Twelve practical strategies to experience more joy and feel less guilt as a working parent, drawn from ACT, the groundbreaking therapy technique that has helped countless people.

Dr. Yael Schonbrun calls out the myth of the work-life balance and offers practical strategies that can help us reframe our approach to working and parenting from the inside out. Based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), these strategies won’t create more hours in the day, but they can shift how we label our experiences, revise the stories we tell ourselves about working and parenting, and recognize the value we get from each role.

Differing values and commitments pull working parents in opposite directions and the social supports families desperately need are lacking. Yet even with these very real challenges, we can find more peace and less stress.

Some of these strategies include:

Getting clear on our values and using these to help us make what often feel like no-win choices around time and resources

Practicing mindfulness in both parenting and working

Subtracting less meaningful obligations from our lives

These steps can help you crush both roles, with examples from the author’s research that show families of many shapes and backgrounds.