Work-Life Flow

In this episode, we explore mom guilt and how to come to terms with wanting to be more than “just” a mom. Jessica shares how starting to work for her husband’s marketing department opened a whole new world of exploring new interests. She rediscovered herself after having lost a bit of her identity to motherhood. She shares how her coaching framework can help her clients take the next step to self-fulfillment.

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 you need to jump in order to fly - Make time to rediscover yourself, because self-realization is what ultimately will let you shed the guilt and be the mom you always wanted to be. My guest's keys to finding work-life integration are establishing boundaries with her kids, so she can be more present when it’s family time and has turned her passion into her work.

Get your Free Guide to setting Boundaries

What we’re talking about...

• That you shouldn’t feel inhibited by what others might think of you and your choices 
• Why we moms can let go of guilt when looking at self-care as a way of taking care of others. 
• How wanting to express yourself through your work is a form of self-care.
• How living your life to the fullest can benefit the family as a whole.
• That you have to jump in order to fly
• Why setting boundaries is key to being present.
• That you should have a bunch of babysitters on speed dial
• Not feeling yourself 

LINKS MENTIONED
Jessica’s website
Jesicca on Instagram

Today’s episode is a call to all companies to create a safe work environment for their employees, to invite dialogue, and offer to understand. It is also a call to employees to speak up and share their needs so companies can offer support and create relevant programs for their employees.

We’re getting really vulnerable about what it means to bring your whole and authentic self to work. We talk about the impact the pandemic has had on our mental health. Brace yourself for a very vulnerable and authentic conversation that hopefully opens the doors to more meaningful conversations and our minds to possibilities not yet thought of.

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

Lauren shared her perspective on how “Toss the Headshot” has sparked deep, meaningful conversations about work culture. She urges us to question our beliefs about appearances and focus on the skills and value we bring to the company.

And more importantly, she offers a hopeful view into the future of corporate company culture.

Get your Free Guide to setting Boundaries

What we’re talking about...

• How an introspective moment about her identity turned into a viral post on LinkedIn.
• Why we should question our beliefs about appearances and focus on the skills and value you bring to the company.
• Why now it is more important than ever to ask your employer what you need, so they can offer programs, adjustments, and flexibility and meet you where you’re at.
• We are challenging the perception of how we have to behave on LinkedIn or at work in general.
• Opened up so many deeper conversations and sparked important dialogue about the rules for professionalism.
• How her post created a space for conversations about biases and how we make sure to make equitable decisions.
• Why connecting to your co-workers and managers on a deeper level could be extremely powerful and liberating.
• How being vulnerable creates a connection in the workplace: be it showing yourself without make-up, or sharing our struggles with our “new normal”.
• We talk about getting help if you struggle with your mental health, there is no one that’s not been touched by this pandemic.
• Workplaces need to be a safe place, where our teammates have our back.
• Lauren shares how she had to switch from her preferred method of work-life separation to work-life integration during the pandemic.
• How she set boundaries by blocking off time on the shared work calendar for pick-up times. 

LINKS MENTIONED
Tosstheheadshot.com
Lauren’s LinkedIn

 In this episode, we talk about how we can pursue our dreams and passions all the while being a mom. Anissa shares that living her values and giving her kids a voice in setting their family up for success. Her kids get to experience their mom’s passion and a dad who’s involved in every part of family life.

When Anissa decided to go back to school her family had to make major adjustments. She shares with us that she prefers rhythm over hard set schedules, but with her going back to school she needed to adjust to an external schedule with deadlines.

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

To make all the moving parts fit, her family uses shared calendars, so everyone is in the know of what needs to happen. The use of an appointment scheduling app
where she can choose what days to offer availability to her clients, helped her be more present in family time. Her husband, who is working evening shifts, is a true co-parent. He is involved in every aspect of childrearing, as well as homeschooling them.

With the flexibility of homeschooling and Anissa’s Doula work, they created their “Weekends” in the middle of the week to be able to interact as a family, because of her husband’s weekend shifts. She also shares how her extended family is a key piece to making her career choice a reality in the case of birth when her husband is working as well.  

Get your Free Guide to setting Boundaries

What we’re talking about...

• How being clear on your values gives you direction and perspective and helps remind yourself that this part is not forever. 
• How important it is to have an involved co-parent in every aspect of life..
• Why her back-to-school schedule with strict deadlines made their work-life balance more challenging.
• Why we should not assume all the responsibilities are on us and how to offer opportunities to get involved to our partners.
• How using three calendars and a scheduling app helps Anissa with being present on her off days.
• Anissa’s preference for rhythm rather than schedule and why going back to school has been challenging.
• That with our family vision in mind, we can be more compassionate with ourselves and others.
• That it is important to consciously carve out time for what is important to you.
• Why with kids home all day, it’s important to weigh off expenses and benefits of office space.

