Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to the Women who Work from Home podcast where we celebrate the power of building a career without sacrificing the life you love.
I'm your host, Michelle Rivera, and this is a space for women who believe success doesn't have to mean choosing between work and home.
Every week we bring you conversations with women who are redefining what it means to have it all. Running businesses from their kitchen tables, leading teams from their home offices, and finding creative ways to blend ambition with authenticity.
If you've ever dreamed of building a career that works around your life and not the other way around, you are in the right place. Let's explore how to create success on your own terms, right from the comfort of your home.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: So let's welcome Jo. She is the founder and CEO of the Balance Institute, who guide high achieving women in finding balance fulfillment clarity in their daily lives.
So, according to the bio, and I'll let her tell you herself. Established in the wake of Jo's own brush with burnout, the Balance Institute provides ambitious women with the tools to reclaim their power and create a life of success on their terms without the sacrifice. Love it. Through blending neuroscience with ancient wisdom, holistic practices and a nurturing community to fast track transformation for lasting change, Joe was recently named Execrated Coach of the year 2024 at Corporate Visions, Corporate Coaching and Recruitment Awards, and has also taken out the titles of Most transformative Executive Coach 2024, and that's the APAC Insider Australian CEO Excellence Awards and Best Entrepreneur Coaching Best of Australia Small Business Awards in the recent months. So, Joe, welcome to the Women who Work from Home podcast.
The first question that I always ask everyone is, tell me a little bit about your family and your business.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. Thanks for having me, Michelle. I have two girls who are 14 and 11, so sort of moving into that. One fully fledged teenager and one tween who is edging into becoming a teenager. If you couldn't tell from my accent, I am an Aussie, so based in Sydney, Australia.
[00:02:30] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: And I've also just celebrated 17 years married to my husband. So we've been married a long time. We were together even over 20 years. And yeah, have two kids, a dog, pretty much not quite the white picket fence, but, you know, I've, I've, I've done the family thing.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Yes, you have.
You check all the boxes.
Awesome.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I, yeah, I've been working from home in this business. I started my own business six years ago now. Before that I was full time in corporate. So I had a corporate career for over 20 years. Was quite, got quite senior, quite young in marketing was my field. And yeah, became, you know, got. I was 31 when I got my first Chief Marketing Officer role. Big team across five countries in a listed global company. So I, yeah, ascended the ranks quite quickly while having little kids juggling all of those things and yeah, I guess we can go into my story further, but found myself burnt out and yeah, have been working from home ever since then.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: Okay, okay, that, yeah, no, I. So I read a little bit about that in your blog. Do you want to talk a little bit more about what that meeting burnout experience was for you?
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. And I've since learned that everyone's experience with burnout is slightly different.
We all burn out in our own unique ways. But being a high achiever, I burnt out pretty well because that's what we do, right? If I'm going to do something, do it well. So I, on the outside had everything that I thought I ever wanted. I was an executive in a listed company, I had an Asia Pacific role, part of a global team. That was all my sort of career objectives. Tick, tick, tick. I was on a not for profit board, which getting some board experience was also part of my executive path. I had the two kids, I had the husband. I had just built a house from scratch, which is very much an Australian thing to do.
