Eva Longoria has a new interview with Yahoo! Life talking about her life at home with son Santi, four, and her husband of seven years, Jose Baston. They all make breakfast together in the mornings, Santi helps, and Eva has charts for him so he knows what’s expected and what parts of his day he can control. After that Eva goes about her very efficient day. She’s a bit self congratulatory about how much she gets accomplished while carving out time to spend with her family. At first I found that haughty, but it sounds like it’s her life’s philosophy so I get that. Eva is all about productivity and making sure you’re not wasting time. She’s helping address childhood hunger through her partnership with Kellogg’s and she has a bunch of projects she’s working on, including her podcast, the Flamin’ Hot movie and a CNN series. Here’s more from that interview:
“My husband calls me a sergeant sometimes,” she says. “We have little pictures and little charts for [Santiago] and he gets a sticker when he completes things and if you go out of order, he’ll correct you. He’s like ‘no it’s brushing teeth and then books’ and you’re like ‘yup, yup, you’re right.’”
She considers herself a strict mom, but allows her son to feel in control with freedom to make some choices and express himself. Brushing teeth is a must, but what toothbrush he uses is up to him. Eating vegetables is a non-negotiable, but he gets to decide if it’s broccoli, cauliflower or spinach.
“Allowing him to pick his clothes in the morning, go for it. I don’t care if it matches. I don’t care if socks stick out. I don’t care if you want to wear two different shoes,” Longoria says. “I think that’s important. They have autonomy and they feel like they’re in control of their lives and they are making decisions for themselves and it makes them feel empowered.”
The routines and a supportive team help Longoria balance all the plates she’s juggling…
“I am really good at prioritizing and I’m very efficient,” Longoria says while conducting a Zoom interview and doing a required daily COVID test for work purposes. “I’m not on Instagram hours a day. Who has time to be on Instagram hours a day? If I’m in traffic I do all my calls in the car because when I get home I want to be with Santi. I don’t want to be on the phone. I don’t want to be on the computer. People are always amazed at how much I can get done in a day. Time is my greatest wealth. I’m either spending my time, wasting my time or investing my time, so I try to invest my time.”
I really like that last quote above, that time is wealth and you have to use it wisely like money. I get a lot done in a day but I definitely struggle with this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled an addictive match 3 game on my phone. I know it’s a waste of time but it’s hard to put down. Eva is proud of managing her time precisely and of not wasting time on Instagram scrolling mindlessly. I suspect a lot of very successful people are like this but don’t reveal the effort they put in to managing their lives. Also, I’ve listened to Eva’s podcast and it’s so well edited and produced. Whatever she’s doing, it’s working.
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon and via Instagram
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