LINKS MENTIONED
Annissa’s Little Star Birth Services Instagram
Annisa’s Facebook
doulaanissa.com

In today’s episode, we take a deep dive into self-care and self-awareness. We talk about why moms find it difficult to justify self-care and how it really is a sign of valuing yourself. Kristen shares her expertise on how to listen to and interpret our body’s signals through a guided meditation in order to let go of the trauma and be living in the present moment. She also walks us through how to find purpose in the smaller, menial tasks of life by looking at the bigger picture.

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 self-care is really an investment and a way of valuing yourself
• That Yoga is so much more than a workout and doing some poses if you bring that piece of mindfulness to it.
• That our body talks to us and how to listen to it. 
• How mindfulness can help with letting go of the spiral of self-judgment and criticism
• That feeling stuck has something to do with not being in the future projection where we want to be.
• The mind can be muddled with, but not the body.
• That all it takes sometimes is ONE breath for you to reset.

LINKS MENTIONED
Kristen’s Thrive Program
Kristen’s Embodied Living on Instagram
Kristen’s Single Moms Professionals FB group
Kristen’s Single Mom Professionals on Instagram
Kristen’s Every Day Sutras on Instagram

Today’s episode is all about my approach to finding a work-life integration that’s right for you and your family. I think in terms of these 3 Pillars: the first pillar is YOU, the second YOUR FAMILY, and the third YOUR WORK. When trying to reach work-life integration these play into each other, as they are the biggest moving parts. Depending on the season one might have a higher priority than the other. 

Most approaches to work-life balance talk about setting priorities and time management. And while these are definitely skills that help you become more efficient, I believe that the key to unlocking work-life integration is to leverage your leadership and communication skills. By showing up as a leader, with a clear vision and values you can inspire the people around you to achieve their highest potential. My preferred leadership style is using your emotional intelligence to create better relationships because empathy and compassion will create belonging and result in better communication. 

10 Easy, Screen-Free Hacks To Keep Kids Entertained

(1) YOU - You create a Vision for yourself and your life. In this step, it’s important to turn inside and think about what is important to you, your values so to speak.  What are your professional goals? What do you envision as family time? What qualities do you want your children to exhibit as adults? Where do you see your relationship with your partner in 3, 5,10 years? My approach is to look at your real-life circumstances (your work, be it part-time, full-time, or self-employed, your income, your expenses), then integrate your values and take your vision to start building out a process to get you moving towards your vision.

(2) Your family - I want you to think about them as your team and leverage their strengths.  Chores can be seen as teamwork and free up some of your time to spend with your children. So they can see the direct effect their help has on my ability to be with them.

(3) Your Work -  What is your professional goal? Income goal?  Do you need to be working full-time? Would flexible hours be an option? Remote working? 

What we’re talking about...

• Why I believe that work-life balance is more about thriving relationships (yourself, your family, and work) and less about time-management.
• What questions to ask yourself when defining your values and achieving work-life integration in the process.
• That as a mom is the most difficult leadership position you'll ever have.
• Why increasing your Emotional Intelligence will benefit you not only at work but also in life.
• That once you get clear on your values there is generally enough money for the things that you need and value.
• How Emotional Intelligence training is beneficial in finding the strength to ask for support.
• The importance of investing in Emotional Intelligence training for companies that want to emerge strongly from this crisis.

LINKS MENTIONED
www.kerstinkirchsteiger.com
Work-Life Flow FB Group
www.myworklifeflow.com
Instagram, LinkedIn , Facebook, Twitter

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

Today’s episode is all about money, budgeting and Rachel’s approach to work-life flow is a strict separation of the two, so she can be fully present wherever she is. She shares that, since starting her own business, these limits were a bit more challenging to set. When she discovered the power of time blocking, she started using it not only for work time, but also for easing the mental load when it comes to household chores, and school work.

Rachel is a fierce proponent of taking care of your finances, by creating a budget around your family values, so you can live stress-free and be really present with your family. She also shares how creating a “motivational budget” makes it feel less constrictive.

Get your Intentional Budget Planner here

What we’re talking about...

• How the time blocking method has helped Rachel ease the mental load of playing multiple roles and being present with her kids.
• How financial stress impacts your mental health and can cloud your family time
• How you can get a grip on your finances with the 3 step process and the 2-sided coin approach.
• The power of defining a why for your financial journey.
• Trusting that your decisions are right for your family
• (Track, Review, Decide)
• The numbers don’t lie. Are your choices aligned with your values? Watch your expenses in detail for a couple of months 
• Defining your Why - Financial journey can be very emotional and painful.

