A couple years ago, I started using Evernote to store my business cards . This, along with setting a few guidelines for myself about when to take a card and how to follow up, improved my networking efforts. However, photos of business cards in Evernote or only slightly more useful than business cards sitting in the bottom of my carry-on luggage.

Evernote Hello lets you scan a business card, and then it converts the info into a contact file that can be stored in Evernote and on your phone. You can take the connection a step further by sending a LinkedIn invitation or a Facebook friend request. The app is free and available for the iPhone and Android devices.

I’m returning from a business trip today. This morning, I quickly scanned in the cards I’d collected over the last few days and sent out LinkedIn invitations where appropriate. The app added the date and location of where my contacts were made, and provided a field for me to include notes (like the fact that the tourism professional also studied archeology in school). It took me about one minute per card.

I’m happy with this app and hoping it will help me improve my networking.

What’s your favorite networking tip?

At the same time, I suspect my life may also be easier if I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. I’m not saying all SAHMs have it easier than working mothers, but I think sometimes that my life would be simpler if I didn’t have my work to distract me from keeping house and enjoying my kids.

And yet, I am so grateful and thrilled that I get to have both of those “distractions” in my life.

I love being a mother. More than the title, I love my children. The two young people who I happened to give birth to and get to help raise are really cool, beautiful, wise, wonderful people. I love watching them grow, and I love watching them be exactly where they are right now. I love the way their warm bodies feel snuggled up against me and the way their laughter sounds bouncing through my house.

I also love being a writer. I love the emails I get from readers that let me know I have connected with someone half a world away using nothing but words on a screen. I love hearing that a woman was encouraged to do something brave because of a story I told. I love meeting new people and hearing about the smart ideas they have. I love that the Internet has helped me grow up and stood witness to the process.

And I love that I get to have both of those experiences right now. They influence each other, my work and my mom worlds. My interactions in one role affect - sometimes for the better, sometimes not - my actions in the other. I won’t say that I’m a better mother or writer (although I suspect that’s true), but I’m definitely a different mother and writer than I would be if I was walking either path separately.

Yes, I have to work harder at finding balance. The more spheres we add to our lives, the more skilled we must get at juggling. But the rewards, for me, are worth all the effort to figure it out.

It’s easy to loose sight of that. When one more thing feels like just one more thing, and when the days are shorter than the to-do lists, it’s so easy to bemoan all that we have to manage. But today I want to remember that all I have to manage is all I have to be grateful for.

What do you love about being a working mom?

I had a phone meeting scheduled for 11am and two articles due.

I was, technically speaking, kind of screwed.

The worst part was that I seemed to have actually gotten more sick overnight. No amount of medicine or chicken soup was allowing me to breathe through my nose or keep my eyes open for more than 15 minutes at a time. There was no way I was going to be able to work. No way.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have many options.

My meeting could be rescheduled, but I was contractually obligated to meet my deadlines. It was too late to beg for extra time from an editor or assistance from another writer, because I have gotten into the habit of planning my work load around meeting deadlines, not beating them.

I did what any of you would have in the same situation: I sucked it up. I slept most of the day, but managed to stay awake just long enough to meet my obligations. I survived the day with no real consequences, in other words.

But this has got me thinking about how woefully unprepared I am for even the most minor emergencies. I don’t have sick days or coworkers I can lean on. With great flexibility comes great responsibility, and I realize now that I haven’t been managing that responsibility as well as I could.

I need to plan ahead for the unexpected. I need to build a little bit of a buffer into my work routine and remember that the only person who can catch me if I fall is me.

But first, I need to go take another nap.

When we read about work-life balance, we discover tips for how to be good parents and wives while also managing a work schedule. Our days and our Pinterest boards are divided between home and work – be crafty, organized, and nurturing or productive and successful. What’s missing from these pictures is a frivolous pursuit that has nothing to do with home or money making: a hobby.

You’re probably groaning, I know. You’re thinking that there is not time, energy, nor money leftover for you to fritter about with selfish pastimes. Maybe when the kids are older.

But I propose that it is when our kids are young and we are busting our butts balancing school activities with work deadlines that having a hobby of our own is most important.

