In today's fast-paced work environment, balancing a career and family life can be overwhelming, especially for working moms. The constant juggling act often leads to working mom burnout, where the pressure to excel at work and be present for family takes a toll on mental and physical well-being. In this post, we'll explore the journey of Kristen, a client who successfully navigated the challenges of being a working mom, achieved her promotion goals, and found a sustainable balance between work and family life.
The Reality of Working Mom Burnout
For many working moms, the demands of work and family life can feel relentless. The pressure to be a top performer at work while also being a present and engaged parent creates a cycle of stress and exhaustion. Kristen, a financial planner and Vice President of Wealth Management, faced this challenge head-on after returning from maternity leave. She wanted to spend more time with her family but was also drawn to the possibility of a promotion, which promised higher compensation and career growth.
Shifting the Mindset: From Doubt to Determination
When Kristen first reconnected with me, her belief in achieving the promotion was shaky—she rated her confidence at a 6 out of 10. However, through focused coaching sessions, we worked on shifting her mindset to believe not only in her ability to reach her goals but also in the importance of maintaining her well-being throughout the process.
This mindset shift was crucial. Kristen began to understand that achieving her professional goals did not have to come at the expense of her family life. By prioritizing what's essential and eliminating non-critical tasks, she was able to focus on what truly mattered both at work and at home.
Setting and Maintaining Boundaries
One of the key strategies we implemented was setting and maintaining boundaries at work. For Kristen, this meant being mindful of what tasks were truly hers to handle and what could be delegated or even eliminated. By setting clear boundaries, she was able to protect her time and energy, ensuring that her work commitments did not encroach on her family life.
Kristen learned to say no to non-urgent requests and to communicate her availability clearly with colleagues and clients. This not only helped her achieve her promotion goals but also allowed her to be more present with her family.
Achieving Work-Life Balance
Kristen's hard work paid off—she achieved her promotion three weeks ahead of schedule. But beyond the promotion, the real victory was in finding a sustainable work-life balance. Kristen now operates at a high level at work while also dedicating meaningful time to her family. She has learned to manage her time effectively, ensuring that when she is off, she is fully present with her loved ones, without the guilt that often plagues working moms.
The Importance of Support and Coaching
Kristen credits much of her success to the coaching process, which helped her shift her mindset, set clear goals, and develop strategies to achieve them. Coaching provided her with the framework to prioritize her actions and maintain a healthy balance between work and family life.
For working moms facing burnout, the story of Kristen is a powerful reminder that it's possible to achieve your career goals without sacrificing your well-being or family life. By setting and maintaining boundaries at work, prioritizing what's essential, and seeking support when needed, you can overcome working mom burnout and create a fulfilling, balanced life.
If you're a working mom struggling with burnout, consider reaching out for support. With the right strategies and mindset, you can achieve your professional goals while also being the present and engaged parent you want to be.
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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
How working mom burnout can impact your well-being and career.
The importance of mindset shifts in overcoming self-doubt and achieving goals.
Strategies for setting and maintaining boundaries at work.
The role of support and coaching in balancing work and family life.
Tips for creating a sustainable work-life balance as a working mom.
Watch The Full Episode:
Full Episode Transcript:
Hello, everybody. Welcome. We are just getting started.
Hello. Hello, everybody. Happy Wednesday.
Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's Wednesday. I'm so happy to be here as always, and I'm so happy that you're here with me.
Today is going to be a fun one. I am doing something a little bit different today. Whenever I get comfortable with something, I'm like, you know what, let's see if I can add to it, level it up, make it maybe a little uncomfortable.
So today my cameras are a little different because we are doing a watch party. If you didn't know, I'm doing a client success story today. I'm calling this the promotion edition.
There are going to be many additions you'll see over the life of Billable Hour Burnout. Today's episode is about one of my clients who went from, do I think I'll promote to, I promoted three weeks early. I hit my metrics ahead of time.
