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BONUS: Unwrap the Gift of Holiday Presence
22 Plays19 days ago
In this special bonus episode which is a replay of her recent webinar, Leanna shares actionable strategies to help you stay present during the holidays. She offers tips to reduce overwhelm, manage holiday stress, and truly enjoy the moments that matter most.
Learn how to:
- Set intentions for who you want to be during holiday celebrations.
- Stay focused and avoid the pitfalls of multitasking.
- Use simple tools to manage distractions and align your actions with your values.
This episode is your guide to savoring meaningful connections and creating joyful memories with your loved ones.
Visit coachleanna.com to learn more about upcoming coaching opportunities.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Host
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to the Executive Coach for Moms podcast, where we support women who are attempting to find balance and joy while simultaneously leading people at work and at home. I'm your host, Leanne Alaski McGrath, former tech exec turned full-time mom, recovering perfectionist and workaholic and certified executive coach.
Special Holiday Bonus Episode Announcement
00:00:28
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me for this special holiday bonus episode. I usually only post on Thursdays, but I wanted to share a webinar I did with you from last week all about being present for the holidays because I just think it's so important. And I wanted to make sure to get it out before Christmas and Hanukkah begin. So I will be back on Thursday with another episode, but today I'm sharing this special webinar.
Importance of Being Present During Holidays
00:00:59
Speaker
Last episode I published my webinar from two weeks ago, which was all about managing holiday stress and overwhelm. And this one is all about being present because my wish for you for every mother out there is as you have worked so hard to make the holidays magical. I hope that you're able to enjoy them. They are able to be there with your kids and with your family. as you are opening presents or lighting candles and doing all of your wonderful holiday traditions. So I am wishing you a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. And I'll be back on Thursday. Have a good one, everyone.
00:01:49
Speaker
Hi, everyone.
Webinar Welcome and Stress Management Session Overview
00:01:51
Speaker
Welcome to the Unwrap the Gift of Presents This Holiday Season webinar. so excited to see so many people here today to get to talk to all of you about this very important topic. Last week we talked about overwhelm and avoiding overwhelm and managing the stress of the holiday season and this week I really wanted to talk specifically about presence and being present in those moments that we really
00:02:22
Speaker
want to be there for that we don't want to miss out on. And so I'm doing this right before Christmas in Hanukkah to make sure that it's fresh in your mind and you can use some of these tools on those days. So before we get started, I would love to hear who we have
Connecting with Attendees
00:02:40
Speaker
here today. So just if you can write your name in the chat and where you're coming from, I would love to see who we have with us. Oh gosh, we've got lots coming in. Okay, so we've got Sophia from San Francisco and Emma from Asheville, Olivia from Chicago, Isabel from Miami, Ava from Austin. Ooh, I love alliteration. Mia from Portland, Amelia from Charleston, South Carolina.
00:03:10
Speaker
how we've got folks coming from everywhere today. Harper from Denver, Charlotte from Boston, Luna in Santa Fe, Priya from Seattle, Aisha in Detroit, Annika in New York City. Wow, I love seeing so many people here and coming from so many different places. I am located here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today, so I am so excited to talk to all of you about this.
Handling Holiday Expectations and Perfectionism
00:03:41
Speaker
So you are in the right place if you are a high achiever
00:03:47
Speaker
someone who has very high expectations of yourself and a perfectionist and people pleaser. So you want everything to be perfect, especially shows up in the holidays because you want everything to look beautiful. You want everyone to have the perfect memories, everything to be wonderful. And also that everyone around you is happy and specifically happy with you and what you're doing.
00:04:14
Speaker
you are juggling all the things. So we talked a lot about juggling last week and if you haven't had a chance to listen to that or watch that, you can catch the replay if you had registered for that or you can also listen to that on my podcast, on the Executive Coach for Moms podcast. But juggling so many things. We've got the end of year wrap up at work happening, the annual reviews and annual reports.
