Resilience & Transformation in 2024

A Special Note:
Hey everyone, it’s Cynthia Good, PINK CEO. Thank you for showing up and being part of this community.
I’m excited to share this article about creating the life/work you want—which came out of our recent Pink Power Alliance Zoom gathering which delivers hands-on tools women can use to advance while improving their lives. I learned some cool things that our writer, and amazing coach/author, Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann highlights below. I hope you enjoy this! And please let me know what you think.
– Cynthia
cgood@littlepinkbook.com

With PINK’s 2024 focus on Resilience and Transformation, we kicked off the New Year on a high note with experts weighing in on how to Create the Life You Want at Work and Home, the focus of a recent PINK Power Alliance Zoom gathering—PINK’s membership development program for high potential women. Now, nearly two months into the New Year.. here’s what many women say they want:

The top five things? To Eat Healthier, Get Better at Saying “No,” Spend More Time with Friends, and Have More Fun and More Sleep!

We asked the group: What would make a huge difference to improve your work/life in 2024?  Here’s how they weighed in:

1. Eat healthier –47%
2. Get better at saying “no”—41%
3. More time with friends—37%
4. Get more sleep—35%
5. Have more fun—35%
6. Simplify—31%
7. Plan a vacation—31%
8. Get promoted—20%
9. Less alcohol—2%

Cheers to being more intentional about what we want. How to get started? “Begin with the end in mind,” said featured expert and PNC Bank Community Relations Director, Cristel Williams, and “Don’t feel guilty,” adds Aprio Partner Carli Huband.

“Be the Leader of Your Life.” That’s not just featured expert and coach Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann’s advice, it’s also the tagline of her book, FitCEO, which we think can jumpstart your career.

With 85 registrants—the topic hit home with attendees. Eighty-six percent say they’d like to improve the quality of how they live and work. A full third said they’re exhausted! 

A.  53% Are doing good but want to do better

B.  33% Doing OK but exhausted

C.  9% Knocking it out of the park 

D.  5% Need a bed in the office

With her high-pressured job and young children at home, Carli says it helps her to “schedule everything. Take the time to put it on the calendar,” especially fun things like time with friends. PINK advisor and Tirabasso Group Founder Annette Tirabasso created what she calls her “Sunday Summit.” Every week she reviews her upcoming calendar, reprioritizes and puts items on, and takes commitments off her schedule.

Other key takeaways to Create the Work & Life You Want include: 

• Having a plan

• Committing to following the plan; ideally with a buddy. Want more exercise? Schedule it with a friend!

• Start slow. If you want more sleep, start with 20-30 minutes more per night, start with 10-20 minutes of exercise, etc.

• Consistency helps. Make walking, exercise, sleep, eating healthy, and allotting time for fun and friends—not just a priority, but also a routine.

• If you miss a day, no guilt, keep going and look at balance over the course of an entire week. It is about progress, not perfection.

“Everything in moderation—even moderation,” said Rebecca, founding member of RMK Group LLC. The experts say they address these issues by planning meals ahead of time. Cristel selects her clothing in advance for the entire week. They mark all activities including downtime and time with friends on the calendar. Other ideas shared were about setting boundaries and taking things off the calendar. One of our favorite sayings emerged: “No” is a complete sentence.  Even saying “No” to some fun things may give you better health during busy periods—as a way to stay rested and have more control over your day. “I learned that ‘No’ is a complete sentence and that made a tremendous difference in my life,” said Cristel. “Taking something off your calendar is a power move,” added Rebecca.

We also busted some myths about multi-tasking—and demonstrated live, how multi-tasking increases stress, increases errors, and makes getting tasks done take 7x-10x longer. Key take-away, avoid multi-tasking and you are fooling yourself if you think you are getting more done. Check out the video of the session here so you can see proof!

Finally, the experts and attendees agreed on the value of giving oneself grace and if a practice or new habits break down, be kind to yourself and then get back up and take the next step to try again. 

By Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann

Author of FitCEO: Be the Leader of Your Life and Founding Member of RMK Group LLC. Check out www.fitceobook.com and www.rmkgroupllc.com for more, and this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdX-JRlRatdTbFbAK9Ko8qQ