It’s my anniversary, 20+ years this month, and it really just spurred to me to talk a little bit about work/life balance and what I’ve learned in that time in having a business for over 24 years now.
The whole concept of work/life balance can be challenging for anyone. I like to refer to business owners as spiritually persistent entrepreneurs, you know, it is really about persistence, and especially as women, we are going to have things come up, and we have to manage it all at the same time. Dr. Oz calls women the Chief Family Officer, CFO.
So, if you’re a woman with a business or you’re working outside the home, I’m not sure why, but most often, in my experience, the woman is still kind of the catalyst, the coordinator of various things. And so, when you have this whole idea you have your own business, so you really feel that you need to be there for your business, absolutely, but there’s also this kind of Chief Family Officer idea.
Early on, I came to the real conclusion that one of the reasons I wanted to have a business is so that I could have some flexibility, that if I needed to do something during the day that I really had an opportunity to do that. And one of the things I am so grateful for is I attract amazing clients and colleagues that really understand that, as a woman having a business and having a family and having things happen, we have to have flexibility.
I just really want to encourage you to be okay with the idea that at times you will need to be a little bit flexible in your business with clients, team members, and yourself. I am transparent from the start, I tell all my podcast guests, because we record things in an audio way, I always tell them “Listen, if something comes up in your life, just email me or text me. It’s 30-45 minutes of my life and I just really want to be supportive for you and I understand that things can happen and rather we can reschedule for a better time.”
One of the things I’d like to share with you, in the idea of work/life balance, is first of all, just be okay with the fact that sometimes you are going to need to be flexible. You are going to need to perhaps to reschedule something. If I need to reschedule a client on short notice, some kind of emergency or something I have to take care of that there isn’t any other way for me to do it other than to reschedule, I always offer them extra time, like another session with me for their inconvenience. It is my way of “giving” and thanking them. They know that even when they have sessions with me, I always provide more too.
I want you to think about what your idea of work/life balance is. When I am working with my mentor clients, I often find they feel it’s an elusive kind of thing. They’re trying to really feel the “I can do it all. I can do everything.” And though we can do it all and we can do everything not all at the same time. And we have to prioritize. We really do have to prioritize.
I had one podcast guest, it was a couple, and they came on to do the recording together. We do prerecordings, and I could just tell the energy was off. Something was not clicking, and it felt off. I asked about it, and the man said, “We may need to be putting our dog of 20 years down. And I’m just really feeling—it’s really impacting me.” And I said, “You know what? Why don’t we just reschedule this? I want you to feel supported. I want you to feel aligned. And truly, I care about you as a person, and I want you to feel that it’s okay. It’s really okay.”
He was so taken aback because for him, there's this mentality that, no matter what, the show must go on, and no matter what, we have to do things. And I agree. We need to make our commitments. We need to honor those. But as in every junction of life there are always “special circumstances” that need to be handled first over any commitments in order for the “committed” thing to be perfect.
I want you to take a moment and think about a bit of a mindset shift in how you look at and approach being flexible and work/life balance… which is that you attract people/colleagues/clients/customers that really are aligned with the idea of supporting you fully in whatever it is that you need to do or whatever it is that you need support on and to really let go of this idea of this perfection, that we have to be perfect.
You know? When I said to him “You know? It’s really okay. It’s 30 minutes of my life. I can reschedule it right now. I just want you to feel supported.” He really just got choked up because he said, “I’ve never felt that way before with a colleague.” And we really had developed a wonderful relationship and they’ve provided many people to be on my podcast.
We’re all part of a soul family. So, I want you to just really think about this and think about the whole idea of work/life balance, and really, to open your perspective that you’ve really got to be gentle with yourself and things will happen. And especially for us women, in my experience, oftentimes, we’re the one that is available, or we’re the one that really feels a sense of we need to coordinate things, and things happen.
So, I just know that one of the most important things you can do in a situation where you need help and support to bring balance to something in your life or work, is call in that team, that inner guidance. Ask that inner guidance to support you so that whatever it is that you’re dealing with, if it’s an emergency or it’s a situation that just can’t be avoided for you, to be able to—you need to reschedule or whatever you need to do, is that really that it aligns up and that there’s a divine solution for everyone.
Because your business is really there to provide you with freedom, to provide you with flexibility, to provide you with support. And so, my intention, and I’m holding this as an activation, that you attract colleagues, clients, people, support people, that really are fully there for you and that you are fully there for them.
So, take a moment now and let’s just call in that energy of support. Let’s breathe in the energy of support and breathe out anything less than that. Breathe in your ability to just navigate whatever life throws at you, your family, your business throws at you. Now, you’re not doing it by yourself. And breathe out anything less than that.
We call this BOLT. It’s a process. And I’ve recorded some activations that use this process of BOLT, and you can find out more about those, and really, I’ve created some that I call Divine Prescriptions. So, whatever it is that you need some support on to activate, to align with a Divine Solution, you can kind of pick that as a prescription/whatever. And they’re about 11 minutes long and they really are so valuable for me and I’m so grateful that they came through me then to offer to other people.
I’m really grateful for you and for you, and I see you living a life of love and joy and peace and health and prosperity in all ways always. You truly are a spiritually-persistent entrepreneur, and I would love to hear more about your insights and what resonated with you about what I felt guided to share with you here today. Feel free to join us in our Facebook Group, The Spiritually Persistent Entrepreneur and share your thoughts there and we can communicate with you and support you!
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