Now I'm going to tell you all about her story, but even better, I'm going to have her tell you herself. Now, last time I did a client success story, I did an anonymous story talking about my client, who she is, what she does, the work we did together, and the results she got from that work. Today, you're going to hear it from her in her words from a previously recorded interview.
But first, before I play the technological game, let me welcome you to Billable Hour Burnout. If you need some helpful tactical advice that actually helps you get to the career of your dreams without the stress or overwhelm, you are in the right place. If you want to enjoy the life that you've been spending decades building, you've come to the right place.
If you're finding yourself here today, it means you're ready to experience more work-life balance, more ease, more confidence, and you're ready to make it happen without having to quit your job or burn down your life. I'm Lauren Baptiste, your CPA turned life coach, and you're listening to Billable Hour Burnout. On the show, I share simple tactics and mindset strategies specifically catered to the modern accountant, consultant, and attorney.
You ready? Let's do this. Now, as always, before we dive into the interview, I always love sharing a little anecdote of what's going on in my world. It's summertime.
I'm getting a lot of messages from those of you out there that are saying summer's half over. I can't believe it's going so fast. And while it's mid-July, I already feel like I've had such a rich summer.
I've already spent a lot of time swimming at the pool. I've already spent time going on a beautiful two-and-a-half-week trip. I'm really making the most of this time, and I invite you to do that as well.
But I'm also gonna be really honest with you, right? It's a busy time. We're all trying to do something. We're all dealing with some kind of stress.
Maybe we're not in the thick of a statutory due date, though some of us are, but then other of us are in this time where we're maybe hiring new people, training people, and that has a different kind of stress. So if you're feeling stressed right now, I get it. I did a webinar last year, and 100% of the audience said that they were experiencing more stress in the summer than they do in the other times of the year.
So I hear you. I know I've been doing a lot of out-of-office content, but I'm also here for you understanding what's going on. So we're easing back into the content.
So today we're doing the success story. We're gonna be going into more nitty-gritty, I don't know, fun, boundary, burnout, the stuff that you love and that you come for weekly. But I want you to see this because I want you to start to feel what's possible for you if you're struggling with working and it's nine o'clock and you're seeing the sun set from your office, et cetera.
So anyway, my personal anecdote, I've been swimming a lot. Swimming is really good for me. It calms me down.
It's like I'm in a different place and just floating in the pool. I am in a different world. So that's been really nice for me.
A lot of slow exchanges with people I care about. I got to see my friend's new house this past weekend, which was lovely. I got to do a reunion with girls that I used to run cross-country and track with.
It's been a long time since we ran on that track together, and it's been seven years since we all had been together. So it's been a long time, but it was a really nice exchange. And as you're seeing, I asked your opinion a couple months ago.
My bangs are almost fully grown out and I'm questioning, do I keep them or do I get rid of them? Anyway, so that's the fun things happening over here. Virtual networking was a huge success. Little heads up, the next one is October 18th at 1230.
Save the date, Eastern Standard Time. So save the date. We've got a lot of things happening.
The fall, I mean, you're going to be getting a lot of value from me, but we're going double or nothing this fall and I'm ready to really serve you. So, all right, without further ado, let me tell you about working. The love that I have for this client, Kristen, is just beyond.
I truly love all of my clients, but Kristen is a very special one. Kristen is a financial planner with her new title as VP Wealth Management Advisor. We're going to go through what she learned over the last few months.
So let me tell you that, let me have her tell you that story. I'm going to start by sharing my screen. I'm going to flip my screen for those on Instagram.
So if you're on Instagram, hang with me, bear with me, be patient. Let me make sure that as I'm doing the share screen thing, that sound is on. It's the little things when you take just an extra minute, but it can make all the difference.
So I'm fingers crossed here. All right, without further ado, let's meet Kristen. Thanks for watching, guys.
I'm going to be commenting like this watch party. So wherever you are, add some comments and I will be here. Let's begin.