And yeah. And then thought, okay, on the surface, I have everything that I ever wanted, so why am I unhappy? Why am I permanently guilty? Why am I exhausted? What am I doing wrong? Because I'd ticked all the boxes of what I thought was going to make me happy. And it was only after getting to this point of having everything that I realized that, oh, hang on, something's missing, I don't know what it is. And I found myself, which many women who end up coming to me resonate with this story of I had this beautiful big house, I had a pool, I had the chickens, I had, you know, all the animals, I had the kids. But that came with a really big mortgage. House prices in Australia are silly, Very, very silly, more than anywhere else in the world. And so you find yourself now trapped with this huge mortgage and you need to keep the big job to have the big salary to better afford the mortgage. You can't leave. And so you feel like you're trapped in this treadmill, this life that you think you want, but it's not the life that gives you freedom or gives you as much choice as you think it is. And you're just trapped in this keeping up with The Joneses. That feels like a treadmill. Constant comparison. And so it got to a point after only being in the forever house for 18 months that we essentially, my husband and I, went on this journey of saying, okay, we're not happy. Our mental health, our relationship is more important. And so we, I essentially went on this journey of blowing up my life. So I sold the Forever House without having anything else to move into. Just put it on the market and said, okay, we'll figure it out. I left my job and ended up moving into some consulting work. Our relationship, my husband was going through some mental health challenges at the time. So, you know, our relationship was quite rocky going through all of that because we were both on our own personal development journeys, you would say. And it was when I found myself having checked myself into hospital with what I thought was an incurable autoimmune disease. I remember lying there and thinking, okay, this is like something has to change. I'm pushing myself really hard. I'm never stopping. I won't let myself rest. I feel rubbish all the time. But on the outside I project this. Everything's fine, I'm really positive. But I was feeling quite dead and empty on the inside. So it was this multifaceted journey really to thinking that I had to change everything outside of myself. When in reality, after I changed everything, sold the house, my husband and I sort of had to do work on our relationship, had to get my health back on track. I started my own business. Was only then that I realized, oh, I've changed everything else and I still haven't found the fulfillment I'm looking for. Maybe the thing I have to change is me. I'm the common denominator.
[00:07:23] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: And so I then went on a really long and painful and tear fed journey of working out. What does success mean to me? What do I really want? Because like most women, I'd kind of chased the dream of success, of what I thought I wanted, but was completely disconnected from who I really was, what I really wanted. Could I even have it? Could I keep working and still be a mum? I'm not meant to be a stay at home mom. That's full credit to the women that can do that. But that's not who I am. And so I saw two paths. It was you either be a stay at home mom and you look after the kids. All the other role models I had in my life were women who were crushing it at work. Super senior, huge jobs, but they either didn't have children or they were, you know, college age. So they were sort of off their hands and not living at home anymore, or they never had them. Or if they did have them and they were younger, they just outsourced everything to nannies and so they never actually saw their children. And I looked at these two pathways and went, I don't want either of those. I don't want to be a stay at home mom that is not meant for me. That's not my path. I'm not the best version of myself if I'm not working. But equally, I don't want someone else to raise my children. So where is this middle path that so few women seem to have been able to find? So then I set upon it myself to work out what is the way that I can still have my career, still have my ambition, in my case, grow a business, find that fulfillment while still being present at home and not feeling guilty and having the energy to take care of myself and nurture relationships and have hobbies and all of those things. I wanted to have it all, but I had to redefine all on my terms.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: That. I mean, that is so incredible. There's so much to say there.
I love that you're bringing that up, that sort of like, dual option that every women like. I, I don't know how we, like, how did this happen? How did women somehow get sold this weird idea that it's like you either have this really incredible career that's really fulfilling, or you have children and the two just could not work together.
But I also love that you brought up with your home like you kind of got to the end of yourself and you got, you know, you have sort of the, like, you get to the point where you're like, asking yourself, like, what more could I possibly want?
But the amount of your life that you had to put into, like, maintaining all of that that you weren't even sure you wanted, like, I don't know, a woman in my life personally, and me personally, who hasn't experienced that on some level and either decided like, okay, well, I guess I'm going to keep going or I need to step back and like you said, just figure out that. That is so incredible. Yeah, just figure out what happiness actually means to me. Like, you pretty much just captured the entire point of this podcast.
It's. Yeah, yeah, thank you. It's really. It's not like I've had some people be like, aren't judging. People are gonna get mad that, like, you know, you're saying that women should work. And I'm like, that's not what I'M saying, I'm saying that those women who feel that calling, who like you. I'm sorry, I love what you just said about how.
How did you put it? I'm not the best version of myself if I'm not working or if I'm not doing that as well. Like, I am the exact same way. I've been a mom for 12 years. And finally just two years ago, I just accepted it. I was like. Because my husband was like, it's okay, you don't have to work. And I'm like, I want to look at. This is a part of me. This means so much to me. I'm so sorry to derail our conversation.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: I just.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: What you said is so incredible.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Really important. Yeah, it's a. But it's a really important conversation to have because so many women are almost shamed for their ambition. It's like, well, once you have children, any needs that you have, any desires that you have are now secondary to these little humans that you're raising. And that's, you know, we can go into it, but that's a lot of conditioning that we've been told, you know, this is what a woman's job is. A woman's job is to look after the home and that's where you're meant to find fulfillment. But we are typically a generation who grew up in the 80s and 90s and we were told that we could do anything we were raised to.