Personal passions give us energy to take care of other people. No matter how much we love it, there’s no denying that child rearing is exhausting. And the rewards – the sweet kisses and late night snuggles – don’t always balance out the sacrifice, at least not in the short-term. Add a demanding job to the mix and it can leave a woman feeling like she is always pouring herself out for someone.

Having a hobby of your own, something that you dedicate time and energy to, replenishes what work and family drains. It makes you better able to go back into the trenches and give some more. It’s like saying thank you to yourself for all you do until your kids are old enough to say it.

Hobbies make us more interesting people. There are only so many times you can tell the same story of the exploding diaper. And your spouse probably doesn’t want to hear about your boss every single night at dinner. But if you’re spending all of your time taking care of kids or work, that doesn’t leave much else for you to chat about, does it?

The reality is that people with hobbies are more interesting because they have passion and knowledge to share. I know I’d much rather listen to my husband talk about cycling or his obsession with organic food than his work schedule. Sure, we also discuss interesting clients and we absolutely talk about our kids, but it’s nice to have something completely new to share with each other once in a while.

I think that our kids appreciate having something to talk to us about as well, and I’m certain it makes us a little more interesting at networking events.

A hobby can be great motivation for working harder. In a ideal world, we all do what we love . But in the real world, many people show up to a job because they get paid to; they work to live . That’s a heck of a lot easier to do if you like the life you’re living.

Going to work because you have to keep the lights on is responsible and practical, but it can also be soul sucking day after day. Going to work because you’re saving up for a new camera lens, gardening equipment, yarn, or plane ticket is a heck of a lot easier. If the work itself isn’t satisfying, at least you can have a fun goal. (And no, paying for braces is not fun.)

Having a hobby adds to the work-life balance. It helps round out your life, which makes you better able to thrive at work and at home.

Do you have a hobby?

In part, I have VisitOrlando, the Nickelodeon Suites Resort, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld to thank for this experience. They organized the trip and picked up the tab for most of our visit. They let my son and I share the magic of Harry Potter World, a real treat since we’d read the books together years ago. They provided the pool that he asked me to swim with him in, the rides we loved, and the shows we swapped opinions about.

But the real credit for this fabulous vacation goes to me and Devin - and the power of one-on-one parenting.

The two of us rarely spend time alone together anymore. His sister is much more likely to request my company, and he’d rather be with his friends than his mother. When he isn’t with his friends or enjoying his treasured alone time, it’s because we’ve wrangled him into a family outing - which means the four of us. I realized this week just how much I haven’t been seeing because I haven’t been seeing Devin on his own.

For one thing, he isn’t near as grown as he looks. Sure, puberty has affected his voice and his height, but his jokes and endless chatter reminded me that he’s still a kid with a not-quite-ripe view of the world. He isn’t near as mature as either of us assumes, which means my expectations of him are probably a little out of whack. It also means he still needs the gentleness and patience of his mom, two things that I’ve struggled to offer when dealing with my teenager recently.

My kid still needs my attention. He no longer asks for it - and even turns it down on a regular basis - but it was obvious that he loved having it while we were away from home. This break from reality allowed me to pay attention to him in a way that had nothing to do with his chores, his grades, his future, or his treatment of his sister. I got to be present without expectations, and he thrived as a result.

It was good. It was so, so good. And a part of me is admittedly feeling guilty to realize how much I haven’t seen in the course of normal life. I’ve been shortchanging him, I think. But I’m grateful for this glimpse and these memories. I’m hoping we can both apply a little bit of what we’ve learned to our not-on-vacation relationship.

If you have more than one child at home, do you make one-on-one time a priority? Do you find that gets harder to do as your kids get older?

These are a few tricks I’ve found to get over the natural lulls in my workday, downswings which I’m learning are actually important signs.

Healthy snack - I’ve only recently learned that I get tired when I get hungry. Apparently food is fuel? Or something? Yeah, eating isn’t just for marathon runners. A snack (or actual lunch!) of real food is just as good for my brain as my body. That being said, a snack heavy on refined sugar will put me into a coma. So, do advise paying attention to food choice.

Fresh air - For some reason, this is the hardest for me to come by during the workday. I work at home, so I should be able to step outside whenever I want - but, I don’t. I don’t want to put on shoes, or deal with the cold, or come up with a place to go. Instead, I spend far too many hours under artifical light. But on the rare occassion that I do follow my own advice, I get an instant energy boost.