00:04:41
Speaker
and closing out the fiscal. We've got all of the holiday parties and parades and the light shows and the festivals decorating the house and making sure the house looks as great as everyone's on Instagram does and kids shows and concerts and finding out about the chorus concert and the band concert at the last minute and just kind of playing the logistical acrobatics of making sure that you're able to go to all of the different events and manage all these different activities and stay on top of all of it and not forget anything. ah Also, if you are the magic maker, so if you are responsible for making the holidays magical for your kids and for your families,
00:05:29
Speaker
I've got you. You are definitely in the right place. Harper says, just when I think I've gotten everything under control, the list grows. Yes, we're going to talk about that today, Harper. Sophia says, the end of the year wrap up at work distracts from kids so much. Yeah, I think that's one of the hardest things is that there's so much going on at work.
Work-Life Balance Challenges
00:05:49
Speaker
and then we feel so pulled in different directions so whenever we are so busy at work then we're thinking about all of that and then we come home and we want to spend time with our kids or we want to go to this special holiday thing that we always go to and we've just got our mind running with work and it's so hard to be present so that's what we're going to talk about today.
00:06:13
Speaker
First of all, I want to talk a little bit about vision. So kind of a clear vision for who you want to be on these days and the holidays. Also, presence strategy. So I'm going to share some tools and techniques to bring yourself back to the present moment when you your mind takes you out of it and just bring some awareness that I think will be helpful.
00:06:37
Speaker
We're all working so hard and we all deserve to actually enjoy the holidays and have positive memories and not just feel like, oh my gosh, what just happened? And you know, get to the end of it and we just don't even know what happened. Mia says, we have so many traditions to bring the magic that I'm finding myself not really enjoying it. Yeah, we want to do all of the things and it's so hard to enjoy it whenever there's just so much going on.
00:07:05
Speaker
Who am I and why am I the person to help you? I am Leanna. Lasky McGrath, and I can totally relate to everything that we're talking about today. These are all things that I myself have struggled with in the past and have found strategies for to manage them better now. And I'm not saying that now I do it perfectly and I'm 100% present all the time or anything like that. That's really not the goal, but the goal is, and what I find that I'm able to do now is to be present in the times that are most important to me.
00:07:40
Speaker
and to keep my mind focused with my daughter whenever I want to be focused with my daughter and focus on work whenever I want to be focused on work and not be thinking about the to-do list and all the things I need to wrap and buy and all the food I need to make and people I need to talk to to coordinate and and that kind of thing. So I just want to share that with you today. So I am a mom, a business owner, and a podcast host. I'm a recovering perfectionist and workaholic.
00:08:08
Speaker
And I host the executive coach for a mom's podcast. I'm also the founder of the executive mom reset. So I'm a certified executive career and life coach. And I work with high achieving women to help them find more balance and joy in their lives and careers. I'm a former ed tech startup exec. So I spent over 12 years building and leading companies and global teams.
00:08:31
Speaker
I did company-wide change management initiatives. I did lots of M and&A fun. And so I have a lot of experience there. And now I am focusing on helping busy working moms and executive moms who are doing that too and trying to also manage their family life as well. I also have a bachelor's degree in math and psychology and a master's in educational leadership.
00:08:59
Speaker
Okay. How I'm going
Holiday Stress and Multitasking Issues
00:09:00
Speaker
to help you today. So we're going to talk a little bit about the problem and why it's so hard to remain present in this time. We're going to talk about some practical solutions for positive change and also some opportunities for more support. but Let's talk about the problem Priya.
00:09:20
Speaker
is going to just paint the picture perfectly here. So Priya said, sometimes I realize I haven't given my children undivided attention for the whole week between baking and planning and responding to emails and on and on. Yeah. So I think that when we think about, you know, what's, what's happening, what is going on here. First, there are just so many things. There are so many things happening right now. We already have so many things to balance and juggle and manage throughout the year in a normal month.
00:09:50
Speaker
And then in December, a lot just gets piled right on top. It's not like we don't have to do all the other things as well. We have to do those and, and it's just and, and, and more, more, and more. So I just want to validate that it's very real that there are a lot of things happening, a lot of things pulling our attention and buying for our attention.
