It is Small Business Saturday, friends and *newsflash* I have a small business. Rather than wait until Cyber Monday or—worse yet—venture out during this inaugural weekend of holiday shopping hoping you outsmarted the Black Friday crowd, you can simply purchase for yourself (or your much deserving wife, daughter, mother, sister, friend, bible study buddy, co-worker, second cousin, etc.) what you have (or she has) always wanted…

More Time!

Wouldn’t it be lovely to sit for two uninterrupted hours surrounded by like-minded professional women eager to devise a plan to meet both their home and work obligations, and execute it?

Does adding at least five hours into every week sound appealing to you?

Would you like to have dedicated appointments to focus on…

you,

learning a new skill,

earning a promotion,

bettering relationships,

saying no to things (or habits, or people,) which no longer serve you,

or finally being comfortable in those skinny jeans or the little black dress?

 

Yes, friends, it sounds too good to be true. But I have done it, time and time again. The details are always slightly different, just as they will be with your personal story, but the results can be the same: more time in your very busy daily schedule to accomplish the things you actually want to!

While I am a licensed engineer, I have not designed an ingenious way to add more than 24 hours into your day, 7 days into your week, or 365 days into your year. However, I have identified countless ways to optimize and enhance your time all in accordance with your personal priorities and responsibilities. My book collection rivals Barnes & Noble’s Self-Help section and my planners confirms hours (perhaps, months?) in therapy working on the same concerns you face. There have been unsuccessfully applied tactics and principles. Those attempts are not what I consider failures. Rather, I have adjusted and learned from those experiences to successfully maintain life changing habits. I am living proof you can engineer a life you actually want to live.

I am selling optimized time to you.

I have been there, the burning bush moment where I knew internally I was called to be doing more. Yet something had to give with all the busyness filling my days, the inadequacy in my heart, and the exhaustion dominating my existence. I am certainly not the only woman to respond to “Momma” and “Colleague;” the wearer of many hats, some days more gracefully than others. These roles we accept, by choice or otherwise, of parent, disciplinary, financier, chef, wife, employee, manager, friend, and chief manager of all things under this household place heavy burdens of responsibility and expectation on us. We are filled with so much love and a desire to give our best to everyone, but more often than not we are trying to pour from a beautiful, but empty vase which is all but toppled over and shattered on the floor.  And sometimes, we just want to close our eyes and take a hot, uninterrupted bath while sipping our relaxing beverage of choice while a scented candle softly illuminates the bathroom with our podcast of choice audibly playing over Bluetooth speakers. “When everything is important, nothing is” says Patrick M. Lencioniv, a business management author. The actually important, my friends, is what I help you decide using my simple and proven ADD Process.

For those of you, who do not know me personally; allow me to dive into a little detail about my victory over time scarcity, one of the many situations I’ve overcome using the ADD Process listed in my About Me page on my website. Perhaps you can simply apply some of the principles I’ve mentioned below. If you know me or are tired of reading, skip ahead to sign up for my workshops or talk to me about coaching over a free, thirty minute chat.

Before Coaching

To set the scene, this was a typical day before my burning bush moment when I started my Coaching business while I was an engineer with nearly a decade of tenure at an oil and gas company in Houston, Texas. Do not be alarmed, I am not suggesting anyone depart from their secure, generously paying, nine-to-five job with great benefits in order to live an enjoyable life.

Just before selecting the log off button from the Start menu on my work computer, I scribbled down the three (of surely, quite literally, three thousand) most important tasks to begin tackling tomorrow on colorful, personalized stationery, part of a set with a coordinating pen and mechanical pencil. “If only I could be as encouraged and put together as this stationery set gives the illusion of,” I think to myself. I recap my pen and feel my lips purse together as I hastily review this To Do list; an undeniable feeling of guilt in my gut noting the difference in what I want to do and what I need to do overcomes me until I glance at my watch. “Late again!” I think while I pray silently for Houston traffic to be light in order for me to arrive to my daughter’s school before being assessed yet another late pick up fine. I collect my laptop bag, gym bag, purse, and lunchbox speculating if this counts as exercise before I dash out of the office to my car, wishing co-workers a good evening with whatever left over energy they have for their families. Exasperated, I push the “P” button and sink against the rear wall of the elevator, exhaling deeply and with defeat. I realize this is quite literally the only time I have to myself, assuming no one else joins me on the elevator. Even during my “me-time” self-care runs a few times each week, my brain is fully consumed with the day’s challenges or a common tug-of-war between my responsibilities to provide for my family and the deep, persistent passions of my heart.  The lingering question is: “How can I get it all done while still living—really living and thriving—in a life I love?”

