Work-Life Flow

In today’s episode with Tiffany Clarke, we talk about how important it is to embrace the person you are right now and take decisions from a place of possibility. Tiffany urges us to listen to our small voice and make it part of our life. She shares how she leads her family taking into account the different personalities of each family member, their changing needs, and that they make decisions to find the best solution for the time they are in.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about…

• Why we need to learn to embrace who we are and learn to love ourselves
• How branding sessions can help small businesses stand out with their individuality
• Why starting a business is like having a baby
• The beauty of being present with women in their moment of empowerment
• How homeschooling can support entrepreneurship, especially if you’re working evening hours
• The importance of creating a support system to reach work-life balance
• Why work-life integration can be tricky to reach with entrepreneurship 
• That we make a conscious decision what we put our time and energy into
• How the pandemic impacted the homeschool community and work time
• Why homeschooling lends itself to honor different personalities and learning styles
• Expect your partner to chip in and take on responsibilities
• That respecting someone comes with expecting them to do things

Today’s episode is a deep-dive into the journey from “Mom-nesia”, as Tracy calls it, to reconstructing your true self. Tracy shares her FAB framework she uses to help moms rediscover themselves and live richer lives and surprisingly it touches on a lot of leadership concepts. 

We also explored the possibility that our societal expectations and schooling might be the reason why we don’t know who we are until we start peeling back these layers and are brave enough to become who we were meant to be.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about…

• Why we have to start with self-awareness first.
• How being authentic and true to yourself is important in leading a life you love.
• Tracy’s FAB framework - Focus, Align and Become.
• Why knowing your vision, your why is the key step to reaching your goals.
• Aligning your thoughts and actions with your core values and who you wish to become.
• How using the word “shifting” can help reframe our state of mind from helpless to powerful. 
• How we could use our future selves to be our inner mentors.  
• Why most vision boards fail and what to focus on instead.
• Knowing and setting boundaries around work is key for Tracy’s Work-Life Flow
• That her family decides together and has a chore-chart to run the household more efficiently.
• Tracy and her husband plan their calendar every six months, to make sure to get the most important things on the calendar.

LINKS MENTIONED
Tracy's Website
Tracy on Facebook
Tracy on Instagram

Today I wanted to share part of my journey to becoming who I am today. Here, I want to focus on some key moments that helped me find my voice and I hope they’ll inspire you to embrace your transformation.   

I learned that through losing myself in motherhood, I created the space to truly find myself. And I wish the same for you: Embrace the change. Take time to truly heal. Approach the new YOU with curiosity. And when you BECOME YOUR true self, celebrate every minute of it.

I learned in prenatal yoga that every one of us has a story and we can learn from each other. So, please share your story, you never know who needed to hear it. If you feel like sharing your story, you can tag me on Instagram @kerstin_kirchsteiger or DM or email me.

I am here to humbly listen.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What I want you to take away from this episode is that:

• We all have our stories and sharing them can empower others
• The right time is when we feel it to be the right time.
• The power of reconnecting to our intuition.
• I am grateful for everything I went through.
• We need to learn to recognize trauma and take time to heal.
• I learned that I am stronger than I thought.
• Sometimes speaking up for someone else leads us to speak up for ourselves.
• How to embrace the transformation.
• How not having family nearby helped me find my parenting style and myself.
• That asking for help is a sign of strength.
• That boundaries are healthy and necessary.

Today’s episode is all about how to find fierce friends, nurture these relationships and create more work-life integration in doing so. Emily shares her thoughts on what true friendship means, and how to find these meaningful friendships we all crave. She shares how she has built up a village of friends from scratch through two trans-country moves and gives some great advice for how to strike up the first conversation with a stranger to creating an opportunity for connection without coming off creepy.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about…

• That we all yearn for more connection, but our mindset stops us from reaching out.
• The importance of modeling healthy relationships to our kids.
• How to start a conversation that leads to low-pressure opportunities for repeat encounters.
• Emily shares some scripts for conversation starters.
• That planning and scheduling a meet-up could be what holds us back from creating more opportunities for friend-time.
• How “automating” repeat meet-ups help keep the friendship alive, much like the concept of “Stammtisch”. 
• The importance of creating low-barrier opportunities for new friendships to grow.
• Emily shares her “open door” approach to Wednesday family dinners.
• Examples of how introverts can recharge after reaching out to new friends. 
• Why it might be harder for extroverts to create deeper, lasting relationships and how to balance that out. 
• How Emily and her husband create “morning-meeting/dates” to plan their work-life balance, goals, and direction as a family.
• That it is ok to have a different friend “pockets”.