00:10:12
Speaker
Whenever there are so many things happening, the list just keeps running in our head and it's so hard to turn it off and to just be able to focus on one thing because that list is is constantly, constantly running. We also have this approach of figuring out the do before who. And this will make more sense when I talk about the solution, but Essentially, we don't really take the time to step back and ask ourselves, who do I want to be this holiday season? Who do I want to be on Christmas morning? We just go. We just go and we just attack that to-do list because we think that it's going to get it done faster if we just go. We don't really step back and think with intentionality about who we want to be.
00:11:00
Speaker
And when we do that, then we take a little bit of time upfront. It allows us to go through that to-do list and approach our days and this month and this season with more intentionality. And we're able to actually, it ends up probably taking us less time, but it's hard to kind of negotiate with our brains that we need to take a little bit of time up front. So we're going to look at that today. And then we're just like missing out.
Impact of Mental Lists on Holiday Experience
00:11:29
Speaker
We're just missing out on what's right in front of us because our mind is constantly in another place. So many of the moms that I talk to when we start working together, they share, I just wish that I could be at work when I'm at work. And I just wish that I could be at home with my kids, with my family when I'm at home.
00:11:52
Speaker
It's so hard because I'm always thinking about the other thing. I'm always thinking about other things that I'm never able to really feel like I'm present. And then that causes us to kind of miss out and not really get to experience any of it.
00:12:07
Speaker
So what have you tried in the past? Multitasking to get it all done. Go, go, go. I'll rest on December 26th or whenever my holiday season is over. Implementing new organizational systems. And let me just say, I'm not saying that organizational systems aren't important. I think they are.
00:12:25
Speaker
And I definitely recommend them, but I recommend them coupled with what I'm going to share today because I think when implemented alone without these other tools, they're just less effective and beating yourself up. I think that so often we look around and think everybody else is doing this so much better than me. What's wrong with me? Why can't I do this? Why can't I?
00:12:48
Speaker
balance all of this and be perfectly happy all the time. I should be showing up better. I should be, you know, all the shoulds start piling on. and And I think that whenever we are in a season like this, where we're already kind of set up to fail,
00:13:05
Speaker
before the season starts and then add more to it and societal expectations of women and societal expectations of moms during this season, then we just start to pile on all kinds of shame that we're not living up to those ridiculously high and unrealistic expectations.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, Harper said it feels like we just have to go and go because if we slow down, then we won't get it all done exactly. And I get that 100%. But why hasn't that worked? Why haven't these things worked that we've tried in the past? So first off, when we're focusing on the how first we overlook the important question of who we want to be.
00:13:42
Speaker
And then we don't show up with as much intentionality to the work, the to-do list, and also with the people. Multitasking has been proven very ineffective and also it's draining. It is draining when we are trying to divide our focus. And whenever we are trying to do one thing.
00:14:04
Speaker
at the same time as another and manage all these things. And so not only is it ineffective and ending up taking us longer, but it's also draining our energy. And then we have that running list. I think that we tend to be really, really good as working moms, as executive moms at compartmentalizing tasks, but we aren't as good. It takes a lot more practice and a lot more skill.
00:14:30
Speaker
at compartmentalizing our thoughts and being able to be in one place and not bring the thoughts about the all the other components of our lives with us. So I just want to check in with all of you and just hear from you what's come up as I've been talking about this, what resonates, and what thoughts are you having.
00:14:52
Speaker
Eva says, end of year, more to do than the entire rest of the year. Me, the solution must be to create a completely new way to organize. Yes. Yes, I need to reinvent the wheel and and totally change what I'm doing. I love that you say that, Eva. I think that one of the things that I have been talking with so many women about lately is that whenever we work together in coaching, whenever you're in a coaching program or some kind of self,
00:15:21
Speaker
development self-improvement program, what you learn throughout the year, you can apply at any time of the year and especially here. And also I think that whenever all of our systems kind of break down at this time of year, like this is really a pressure test for us, then maybe is a highlight to like, Hey, maybe this is an area that I should focus on this year and maybe, you know, working in a coaching relationship or getting some help focusing on this specifically so that next year for the holidays, I can be in a much better place. Ayesha says, my husband is so good at leaving work at work. I wish I could do that. My gosh. Yes, Ayesha. Honestly, my husband can like lay down and go to sleep. It's amazing. I'm like, how are you not thinking about everything?