It was an interesting way to be raised because we were told that we could play with trucks and we could go to the moon and we could be president or prime minister, we could do anything we wanted. And yet there was still a lot of conflicting messages that we were given. So that were more subconscious, that were more subtle. It was still about don't rock the boat. It was still be nice. It was still, you know, kind of sit down and don't, don't pop your head up too much. So we've had a lot of conflicting messages and that's why so many of us have this drive, this ambition, this. There's a part of me that wants, you know, I've got potential, I've got fulfillment and that, you know, we've almost outgrown. There's nothing to say that there's no better, there's no worse. It's just some people are not meant to be stay at home parents. Yeah, I found that when I. Yeah, they're not meant to be full time parents. And when I had my first, even my mum, who should know me well, said oh, well, now that you've. Now that you've had your daughter, do you think that you might want to stay at home? And I said, no, I can't wait to get back to work. That's who I am. Doesn't make me a bad mother, doesn't make me a bad worker. But we are the first of a trailblazing generation who are looking to straddle the two. We don't have a lot of role models ahead of us. We don't have a lot of tools that we need to craft this new pathway.
[00:13:21] Speaker C: Interesting. Yeah. I mean, so on the other side of that, I actually. So I was actually raised like the opposite. Like, my parents were like, you're going back to work, right? Like, I was really shocked and planned on not even having children because I was just told that, like, if you have a child, you're going to put them in daycare after three months, like, there's no other option. And so my thought was like, okay, I don't want to do that. So I'm just not even gonna have kids. So when I had my daughter, I, I. My parents were like, okay, well, you're going back to work after three months, right? And I was like, I kind of don't want to, but I also don't want to stay home full time. So. Yeah, that's. That's interesting. But, I mean, both sides have sort of these, like, narratives that get built up that are just like, is that actually true, or can you have that? You know, can you have that all so kind of moving in that direction? I really want to speak to, like, women who are looking at you and saying, is this possible? Can I build something from home? Can I also be a good mom? Can I also show up for my kids?
So what can you tell us about your transition to working from home? Or do you feel like you kind of already covered that in your. In your.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: I think it took some getting used to because I started my business pre covered where working from home. I maybe would do one or two days a month if I had something big to work on. But I was in financial services, so it was a bit more traditional, and working from home wasn't actively encouraged. I think Covid shoved everyone in the world into, whether you like it or not, you need to learn to work from home. And there was obviously all the shifts that came with that. But I think when you're a mum working from home, there's a few things that you need to be really, really strong with if you're going to be Successful. And to me, the key thing you need to learn is boundaries. Because it's very easy to, you know, procrastination when you're in the office can be, I'm going to go for a coffee or I'll go and walk over to someone's desk or go to the kitchen. And when you're at home, that procrastination looks like, I'll just take on a load of laundry or let me empty the dishwasher, let me make a start on dinner. I'll change the sheets while I'm here. And you can very, very easily get sucked into home tasks Life admin or while I'm here, I'll pay the bills or I'll go pick up the kids from an activity. And if you don't have boundaries and an ability to focus on what you're doing, working from home can become, I think, incredibly dangerous because there is no boundaries between work and home. So everything just bleeds together and it feels like you're always on, so you can never switch off and you can also never focus. So then you end up working a lot longer in terms of hours because you're not productive, you're not producing your best work. And it really saps a lot of fulfillment and joy from all the different parts of your life. So to me, boundaries are one of the most important muscles. Because I call boundaries a muscle that we have to learn to build and that has to be, you know, done with compassion and done with an understanding of kids get sick and these things happen.
But you also have to have some level of accountability to yourself.
[00:16:49] Speaker C: So would you say this is actually part of your work with women, whether they're in a corporate setting or working from home? Is teaching boundaries like this?
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. Boundaries is a really big piece of what I do because what I have found is that as women, we are really, really good at self sabotaging. And I talk about the trifecta of self sabotage that we get in our own way and the, the top, the, I call it this, the triple P trifecta that we very often fall into. And those triple P's are perfectionism, procrastination, and people pleasing.
