Published on
February 10, 2021
A case for putting your own oxygen mask on first.
Reshma Saujani, the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, schedules her “me time” for 7:30 every morning. This daily ritual has become non-negotiable in her home. “We have been taught from the time that we’re young to put everybody else first,” Saujani told Arianna Huffington on “The Thrive Global Podcast,” in partnership with iHeartRadio and Sleep Number. “One of my best friends told me, ‘Every new mom gets to pick one thing and make sure you pick it and stick with it. Because everybody else will eat up all your time.’”
As an angel investor, host of her own podcast, published author, and founder of a nonprofit that is working to close the gender gap in tech, Saujani is one busy woman, and as a working mom, she doesn’t have many moments in the day for herself. Yet she took her friend’s advice to heart — and it’s even changed the way she views motherhood. “When my house is basically being activated, that’s when I picked my me time,” she shared, “So that everybody understood, including myself, that I was going to put myself first and not always put everybody else before me, for one moment in the day.”
By taking the Microstep of scheduling her “me time,” Saujani is able to thrive — both for herself and for her family.
Rebecca Muller Feintuch is the Senior Editor and Community Manager at Thrive. Her previous work experience includes roles in editorial and digital journalism. Rebecca is passionate about storytelling, creating meaningful connections, and prioritizing mental health and self-care. She is a graduate of New York University, where she studied Media, Culture and Communications with a minor in Creative Writing. For her undergraduate thesis, she researched the relationship between women and fitness media consumerism.