00:16:14
Speaker
And he's like, I don't know, I just stopped thinking. That must be so nice. All right, so let's talk about the solution. So first up, I want to talk about Who Before How. There is an entire book called Who Before How. I haven't read it yet, but honestly, I think book titles sometimes are enough for me. But the idea is that focusing on Who Before How or Who Before Do, that one's a little more catchy because it rhymes.
00:16:42
Speaker
I think so often we just like rush right in and go, go, go. And without intentionality, we just don't always show up the way we want to. So I just want to take a minute here. You're here anyway. So let's just take a minute and write down who do I want to be on Christmas or Hanukkah or cooking making day or anything else. Just there's focus on a specific day that is important to you and just ask yourself and write down the answer to the question, who do I want to be on blank on that day?
00:17:21
Speaker
So for me, one of like a couple of things that come up whenever I think about who I want to be. I want to be someone who is prioritizing my focus in alignment with how I prioritize things in general, right? So like, what are my values? What's important to me? We talked about that a bit last time. I want to be the person who if I say that my daughter is most important, then
00:17:54
Speaker
in that moment, I want that to align. So if she is having a need and I am trying to do something, then I want to respond in a way that prioritizes her. And so that might look like if I'm in the middle of you know getting something out of the oven, responding in a kind way with patience instead of snapping
Mindfulness Techniques to Stay Present
00:18:19
Speaker
like, can't you see I'm busy?
00:18:21
Speaker
Then I might just say like, Hey, Annie, just give me one second. Will I get this out of the oven? And then, and then I can come and help you. Right. And so it's just like those simple things that whenever I say like, who do I want to be? I want to show up as calm mom. I want to show up as present mom, whatever that might be. Then that's how I show up.
00:18:42
Speaker
Okay, so that is a question you can ask yourself, think about on your drive home today, or at any point. And this might change over time. I think that I used to focus a lot on like being calm. And now I focus more on being engaged, that might just evolve for you over time.
00:19:02
Speaker
Okay. Second thing I want to share is the idea of being where you are without multitasking. So let's just talk about multitasking for a second. Our brains are wired to do one thing at a time. And I think as busy working moms, I mean, the reality of parenthood is that sometimes multitasking is necessary. It's going to happen because we're trying to do something and our kid needs something and we kind of have to do that.
00:19:32
Speaker
But we then often like let that become our default instead of having that be something that we have to do sometimes, but we don't always have to operate that way. Often we're able to do some kind of multitasking. So I was thinking about when do I multitask?
00:19:51
Speaker
And definitely, you know, when I am wrapping presents, for example, I can listen to a podcast while I'm doing that. Maybe I can listen to a call replay while I'm unloading the dishwasher Or, you know, if you're listening to this on replay, maybe you're driving in your car or taking a walk or brushing your teeth, that kind of multitasking that can be effective is great. But just notice it doesn't involve like interaction with other humans or.
00:20:23
Speaker
creating something or really a whole lot of mindfulness. We're just kind of passively listening and doing something monotonous that doesn't require a lot of thought. So if that is working for you, that's great. I'm not saying to stop doing those things, but I think that it's really multitasking while interacting or doing like mindful, focused, creative work.
00:20:47
Speaker
that doesn't actually work because we have to start and stop and start and stop. And it's just so disruptive to the process and the interaction that it' it's not very effective. So I wanna teach you a tool to use it for blocking and tackling all the thoughts that come up. I'm gonna teach you that next. But this is a mantra that I find very helpful when I notice that my mind starts wandering.
