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‘When we view time as our most important currency, we spend it much more wisely’
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Are you unhappy with your job? Struggling with burn-out or overwhelm? We sit down with career consultant Angela Burke to talk about finding work-life balance and what that looks like for the modern woman.
Tell us a bit about your experience and what inspired you to become a career consultant.
As a career consultant, I’m in a unique position to have a mix of professional and personal experience alongside passion and qualifications. When I meet with clients, I draw on my recruitment experience, which equips me with insight as to exactly what employers are looking for from candidates, and my corporate career background, which means I’ve personally experienced most situations my clients present me with. Therefore, I can fully relate to the impact our career has on all areas of our life and well-being. Then, of course, my post-graduate qualification in career development and coaching enables me to help people shape and navigate their work and career with clarity, confidence, and alignment with their lifestyle and well-being needs.
The fact that our career is often the biggest source of stress in our lives, with the potential to significantly impact our well-being, is what inspires me to do this work. I believe that our career should add to our lives by enabling us to live our best life, rather than constantly taking away from our lives, which unfortunately is what many people experience until they find my resources.
Stay tuned for Angela Burke’s episode on The Wellness Project Podcast
Work-life balance is one of those buzzwords used so often… in your experience, what does it actually mean and what significance does it hold for women today?
To me, if you have a work-life balance you have the time, headspace and resources to prioritise what’s important to you in your personal and professional life. It’s a case of give and take between both worlds and actually, if done right, both worlds are supportive and complementary of the other.
Work-life balance isn’t only about time, which can be a misconception I often come across. It’s also about having the mental capacity to be fully present with your loved ones without worrying about that 8pm call with the US you’re torn between joining, prioritising bedtime with your kids, or attending that yoga class you know your mind and body needs this week.
Many women who excel at their jobs tend to procrastinate in their personal lives, whether it’s putting off self-care or family time. Could you share a few tips on how we can start re-prioritising what matters most?
We’re all busy juggling so many areas of our lives that naturally, we drop some of these balls and often don’t even realise we’re doing so until we’re faced with burn-out, struggling relationships or that sense that something is missing in life. In order to prioritise what matters most to us, we need to become aware of what that is.
Take some time to reflect on what your life looks and feels like now and how you would like it to look and feel going forward. You will quickly realise what is important to you when you tap into how you feel about each area of your life as it exists today, and you’ll get clear on ‘why’ you want to prioritise the important things. Once you know your ‘why’, you’ll be more inclined to base all the small decisions around this during your busy week, which will ultimately lead to less procrastination and more prioritisation of what truly is important to you.
For those with a busy schedule, how can they optimise their time best?
I worked with a client recently on this and after completing the exercise I suggested, she was able to take back nine hours a week for herself. That’s a full day’s work! When we change our mindset to view time as our most important currency, we spend it much more wisely.
For one week, keep track hourly of what you are spending your time on. Be honest, and stick to your usual routines and activities. At the end of the week, review how you currently spend your time by allocating each activity a number of hours per week. For example, perhaps currently your total time spent exercising per week is one hour, but you’d like to increase that to three hours. Maybe there is another activity that you’re spending way too many hours on (likely your screen time!), reduce that by two hours and allocate those two hours to exercising.
It’s a really simple exercise that shows that you really do have control of your own time once you become aware of how you’re spending it and how you want to spend it moving forward. It absolutely takes discipline and a little tracking at first, but after a while, it will become a non-negotiable exercise for you when you realise how incredible it is to consciously spend your most important currency in a way that empowers you to live life the way you want to experience it.
Let’s talk about procrastination in our careers – maybe we’re putting off asking for a promotion, a pay rise or something else we really want to go after in our job. What’s your advice for women in this situation?
Just go for it! You can guarantee that there is someone else less qualified than you going after what they want. You have to back yourself because if you don’t, you can’t expect anyone else to. We are responsible for our own career and we need to be our own biggest cheerleader and accountability buddy! Unfortunately, it’s rare that you’ll be presented with a promotion, a salary increase or a new opportunity without making it known that you want it.
Take the time to consider how you want your career to look and feel and commit to taking the necessary action to make it happen. A lot of the time, what holds us back and causes us to procrastinate is our fear of having the necessary conversations required to get what we want, whether that’s a promotion, a pay rise or a new opportunity. If you feel apprehensive about these types of conversations, plan what you’re going to say, stay focused on the impact you’re making and practice with someone like myself so that you feel confident and empowered having these conversations, increasing your chances of success. You are so much more capable than you are letting yourself believe. You’ve got this!
The IMAGE Wellness Project is powered by Meaghers Pharmacy and in association with Activia, its4women, Irish Life Health and KIND. Visit our Wellness Hub to follow weekly updates including interviews, videos and podcast episodes with our leading wellbeing experts.
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