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Do you know what coaching is and how it can radically change your daily life? I coach professional women to engineer their time so they can thrive in a balanced and fulfilling life they love. I do this by executing a proven, yet simple, three step ADD Process to help you engineer your best life. If this resonates with you, continue reading to learn what a day after coaching looks like.

After Coaching

I shut the cap of my pen and rest it alongside its coordinating stationery pad containing tomorrow’s Results List. Smiling, I notice a desire to dive into the first item on this list out of sheer excitement of the meaningful work I know I am doing. I no longer write down daunting, general tasks but a very specific set of results oriented next steps to avoid the anxiety of “Oh, I don’t know how to do THAT.” Before this new No-To-Do approach, I would instantly open a browser window and procrastinate the morning away. Cue: habit cycle, Charles Duhigg? It is the same work I was doing before, but my perspective is different. My thoughts return to tonight’s crock-pot dinner which is aromatically filling my home as I anticipate a quiet family dinner and movie evening together. It is a Tuesday, but everyone will still be in bed appropriately early. It is so comforting to have a healthy plan for dinner and prioritize quality time together with my family. I log off my computer and open the cabinet to collect my purse before leaving for the evening. My gym clothes for the entire week are sorted in this cabinet and my weekly meal-prep containers are in the work fridge down the hall, so I need not worry about collecting anything for the afternoon as I do this at the beginning and end of the work week instead. I also am not worrying about various tasks floating around in my head since I have begun to implement weekly planning and brainstorming sessions into my week. I was so busy before and I was skeptical about having time for this, but once I dedicated time to decide on my priorities for work and personal matters I actually ended up spending less time doing unimportant tasks which otherwise could be delegated, optimized, or cut out altogether.  Thank you, 4- Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. I walk toward the elevator addressing my coworkers as I leave for the day. I stop to follow up with someone in particular, knowing I have built in a buffer in my schedule for such occurrences. We are unable to resolve our objective, but as I glance at my watch and remember this new time for change, I confidently interject, stating my work day has concluded and I will instead set up a focused meeting time later in the week with all of the necessary stakeholders and an agenda to collaboratively resolve this issue. My coworker is pleased with my suggestion and wishes me light traffic during my commute home. I am not concerned about traffic so much either as I now leverage public transportation to and from work so I may enjoy leisurely reading time to myself for at least two hours each day. Ten bonus hours in a week have been added into my routine schedule after creative brainstorming with my coach! I am still amazed by this and all the other ways my life has been changed.

See, you are not required to quit your job in order to live a life you love. Simply, sign up for Coaching with me and let me help you engineer a balanced and fulfilled life you love!

If you still have questions, I understand. Coaching is an investment in yourself. Here are some F.A.Q.’s to help:

What is coaching?

How much does it cost?

What can I expect to get from coaching?

Who will be my coach?

What if I just want help with my planner and 2020 goals?

Click to schedule some free time to get your questions answered and see if coaching is right for you.

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Thanks for reading along, friend. Leave a comment below if you survived thus far.

P.S. Stay tuned in December for book reviews and discussion questions on my current favorite books linked above. (No, I do not profit from these external links, I simply enjoyed these books. They would make great stocking suffers for any busy professional woman.)

P.P.S An expansion to the coaching services I provide will be announced on Cyber Monday! Do not miss it!

P.P.P.S. There are only fifteen seats available in each of the two December Actionable Goals Workshops, do not let your seat get taken by another #GoalGetter!

 

With Love & In Time For Change,

Coach Cassandra