00:21:15
Speaker
Because naturally, our minds do this, our minds are going to start thinking about other things. And the thing I tell myself is the action is here. The action is here. That is my mantra. It brings me back to the present. Like what is right here? What is right here in front of me? This is where the action is. Whatever thoughts are being offered to me that my brain is wanting to distract me with. I can just say like, Hey,
00:21:44
Speaker
No, thank you. I'm going to focus on like what's right here. Also, I think another strategy with multitasking is I think we have opportunities to find activities where there's shared purpose. So for example, if we need to bake cookies for the neighbors, and also we want to spend some quality time with our kiddos,
00:22:06
Speaker
then maybe we can see if they'd be interested in baking some cookies together. But I think that whenever we do things like that, it's so important to be clear about what the purpose is and reminding ourselves that the purpose is not only to bake these as like a means to an end, right? It's not only to just to bake these cookies for our neighbors and get get them done for the neighbors. The purpose is also the connection and the time together because I think then you know whenever our kids start kind of goofing off or being silly it can be easy to get frustrated if we're like only focusing on
00:22:46
Speaker
you know, that we need to get this done for the neighbors. But if we can remind ourselves like this is a dual purpose task, we have two goals here, and making sure to stay focused on both of those. And you might have to remind yourself regularly, especially if you're already tired and feeling like you don't have enough time to do everything and then you know It's taking extra time, but really, it's it's going to take some extra time whenever we are trying to do two things. right whenever we have any Anytime we do one thing, we can do that efficiently and get it done. But if we're trying to do two things and we are doing a task with multiple purposes, then it's just going to take a little longer. So just make sure that we work that in and prepare ourselves for that and then remind ourselves of that regularly. Priya, that is such a good reminder, yes. Yes, I have to remind myself of that often.
00:23:36
Speaker
And let me go back and check. out There are a few comments here. Sophia said, I would love for my kids to know that I do value my time with them, but in trying to keep up with everything, I don't feel I show them. Yeah, I think a lot of us can relate to that. And Charlotte said, honestly, at this point, I get on my phone and by the time I put it down, I haven't even done the thing I picked it up for in the first place.
00:24:00
Speaker
I think we can all relate to that too, Charlotte. I wanna talk a little bit more about that too. I think that phone usage in general is is something that we kind of go to this time of year, um thinking that it will be like a nice break, but actually sometimes it just kind of distracts us and makes us not it makes us not do the things that we actually need to do.
00:24:25
Speaker
All right. So next up, the last thing I want to share is about managing our thoughts. And I mean, I could do like an entire 12 week course adjust on this topic. And this is something that I teach to my clients and that we work on a lot in our coaching program. So I don't expect that everyone's going to walk out of here being perfect at this, but I wanted to give you this.
00:24:51
Speaker
as a really helpful tool, maybe start practicing and it maybe it will help to move the needle a little bit for you. Again, like we're not going for perfection here, but if we can just maybe get 10% better at this, I think it can make a really big difference.
00:25:08
Speaker
So I just want to share a story. So when I decided to step away from my executive role and step into full-time parenting for a season while my daughter was two, I remember I was working with a coach and I told her, and I am not being fully present with my daughter. And I expected that whenever I didn't have a job anymore, I wouldn't be so distracted in my mind, right? Like, I would be able to be present because I just wouldn't have as much that I would have to be thinking about. And it was a really, it was a really rude awakening for me because I really thought that changing that circumstance would
00:25:54
Speaker
suddenly allow me to be you know fully present all the time. And she actually said, like do you really want to be fully present? That's kind of intense for your daughter, don't you think? And also kind of exhausting for you. like I don't think anyone is probably 100% present 100% of the time. So maybe we need to adjust that expectation. But also, I think that What I realized is that we have so many thoughts and it doesn't really matter how much we have going on at work or at home. Our brain is going to just keep offering us thoughts no matter what. Like that's just how our brains are. They're wired to be that way and we have trained them to be that way to constantly be running. It's up to us to really kind of decide like when and where
00:26:44
Speaker
were going to be present because the average person has between 12 and 60,000 thoughts a day. And that's probably i mean that problem study was probably done outside of the holiday season, so it's probably way more than that. And also, I wonder if that study was done on men or on women. But we have a lot of thoughts. Our brain is offering us at every moment throughout the day. So I think that the reality is is that no matter how much we have going on,
00:27:14
Speaker
thoughts are always going to come up. Our brain is always going to offer us thoughts, unless you're my husband and it's bedtime and he can just and you can just turn off your brain like magic. But these thoughts are going to continuously come
Visualization for Managing Distractions
00:27:27
Speaker
up. But the thing is, is that you get to decide whether you want to grab onto them or not. It is absolutely normal for you to be spending time with your kid and for you to think of something that you have to do for work.