Here we go. Hi, everybody. Thank you for joining.
I want to introduce one of my clients who I have had the privilege of coaching over the past few years. Her name is Kristen and she is a Vice President, Wealth Management Advisor. Welcome, Kristen.
Thank you for having me. Thank you for working with me. It's been such a pleasure.
Kristen has been in my Thrive Group coaching program. She's been part of my Freedom Group coaching program and we're about to start a new round together in the fall. But what I wanted to do is because Kristen and I have been working together for a good amount of time, really showcase the growth that she's experienced most specifically in the last six months together in my coaching program, Freedom.
So Kristen, why don't you just tell them a little bit about you, who you are, maybe where you live, your life, kids, whatever you want to share that just introduces my world to you. Sure. Yep, my name's Kristen and I'm a Financial Planner or my official title is VP, Wealth Management Advisor.
I live in New York City in Brooklyn with my husband and my two kids and have always been in pursuit of, you know, the perfect work-life balance, which is, it's difficult to achieve, but Lauren's been so helpful at finding the right balance for me. I have, like Lauren said, worked with her for a few years, but more specifically since November of last year, we had talked about doing more one-on-one style coaching and she actually circled back to me at this sort of perfect moment. I had just returned from a maternity leave and had talked to my boss about the opportunity for a promotion in the following year and she had just laid out these specific parameters that I would have to reach to be able to attain that promotion.
And the next day I got a follow-up email from Lauren saying, hey, you know, we said we'd revisit this, this is something that, is this the right time for you? And it just so happened that it was. So what she did was help me, you know, switch my mindset from a, I would say that I was at that moment coming back to work from my maternity leave, I originally was in the mindset that I just wanted to find more balance to spend more time with my family. And then after this conversation with my boss and she shared with me what I needed to do to achieve this next level, which would mean higher compensation that was very attractive to me, I realized that I wanted to go for it.
And I didn't actually at that moment believe that I could necessarily achieve it, but I wanted to try. So we got started and the six-month program coincided really nicely with that push. And it was a four-month push, it was a six-month program.
So she was able to help me see it all the way through and achieve with a few weeks to spare the goal. Amazing. All right, so let me pause right here because I wanna frame it for anyone.
So Kristen came, perfect timing where she had four months to promote from the moment that I emailed her and it just happenstance we reconnected. She was at a point where, I think Kristen, you said your belief was like a six out of 10, 10 out of 10 would be like 100%, I'm committed, like this is happening. So Kristen came saying, I'm at like a six out of 10 and we're like, all right.
So our work was to get your mindset not only to a 10 out of 10, but then to tactically create a plan so that you could achieve what you needed to in four months. Now, some people who promote or are on a promotion schedule, it's not, there are different metrics, right? Everybody in every company has different metrics. For you, would you say that you had to push to get to those, like those, through those four months, was it just like cruise control? Tell me, tell us what you had to experience in that period of time.
Yeah, so what was nice about the framing of this is it was, I needed to achieve quantitative goals. So it was very clear what I needed to do in a certain time horizon. And we could literally look at numbers and say, okay, like how many people do I need to be in front of to do X, Y, Z, right? So at that moment, it was a number that I had never achieved in that timeframe before.
So it definitely felt like a push or a stretch, but it didn't feel impossible, right? Because we had that four months. It felt like if I set myself up properly from the beginning, that it was possible. But I didn't believe at that point that it was definitely going to happen.
Although it actually wasn't that long, I don't think, before I did believe it, right? Because we could start to see it working. Absolutely. What was really fun was when we reconnected.
I remember the first time after reconnecting, I held up a mirror to you and I was like, hey, Kristen, like I noticed this one thing that's holding you back in your own movement. And I bet you that's what's holding your clients back in moving forward with you. And I felt like in that moment, that's where your mindset turned on of like, ah, I see it for myself.
I see it for my clients. Let's frigging go. And that's where I think once we just started, we ran because we knew exactly what we needed to do to get your mindset.
