Carrie Moe, founder and owner of Type A Society, will be leading a course in the Creative Business Crash Course that we are so excited for! Life and Work Balance: The 20 Hour Workweek will help you direct your time and energy to what is most important to you, all while improving your relationships and business. She has truly done the work and is now reaping the benefits – but she knows it’s possible for anyone who is struggling to be “superwoman.” Today we introduce you to Carrie – read on to get a taste of her course!

It was a beautifully sunny summer day in Central California and as I got up from the breakfast table, my mother casually asked me what my plans where for the day. It was the summer I graduated from high school, got my drivers’ license, and was able to use the 1970 Volkswagen bug that my sisters and I all “owned” together. The bug was badly loved; it had a black front hood, silver body, and two dented wheel covers. The air conditioning was shot, and one window had lost its handle to crank it up or down so it was permanently up. It was the first time that I actually “owned” something or shared something that could take me wherever I wanted to go.  Someone say FREEDOM! I was finally my own person, with my own car, and could drive myself to wherever I wanted to go. I had absolutely no idea of the bumps and challenges I would encounter on the life road ahead due to my lack of foresight and planning. The conversation that day with my mother looked something like this:

“What are your plans for your day, Carrie?” My mother asked as she started cleaning the dishes from the table.

“Oh not much really.’ meeting Amanda in Madera for coffee at 1:00, then heading over to meet Tiffany at her house at 2:30, then dropping off a few items I need to return in Fresno, and then coming back to pick up Katie. Then we are all going out to dinner at 4:30. After that I have plans to go to Krista’s girls night out at 5:30pm.”

“Wow! That sounds like a lot honey! Do you realize that it takes 30 mins each way to get to Madera, so you will only have 30 minutes with Amanda, and that is if you don’t get any traffic on the way there. That means you might arrive late to Tiffany’s which means you probably won’t have time to drop off the items you want or be very late to pick up Katie which won’t make her very happy to be late to the dinner engagement.  Do you realize you haven’t left any margin for yourself between appointments?” 

Margin…the space in between life events…the time between commitments or opportunities to make commitments, the time neede to re-group, rest, and recover. Margin is what gives us space to map out the life we want. There is no end to what we want, right? We want so much.

Freedom of time. Simplicity. Connecting to those we love. Healthy life/work balance. Sustainability. Organized finances and household goods. A comfortable lifestyle. Owning our own home outright one day. Killing it in our business. Having a health, ever-improving, and increasingly thriving marriage. Well behaved kids that are connected to us. We so often want it all don’t we?

The older I get and in my 33 years of life I have come to realize that I am not as much of a super hero. Le sigh! I am not able to have it all, be fully 100% there in all areas of my life at the same time, killing it in all areas – business, family life, personal relationships, health, and marriage – all simultaneously at the same time with healthy margin. Someone or something is always getting the short end of my time or of me, and often it’s me losing out on my own joy and health because I push myself too hard – which means everyone around me can be negatively impacted, and I’m not thriving anywhere as much as I’d like. Too many times I have ended up sick with a migraine because of the stress overload. Sound familiar? Hello, I didn’t name my company Type A Society for no reason. I am right there with you, friend. 

I have been there too….burdened, overwhelmed, depressed, and beaten up inside. I have wanted too much and lived outside of my priorities to where it hurt my family and life. I have run after the better and given up the best. I had the “dream” lifestyle too with two houses, two cars, and busines, but at the same time, been miserable with my health and relationships. I have had the money while being depressed with my lack of time. 

It wasn’t until a little over two years ago when my husband and I looked at each other and said enough and decided to prioritize our time and our goals better. 

We got rid of our TV, took Facebook off of our phones, sold both houses, moved to an apartment to live within and even under our means. We started being more generous, funding our dreams, and pay off business debt. We downsized cars, had three garage sales and sold over $5,500 dollars of furniture and other unnecessary stuff. We focused on our marriage, did a marriage – focused course, went to a marriage – focused intensive for couple, and sought after a counselor so we could both be each other’s best friend again. We simplified to only the stuff that mattered and let everything else go – stuff that was distracting us, hurting us, habits that were taking us away from what we really wanted in this life. We focused on paying off debt and took a debt course (We the course twice because the first time I refused to cooperate and go to the classes!). And, we have paid off $2,000 of debt in 6 months. 

We are NOT perfect by any means but we decided to make some major changes because we needed margin again. We wanted breathing room back and wanted to stop the crazy pressures and burdens of an unbalanced life by focusing on our WHY. Once we knew our WHY, it was easy to cut the clutter and move into a 0900 square foot apartment with a 3.5 year old and while pregnant with our now here and adorable daughter. Believe me, there are days that are not easy, but the peace in my eart is well worth it all. I can easily take the messy apartment or cramped living quarters when peace in my heart is the result. Through the hard knocks of this life and having done it poorly for so long, I have learned a little bit about time management and how to create margin in your life so you can live easonably, while maintaining a healthy life balance.  I’ve learned that it is possible to kill it in my career while enjoying being fully there in my personal relationships when not working. I have learned that this is possible from those more wise than me, and with my husband, we have set out to carve out a life that is balanced and deeply satisfying in this way.

I work 20-25 hrs a week and the rest of the time I spend doing things I want to do with my family like family nights, zoo day, or trips to the library. My business has not suffered from me choosing to work 25 hours a week.  In fact we have shot out of the middle of nowhere because we are more focused when we do work and have been more intentional with our work relationships. We take on less work but go farther with the work we do take on. 

In saying all of this, I hope to encourage you and not discourage you…I know what it is like to feel stuck. I know what it is like to feel like you can never change or life is already pre-determined for you..but it’s not, friends. You have the tools to change it; it just might need to be changed in a way you have never thought before, and you might need to give yourself margin to see it from a new perspective. In this vide I am sharing with you here at The School of Styling, I plan to encourage you to see your life differently and give you tools in your tool bag to help you create the life you want. 

Now is the time to take action on your dreams! Life is too short, friend, and we only have one shot at it! I can’t wait to share more with you in my video regarding how you can take action steps to change your life with good time-management skills and an ever-improving practice of prioritization!

 

Website / Instagram / Pinterest / Facebook