00:27:42
Speaker
or something that you need to add to your to-do list. And so you get to decide though in that moment whether or not you want to grab onto it and go with it and follow that thought wherever it leads you. So the visual I have for you for managing thoughts is just that we have clouds. I love the visual of clouds. And if you look at all of the thoughts that are floating around in your head, like they're floating on clouds and you can just let them float by you don't have to grab onto it and go down that rabbit hole. You can just let them go. And I also find this is kind of more of a system thing, but I always like to have something to write with close by in case I do have a thought that I need to remember because then I'll like try to cling to it so I don't forget it, right? Like, oh, I need to go pick up the dry cleaning. And and if I don't write it down, then I have to
00:28:40
Speaker
Keep spending mental energy focusing on it when I want to be focused on something else So that's an opportunity is to write those things down as they come up if you do want to make sure you remember it but otherwise if you are spending time you know reading Christmas books with your Son and that's what you want to be doing and you want to be enjoying that moment then you you have the opportunity to do that and and just know that those thoughts are gonna come in. ah Your brain's gonna keep offering them to you. And then you can just say like, you can just watch them float by on clouds and spend the time focused on your son. You don't have to grab onto them. Because when we grab onto the thoughts and we start going down the rabbit holes of really kind of
00:29:31
Speaker
you know, exploring those thoughts and then thinking. and And as you know, it always compounds and, you know, we create other stories and then it goes into the next thing. What someone was talking about with your phone, you get on your phone and you just start going and you don't even realize what thought even started this whole thing that happens. And so you don't have to get caught in that trap. You have the option that is 100% in your control.
00:29:57
Speaker
So let me see, I've got a few notes here. Ava said like 100,000. Yes, Ava, 100,000 thoughts in a day. Yeah, that might be more accurate. Emma said at this time of year, I feel like if I don't deal with those thoughts right away, they go away and I forget something I was supposed to do. Yes. So I think that that is something that our brain wants to offer us and is telling us like, deal with us right now. Listen to me, focus on this right now. And I think that when we choose to be in the driver's seat of our lives, then we can say, this is what I'm doing right now. And that's going to have to wait. And so that is why I recommend writing it down so that it's it's kind of like a parking lot. If you've ever done, you know, I'm sure you've done many
00:30:45
Speaker
retreats at work. I always have like a parking lot board because no matter what in a retreat, you can never cover all the things you want to cover. And all these ideas pop up and they're great ideas and you don't want to forget about them. But you know, if you just followed everyone's thought tracks and you'd be going down rabbit holes all day and you can't do that. So, you know, I picture like that parking lot board that you always have where you just write down those ideas. So similarly, as you are going through your day, write it down in your parking lot and you can focus on that later. This is a lot about decision-making. Presence is a lot about decision-making.
00:31:23
Speaker
And I think presence is also a lot about aligning like where your brain's at with where your body's at. So if you are physically sitting there with your child and you want to be there with them and you want to keep your brain there with them, then you need to make a decision and say, this is what I'm doing right now.
00:31:45
Speaker
And if that is what you're doing right now, then do it and stick to it. And whenever something comes up in your brain, just tell it like, thank you, thank you for the offer. I'm not interested right now. It would be just like if you were sitting there with your kid and someone was knocking on the door and your phone was ringing and things like that. You have the choice to say, I'm going to take that or you know what, actually I've decided that this is what I'm doing right now and I'm going to stick with it.
