Description

“I was eager, and I was a quick learner.”

These two traits are a dangerous recipe for success. I loved to learn new things, and to be successful at taking on new challenges and defeating them. So I did it for my whole life. It fed me.

When my kids lost their dad, and I was left to parent two grieving kids solo, I quickly realized that this wasn’t right. This wasn’t how I wanted to live my life. I couldn’t live my life like this anymore. So I worked and made the change.

This first story is all about:

• The start of my map: The moment when I fell in love with work at 16
• My entrepreneurial journey: The influences of being a business owner on my relationship with work
• The turning point in my map: My first step to fully integrate my life over 20 years later
• You don’t have to be a workaholic to have a successful business or a successful life.

Key Takeaways:

• If you don’t change your relationship with work, you’ll fight yourself every step of the way. You shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time off, or decreasing work hours. If you constantly feel like you need to be working, it’s time to make a change. 
• Just like any behavior, workaholic behaviors are learned. We can learn something and we can unlearn something. How will you apply your successfully learned skills, and integrate that into a balanced life?
• Ask yourself. Have you built something that only you can do or decided that only you can do it? If you answer yes to either question – it might be time to commit to building your map beyond workaholism.
•  Don’t wait until tragedy strikes because it happens to all of us at some point. Be there for the people and life waiting for you BEFORE you need to.

Key Moments:

{3:10}”I easily worked 70 to 80 hours a week, not because anyone was making me, nor because I was getting paid for it or punching a time clock for it. I wasn't, but because I loved every freaking minute.”

{3:51}”Fast forward a year. I am exhausted, burned out, and struggling with health issues because what I didn't know at the time is that my body, mind, and spirit aren't separate things. We are whole and integrated people and we mess with one. We mess with it all.”

{7:07}”It was January, 2021 and I am, eyeing 40 in the nuts. I was standing in the kitchen staring at a piece of paper and there was a few words on it that I understood, likely malignant tumor.”

{9:55}”You are not a workaholic. Your workaholic is an outfit that you put on top of who you are. It's an outfit you can choose to put on, and it's an outfit you can choose to take off.”

Want to share your story or make a change?

If you’d like to share your story, contact me at
podcast@jennylynneerickson.com

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