Stretch - Yoga makes everything in life better, including long days at work. Of course, most people can’t whip out a yoga mat and do an hour routine of flow-enhancing poses at their desk. What’s more practical - and just as effective for perking yourself up - is to do a little stretching. Stand up, touch your toes, reach up to the sky. Just spend a few minutes opening yourself up and breathing in deeply and your brain will respond by working better.

Switch things up - This speaks to my work style, but I can neither multitask nor do any one thing for more than 90 minutes at a time. When I find myself fantasizing about a Hulu marathon, that’s my cue to finish up what I’m working on and switch over to another project. If possible, I like to find a task that uses a new part of my brain (going from writing to checking emails, maybe) to really give my hemispheres a chance to rest.

What kind of signs does your body give you during the day? How do you respond?

After seven years of running my own blog, I recently received an email from my web host letting me know that my site was no longer eligible for a shared server. It was “using too many resources”, an explanation that still doesn’t make sense to me, and I was to be “upgraded” to a virtual server that would cost five times my current monthly rate. I logged into my admin panel, took a look at graph bars that purported to be monitoring my resources, and promptly realized I was in over my head.

The support staff at my web host sent me emails with links to articles that might as well have been written in a foreign language, so completely indecipherable were they to me. I began activating, deactivating, and uninstalling willy-nilly, frantic stabs in the dark that I was told were making absolutely no difference.

I sent a plea for immediate help out to Twitter. Thirty minutes later, I paid $100 to have someone “debug my Wordpress installation.” I felt relieved and went to bed knowing the experts were in charge. The next morning, I awoke to an email from said experts letting me know that I’d have to do more than debug; I needed to find a new host and transfer all of my websites.

Fortunately, another Twitter friend had reached out to me following my initial plea was prepared to help me do exactly that. She broke my problems down into language I mostly understood and set me up with a long-term solution that will only cost twice what I’m currently paying. (Funny how double sounds like a deal after quintuple has been tossed around.)

The switch took a couple days and a few emails, but I mostly went about my life and simply waited to receive word that everything was fine. It was… strange. Not so long ago I would have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning searching forums and googling definitions as I tried to save money by fixing the problem myself. If I was lucky, I may have come up with an acceptable solution, but I would have never been able to “clean up the code” and make the behind-the-scene changes that the experts did. And, I would have lost hours (and probably clumps of hair) in the process.

Instead, I spent my weekend hanging out with friends, attending a fundraising gala, and starting a garden with my family. I suspect all of those things made me a lot happier than learning how to fix my broken site would have. Paying someone to fix my problems for me may not have been the most frugal choice, but I’m certain it was the best one for my business, myself, and even my family.

What problems do you pay to have other people fix?

As I close the door behind my kids, my role changes from mother to working woman. Emails and deadlines move into the space in my brain reserved for urgent and pressing things. The clock that counted down the minutes until the school bus would arrive is now ticking away the time I have to finish the day’s to-do list. I work from home, so all I need to do is plop down at my desk and wake up the hibernating laptop. In 60 seconds the transition from doting mom to busy bee can be complete.

Just because the switch can happen instantaneously, however, doesn’t mean it should.

When I jump from one role to the other, I’ve found I’m ill-suited for the day’s challenges. As a mom, my job is to be open and nurturing; all of my walls are down and I’m ready to be sensitive to what my kids are feeling. There are boundaries, of course, but completely different ones from what I need to face a world full of adults. If I rush into my work day still in mothering mode, it seems I’m more likely to end up spending the next several hours putting out fires and careening from one “situation” to another. Instead of directing my day (and my career), I’m instinctively responding to the needs of everyone who crosses my virtual path.

This does not make for a very productive day.

When I used to drive to an office, I would spend my commute talking on the phone to my mom or listening to the radio. As much as I hated the drive, that time served as a buffer between my two worlds. Now that I work from home, it’s up to me to create a routine that encourages a more complete transition from mom to professional. As Fergie said, “I need to be with myself in center.”