00:32:13
Speaker
So I think that that is is extremely important, making those decisions and then following through with them. And similarly, if you've decided that you're going to work right now and focus on getting this done and then thoughts start coming in about all the things you need to do, you know, for the holiday party or whatever, then If you feel like you need you need to remember it, then write it down and keep focused on your work. Be where you are. The action is here. And just let the thoughts float by on a cloud. If you need to grab it and write it down, do that. Otherwise, just let it keep floating. You don't have to grab on every thought. If you grab on every thought, this is what causes overwhelm. This is what causes us to feel anxiety. There's so many thoughts. If, you know, you think about how many thoughts your brain is just, your brain just
00:33:00
Speaker
popping them up all day long. And whenever we start to get more and more busy, more and more thoughts our brain offers. Okay. And then finally, mindfulness tools to support yourself. So I talked about these four tools in the last webinar. So if you want a demo of those, go back and listen to that. But all of these will help you with presence as well. So I'm just going to review them real quick. So checking in, am I showing up how I want to right now? I decided who I want to be.
00:33:30
Speaker
Am I being that person? I decided what I'm going to focus on right now. Am I staying focused on that? So just check in with yourself, not in a judging or a shaming way, but just checking in so that you can realign and know that that happens. We're not perfect. So we're not going to perfectly stay focused and, you know, not get pulled away on a thought. Um, but we have the ability to then check in and say, Oh, wait a minute.
00:33:57
Speaker
What did I wanna do? Okay, I wanna be here. I wanna be focused on this and bring ourselves back. Breathing exercises, so, so crucial this time of year, all throughout the year, but especially this time of year when we're feeling a lot of stress and overwhelm. Writing, getting your thoughts out of your head, just get your thoughts out of your head. I talked last time about if you're feeling overwhelmed, just start writing, start writing down everything that's in your brain that is such a great, useful tool. But also, like I said, if you think of tasks that need to be done and you are,
00:34:31
Speaker
not in a place to do them, then write them down because I mean, if you sit there and think about the task that needs to be done, then it's not helping you. It's not getting the task done. It's just taking you away from what you want to be doing, what you decided you want to be doing right now.
00:34:47
Speaker
and If we just follow our thoughts all throughout the day, I mean, we'd be running in circles all day long and never get anything done. So we have to have some of that mental discipline to choose what we want to do and then say no thank you to some of those other thoughts. And then finally grounding and getting out of your head and back down to earth. So I shared some grounding exercises.
00:35:14
Speaker
Last week, and I highly recommend trying some of those as well if you're feeling super anxious or overwhelmed. All right, Emma said writing thoughts would be really helpful.
00:35:25
Speaker
It is, I promise. I promise. So let's move on to our final section. Let's talk a little bit more about ongoing support. So I've given you some really helpful tools to help with presence this season. But like I said, and it's just scratching the surface. A lot of these exercises are things that are helpful to practice and when you do that with an experienced guide it can really help kind of take it to the next level. So we've talked a little bit about being present and I group that into work-life balance because it's being able to be present at work being able to be present at home kind of helps you to feel more balanced but in the executive mom reset coaching program we also focus on stress management on confidence and authentic leadership on fulfillment, kind of looking at what is that life vision that you want? How do you want to show up? Who do you want to be?
00:36:23
Speaker
and kind of checking in with that and bringing you back to that regularly. So we're going to meet every single week to talk about that because it is so easy to kind of get off track and get so focused on what you're doing instead of who you're being and who you want to be. And so what we do in our six month engagement is we work together to get really clear on your vision for yourself, for your life, for your career, so that you can really show up as the professional badass and mom that you're meant to be. And then when you do get get off track, then we can pull you right back in every week and make sure to keep you aligned with your vision and your goals for yourself so that you continue to make progress toward those. So we do a six month
00:37:15
Speaker
coaching engagement, we do weekly one-on-one sessions, and then also asynchronous support between
Six-Month Coaching Program for Moms
00:37:21
Speaker
sessions. If you are interested in signing up for that program, and I think the beginning of the year is such a great time to start, I would recommend just booking a consult call with me. It's a one hour, no obligation call, there's no cost to it. And what we do there is we really explore kind of what you'd like to improve,
00:37:42
Speaker
What is your vision and how I can support you? Here's a QR code, and you can go ahead and go to that and book a console call. Or if you're listening later, you can just head on over to coachleana.com and you can schedule a call on my calendar. I would love to talk to you.