Like, I feel like we went from six to 10 almost like immediately because we positioned you. And then we focused on a topic like essentialism of like, what's most important. Tell us what that looked like for you of like focusing on what's essential for someone who has a million things to do like all of us do.
What did that look like for you? And what did you have to say no to or hold off or kick down the road? Yeah, I think I had to be really, really mindful of what tasks I do in my day that are mine and what either don't need to be done at all or can be completely delegated, right? So there was some of that, which is probably the easy part, right? But for me, it was more of this mindset shift that had to happen. Like you said, it happened pretty fast where I needed to believe that I was the right person in that moment to help that person achieve what we're trying to do. And I think that there was another very related moment that happened together where I had a realization that in some circumstances, by not being persistent enough to help a client see that something made sense for them, in some cases, they were worse off.
That I thought I was just being sort of hands-off and helping them help themselves. But if I wasn't doing my job well enough, they were worse off. Right.
So there was a part of you that kind of learned in the, while it felt maybe like a push for you, it was actually being in greater service to your client. In greater service to my clients. And that's when it all connected, yes.
Amazing, amazing. So you had four months to hit this target. You told us you hit the target.
You told us you actually hit it early. How early were you on the target? I think about three weeks. Why do you think that was? It's funny because I technically hit it three weeks, but in our heads, we were done in January.
So this was like a March 31 deadline. So it was like done, done three weeks prior, but it was like done almost three months prior. So the why was the mindset shift, but then focusing on the right opportunities at the right time and really front loading that and being willing to work those extra hours, those extra meetings, the extra time at the beginning to set myself up to hit the numbers we were looking for.
Amazing. So what I love is like for anyone working backwards with the number, if somebody heard Kristen just now, it was like, wait, you had four months to do this. You said you kind of knew in your head it was done three months before the deadline, which meant a month in, you had built the mindset, you had the plan and you were just actioning it to the finish line.
Exactly, yeah. And that's what I think is so different than when we work with, when I talk to other people, the difference that your success to me showed was that you weren't waiting four months for the plan to work. You decided within the first few weeks, here's the plan, here's what I need to do.
I'm just gonna keep consistent until I get there. Yeah, we were using like the analogy of like running the marathon, right? And like, occasionally we would check it and it's like, where are we? And you'd be like, you just crossed the bridge, you're at mile 16, right? Cause there were moments where I was like, this isn't hurting enough, right? I've still felt like I was in like this, like gliding, you know, when you're feeling good and you're running and you're like, I could run for another 10 miles, right? But there were moments later where, you know, things aren't going as expected and now they're, you know, okay, well I'm looking and now we're down to six weeks or eight weeks, right? That you felt that a little bit more, but there was a while there at the end where we were just in the park. Yeah, if anyone knows the New York marathon, it's like Central Park can be the most painful part when you're like in the park and you're like, I'm at the finish line, I'm practically there.
It's in Central Park, but you still have a good chunk of miles left to finish. So that's how it was for us at that last part. We're like, we're in the park, which is already a mindset shift of like, I'm practically there.
And then just holding that steady, one step, one foot, one mile at a time, right? And then that's how you got there. So cool, I love it. Now wasn't it? Go ahead.
I was just gonna share that like with what I do, I mean, I never, I work with clients and I work on their timeframe, right? And I work on their needs and their goals. So I've never been in a circumstance where I've had, okay, a specific stretch by a specific date. That's just not really how I operate.
And it didn't feel like it jived with the way that I work. But the reason it did work is just because it became more about finding new ways to help clients in the right way. And then the rest would follow because we can't predict every thing.