LINKS MENTIONED
Rachel’s website
Rachel’s Single Moms Financial Fitting Room FB group

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

Today we’re talking about “Why getting clear on your priorities is a must if you’re multi-passionate. We talk about how nothing is constant and depending on the season you're in, your priorities might change. We explore why spending money on your own growth should be seen as an investment and learning alongside your kids can be their best motivator in life. We also talk about how communication is key when it comes to assessing your family member’s needs but also when talking to your employer. And lastly, how blocking off time in your calendar and turning off notifications set the tone for quality time.

Get your 10 Easy, Screen-Free Hacks to keeping your kids entertained while you work here

What we’re talking about...

• Where your priorities lie for the season.
• Open conversations about work with family and the importance of feeling fulfilled professionally
• Support from spouse what each of them has to be contributing to balance both careers
• How assessing needs trying to fit everyone’s needs into a day/week will make 
• Nothing is ever permanent. 
• Creating stronger family relationships through doing chores together
• How we can inspire our kids by showing them that we learn new things /important it is to model the love of learning
• How Sarah learned a lesson in balance by picking up a camera 
• How to go after what you want in life while balancing career and motherhood
• The importance of honest conversations with your employer about adjustments. 
• Time blocking on work-calendar for family time, remote schooling time.  

LINKS MENTIONED
Sarah’s Bad to the Bowl Food Blog
Follow Sarah on Instagram , FB, Pinterest  or Twitter

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

In this first episode, I share my story about why I created the Work-Life Flow Podcast.
What I’ve learned through my training and my experience, is that once you stop “doing it all”, and start asking for what you need you will feel empowered. You will find yourself again. Does my family have it all figured out yet?

No, the kids grow and change, our needs as adults change, and with it come new challenges. But I know, with the tools that I have learned we'll figure this out as a family. And I want the same for you. I want to take you on this journey to finding yourself and making your family's vision a reality.

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

I want to help you find your work-life balance so that you can accomplish your professional goals, reach financial independence, and enjoy fulfilling family life.

What we’re talking about...

• The journey motherhood has taken me on.
• That through sharing our stories we can connect more deeply 
• How mom guilt seems to get in our way of making self-care a priority
• That women are still not being paid the same for the equivalent work
• Why fighting for equality for women is important within and outside the home
• How to view this pandemic as the catalyst to change for a better tomorrow
• A call to speak up, and voice your needs to your partner, manager and representatives
• That it is on us to create the society of tomorrow and build our villages.

LINKS MENTIONED

Get your freebie here 

Find out more about what I do here

Work-Life Flow FB group
Kerstin K Leadership Consulting FB page
Me on Instagram 

Get my 10 Easy, Screen-Free Hacks to keeping kids entertained here

Today’s episode is all about how the Work-Life Flow pendulum swings and how to adjust course, one step at a time. Pilar shares how she went all-in with homeschooling first, then focused on her business, and now realized that the next step to work on is to increase self-care.

We talk about how important it is to create trusting relationships with your family members in order to achieve a work-life integration that fits your family. Pilar shares tools and tips on how to tackle homeschooling for first-timers. She also takes the pressure off for first-timers by reminding us that no decision is final, we can take it year by year and correct our course. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

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 Work-Life Flow pendulum swings and how to adjust course
• The importance of connection and relationships in your quest towards  work-life integration 
• The freedom and flexibility of homeschooling and how it might be the right fit
• How we have to let our kids take ownership of their education
• How slowing down can be the biggest gift to rediscovering ourselves.
• Why we can’t expect our children to learn much when they are surrounded by fear
• That no decision is final, we can take it year by year and correct our course.

LINKS MENTIONED
Get your Montessori Timeline, a "curriculum to guide you on your Montessori Journey
Pilar’s website
Pilar on Instagram
Second Plane Montessori: The Elementary Years

Get my 10 Easy, Screen-Free Hacks to keeping kids entertained on www.myworklifeflow.com

Today’s episode is all about knowing that you are the designer of your life. You will learn that defining your core values is not only necessary for letting go of mom guilt, but also makes setting appropriate boundaries easy peasy, and helps free up time for the things that matter to you most.

We also talk about how we manipulate ourselves into believing we're stuck and what it takes to get unstuck. Brenda talks about how, once emotionally triggered, we filter everything through that emotion and can’t see the big picture, let alone see possible solutions. She also shares NLP tools to change from being “at effect” of your life to being in charge of it.

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 releasing the idea of balance is the first step of reaching your work-life flow
• How defining core values helps with setting boundaries and will free up time
• How eliminating a school district’s agenda and schedule can help you create more quality family time.
• Why our mood is a filter of our reality and how to break out of the negative reinforcement
• That is communication, we are responsible for the answers we get and how to communicate more clearly.
• How Brenda’s journey of finding healing turned into her new career

LINKS MENTIONED
Brenda’s website
Brenda on Instagram 
Brenda on FB 
Brenda on TikTok

Get my setting boundaries guide on www.myworklifeflow.com