Doing It All: Stop Over-Functioning and Become the Mom and Person You're Meant to Be

by Whitney Casares M.D. Narrated by Brittany Wilkerson

Overview

Discover how to stop doing it all and start doing what matters with this step-by-step guide to beating burnout and thriving as a working mom.
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In Doing It All, Dr. Whitney Casares, author, pediatrician, and mother of two, shares the step-by-step plan she developed as a modern working mom to help her stop over-functioning at work and home, stop blaming herself for everything that went wrong, and start living a balanced and intentional life. Today's working moms are burned-out, overwhelmed, and just plain stuck. Caught amid the endless, conflicting demands of motherhood, work, household management, and a million-and-one everyday tasks, chores, and responsibilities, they truly are doing it all-but getting nowhere. They think they're out of options-but they're wrong.
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Dr. Whitney tried to do it all for years, until one particularly bad week brought her to knees, and then, to a revelation: It wasn't her that was broken, it was her system. She needed a new system, a plan of action that would look squarely at all the common problems of working mom life-over-scheduling, inequitable partnerships, lack of boundaries, lack of support-, recognize the social and cultural causes behind them, and give her the tools and structure she needed to tackle the chaos, find her work-life balance, and start living a life that worked for her. In Doing It All, she shares that system with you, a system that will help*you prioritize what really matters and where everything-even laundry-has its place. Work calls? Yep. Time with your kids? Absolutely. Time for yourself? A top priority.

Doing It All features Dr. Whitney's complete step-by-step plan to achieving your Centered Life-that is, a life centered on you-, as well as over forty targeted exercises, prompts, and activities to help you:

• Create a vision of your life that aligns with your values and goals and then break that vision into actionable priorities so you can start making it a reality.
• Implement systems to deal with the annoying-but-necessary “have-tos” in your life quickly and efficiently.
• Develop equity in your relationship with your parenting partner.
• Create and maintain boundaries around emotionally laden calls on your attention.
• Give your kids what they need to be healthy, happy, and successful-without giving away too much of yourself.
• Prioritize your own mental health and emotional well-being with intentional scheduling and rest.
• And more!

Featuring powerful personal stories from real working moms, as well as quotes and interview excerpts from parenting experts, medical professionals, and mental health advocates, Doing It All meets working moms where they are, recognizes the personal and systemic challenges they face, and offers solutions that really work. It's time to stop merely “surviving” motherhood. Join Dr. Whitney and thousands of other working moms across the country and discover the tools, systems, and support you need to parent, work, and thrive in your daily life.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

11/20/2023

In this pragmatic parenting manual, pediatrician Casares (The Working Mom Blueprint) expounds on how mothers can feel less overwhelmed and more fulfilled. Her “centered life blueprint” urges readers to imagine their ideal life by considering the values and activities they find most important, and then troubleshooting how to maximize time spent on those activities. To minimize the time and effort put into such “non-negotiable” responsibilities as laundry and responding to emails, Casares recommends embracing “selective mediocrity,” or putting in only the amount of effort needed to complete a task (for instance, making quick, easy meals when time is tight). Her six core tenets of being a good parent encourage “modeling self-regulation,” articulating explicit expectations about appropriate conduct, and fostering kids’ internal motivation by praising them “for how much effort they put into a task.” Casares’s advice is sound and her fondness for enumerated lists gives this a practical bent, though the programs sometimes come across as overly rigid or complicated (the second of five steps in her plan for equitably distributing household labor contains its own five-step plan about how to have those conversations with partners and children). Still, stressed out mothers will want to check this out. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

"In her new book, Dr. Whitney reminds us that we don't have to do everything all of the time. Her down-to-earth approach and relatable examples make you feel like you're chatting with a friend over coffee. Her Centered Vision framework provides actionable plans to help parents thrive, find joy, and live an intentional life, even amongst the most challenging parenting situations. If you're a mom who's feeling overwhelmed, I highly recommend this book!"—Tara Clark, author of Modern Mom Probs

"Dr. Whitney meets working moms where they are, validating their shared experiences and recognizing the structural issues they face, while bravely sharing her own struggles and the practical, action-oriented system she created to overcome them. A must-read for any mom who is ready to stop doing it all."—Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play

"In Doing It All, Dr. Whitney Casares emerges as a dynamic force of nature, possessing a profound understanding of the impact of modern motherhood and the perils that arise when attempting to bear its weight alone."

—Michael Perry, Founder & CEO of Maple

"An oasis in the desert of 'how to do more' mom empowerment books. Reading this is an experience of being seen, not just in how hard it is to try to do it all, but in how empty it leaves us. Organizational strategies for feeding your family just hit different after Dr. Whitney helps you re-center your perspective to creating a life of meaning and fulfillment, not getting more done."—Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN, founder of Kids Eat in Color

“Doing It All is a must-have survival guide for all moms. Dr. Whitney Casares is your best friend, cheerleader, and sage guide leading you from a place of mom guilt to thriving.”—Dr. Tracy Asamoah, MD, ACC, Tracy Asamoah Coaching

“A breakthrough in parenting science in its focus on supporting children through true maternal well-being. No one makes a working mother feel more heard and supported than Dr. Casares.”—Erin E O'Connor, Professor at New York University, Chief of Education for Cooper

“Stressed out mothers will want to check this out.”

—Publishers Weekly

"Must be considered essential reading for all mothers (and most especially to those new to motherhood) and a core acquisition for library collections on parenting. Impressively well written, organized and presented."—Midwest Book Review

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159237422
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	943,769

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