So we do all of those three things. They leak a lot of our power, they cause us to self sabotage, and they suck our joy and fulfillment from life. So really learning what are the tools and strategies you need to stop being a perfectionist, to stop procrastinating. And a lot of people pleasing involves saying no on boundaries.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: Okay, so they all kind of work together, but they're all sort of the separate things that are worth focusing on.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Like, yeah, yeah, they, they, in most women, they tend to come together, they take different forms because often people may not resonate with the word people pleaser because they think it means that you're sort of a bit of a suck up or you're. But if you feel resentment, if you worry about letting people down, if you struggle to say no, if you don't have any boundaries, they are elements of a people pleasing program that many women have running and most women have all three and all three feet off each.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: Other and they all show up in different ways. That's so, that's so important. And I think I've seen a lot of women too, who, when they start considering working from home or building their businesses from home, almost feel like those three things are like just kind of a part of their personality. So it makes them somebody who can't work from home. And a lot of the times, you know, I feel like I want to gently encourage like, like you probably, like these are things you can work on, like these are things that you can build. It's not necessarily like who you are. I have not met one woman yet who works from home or who has a successful business from home who is not actively working on those things.
Like none of us are born just like knowing how to not be that way. So I love your work for that reason.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: It's full conditioned into us from a really, really young age. You know, we are a generation brought up to be that way. And for a long time I thought particularly the perfectionism and my high standards and my ability to push myself and the fact that I could work faster than most. I didn't like letting people down and I was really helpful. I thought they were my positives, I thought they were my strengths. But anything that you lean into too much can become toxic. And so when you are a high achiever, which most women in these circumstances tend to be, eventually you will reach a tipping point where those pieces that you think are your strengths become your kryptonite.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: Wow, that's really powerful. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense.
I guess my next question is.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Can.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: You share a challenge that you faced in your career growth while working from home? And then how did you overcome that?
[00:20:17] Speaker B: I think starting up a business is something that I had always wanted to do for some strange reason. I don't know why, it was just something that was always in me.
But one thing that I had to learn to do was being prepared to fail.
Because I've learned In time that when you start your own business, that comes hand in hand with fear because you will only ever, your business will only ever grow to the size of the problems that you can handle, which means unless you grow yourself, your business will never grow. So recognizing that fear has to come with you on this journey, that the journey to start your own business is not this beautiful yellow brick road paved with rainbows and unicorns, that there can be a lot of self doubt, but that the faster you work on yourself and the more you're prepared to be vulnerable to fail. Which means that you have to overcome your perfectionism because that doesn't allow for failure. Then by working on myself, I was able to almost fail fast and be able to learn from all my failures so that I could keep going.
So for me, I had, I left my corporate job and I ended up consulting for about 18 months. So, so doing day right consulting back in my area of expertise. And then before I started the Balance Institute, I had almost two failed attempts to start a coaching business.
And it was not making too much meaning of that, not deciding that, oh, it doesn't work, I'm doing it all wrong. And at that time I was trying to build this business while consulting full time and then had kids at the time who were quite sick and unwell. So we had, I had kids who were unwell and a husband who wasn't working and had some mental health challenges. I was consulting full time. I was building this business in the evenings and around and trying to also take care of myself. So that was a really big challenge. And then I'd say the other challenge that I've really had to lean into working from home is recognizing that my rest and recovery is just as important as my productivity.
[00:22:34] Speaker C: That, that, that is, that makes a lot of sense.
I coach and I have a coach. And I can tell you that my biggest struggle is absolutely the resting part and the feeling like I'm not doing anything if I'm sitting down.
So I'm not even going to say I've got that one figured out, but you're absolutely correct. And it is an important part of the process, just as important as the trying and the failing part. So that makes a lot of sense.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: So it's been a long journey, a long journey for me to learn that one. Because like you, I, I like going and I like doing things and a lot of my identity was attached to achieving and how much it could get done. And I get great joy from that. But recognizing that if I, if I want to do this for the long run I have to make sure it's sustainable. And I'm also someone who has a lot of integrity. And if I'm building a business that teaches women how to avoid burnout, but If I'm working 80 hour weeks and not taking care of myself, then that would make me quite the hypocrite and you shouldn't listen to a thing I say. So I am my own biggest guinea pig, I'm my biggest success story. And so if I'm not taking care of my body, if I'm not looking after my health, if I don't have a life outside of my work and my children, well then yeah. So for me, leading by example and creating the time and space for that has been a really big part of my journey.
