How to prioritise a work life balance as we come out of lockdown
Posted on 22nd June 2021 at 21:47
This week I have been speaking to Joanna Glassock from Joanna Glassock Coaching about how we can prioritise a work-life balance as we come out of lock down and adjust to a new normal without feeling stressed and overwhelmed.
Joanna is a Certified Personal Coach who is passionate about empowering people that are feeling overwhelmed from juggling life's responsibilities to create greater balance and success in all aspects of their life.
How did you become a work life management coach?
I have always been fascinated with how our minds work and what influences and motivates us to behave in certain ways, which led me to work within the fields of well-being, behaviour change, motivation and transformation for nearly 20 years.
However, the main reason I am so passionate about what I do now is because of my own personal experiences of stress, overwhelm and anxiety from trying to juggle the demands of life’s responsibilities. Spinning so many plates of my career, my family, and home, trying to do everything, often left me feeling like I was not good enough. My mind constantly whirring thinking about what I had to do next or worrying about something that had not even happened. I felt like I had to be all things to all people, spreading myself so thinly that my needs, wants and desires were at the bottom of the pile. Constantly on the go and never taking time to relax as I felt I had to make sure everything else was done before I could take time for myself. This left me feeling physically and mentally exhausted, overwhelmed and stuck. I felt like I was existing rather than living. It was only when I reached a point where I felt I cannot continue to live like this that I began looking inwards.
You see, so often people attribute stress and anxiety to external factors such as their job and juggling life's responsibilities, however, it is actual what is happening internally, what we think and what we believe about ourselves and the world around us, that creates these feelings of stress and anxiety that then impact on our lives and how we live.
I began working with a Coach who helped me identify the beliefs i had formed that were fuelling my feelings of stress, overwhelm and anxiety and I was finally able to let go of aspects of my life that were keeping me stuck. I now feel calmer, more confident and I have more time and energy to invest in the things that are important to me, rather than what I think I should be doing.
In addition to achieving my Psychology degrees and Master in Developmental Disorders, I have since trained to become a certified Life Coach and Neuro-linguistic Master Practitioner (NLP), and it is now my mission to empower people to transform feelings of stress and overwhelm and support them in creating balance, success and fulfillment in all aspects of their life.
Who do you normally work with and how do you help them?
I work with people who are experiencing stress and overwhelm from trying to juggle all of life's responsibilities and I support them to identify their triggers and beliefs that are fuelling their feelings of stress to build a new outlook on life that will help them to manage life stresses and achieve, balance, success and fulfillment in all aspects of their career, to their relationships and even their health.
By combining my training, knowledge and experience, I develop bespoke programmes that enable individuals to identify and achieve their goals and to live life the way they want to.
As a busy woman how do you prioritise a work life balance? Do you have any top tips?
There are lots of things we can do to help prioritise a work life balance, but here are my top 3 tips:
Be intentional with how you use your time and what you focus on. If we are not intentional we can find ourselves doing things that drain out time and energy, but without many positive outcomes. For example, avoid scrolling aimlessly though social media or your news feed, as this can drain your energy. Instead think of how you want to use your time that feels good for you. Maybe you enjoy going on social media, but make it intentional with where we focus our attention we can find our mind thinking about other things, maybe thinking about all the things you still need to do. or worrying about something that will probably never happen, which again, drains our time and energy. So choose things that feel good to you and be intentional with how you use your time and what you focus on.
Take time each day for yourself. We can often be so busy trying to do everything on our long list of things to do that we often put our own needs at the bottom of the list ( or don't even include them on the list at all!) You need to build in the time each day to do something that feels good to you and helps raise your energy levels. When travelling on a plane, during the safety demonstration the cabin crew will advise you to put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others. The same thing applies here. It is so important to take care of yourself first so you are in a better position to help others. So many people and clients I have spoken to recently have said how tired they are feeling, especially after the past year or so. so take some time to do something each day, even just 5 minutes, to recharge your batteries and raise your energy levels.
Be aware of what your are telling yourself. I'm talking about your inner critic. We all have this internal dialogue that is constantly playing in our mind, but we do not always consciously pay attention to what we are saying and how we are behaving in ways that leave us feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Tune into what you are telling yourself, and ask yourself, would I be saying the same thing to my best friend? If not, think about what you would say to your best friend and apply that advice to yourself.
We are now coming out of lock down and life is becoming busier, what advice would you give as we transition to the new normal?
Take your time and go at the pace that feels right to you. Everyone is different and will view this time differently. Some people are really excited and cannot wait to get out there and start seeing people and doing the things they have been unable to do in such a long time. where as others are feeling more apprehensive. If your are feeling apprehensive, talk to someone to let them know how your are feeling and explore what will help you through this period of adjustment.
Also, take time to reflect on what the past year or so has meant to you. For many of us, we have been existing on autopilot, just getting through it, so it is important to take the time now to reflect and process what we have been through and the impact it has had on us, the people around us and the society in general (good and bad). writing down your thoughts or talking to someone about how you are feeling can really help with this.
Remember, you do not have to rush back into doing everything like you did before the pandemic. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the positives you can take away from this time and consider if you would like to maintain any of these. Instead of viewing the past year as something that happened TO you, change your perspective and look at it as something that happened FOR you. What I mean by this is, if we view it as something that happened for us, we gain a sense of control. However, if we view it as something happening for us, we gain a sense of control and we can choose how we interpret situations and events. Think, what are the positive I can take away? Even when something is hard and challenging it can bring us valuable lessons, for example, how much we do not appreciate the simplest things in life such as spending time with loved ones. or having more time to do the things we enjoy rather than rushing here, there and everywhere.
Take some time to reflect on:
What life was like for you before Covid ( the positives and the negatives)
What life had been like for you during the pandemic (the positives and the negatives)
How you want your life to be going forward.
Then find a balance from points 1 and 2 and plan how you can marry them together and what action steps you can take towards creating the life you want and how you want to live it.
What are the positives that you took from lock down?
Whilst I think we can all acknowledge the negatives from living though a global pandemic, the various lock downs, and how it has impacted on so many people in so many different ways, there are many positives I have taken away from this time too.
Having more time at home together with my husband and daughter as a family and even something as small as just being able to sit down every evening to have tea together during the week has been lovely.
We have gone on lots of walks over the past year and discovered places on our doorstep that we didn't know even existed!
As a lot of places have been closed and being unable to socialise with others, we have been creative in how we spend time together and connect with others. For example, as well as the usual Zoom quizzes that became popular for so many during lock downs, we also set challenges with family and friend. from seeing who could make the best character out of fruit and vegetables, to seeing who could build the heights tower out of household objects!
This time also gave me the opportunity to gain my Life Coaching and Neuro-Linguistic Masters Programming qualifications and to launch my business!
When you are not working how do you like to spend your time?
I love spending time with my girl doing lots of crafts, baking cakes and going on walks. I also enjoy running, reading and travelling. The other thing i love to do, and I cannot wait to be able to do again, is spending time with my family and friends. I have missed them so much and this time had made me appreciate them even more.
Tell us one interesting fact about you?
Even though I am scared of heights, I am a bit of a daredevil at heart. ..... I have done 2 skydives, flown in a stunt plane and climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to name just a few!
If you would like to find out more about Joanna, you can find her on Facebook and Instagram @Joanna.glassock.coaching or go to her website www.joannaglassock.com
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