Kristen Cavallari's sole focus is her kids when they're in her care.
Kristin Cavallari
The 34-year-old star has split custody of Camden, eight, Jaxon, seven, and Saylor, five, with estranged husband Jay Cutler - who she split from last year after seven years of marriage - so uses the weeks the trio are with their dad to throw herself into her work and friendships so that she doesn't need to think about anything else when they're with her.
Speaking to Grazia Gazette: The Hamptons, she said: "I only have my kids half the time now. I have them every other week. I have just decided that the week I have my kids, I'm mom. I'm not doing anything else.
"I have a week off where I can go to dinner every night with my friends if I want to. I can work really hard if I need to. I can stay at the office later if I need to.
"But when I have my kids, I'm not doing anything else."
The Uncommon James founder thinks she's found a "great" work-life balance and is thrilled with the success of her jewellery and apparel line, which has now expanded to include beauty.
She gushed: "I'm so happy right now! The jewellery is doing incredible, skincare did, and I want to open up another store, too, next year. I'm loving it, and I feel like my work-life balance is at a really great place at the moment.
"I'm just feeling very thankful and very happy with where I'm at. For so many years, for me, everything was the future: like, 'OK, I need to be doing X, Y, and Z in 2022. And then I want to do this and then I want that.' I wasn't living in the moment. Now I'm just sort of letting life happen.
"That's not to say that I don't have goals. "I'm enjoying the whole process: the good, bad, the ugly. It's all part of life, and that's why we're here."
The 'Very Cavallari' star signed a pre-nuptial agreement when she married Jay to protect his NFL earnings, but she insisted she's never wanted to live off a man's fortune.
She said: "I've always had this work ethic in me and I've always wanted to make my own money.
"It has always been really important to me because I never wanted to rely on anybody. To me, money was freedom. It was independence.
"I probably got that from my parents being divorced. My stepmom was 20 years younger than my dad. I didn't like that situation. … I remember my dad saying, 'You know, you don't have to have a job.' And I was like, 'No, I know. But I want one.' I've always wanted to make my own money and be my own person."