The life of the working parent -- our jobs and home responsibilities manage to use up all of our available resources, leaving little left for us. Except - we can write ourselves in back in to our life equation. Five years ago, I finally learned how to balance my kids, my job and leave time left for myself - as long as I remember seven rules.

Rule #1: Prioritize. What goals matter most to you? Whatever they are, when you develop your schedule, make sure you give projects related to those goals priority on your calendar. For example, I know if I don’t place my children’s needs first, my job success means little. This means I wedge mid-day driving time to Subway and Blockbuster for treats and five weekly soccer practices into my schedule and then figure out how to still keep my clients and employer happy despite spending five hours of workday time out of the office. Because you can’t do everything, you need to do first things first.

Rule #2: Eliminate all time wasters and psyche yourself to work with extra speed. If you want to keep your job yet put personal life first, you need to focus intensely on work while at work. Perhaps your co-workers can manage to excel at their job and spend extra time in detours into procrastination, chitchat or excess perfectionism but you can’t. If you want to feel you got the most important projects done and still have time left for yourself, ruthlessly eliminate all low payoff activities.

Rule #3: Put yourself on your calendar. In the same way in which you calendar client appointments and child errands, write yourself into your schedule. Decide on at least one personal treat that you need daily, whether it’s a work out or a chance to meet a special person for lunch and schedule it -- otherwise you may risk putting your needs off to a time that never comes. When you take care of yourself first, you restore your balance to take on the rest of your responsibilities.

Rule #4: If you’re a supervisor who wants a balanced life, you need to stop taking on your employee’s jobs and delegate more. Forget the myth that you can do everything best - unless you want to keep doing everything. If you’re an employee, realize you need to personally function as a boss who rides herd on your working habits - you need to make every minute count. Challenge yourself to notice how you work in slow motion - for example, do you sit patiently while waiting on hold on the phone - or do you complete small chores so you make that on-hold waiting time pay off?

Rule #5: To stay in balance you need to stay aware and make regular judgment calls. Are you on track with getting your life in balance or do you feel the combination of home and work responsibilities too much to handle? Can you better leverage your working hours? Can you do two tasks at once or streamline key tasks to reduce your total work volume? Do you need to admit you’ve taken on too much and delete some tasks from your workload? Whatever you do, don’t just work - think how you can work smarter rather than harder.

Rule #6: Forgive yourself when you get out of balance and simply get back on track. Those who watch successful NASA flights learn that even the best flights involve constant mid-course corrections. One day without time for yourself means nothing - unless you turn that derailment into a permanent pattern.