[00:24:06] Speaker C: So do you feel as though you've overcome that or that you will always be overcoming that?
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Well, I will always be working on it because I think we can have this natural inclination for doing. But learning to be is a, is, will be something that I have to constantly work on. But what I find is as you build up this muscle, I tend to something feels difficult initially and then I'm able to habitualize it or it comes into my life and then it becomes more natural and I can move on to the next thing. So as an example, I used to play a lot of sport as a kid and sort of after Covid, you know, my kids playing loads of sport, my husband's playing loads of sport, but oh no, there's no time for me because I've got to run around after them. And then one day I thought an opportunity came up to join a netball team. And netball is the Australian sport, it's a bit like basketball, but it's our most participated in sport in Australia and it's all women playing on a team. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to play netball at 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon and the kids are going to come and watch me.
So I've now been playing netball. We play over winter on Saturday afternoons. I was playing Monday night for a number of years and then this year I decided, you know what an opportunity came to do something that I was, have always been scared of. I've always been a hand ball sport person and my kids and my husband play a lot of soccer and I got offered a spot on a local women's team and I went, you know what, I'm terrified of this. Oh my gosh, can I fit in two sports? Friday night soccer, can I fit in Saturday Netball as well, no, there's no way that's going to fit. I can't make it fit. And lo and behold, I've just played two seasons of soccer as well. So now I've got soccer in my life, I've got Saturday sport in my life. And so then now it's almost like, you know, when you only have one child, you think, there's no possible way I can have enough love for another. And then you have another child and you go, oh, I don't have to halve the love. The pie just gets bigger. Well, the more I've learned about taking care of myself, it's not that I now have to halve the time. The pie gets bigger. So now there's more space for me. And now that's part of my life. I don't have to think about it. And then I get to move on to the next piece or the next, whether it's, you know, something else I'm working on, whether it's spiritual or whether it's a habit or whether it's something else. And then I put that into my life until that feels natural. And then I move on to the next thing. So I'll continually be mastering this. I'll continually be catching myself and watching myself and checking in. Do you have enough time to rest? Do you have enough time to recover?
But it gets easier, if it's any consolation.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: No, I love that. And I think that's like, if we're waiting. I've noticed this thing with women, specifically mothers, that like, if we're waiting for like a time, like a slot to open up in our calendar for us, it will never happen.
So I feel something very similar for my business too, where for years and years it was like I was waiting for that slot to open up. And I actually homeschool my kids. So it was like, I mean, just as the older they get, the more and more those slots shrink up into like these 15 minute increments. And then finally it was like, wait, I need to claim this, I need to take this. Like, this time is going to belong to me. And there is a feeling there where that can feel like, am I being really selfish? Like, is this? Like, is this? But then if you think about it, I kept thinking of like, wait, if my daughter had this activity or we have this co op, like they're claim, like I'm claiming that time for them, why aren't I claiming that time for me? And so I love that you say it like that because it's incredible what does expand for you and what becomes available to you when you decide, you know what, I'm going to do this for me. I'm going to claim this time for me. And I love that your kids watch you do sports, by the way. That's awesome.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Yeah, they have no choice. They have no choice. I've started running now a couple times a week as well. And so they come. I do races and things, so they get to come and watch, watch those. Because I say to them, I've spent many, many, many hours of my life watching you do all kinds of things. So I have kids that play sport. I also have dancers, so they dance multiple times a week. And I go to lots of concerts and competitions. And so I've done a lot for you. You can now come and watch me. So.
[00:28:55] Speaker C: And they'll be better kids.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: It's absolutely. To me, it's role modeling that Mum has needs.
