Everything felt harder than usual, I was overwhelmed by my normal responsibilities, and I was convinced the problem was something I needed to manage, organize, or think my way through.

Turns out, I was looking in the wrong direction.

In this episode, I'm sharing what that week made me realize about the connection between our physical capacity and how we experience our lives. As moms, we get incredibly good at functioning when we're tired, sick, depleted, hormonal, or simply not at our best, and sometimes we get so used to pushing through that we stop considering those things when we're trying to figure out why life suddenly feels so hard.

In this episode, I talk about:

• The really tough week that made me realize I had a blind spot
• Why we're so quick to assume overwhelm is a life-management or mindset problem
• How physical depletion can change the way we experience our normal responsibilities
• Why moms can become so accustomed to functioning while depleted that we stop recognizing it
• The simple question I'm adding to my own mental checklist when I don't feel like myself
• Why simply identifying what's going on physically can change the story we're telling ourselves

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

The busiest part of the year has a way of sneaking up on us. One minute it's pumpkin spice season, and the next you're juggling school events, sports, work deadlines, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and approximately 900 decisions.

In this episode, I'm sharing five things you can do now to make the next few months easier on yourself without turning August into a full-blown holiday planning retreat.

Episode Highlights

• Make a few decisions before you need them
• Pull forward the things that are easier to do early
• Reality-check your goals through the end of the year
• Decide what can be simpler during the busiest weeks
• Think ahead about what will help you stay resourced

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

When something in your week isn't working, it's easy to jump straight to a new calendar, routine, meal plan, checklist, or app. But sometimes the system isn't actually the problem. In this episode, I'm walking through a simple way to diagnose what's really causing the friction before you spend time building another solution you'll have to maintain. We'll look at four different types of problems that can show up at home and at work, and how getting better at identifying the right one can make you a much more effective leader.

• How to tell the difference between a system, communication, capacity, and expectation problem
• Why a good system can still fail when it's solving the wrong issue
• A personal example of how one small communication change improved our weekly planning
• How the same dinner problem can require four completely different solutions
• Why slowing down long enough to diagnose the problem can save you time, energy, and frustration
• How this skill can make you a stronger leader at home and at work

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com

The first few weeks of school can feel like a full-system restart. Earlier mornings, lunches, homework, activities, dinners, bedtime, and somehow we expect all of it to be running smoothly from day one. In this episode, I'm sharing a different way to approach the back-to-school transition using the Minimum Viable Product idea: start with the simplest version that works, give everyone time to get back into the rhythm, and then improve things as you go.

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• What a "minimum viable" first few weeks of school can look like
• Why you don't need every routine and system dialed in right away
• How to decide what "good enough" looks like during the transition
• Why some friction just needs repetition, not a whole new system
• How to notice what actually needs your attention before trying to fix everything at once

Connect

· Instagram: @laurenmoracoaching Website: laurenmoracoaching.com