Wisdom For Working Mums

In this episode I interview Vicky Higgin, Chief Information Officer for a global organisation. She shares her honest insights into what it takes to have a corporate leadership role, which often means she's working across timezones and having to travel internationally, whilst raising two daughters...... and doing a Master's Degree.

She shares her insights into the strategies and approach that enable her to thrive as a busy working mum.

Raising children whilst managing a career, running a house and trying to enjoy life means that most working mums are caught in a time trap.

We're either fighting time because there's never enough of it! Running out of time, trying to find more time, or feeling guilty if we take any downtime. Our relationship with time can be one of the most difficult relationships we'll ever have!

If like me over your career you've probably read every time management book out there, been on a few productivity and time management training courses and tried numerous planning and diary management tools. Many of these approaches just give us a different way to write our to-do list and some give us another stick to beat ourselves up with for not being good enough at managing our time.

Here at Wisdom For Working Mums we're all about revolutionising how we approach motherhood, work and our lives so we can do it more sustainably and without losing our sanity. And today's guest does just that and I'm really excited to share her and her work with you.

Catherine Blyth is a journalist, writer, editor and mother. In her book she combines cutting-edge science and psychology to show why time seems to run away from us and then provides us with the tools to get it back!

She has put her love of the English language to incredible use for us working mums by writing this book on how we can enjoy time, stop rushing and get more done.

In her book she explains thanks to technology our relationship with time has altered profoundly. And that we need to take better care of the quality of our time, particularly as working mums. She argues that enjoying time is not a simple question of being more productive or seeking ways to escape it's pressures. During this conversation she shares with us how we can transform our experience of time and refine the rhythm of our lives.

Having children changes us, changes our partners and changes our relationships. It changes the way we interact with each other. Whether it's because:

• we're sleep deprived
• or we have different parenting styles
• or we've experienced an identity shift (from wife to mother, or husband to father) or being lovers to becoming parents
• or just the mundane tasks of parenting consume our time and energy

The impact of becoming parents can be tough on the relationship we have with our partner. Add in a demanding career, and things can get very tricky to maintain a loving and successful relationship with our partners.

When we have children we have to work harder to keep our relationship strong and healthy. We have to become intentional about how we connect.

So this week's guest is a relationship expert and has a huge amount of experience working with couples who are struggling. Nicki Vee has trained with some of the world's top relationship experts.

Nicki and her husband Tony are known at the 'Relationship Couple'. They work with couples whose relationships have deteriorated. Tony & Nicki are often referred to as the UK's leading 'Relationship Couple' assisting couples experience what they describe as 'The Ultimate Intimate Relationship'.

As a working mum with two failed marriages, and now a very successful third marriage, she has some powerful insights to share with us from her own journey.

Having children changes us, changes our partners and changes our relationships. It changes the way we interact with each other. Whether it's because:

• we're sleep deprived
• or we have different parenting styles
• or we've experienced an identity shift (from wife to mother, or husband to father) or being lovers to becoming parents
• or just the mundane tasks of parenting consume our time and energy

The impact of becoming parents can be tough on the relationship we have with our partner. Add in a demanding career, and things can get very tricky to maintain a loving and successful relationship with our partners.

When we have children we have to work harder to keep our relationship strong and healthy. We have to become intentional about how we connect.

So this week's guest is a relationship expert and has a huge amount of experience working with couples who are struggling. Nicki Vee has trained with some of the world's top relationship experts.

Nicki and her husband Tony are known at the 'Relationship Couple'. They work with couples whose relationships have deteriorated. Tony & Nicki are often referred to as the UK's leading 'Relationship Couple' assisting couples experience what they describe as 'The Ultimate Intimate Relationship'.

As a working mum with two failed marriages, and now a very successful third marriage, she has some powerful insights to share with us from her own journey.

We receive so many cultural messages about bouncing back after giving birth. That the goal is to achieve our pre-baby body as quickly as possible. However most women I speak with struggle to recover from giving birth and many suffer with postnatal complications months, if not years, later. Pelvic floor and trampolines anyone?!

In this episode I interview my go to person for my physical health and wellbeing. She is the lady that put my body back together after both of my children. She's helped me to go from devastating health problems to feeling strong and functionally fit.

Beth Gardner from Shropshire Holistic Health and Performance is a Corrective Exercise Coach and KORE Therapist, also specialising in Pilates and Yoga. She's worked with Premiership football clubs and elite athletes but her real passion is supporting women achieve full health and wellbeing on their journey of motherhood. In this episode she shares her unique approach to women's health combining Western and Eastern approaches.

Do you struggle to have enough energy to do the things you want and need to do? If 2019 is the year that you've resolved to improve your health, energy and wellbeing then the latest episode of the Wisdom For Working Mums' podcast is for you!

As achievement orientated working mums who care deeply about our family and our work, we often achieve all this at the detriment to our health and wellbeing. This week's podcast episode is a must listen if:

• the mere task of getting through the day and your never ending to-do-list leaves you feeling exhausted
• you have no time to catch your breath and the nearest you get to pampering is a when the steam from your coffee smacks you in the face!

I interview Jo Gamble from Embracing Nutrition. Jo is a Nutritional Therapist and certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. Her passion is working with clients who have complex health symptoms to empower them back to health.

She's the woman who I credit for helping me transform from merely surviving as a busy working mum to thriving. She has literally transformed mine and my family's health. I think she's amazing and if you want to find out why then tune in to my interview with her.

Every day we are navigating relationships with other people. Be it our children, our spouse, our work colleagues, customers, friends, family members, neighbours….the list goes on. Unless these relationships are going well they can be a huge source of stress for us. How we respond when inevitable conflict arises in our relationships can be vital to us thriving.

This week's guest is a world class expert on human behaviour, specialising in communication and influencing. Julie French is co-founder of The Academy of High Achievers. She shares how we can communicate more effectively so we can get our needs met and dramatically improve the quality of our relationships and interactions.

Our emotions play such a huge part in motherhood; whether it be feeling overwhelmed, mother's guilt or feeling like we're not doing a good enough job. How we manage our emotions can make the difference in how much we are able to thrive as a working mum. In this episode psychologist, emotional intelligence expert and working mother Sarah Speers shares her experience and expertise on emotional intelligence for working mums.

We discuss the common challenges for working mums and her own experiences of returning to work after having her children. Sarah shares proven strategies and tools that can help us thrive.

At some point we will have to deal with the inevitable but heartbreaking consequences of bereavement with our children. Whether sudden or expected, few life events have a greater impact on families than the death of a loved one. It could be losing a beloved family pet, a grandparent or even sadly a parent. Most of us probably feel ill equipped to have conversations with our children about death. Talking to our children about the death of someone close may be the hardest thing we'll ever have to do. Finding a way to do this which supports our children navigate their grief and express it is important. So we will be exploring some useful insights into how you might do this.