Mum gets time. The whole family gets to work around Mum. Why do we have to come to yours? Because I come to all of yours. And families are all about compromise. This isn't just about the world revolves around the little people. The world revolves around the family. And to your point, we have to claim that we matter. We have to claim that we deserve to put ourselves first. We deserve whatever it is that we want, whether that's a bath or a massage or, you know, a coffee with a friend. If we are, to your point, waiting for that perfect time to arrive, it never, ever happens. And so magic unfolds. When a woman is able to put herself back in the center of her life and say, what is it that I need to be the best version of me and I am a better parent after I've done things for me, because I play in quite social teams, sorts of chatting afterwards and there's lots of jokes on the field. So I come back having moved my body, having, yes, I'm physically tired, which means I sleep better. I've had time out with some girlfriends. So I come back and I'm more engaged with my family as opposed to thinking that I have to exist on fumes. And who wants that version of me that's resentful and cranky and snappy and that is actually not the best thing for my family.
[00:30:21] Speaker C: I love that. That is so. That is so perfect. And that is. That's sort of the crux of what, like, I promised myself I would tell my own daughter one day when she had kids, because I had very severe postpartum depression and I didn't have anyone there telling me, oh, it's oh, sorry, I have to sneeze. Maybe not. It's absolutely crucial for you to take care of yourself, even in that, even in that newborn stage, even when they're there with you and they're on you all the time. It's like it, it's so you really, it's that old cliche you can, you can't pour from an empty cup, but women do. We have to take that seriously.
We have to take that very seriously.
So let me take a look here.
Thank you, by the way, for going so deep with that. I really appreciate it.
So let's go into. Do you have any productivity hacks that you like or are you more on the mindset side of things, which is also considered a hack? So what do you.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Yeah, everything I do is mindset and strategy. Because I have found that if you try to just implement a tool without actually understanding how your brain works and how you'll try to not use the tool, then it doesn't work because you can. Everybody has every time management tool, like a quick Google will give you top time management tools, but it's understanding why we won't do the thing that actually is the key to learning how to use it properly. So one of my favorite productivity hacks that I love is a very common time management strategy called a pomodoro, which is Italian for tomato. And it's where you work in anywhere between 25 and 45 minute blocks of focus.
But what I had to learn to do was to hold boundaries and to stop getting distracted in those pomodoros. Because as women, we are, we have what we call diffuse awareness. So a woman will walk into a room and we'll see the dirty sock on the floor, we'll notice that the, you know, the window needs cleaning, we'll see the cobweb in the ceiling, and we'll notice that that kid over there is a little bit sad. And that we are designed to scan the environment for threats, for things that are out of order, whereas males tend to have much more straightforward focus. And this relates back to Caveman days because 99% of our brains evolved on the savannah of Africa. So men are designed to have single focus when they're hunting, traditionally. And women were more in the cave trying to keep the peace. And so we are more aware of our surroundings. And that now translates into we can't ignore the sock. And every time we walk into the kitchen, we see the cobwebs on the window and go and die a bit on the inside. So it's Learning that our brains work in different ways. And if we want to focus on a task, we are much better off just training our brain to say, all right, 20 minutes. Focus. Ignore the sock. Ignore the kitchen sink. Focus on this next thing. And it's really learning to work with our brains and shut down those ancient parts of us that really want to keep us alive and have been beneficial for a long time, but they're often not beneficial in today's world. So when you understand what your brain's trying to do, you're then not at war with yourself. You can now actually move forward and focus on the thing, get the thing done, and then get up and reward yourself. I don't mean with a piece of chocolate or with some sugar. I mean by actually giving yourself some praise and giving yourself a dopamine hit and saying, well done. That was a great 20 minutes. You smashed out whatever it was that you needed to do in that time. And then when you start to work in these blocks, you get much more fulfillment from what you're doing. You become much more focused, and you teach your brain, okay, we're on now. We're going to be on and not distracted. And then when you're finished, you can go and empty the dishwasher or make a kid's lunchbox or whatever it is that you need to do. But learning this art, to me, when I've understood more of the neuroscience of why pomodoros are really hard, why is it really hard for me to sit down and concentrate and not get distracted? I have. All my notifications are off. My phone is set to a special. I've got all kinds of little hacks on my phone to minimize it, you know, to minimize the attractiveness of my phone, you know, can go a really long way to. To keep helping you keep that focus.
[00:35:07] Speaker C: That is awesome. And that is so funny you bring up the Pomodoro.
