Review of OWN YOUR LIFE

On Wednesday I went to the MomCorps Own Your Life conference, you may remember we talked about it in January. I am really glad I went. I have been sick lately with a cough that will not go away and have been ultra-busy at work so this was some much needed time for me to shift my brain cells (you cannot do this at home… too many things that need to be cleaned and organized). There were two main speakers who were both very good and had written books, both were in the over 50 age-range but still very connected. In the middle of this was a panel discussion. I could never recap all that was discussed but I did take some notes and wanted to share a few nuggest that I wrote down:

Dr. Kathleen Hall from the Stress Institute was the first speaker. She talked about stopping the guilt (you know, the mommy guilt, we all have it). Stop the excuses for reasons you cannot do something. And she talked about compassion… we as women need to not judge each other, we have no idea what someone else is going through. I bet we’re all guilty of this, even though we hate to admit it.

She talked about taking care of ourselves… so that when we give to others, we “give out of our abundance, not our scarcity”. This always reminds me of the flight attendants who tell you to secure your mask first and then help your child. Because if you have not taken care of yourself first there’s no way you can help anyone else.

The last notes I took from Dr. Hall was a four quadrant approach to health. It spells “SELF”, like Self Care:

S is for Serenity (put your brain in neutral)
E is for Exercise
L is for Love (friends, husbands etc)
F is for Food (the right kids, protien, Omega 3s, amino acids)

Ther next section of the day was a panel discussion with several types of moms: the founder of Bella Tunno accessories, a Wachovia executive, a Time Warner Cable executive and a Mom Corps mom. I really enjoyed this because these were real women, they had no speeches prepared, they were just there to talk. It was nice to hear how they dealt with their problems throughout their careers.

Last was Ann Crittenden, author of If You Can Raise Kids You Can Manage Anything. She talked alot about the synergies between work and family. She says the best leaders are those who can run a family because the skill set is similar. Even many business books “steal” from baby books (like the business book How To Deal With Difficult People… ahh, hello, ever had a toddler??)

She suggested the 4 skills that a parent has that translate to workplace:

1. Multi-tasking
2. Interpersonal skills (listening)
3. Ability to motive people (positive reinforcement, understanding individual differences)
4. Attitude (perspective, lack of ego)

I left feeling inspired. (Even though I immediately had to go back to work and catch up on all that I missed.) I hope I can remember these things I wrote down and try to find places in my life for them.

Did you go to the seminar? What did you get out of it?