LINKS MENTIONED
The Connected Mom Life Website
The Connected Mom Life Instagram 

Today’s episode is all about how we moms can make sure to not lose ourselves with the onset of motherhood. Elle shares her coaching approach to creating a meaningful and fulfilled life without short-changing yourself in the process. We chat about how important it is to feel whole and to make space for the person we were before kids in order to integrate that into the new season of life.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about…

• How our expectations set us up for disappointment.
• What a manifesto is and how to use it to set a strong foundation.
• That the idea of motherhood currently is focused too heavily on the kids and why we need to shift that focus to the mom.
• Why Elle thinks we’re selling ourselves short if we don’t step into our leadership state at home.
• That a true leader is aware of who he/she is and realizes the potential they are surrounded by.
• Why we should not be afraid of other’s opinions at work.

LINKS MENTIONED
The Simplified Mom Method
Elle Starr Smith Website
Elle Starr Smith on Instagram
Elle Starr Smith on Facebook
When Mom Rise Facebook Group 

Today’s episode is about the opportunity to create your own schedule with virtual assistant offerings, be it to support your business or start your own. Bai-Leigh shares helpful strategies to define clear boundaries around work-life balance. She shares how our mindset can make or break a business and calls on our courage to seek the uncomfortable if we seek personal and/or business growth.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)
 
What we’re talking about...

• Why you should not wait until you feel ready, and what to do instead.
• How Bai-Leighs experience growing up led her to hire moms for her business to support their work-life integration.
• Who VA work could be a great fit for.
• How to get started and grow in the virtual assistant (VA) sector.
• Why having a vision for your life is the best tool to get back on track with work-life balance.

LINKS MENTIONED
Valley Virtual Assistance
Valley Virtual Academy
Bai-Leigh on Instagram
Bai-Leigh on Facebook

Today’s episode is a call to all companies to create an inclusive work environment so working parents can be professionally accomplished rather than feel overlooked and undervalued. Debi shares her story about her return to work after her first child was born. The pushback and discrimination she faced made her become an active agent in working parents right through the creation of Villyge. 

The biggest takeaway from this is that lifting up 50% of your workforce will have an incredibly positive effect on your company. It will create a company culture where everyone feels welcome to follow their dreams, may it be marathon running, fulfilling their dream, being a parent and happy employees will always be willing to go the extra mile. Debi shares that employers should approach working parent’s adjustments as an investment into the company rather than mere compliance in D&I.

 4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about...

• How to support working parents better, so they can bring their full potential to work.
• Debi’s start as Lactation Counselor and Consultant.
• A happier employee has an increase in productivity up to 12-15% experts have calculated.
• The importance of setting up standards and objective criteria for evaluating the performance of working parents 
• Setting up a system creates a culture of support for all employees
• In any company, we work in teams, and the teams are only as strong as the weakest link. By taking care of 50% of your workforce you’ll automatically create an environment of support for all your employees.
• How to role model proper work-life boundaries to your kids
• If you’re not client-facing, you may choose your work hours. 
• I set goals and make sure these goals are accomplished.
• How Debi uses a shared calendar with her kids to make sure they knew her availability or to add their needed time slots.
• The necessity for conversations with her teenage kids about work-life balance with remote schooling during the pandemic. 

LINKS MENTIONED
Villyge Website
Villyge Twitter
Villyge Instagram
Villyge Facebook
Villyge LinkedIn
Debi Yadegari LinkedIn

For the New Year, I wanted to bring on a special guest, he’s our first man on the show and a huge ally to women who want to bring their whole selves to work without sacrificing family. I had heard Kyle speak about the 4 day work week and wanted to explore this more in regards to more flexible work culture, but our conversation was so much more. We talk about what it really means to be an authentic leader, we talk about leaning into uncertainty and creating and living the life you crave. 
       
I was blessed to have had the opportunity to interview Kyle and am honored to share his story with you.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about...

• What the driving force behind Kyle’s change of company culture was
• How we could see who leaders really were by looking at their choices and actions during the pandemic
• Why employees should play the trump card and choose who to work for
• Lessons he learned from his Extreme Sports and applied to his life as an individual and his organization
• Kyle shares how the pandemic has changed and impacted his wife’s professional goals
• That even under the most extreme circumstances we always have the power to choose
• The one question to ask yourself as a business owner when hiring people

LINKS MENTIONED
Legacy On Purpose Podcast
Legacy On Purpose Website
Legacy On Purpose Instagram
Legacy On Purpose Facebook
The I AM Journal 

In this last episode before the new year, I wanted to share my view on Emotional Intelligence and Leadership training for individuals who are not necessarily considered leaders in their job. They may or may not yet have climbed the ranks. 

