Lisa Martin, author of Briefcase Moms and Kirsten Barnes, Olympic Gold Medalist and Lane4 consultant shared their diverse stories. They explained how they have used the knowledge and experience gained from one career to develop a new career that enables them to achieve work/life balance.

As an ex-Olympian, Kirsten has taken her experiences as a top athlete and combined it with leadership coaching, enabling her to achieve her current goal of spending time with her young children. With both corporate and entrepreneurial experience, Lisa is a certified coach who has developed strategies that inspire her to achieve success that's balanced. As a Mom of a young son, Lisa tries to live by these strategies.

Speakers’ Key Points

Kirsten Barnes, Olympic Gold Medalist and Lane4 consultant

Kirsten shared her journey by focusing on her transition points. The first transition was when she moved out of sport. The second transition was her move to the UK to pursue her doctorate in sports psychology, and excitement of living abroad, travelling the world, and working on great projects like the HQ sport psychologist at Sydney Olympics. However, she didn’t give herself time to recuperate from this transition, and after suffering a series of migraines, realized she needed to make changes. Her third transition was having her first child. She was “forced” to slow down during the pregnancy and take stock, which resulted in returning to work part time, and feeling more in control. Just when things looked like they were sorted out, the fourth transition occurred, her family’s move to Vancouver, starting a consulting business with her husband, and underestimating the amount of work it would take to start this business.

Her key message was that, no matter what you do, take into consideration three basic psychological needs:

• a sense of autonomy
• a sense of competence
• a sense of belonging, a relatedness in what you do.

Lisa Martin, author of Briefcase Moms

“It takes a miracle to get out of the house in one piece…”

Lisa helps women achieve success that’s balanced. This morning, she discussed risk, reward, and intuition by starting with a short story. Lisa attended a forum on the secrets of CEOs, and a question was asked of a female speaker, “What is the greatest risk you have taken in your career?” The speaker replied, “Having children!”

Lisa is an intuition-based risk taker. One of Lisa’s biggest risks was starting her own PR company – her intuition told her it was the right thing to do. She worked hard, was very rewarded and sold her company to Canada’s largest PR firm to create an office for them in Vancouver, but this put her on the edge of burn out. She had a “metaphor moment” when her inbox broke, scattering papers everywhere. Her intuition told her it was time for a break. So she left the company she founded and took some time off, and the result was she got pregnant. The birth of her son Adam inspired her next risk and intuitive move – the starting of her third business - Briefcase Moms, a work-life coaching company to support working moms “on the edge”. Working with these women gave her the idea for her next risk writing “Briefcase Moms: 10 Proven Practices to Balance Working Mothers’ Lives.” She described the book writing as one of the hardest things she has done, but very rewarding. The latest risk, and intuitive moment, was the filming of a reality show pilot for Canadian television. Lisa’s key message was that intuition will tell you what the right thing is to do, and take risk. If you don’t take risk, you will never get the rewards.

Questions and Answers

Q1. If just returning to work, how long does it take to get the business intuition back?

Your priorities shift when you return back to work. Give yourself permission to be hazy for awhile. It does come back, just slowly. If you think of a pie, and all parts of your life are pieces of that pie (self, work, health, spirituality, etc), a baby is a huge piece of pie that has to fit in. It makes the other pieces smaller or they disappear. Maybe get a business coach to help with the transition.

Q2. “Just a Mom” is an identity crisis. Does it get easier over time?

A Mom is the hardest job in the world. “You are only as happy as your most unhappy child.”

Question less, trust your intuition more. It doesn’t matter what anyone else wants. The only person who knows what is best for you and your family is you. Get rid of your guilt about the decisions you have made. Guilt resides in the gap between expectations and reality. By decreasing your high expectations, the gap will decrease and thus so will the amount of guilt. “You can have your cake and eat it too, the secret is knowing what cake you want, and that the options of cake change over time. Be happy and confident in our choices.”

Q3. Can you comment on the recent study that said we spend 30% less time with our kids than our parents did?

There is a study for every point of view, so be wary of them. The issue is how to get balance. You need to align your choices with your priorities. Everyone has a different level of balance.

Q4. In the work environment, how do you manage in strongly non traditional roles?

If you make a choice and are happy with it, you can overcome challenges, including those of being a minority in the workplace. The strength from within will help you overcome difficult times. You can also connect with other like minded women.

Q5. Being a Mom is an endurance sport. Is it worth it, trying to work and be a Mom?

You have to be true to yourself. Time will help – it won’t always be this hard.

Q6. We leave the parent at the door when we leave the house for work. How do we balance this?

Organizations are changing. Why should Moms leave their lives at the door? If that is the option, they may stop going to the door. Balance is about looking at all the pieces at once.

“Spend 30 seconds in bed before you get up to identify the priority for the day.”

“Follow your love and your intuition.”