Balance. Balance. Balance. When it comes to being a mother, whether you work outside of the home, work at home or are a stay-at-home mother, the question of balance comes up over and over again. Work-life balance. What exactly is that?

This past weekend I had the honor of attending and sitting in on a panel at the Moms As Entrepreneurs Conference, to talk about strategies in balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. Honestly, I dislike the word balance. It’s misleading. Balance is a myth. I don’t believe I balance things out. But I do believe that I juggle things well. As I stated in this previous article, you can’t give 100% to everything at the same time. If you’re rocking it out in one area of your life, another area is probably not as stellar. And that will probably change from day to day, week to week. And guess what? It’s okay. Some days I’m killing it with homeschooling and some days I’m not. Some days I’m killing it in my business and some days I’m not. And I’m okay with that.

From one day to the next, my priorities might change. I may have to move one thing up on the priority list, and move another down. Everything that I hold close to me is in rotation, just like the balls in a juggling act. Even if you’re only juggling two balls, those two balls will never be at the same exact height (priority) at the same time. They take turns. I balance the tires on my car, but I don’t try to balance my life and everything in it. That’s too much pressure. And being a good wife, mother, business owner is pressure enough.

Balance is overrated. But society has led us to believe otherwise. We’re led to believe that there’s a perfect equation or formula to “having it all” and creating this mythical thing call balance in our lives. But in my opinion, “having it all” has nothing to do with balance, and everything to do with juggling our core values and priorities. It has everything to do with creating your own “village” and asking for help when you need it. It’s impossible to give every single area of our life the same exact focus and attention at any given moment. Something will always get the short end of the stick. But if you understand and are in sync with your true core values, then you’ll be okay with that.

Motherhood is a juggling act. Juggling takes focus and clarity. Motherhood and balance don’t mix. Stop looking for balance, and instead, dust off your juggling skills (or develop new ones).

BMWK: Hey moms, what are some tips you use to juggle the many prioirities on your daily to-do list?