Looking back at this year, a lot of us have had the opportunity to turn inside and redefine our values. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2021 and to crushing your personal and professional goal in the new year!

Insta @kerstin_kirchsteiger

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

A few days back I did some research on whether it would be appealing to working moms to be considered the leader of their home. 

And the backlash was unexpected and enormous. Comments were: “I am already the leader at work. I want my home to feel nurturing”, “I am done leading after a full day of work”, “My partner and I work together, no-one leads”.

This made me think. What does being a leader mean to them? Why do they have such a negative connotation with leadership? So I started to google the term “leader”
And then I turned inside. Why do we have such a negative connotation with leadership? Is it because most of us have grown up in a system where the teachers, the authorities, the parents held a power position over us most of our lives? 

Is it because schools have taught us to obey and follow rules, rather than foster independent thinking and valuing collaboration, where knowledge was more important than curiosity or exploration, where taking risks was punished? 

Do these experiences of powerlessness get triggered when I say “become the leader of your home”? Maybe that mom couldn’t fathom that they wish to be “nurturing in your home” is absolutely possible while being a leader. Maybe it is a lack of good leadership we experienced in our lives.

The question remains, how do we shift what leadership means to us?
A thought that crossed my mind was that we have to move from “power over” to “power with”.  

One of my core beliefs in my business manifesto is: “Being a mom is the most difficult, yet rewarding leadership position you’ll ever have.”

What does leadership mean to me? This is the definition I came up with:

Leader: A person who recognizes the potential of others and inspires them to reach it by recognizing people’s strengths and helping them develop skills. Always looking to grow in their own development. Questioning the status quo, breaking out of the mold, creative thinker and self-directed learner. Making confident decisions and taking responsibility for all of the results they create in their life.

What if I told you that this is my definition of an emotionally intelligent leader? Does it make more sense now when I say we should be leaders in our own homes? Is the shift from “power over” to “power with” clear enough? 

A shift from authoritarian parenting where obedience is key and punishment is a go-to to authoritative parenting, where relationships are valued and the rules are firm, kind, and clear.

It also doesn’t exclude co-parenting or co-leading with your partner. On the contrary, it would be a model where the parents and children work together as a team. Where the parents would lead the team in a way that everyone gets a voice at the table (in an age-appropriate way). 

Read more

“The Leadership Flag” blog post

For the holiday season, I wanted to bring some calm and joy. This is why today’s episode is all about how to integrate small acts of self-care into your life. 

We chat about how Bridget has navigated the challenges of the pandemic; the shift in work-life flow it brought for her family as well as the inception of her new program “Self-Care Small Bites”. We chat about our refusal to propagate martyrdom as a badge of honor for moms if we want our kids to grow up in a more equal society. Listen until the end and enjoy a guided “self-care small bite”.

We also discuss how we make it a point to show our kids that we moms have passions. That we are people who need to take care of ourselves before caring for others. Bridget shares about using yoga techniques in her classroom creating a much kinder atmosphere. She also shares about her supportive husband helping her navigate work-life balance while she is busy doing a range of projects. 

4 Must-Have Checklists for Your Kids so You Can Sit Back and Relax (While They get Ready on Their Own)

What we’re talking about...

• The immediate positive transformations she saw in her students when she introduced yoga in her classroom. 
• How her supportive partner helps her navigate work-life integration while doing different projects.
• That homeschooling brings a lot of flexibility but certainly looked very different during the pandemic lockdown.
• The challenges of homeschooling during this pandemic when kids are at home and both parents work from home.
• What is “self-care small bite” is all about and how can it help you as a mom.
• That you have to give the best to yourself to be able to give the best to your family. 
• That there are many types of meditation, not only sitting still in silence.
• Meditation is about centering and focusing on what you need at that moment and not holding on to what you don’t need.
• Delegating will help you achieve your work-life balance. 
• You don’t have to feel less like a mom if you are passing duties to your husband. 
• That social equality starts at home. 
• It is important for our kids to see that we are passionate, that we love what we do.
• The importance of experiencing a mindful activity that will put you back into the moment before you move on with your day. 

LINKS MENTIONED
Survivetothrivemamas Website
Survivetothrivemamas Instagram
Survivetothrivemamas Facebook