Chelsea Hirschhorn, the CEO of Frida, often likens her career to that of a circus juggler. Since founding the popular fertility, pregnancy, and infant product company in 2014, she has balanced her roles as a business leader, wife, and mother of four children aged 2 to 11. At 40, Hirschhorn embraces the challenges of juggling multiple responsibilities and prioritizing family above all else while making necessary sacrifices.
Below, Hirschhorn shares her favorite productivity and time management strategies:
### 1. Time Blocking, Especially for Emails
In the early days of Frida, Hirschhorn faced the challenge of bootstrapping the business while handling every task herself. As the company grew, she hired a team but also became a mother, leading to competing demands on her time. Delegation and prioritization proved difficult, but she found a solution through time blocking—a method where specific tasks are assigned to designated times of the day.
"I rely heavily on to-do lists and phone reminders," Hirschhorn explains. "From a time-blocking perspective, one of the biggest changes I made was setting aside time at the end of each day for reading emails instead of rushing through them between meetings." She reserves the first few hours of her morning for deep-focus work, avoiding low-energy administrative tasks during this peak productivity period. This approach has significantly enhanced her efficiency.
### 2. A Color-Changing, Moveable Lamp
To adhere to her schedule, Hirschhorn uses a portable accent light from Philips as a visual cue. Programmed by her assistant, the lamp helps her stay focused and transition smoothly between tasks without constantly checking the clock or calendar.
"The light is controlled via Bluetooth, with different colors assigned to various cues," she says. "Yellow means 15 minutes left in a meeting, orange indicates 5 minutes remaining, and red signals it's time to move on to my next commitment. Blue signifies focus time." By minimizing distractions like Slack or phone notifications during meetings, the lamp provides a seamless way to stay on track.
### 3. Organizing Life into Chapters
Hirschhorn prefers the term "work-life integration" over "work-life balance," acknowledging that achieving equilibrium daily or weekly isn't realistic. Instead, she organizes her life into chapters, creating emotional clarity around inevitable trade-offs.
"Balancing work and family as a CEO and mom of four requires strategic planning, clear boundaries, and storytelling," she notes. "Thinking about my life in chapters allows me to navigate these trade-offs more comfortably."
For instance, during her "Entrepreneurial Chapter," while building and scaling Frida, she prioritized work commitments, occasionally missing school performances and exercising less frequently. However, she maintained non-negotiable boundaries, ensuring she was present for important moments, such as tending to sick children or attending critical business meetings.
Now, in the "Scaling Frida" chapter, with older children and a growing team, Hirschhorn prioritizes being home for family dinners and helping with homework every night. She delegates certain business tasks to her team, allowing her to focus more on family life.
By embracing flexibility and thoughtful planning, Hirschhorn continues to thrive both personally and professionally, proving that success can be achieved through adaptability and prioritization.