We had a friend of ours, one of my husband's business associates, got a bunch of them for people in his office when he was working in an office, and he brought one home for me, too. And he was like, this is amazing. This is working so well for me. Here's one, you know, for you. And I was like, cool, thank you.
I started you. And I was like, am I doing this wrong? Like, why is this so hard? And he was just like, I don't know. It's, like, really helping my productivity. So that's so funny that you say that, because, like, to me, I was like, wait, I have, like, I have a focus It's a timer. This is what I'm doing during this time. But you're right, the sock was there. The sink needed to be cleared out. So that is. So I always wondered like, what it was. I was like, it must not just be a very good productivity hack. Maybe not for my brain, you know, but that makes perfect sense.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Well, so many women come to me and say, you know, Jo, I think I have ADHD because I can't focus. And I'm not dismissing the, you know, the reality of chemical brains and signatures, but I have seen a huge amount of women just haven't learned how to train their brain, that they have let their brain control them, that they aren't able to focus, that they've got a million and one tabs open. But you can train your brain. When you understand how it works, when you understand how it's trying to control you, well, then you get back in the driver's seat and then you can become more productive.
[00:36:42] Speaker C: So do you feel like mindset is an important part of that process?
[00:36:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think everything is about 80% mindset and 20% strategy.
[00:36:51] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: So when you've got the mindset, when you understand it, when you understand what's going on, it means that because most women who are in my world are very intelligent, they're incredibly capable, they're very determined, and when they know how to do something and they know what they're going to do to block themselves, they'll just do it. You know, often say, you know, if you need something done, give it to a busy woman. Like, she'll get it done. She'll get it done. Well, so it's not the execution that is the problem. It's all the distractions. It's all the self sabotage. It's why what's wrong with me? It's the beating ourselves up that stop the execution. So that's why I love to focus. Yes. I want to give you the, the piece of the execution, but let me help you understand all the ways that this is not going to work and where you're going to get in your own way. So once you have that understanding, you go, oh, okay, I'm doing that thing. Let me not beat myself up. Caveman brain, come back, let's go. So you reduce the suffering, you reduce the guilt, and then we, we get in a much more efficient and focused cycle.
[00:37:54] Speaker C: So do you feel like you are doing for women kind of what you needed back during that time when everything was falling apart?
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. I've built a business That I wish I had.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Yes. I love that. That's so perfect.
So we will go ahead and wrap things up.
So I was going to ask you what your parting advice was. If you had anything you wanted to add to that. If not, that's okay. You've been so thorough. Thank you for sharing all this knowledge. I really appreciate it.
But yeah, if you had any advice for women who were like, I really want to dive in. I really want to stay home with my kids, but I also, you know, I'm scared to start a business, what would you say to them?
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I'd say that you can have it all. You just have to determine what your all is and that sacrifice is inevitable. That you can have your health, your relationships, your hobbies. You can have it. But you need to determine what that is. Because if you are following what society says, then that is just a fast track to burnout. So take the time to work out what you want, to discover who you are and to work on yourself and everything else starts to fall into place.
[00:39:07] Speaker C: I love that. That is so. I remember when I first started my business, I was so shocked at how much of it was shifting a mindset. It was just. It was so. It was so huge. So where can we find you and follow you on socials on your website? Where. Where's the best place to find you?
[00:39:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, if obviously people listen to podcasts now. I have my own podcast called Balance and Beyond, so they're welcome to come and find me on that. Or they can come to my website, which is balanceinstitute.com and I have a range of free master classes. I'm regularly, sort of every month doing workshops and things like that on various topics. So they can come and sign up to a workshop. And of course, I've got other sort of more intensive ways that they can work with me, whether it's 4 week, 6 week, or even 12 week intensive programs to get sort of more holistic tools for avoiding burnout and building the life they want.
[00:40:02] Speaker C: That is amazing. Jo, thank you so much for your time and for your insight. You have given me a ton to think about and I can't wait to check out your resources. Like, I'm going to subscribe to your podcast. I'm really excited. I think you're doing incredible work. We really appreciate you. Thank you so much.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Well, thanks for having me and thanks for being another voice that can help women, you know, understand that they can have. They can work from home and have the life that they want.
[00:40:29] Speaker C: Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Thank you.
Sa.
