You Can Have it All
But there’s a catch…
This has been a challenging month for my family. I’m calling it the “When it rains it pours” month. Dozens of little challenges started accumulating and then it felt like everything was happening at once and I couldn’t keep up.
In just the last month we’ve experienced: back-to-back travel for work, my husband was in a minor car accident, our garage door broke on a holiday weekend, I was sick for 3 weeks with a cold, my son had a bad ear infection, a toothache required a dentist appointment, and on a trip to Costco, we discovered our car’s tire had been punctured by a random screw in the parking lot.
These and a host of other seemingly small, typically manageable inconveniences felt like they escalated to feeling overwhelming. It’s especially tough when you’re sick and trying to manage “all the things.” Maybe it’s Mercury in Retrograde, but my bandwidth has felt stretched to the limit.
I was looking forward to a coaching conference here in Austin two weeks ago, but after attending for half a day, I realized I needed to take care of myself and stay at home instead. I was disappointed, but taking care of my family and myself was more important.
However, I did pick up one timely and highly relevant piece of wisdom from the event. During her keynote, Natalie Ellis of BossBabe talked about being a busy working mom of a newborn who experienced burnout. She shared this valuable insight: “You can have it all, if you don’t do it all.”
Natalie talked about the importance of creating systems that keep you on track towards your goals, learning to ask for help, and delegating. She disclosed she even records videos of herself on Loom doing meal prep and posting to social media so her assistants can see exactly how she likes things done and can follow her demonstration.
In the midst of my “everything is happening at once” month, her message deeply resonated with me. And I started thinking of things that I can delegate or outsource so I don’t feel so overwhelmed.
We hired a house cleaner to come once a month and help with the toddler messes that take over the house. I downloaded an app that helps me with better meal prep. I was also told by a fellow attendee at the coaching conference that hiring a virtual assistant is a game changer, so I’m eager to learn more about that.
As busy professionals, I’m sure we can all benefit from looking at areas of our work and life where we could use more help and how we prioritize. In fact, one of the most common challenges I find when coaching leaders is their struggle to prioritize and delegate effectively. But if we want to reach higher levels of success, impact, and freedom, we have to learn to delegate and let go of things we may be skilled and experienced at doing.
Regardless of our systems and delegation, at times life can get overwhelming. That’s when a “this too shall pass” mentality can be truly beneficial. Understanding that your circumstances are temporary and will eventually shift can help provide a light at the end of the tunnel. And when we do experience challenging periods, it’s an invitation to examine how we can make changes that reduce the overwhelm.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant, and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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