That sounds incredibly esoteric, but the application is pretty simple. Some of the things I do to help switch roles mentally are:

• Meditate
• Take the time to go through all the steps in my skincare routine
• Prepare and eat a grown-up breakfast
• Read the news
• Call my mom (some things never change)

Have you incorporated anything into your routine that helps you transition between roles? Do you rely on commuting, or have you created other rituals?

I’ve been meaning to create a schedule. I imagine it will begin with a workout, some soulful meditation, sketching in my incredibly beautiful journal, and eating a healthy breakfast. Then I’ll wake my kids up. During the day, I’ll balance the monotony of answering emails with the forward thinking of crafting and sending proposals. I’ll take mini-breaks to step outside and load up on Vitamin D. When the kids come home from school, I’ll oversee homework and tidy up the house. We’ll reconnect over board games and dinner, and then my husband and I will enjoy a long talk about future plans. Before heading off to bed, I’ll shine my sink.

I’m not sure where laundry fits in. Or the occasional breakfast meeting with friends. Or shopping. Or paying bills. Or making the bed. Or going to the library, executing my latest Pinterest project, or finding a new mascara that doesn’t run down my face.

Or crafting the perfect schedule.

In reality, I operate with a calendar and a to-do list. Meditation doesn’t appear on either, but I try to fit it in among the blank spaces. This is also where shaving my legs and going for a walk appear. In fact, I’d say most of my life happens in the unscheduled hours between appointments and deadlines. As much as I adore lists, the things I value most don’t appear on the one I check daily. I can’t decide if that’s a problem or totally normal.

Do real people actually craft and then live by ideal schedules? Or is everyone else just kind of falling into life and making adjustments on the fly, like me? I ask because I’m really not sure, in this case, where reality and idealism intersect. I’m not sure if those successful people are filling their autobiographies with fantasies or if I might benefit from being a little more militant about my schedule.

What say you, Internet and fellow working moms?

I’ve been following along online with a 21-day meditation course hosted by Oprah and Deepak Chopra . On Day 2, Deepak talked about our inherent need for growth and progress. Our minds and our bodies, he explained, need forward motion. However, as Deepak pointed out, they also need to have that motion tempered with periods of rest.

It struck me that this was a new way of describing balance, one that was less about figuring out how to do all the things and more about alternating between doing and not doing.

I notice that my body insists on creating this dichotomy for me. If I go too hard and for too long, I crash hard into a pile of napping and carb binging. After periods of fantastic productivity and creativity, I often find myself lost in a daze of TV gorging and spectacular laziness. Of course, I hate this, and I lament that it interferes with my attempts at balance.

I want to be amazingly productive at work and then balance that with perfect productivity around the house. I imagine creating revolutionary messages during the day, and then countering that by connecting profoundly with my family and friends. Work, life, family, friends, balance has always meant moving around the pie chart so that every piece is sampled.

Being out of balance, I’ve assumed and have been advised, come from leaving important sectors neglected.

Connect more with your husband.

Spend more time on self care.

Get out of the office more and into the community.

Do more of something different, the prevailing wisdom suggests, and you’ll find yourself better aligned.

But maybe the answer isn’t doing more of something supposedly better for us. Perhaps, instead, the only way to counter all this doing is to not do anything . To rest. Really. Not to rest from work by engaging more at home, but to actually and truly rest. To step away from the ever splintering pie chart completely, just for a bit.

Deepak said that our body gives us clues to when we need rest and when we need motion, and in the reflections that follow the guided meditation we’re asked to consider how we feel when we eat different types of foods. I instantly thought about how I feel like crap when I eat tons of carbs and how I feel ready to go when I eat healthy foods. I’ve alway thought it was a bit counterintuitive, then, that my body craves junk when I am feeling the most rundown. Why, I’ve thought, do I instinctively reach for foods that make me lethargic when I am most desperately in need of a refueling?

Perhaps my body isn’t as stupid as I’ve always thought. Maybe it reaches for carbs because they make me crash, and because it knows better than I that a crash is sometimes the best medicine. It might be my body’s way of forcing me to do nothing when my own convoluted definition of balance is insisting on just doing something different.

Doing and not doing. Going and resting. Growing and being dormant. Something about this version of balance sounds right to me, and more achievable even than the frenetic one I’ve been chasing forever. I’m going to try making room in my planner for nothing.