Archive for the Executive women

Today, I had the great pleasure of a triathlon day made up of hiking, kayaking and waterskiing in a beautiful fall weather day. If you’ve been following along, you know I’m vacationing in the Adirondacks of New York. It was less than 40 degrees fahrenheit when I woke up today so the fact that it turned into such a great day was a true gift. During my kayaking adventure, I was paddling far ahead of my family enjoying the solitude and taking in the beauty of nature. I wasn’t thinking about work or much of anything at all. (This is unusual for me as I am gifted and tortured with a busy mind). This quiet time wasn’t destined to last and was interupted as I hear my husband talking to my daughter, “Great kayaking is all about great balance”, he says to her. I think, “Isn’t that the truth about everything?”. And it is, isn’t it? The key to almost any great challenge we face in life is moderation and balance. As working mothers, we’re probably the worst offenders to turning our heads to balance for ourselves. However, we must remember that everyone around us is tied to our balance. If we’re off kilter, we cause a domino effect for everyone else. Try to remember that. As a Six Figure Mom, likely a Type A personality, you are very powerful. If you don’t take care of yourself and protect your center, you can cause great waves of anxiety and unhappiness all around you. How great that you are so powerful but what responsibility that comes with. If you think this isn’t true, you’re kidding yourself.

Harvard Business Publications Blogs always have something great to read. I can’t do much more justice in describing this article other than to say to you, working moms, READ IT. The article eloquently delivers a discussion of the differences that still exist for working mothers in today’s modern world regardless of how much progress we’ve made since the days of the first feminist. Bottom line is, issues that would never be discussed if Sarah Palin was a male surface for her everyday of her political career. Whether you are a fan or not of this woman, as another mother, you have to empathize with the fact that she must fight this noise everyday spending her energy on it instead the real issues facing our world.

For several years, I’ve been saddened as the Starbucks, Gaps and Banana Republics of the world take over the mom and pop shops of local neighborhoods. The local charm and personality of every American city has slowly morphed into the same homogenized version so that you can’t really tell whether you’re in Hillcrest or Kansas City. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Starbucks fan right there with the rest of you. (In fact, I really like the book Pour Your Heart Into It, How Starbucks Built a Business One Cup at a Time as one of my favorite quotes about confidence and dealing with uncertainty comes from the author, Howard Shultz, Starbucks founder). However, in general, I’m not a fan of chain restaurants and I’d drive way out of my way on a business trip to experience local personality versus visit the same old Ruth Chris anyday.

Have you ever seriously thought about what you would do with your life if you won the lottery? If your answer is no, then I must ask you, WHY NOT? My prescription for you is to devote some quality time to this question and write a press release about yourself as if you won enough money to live the life of your dreams. I know some of you naysayers are shaking your heads and saying, “Why would I ever waste time working on something I know is unachievable? I’ll do that if and when I actually win”. Well, with that kind of attitude. It likely IS unachievable. But, if you can change you paradigm a bit and work with me here a little, we can have a little fun and develop a plan. Your mission is to visualize your dream life and then work backwords. You just might get closer than you think to your dream life. For example, my highlevel dream if financial resources were unconstrained consists of the following:

I was talking with a friend today who posed an interesting question. She said, “Ah, Labor Day, just like New Years.” I must have had a puzzled tone in my voice so she explained. “Don’t you remember that Labor Day was really like New Year’s Day when you were a kid and going back to school? Didn’t it signify the end of summer and the beginning of something new?”. Excellent point. She’s right. Labor Day is the start of a new era. The end of care free summer and the beginning of school days, responsibility, joyous holidays and family celebrations. In fact, I was swimming with a friend’s nine year old son the other day and he kept asking me if I wanted to hear what he had sent to Santa on his Christmas list. “Pierce!”, I said, “Your killing me, we’re swimming in the pool and all you can think about is Christmas and school hasn’t even started?”. I guess for him, Labor Day is certainly the start of a new era…the count down to St. Nick.

Last night, I had the great pleasure to visit with my friend, Kim Crumpler, award winning Style Coach and Owner of Uniquely Savvy based in Seattle. Kim runs her business with one of my favorite life flavors, she uses authenticity in people to help them build confidence in themselves through wardrobe selection. Kim is here in San Diego to attend a Buffini and Company seminar. That’s another thing I love about her. She consistently works on herself and personal development reaching further to know herself on a deeper level and to push herself.

If you’re in the coaching business like me, you hear people talking about life purpose all the time. Whether it’s other coaches or clients looking for a more meaningful life, seems like I’m talking about this topic at least once every day. As for me, I’m at a great place with life purpose. I feel like every single thing I’ve done in my career specifically served to lead me to this very moment. Yes, that’s a “whoa that’s big” statement. (For those of you who don’t know, I’m a recovering Telecom Professional, MBA, CPA type turned Executive Coach, Blogger, Writer, Speaker). Actually, I’m so happy with my career that I think my friends are getting a little sick of me and sometimes frightened by my delight. They are looking at me and going. “Ok, Missy. It’s great to be in your fabulous euphoria, but come back down here to Earth with the rest of us and tell us how to get from where we are to our next step”. Fair enough.

I received great comments both online and in person regarding my previous post, “Is It Easier to Solve The Quadratic Equation or Work LIfe Balance?“so I thought it worthy of further discussion.  Specifically, Jen Potter posted an interesting comment.  We’ll investigate further but first let me tell you a little about Jen and how I know her.  I ran into Jen last weekend.  We probably hadn’t seen each other in over four years.  We used to work together in a large accounting department.  Jen is one of those people that sparkles.  She has an incredible personal compass, pizazz and a personal style that gets her noticed and liked wherever she goes.  She’s also been dealing with life threatening health issues since childhood but she doesn’t let that get in her way.  To the contrary, she uses it as motivation to be strong and live her life cherishing each moment.  When I ran into Jen last weekend she introduced me to her daughter and we talked about her current situation as a part time worker.  She said she told her employer she had to have part time work or resign.  That was the only option she could accept so now she’s working part time.  Jen is an accounts payable employee and she’s out there bellying up to the bar and making change for future generations.  She’s a pioneer in creating her best life and forging a path for flexible work because she’s asking for what she needs and designing a life outside of the box for herself and her family.   What an example for the rest of us?

As for me, I think I’ll take the quadratic equation any day. Not that I love algebra but at least I know it’s solvable. I’m not sure work life balance is. Perhaps it seemingly is one day and then the next day something goes haywire. Did you ever see that pinball machine called Haywire? If you hit a certain bumper, everything goes crazy? That’s what my life feels like when I’m living the facade of work life balance and then one little thing gets tipped. For example, my daughter gets a virus and I have to cancel all of my appointments, then she gives it to me, and I cancel more appointments. You know the drill. Everything goes haywire.

Women consistently tell me, “I love your blog, but I just don’t think I fit as a Six Figure Mom”.  They tell me they aren’t working right now or they don’t make six figure salaries.  Ladies, regardless, YOU are the target.  You and all other moms that have worked, want to work, or are working now.  The thing you all have in common is that a professional career is ingrained in who you are… whether you work today, yesterday or tomorrow.