00:38:02
Speaker
Also, I have my free resource, my podcast, and there I share lots of insights and suggestions and helpful resources and tools as well. So it's the executive coach for mom's podcast. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Finally, I am going to be hosting a January reset. And so I did this last year and it was so much fun. I just love the energy of the new year.
00:38:31
Speaker
And I know that we are all kind of thinking about what do we want the next new year to look like? It's an opportunity for a fresh start. And so I'm going to be offering a group coaching program January 6th through 10th. We'll meet every day of that week and really to help you start the new year off strong, to kind of help you to figure out, you know, what is your vision for the year? How do you want to show up this year and just get you started off on the right foot?
00:38:58
Speaker
So I hope to see you there. You can head over again to coachleana.com for all of the information on that. So last check-in, what is everyone taking away from? Annika said,
00:39:11
Speaker
I usually exercise to help, but it's hard to fit that time in. Yes, last week I did talk a little bit about that, about how when things get so busy, we often drop our self-care first. And I think remembering that that is not indulgent, it actually helps everybody else around us.
00:39:32
Speaker
It helps us to show up better, and it helps be better at work. It helps us be better at home. But I totally get that. It can be really hard to remember to prioritize that, especially whenever there's so many demands on our calendar right now. Isabelle said, my family is so rarely altogether without distraction. I just want to bask in that in our holidays. Yes, that is what I want for all of you. If that's what you want, I want you to just be able to enjoy the holidays together with your family,
00:40:02
Speaker
And hopefully you have some time to do that in the next couple weeks here. Charlotte said, sometimes I just try to focus on my kiddos smile to ground me. Oh, I love that. That is such a great idea. And I totally agree. I think that kids are as challenging as they can be sometimes. They also have this ability to ground us and remind us of what's important because they are so present themselves. And they're so focused on like what's right in front of them. And they're so focused on just enjoying the moment and being present in that moment. And I think we can actually learn so much from our kids.
00:40:43
Speaker
Amelia said visualization is really helpful for me, but I haven't had a good focus for it. It's helpful to remember who I want to show up as because I can take that on as a focus. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad, Amelia. And I think that that is, but like I said, there have been books written on it. It's a really helpful thing to focus on. Who do I want to be?
00:41:04
Speaker
Sophia said, how do we check out the last webinar? I can definitely use some tips on how to use these techniques. Yeah. So Sophia, I do have a recording of it on my podcast. That's the audio only. If you are interested in the full recording, the audio and the video, you can just message me liana at coachliana.com and I'd be happy to send it to you. I don't have it on my website at this time. I hope to in the future, but right now I can send it to you.
00:41:33
Speaker
Olivia said, because Takeaway is remembering who I want to be. I am just planting the seed for resetting in January, but I think obviously right now we are focused on our tasks at hand and just enjoying the next few weeks. So thank you all so, so much for being here. I really appreciate your time and your engagement. And I genuinely, genuinely hope that You are able to show up more as the person who you want to be on whatever holiday you are celebrating this year or whatever activity you are doing.
00:42:11
Speaker
And please take these tools and use them this holiday season and use them in the new year anytime they're applicable beyond the holidays, of course. But I really genuinely hope that you have a wonderful holiday and that you get to enjoy it and that all of your hard work and efforts pay off and that you just get to enjoy that time with your family. So thank you all so much and have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, any holiday you are celebrating.
00:42:41
Speaker
Bye.
00:42:46
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning into the Executive Coach for Moms podcast. Please like, subscribe, or follow the show so you'll be notified when the next episode is available. I hope you'll join me again next time. Take care.