It's not all knowable, but if we're doing enough of the right things, then it was able to come together. Yeah, and the thing that I think is interesting in Kristen's role and for a lot of us who are building books of business to promote is it doesn't just stop there, right? So once we hit the goal, our work for those two months that followed were how do we make this go from high, like from almost like a boil to a simmer? Because we were in full energy to hit the goal, but now we have to think about how to be in simmer energy where things keep going, I maintain consistency, and I'm still hitting my book of business. How did that pivot for you? How did that transition feel? Yeah, I mean, it was exciting to be able to achieve what I set out to do, but I need to continue to operate at a high level, right? Sort of continuously.
It's not like you hit the level and you coast or something. Like I like the idea of a simmer, like you mentioned, because it's still a boil. It's just not, we're not flying out of the pan, but we're still keeping things hot, right? Or cooking and what's going on in there.
So what's nice is since then, I'm not working on a tighter time horizon. I can operate more normally, but I've been able to stay at a higher level in terms of my mindset, my belief, and in how careful I am about the activities I'm doing, the activities I'm not doing. So being really, really meaningful about my time, because it is still really important to me to balance as best I can between my work life and my family life, because that's my why.
My family is my why. I love that. Do you feel like through this work, you now have a sustainable way, now that we're past the promotion, we know that you hit it, but even towards your next promotion goal? Yeah, I think that when I made this shift in my mindset, it was more like a switch, right? I sort of innately knew that it wasn't like I would do that and go back.
This is the new way that I operate. So that's helped me build confidence that I can continue on and hit whatever level I strive to in the future, which I never believed before or even desired, right? So we're taking it a year at a time, but I don't really believe that there's anything I can't do. Like that literally, you were saying that, and I have chills, and maybe because I'm wearing a vest and air conditioning, but really, as she said, that's such a beautiful thing that it's not even about promotion after promotion.
It's who Kristen is now through this work that she can hit any goal that she decides, right? It's not just about, okay, robotically. Now I promoted, I have to hit the next goal. It's like, okay, I could take a moment, still simmer in my career, balance my home life, and keep going.
So a perfect example of that, tell us about how you're balancing work and life. Are you traveling right now? How are you downshifting in this maybe summertime, if you're watching this now or recording in the summer? So tell me how that's going for you. Yeah, I mean, balancing is an endless struggle, right? I would say right now I'm doing a pretty decent job.
I am traveling. I was just off for a week last week. I'm gonna be away with my family the end of this month.
I'm traveling the end of August, but gonna do some combo work from home and take time off. And that's really important to me. Neither my family or my husband's family lives locally.
So in the summertime, that's when we go out to see them. So we will do that sort of no matter what. And my goal this year is to just continue to operate at that high level when I'm working and when I'm off to be off, knowing that the good work I've done in those other times allows things to continue even if I'm not working, right? So I don't need to feel like guilt about that.
So I'm doing, I'm doing, taking the time I need to. Does that mean occasionally I log in at night, right? Or during a nap? I do, right? But I'm much better about picking and choosing those times and careful about the time that I give outside of my family life. Amazing, so good.
All right, tell me why coaching has been helpful for you. Why has it been a good decision for you in this promotion period, or maybe even when we first met? Why do you feel like it was helpful for you in your leveling up? Yeah, I mean, the coaching experience is what helped me to make that mindset shift. I don't know that I would have otherwise, right? So Lauren helped me believe in myself, right? She constantly checks in on where our belief is at, right? Six out of 10, eight out of 10, whatever.
But in what we do, right? We want to strive to be a 10 out of 10. And I don't think that I believed that before, and I do now. So that's been the major shift that's taken me, I think, to the next level.
And then in so many ways, she helps me create a framework to work within, to prioritize different actions. We kind of dig into, you know, I think one time I was just going crazy because my calendar had too much stuff on it, right? And, you know, so we can get as granular as we want, but that mindset and the belief work, I think has been the biggest shift for me. Amazing, amazing, so exciting.
Tell me, there are some obvious things, you know, you're now newly promoted, like anything else that comes to mind that you're celebrating? It sounds like a refreshed mindset, maybe a salary increase, what else? Maybe what else, what else is going on? Yeah, yeah, I mean, the goal of achieving the promotion was to make more money, to be able to provide for my family in a more meaningful way, right? And that drives me. It meant that there, that it was a higher compensation, but for the essentially very similar work that I was doing. So that has been a huge shift for me that ended up being, you know, a much larger bonus.
And just higher compensation for the work that I was already doing, which has been really meaningful to me. Amazing, I'm also hearing more time with your family. Sounds like a little bit less stress, more vacation.
Yeah, definitely, definitely. Spending more time with my family, taking the vacations that I want to and need to, right? To step away. And that's what I want.
I don't want to work 80 hour weeks. I wanna work more meaningfully. I want to be smarter about the way that I work.
And I'm willing to put in the work I need to, but I'm not willing to give up the precious hours that I have with my family and my little kids. Amazing, amazing. All right, last question.
What advice might you give to someone who's thinking about coaching? They're watching this video, maybe they're looking for a promotion, maybe they're thinking about next level in their career as they're balancing their family life. What would you tell them? If somebody asked me whether coaching was right for them, I would encourage them to schedule like an intro session with you and get to know you and how you interact and how you connect. Because I think what's so unique about it is how personal it is and custom, right? Like I'm sure that every single client experience that Lauren has is totally different, but she's coming from the same place, from this warmth, this cheerleader, this strength, right? And kind of gives you what you need in that moment, right? So it's hard to even know what that's going to be until you have that conversation at least to get started.
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I love that. I feel the cheerleader and I'm like, all my clients, even though they're coming in with different circumstances, we're all going through the same methodology to get us from where we are to where we wanna go, which is so cool.
So I love it. All right, Kristen, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for sharing your story.
I can go on and on about the wins that Kristen's had as we've been together, but I'll leave this to today's promotion story. Congratulations on your promotion. Congratulations on more time with your family.
Congratulations for that raise. Congratulations for a stronger mindset. I'm so happy to see your growth and I'm so happy to continue in the fall.
Me too, thank you. I mean, that speaks more than anything, right? Is that I wanna do this again. I think that you can continue to help me take things to the next level.
Amazing. Thank you. All right, everybody, thank you for checking in.
See you soon. What a fabulous story, Kristen. Congratulations again and again and again.
Just celebrating you on and on. Well, this is today's episode, a little different than your standard BHB episode, but what I love sharing is others' experiences so that you can feel into yours. Thank you for joining today.
What I really wanna encourage, if you're not on my newsletter, you should get on it. My newsletter is where my clients are the first to know when new things come out, new offers, new opportunities, new news. All of my clients hear it first when you're on my newsletter.
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I'll link it wherever you see the show notes. I'll link it and just DM me if you wanna get on it or just go to my website, www.akaloawellness.com. If you go to acheloawellness.com slash newsletter, you can get on there. If you go to the footer, you can get on the newsletter.
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Just add me to it. And I will concierge service that for you. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
If you like episodes like this, let me know. Can we first celebrate Kristen? Please, in the comments, celebrate her and all of her amazing results that she's experiencing. Let me know what you thought of today's episode.
I wanna pull more clients in. I know this idea of working through my personal stuff can feel taboo, but when we can all learn that we grow together, that when we build a mindset of belief that anything's possible, then truly anything is possible. Just like Kristen said, my success is whatever I decided to be.
So powerful. All right, everybody, let's stay connected. Instagram, the Lauren Baptiste.
LinkedIn, Lauren Baptiste. Facebook, Lauren Baptiste Coaching. You get the hint here.
Thank you so much for listening. If you want more information about me, my program, Freedom, that Kristen participated in, or if you wanna know anything about Acheloa Wellness, you can visit www.acolloawellness.com. Next week, we're talking about boundaries. It's one of the topics that lawyers, accountants, attorney, or finance, all of them, we need better, healthier, stronger boundaries, and I'm gonna teach you how to have them.
Excited to keep this going next week. I'll see you soon. Thanks for joining.