When we became mothers, we knew we'd love our children more than anything. What we didn't fully comprehend was the river of conflicting emotions we would experience... The unconditional love you feel for your children is unparalleled, but so can be exasperation and anger they can induce in you! The amazement and awe you've no doubt felt in their presence is like nothing else, but so can be the guilt and feelings of failure and vulnerability we’re sure you’ve known since becoming a mum…

Just the other day I was approached by a mother whose children go to school with mine. After an 8 year break from paid work, she had recently landed her self an interview. She was convinced that she was going to stuff it up and was filled with fear and self-doubt…

Dealing with limiting beliefs is a challenge that almost everyone encounters at some stage when they are looking to create change in their career. Limiting beliefs, (a type of thinking trap we can easily adopt without even realising), can be your worst enemy if you don’t learn how to let go of them, but the good news is, there are simple ways that you can do this…

Far too often, we are contacted by women who are frustrated, exhausted and almost ready to give up on having a meaningful career after they’ve had a break to raise their children… when their efforts to re-enter the workforce aren’t getting them the results they want, here’s what we tell them…

How good are you at setting and keeping healthy boundaries? Establishing and keeping healthy boundaries at work (and at home!) is an essential part of thriving as a mother. Boundaries are a form of self-care, of demonstrating that your needs are important too. But keeping them can be easier said than done…

At a time in our lives when we are starting to feel so much more comfortable in our own skin, and in our choices and who we are, we can still be troubled from time to time with insecurity that eats away at us and leads us to doubt ourselves as mothers and as women. Comparing ourselves to others on social media makes things worse…

We all have 168 hours available to us each week, and as mums juggling the commitments of work, home, community or family, those 168 hours can fly by. In the whirlwind of day-to-day life, we don’t always invest our time as wisely as we should. If you’re feeling like time seems to be getting away from you, it might be time to check-in and remember these fundamental time-mastering strategies…

For most women, returning to work after children is a financial necessity.  However a surprisingly large number also can’t imagine a life without their work. For many, work is a part of what makes them, ‘them’. Work is a piece of their own jigsaw puzzle that helps complete them as a person…

Do you feel like you’re really busy, but that you haven’t actually achieved much by the end of the day? This is one of the things new mothers find hard because caring for a young baby is so consuming, but this can also happen when your children grow up, and when you’re back at work. If you don’t have an effective approach to making things happen, you can start to feel flat when you don’t achieve the things that are most important to you.

Most of the mums we know, (ourselves included!) are managing pretty full schedules, that don’t really have a lot of fat built into them. The precarious balance of home, family, work and community commitments often means that if you’re not strategic about how you approach your commitments, you end up sick, exhausted or disappointing others (mostly yourself).

Have you been wondering whether you’ve missed the boat when it comes to finding a career you’ll love after kids? Do you think it might be too late to make a difference in the world? Think again.

Self-care is one of the first areas busy mothers de-prioritise, as we focus instead on caring for everyone else in the household. We somehow feel it’s either selfish to focus on ourselves or in some way less important than nurturing others. And the problem with this, is that if we don’t invest in caring for ourselves, we can’t actually be our best for others…

Mother guilt, Mama guilt, Mummy Guilt, Mom guilt… we’re yet to meet a mother who hasn’t experienced a good old dose of the guilts. Guilt may be a normal part of the human emotional experience, but that doesn’t mean you need to feel burdened by it. We think mums do guilt better than anyone, so it’s time to talk about getting a grip on your guilt…

In over 10 years of working with women to achieve their career and life goals, there’s one topic that comes up as a barrier in every single coaching engagement. It doesn’t matter if the woman is the owner of a multi-million dollar business, a leader in her field, a young woman starting out in her career or a mother returning to work after a career break. A loss of confidence rears its familiar head every single time.

We received an email the other day from a lady who wanted some advice on the best strategies to return to work after taking a career break. After spending a few years out of paid work, this highly capable and talented woman had started to seriously doubt her professional ability. She was wondering what value she’d actually be able to add in a workplace when her most recent memories were all about raising little people and even though she wanted more than anything to re-launch herself back into work, she was beginning to feel paralysed by self-doubt…

Your relationship with your partner at home has a huge impact on your wellbeing and fulfilment. When you feel like your partnership isn’t equal, you can experience resentment, anger and an increase in negativity at home. In this Thrive Time episode we explore a simple and highly effective way to check in on your partnership and take the first positive step towards more equality and fulfilment at home. If you’re tired of carrying more than your load, this Episode is for you!

We get asked sooooo often by women seeking to return to work after a career break how to respond effectively when someone asks them about their time away from work in an interview or a professional setting. And that’s exactly why we’ve chosen to answer this important question in our first Thrive Time video episode. 

It’s the outward expression of confidence that popular culture loves to promote. The energised, ‘Are you with me?’, contagious type of external confidence. But this outward facing confidence is only one expression of the self-belief we need to realise our career and life ambitions. It’s arguably the self-confidence that resides insideus, that holds the most potential. And figuring out how to nourish it, is a life skill worth learning.

Rather than throwing a wobbly like I had become accustomed to, I decided it was time to make some changes. I grabbed my trustiest side-kick (my laptop) and furiously typed everything that was driving me wild about our home life. Within a few minutes of the most hectic typing I have ever executed, it was clear to me, not only that this camel was carrying more on her shoulders than was necessary, but also, that I was part of the problem.

Returning to work after taking some time to raise your family can be one of these times of change where a To Do list just isn’t enough. If you’re looking to push past your fear, reluctance or overwhelm when it comes to working and raising your family, cultivating 3 areas of your mindset might be the only thing you need on your To Do list right now.

The start of a fresh new year is the perfect time to capitalise on your renewed energy if you have been contemplating returning to work after a break or making a career change to pursue more fulfilling work. Ensuring you’re truly ready for this exciting change will ensure you make a success of the time, effort and energy you’ll need to put in. Asking yourself these 6 questions will help confirm if you’re ready to take the plunge!

If, like me, you weren’t born with the divine knowledge of the perfect career for your personality, family situation, professional history or values, or you feel that becoming a parent has changed your perspective on work and life, the following five strategies have been designed with you in mind. Creating some time to engage with them will get you started on a path towards career clarity.

So many mothers today seem to be carrying the weight of their families on their shoulders, and heading closer to burnout and overwhelm than ever before. On closer consideration, it’s not just the physical tasks they undertake that seems to be taking its toll, it’s the often unrecognised and unqualified weight of the mental tasks required to keep a household and a family thriving… ok, just surviving.

As a member of the half of the human race that must work more, to earn less, it’s days like today that remind me we still have some way to go. Whether you agree with the way the stats are calculated or not, it is hard to deny that women still suffer a penalty in the workplace, just for, well, being women. What’s worse, is that when we shift our focus to Australian home life, we can see, not only one of the main underlying causes of the pay gap, but an even bigger gap in equity when it comes to domestic labour.

Foggy. Confused. Unsure. Overwhelmed. That’s what contemplating your next career move can feel like at the start. 

Talking about housework with my partner and three sons is far from thrilling, but in many ways, it’s some of the most important dialogue we’ve had when it comes to my own sanity and wellbeing. As a starting point, if you’d like to have a positive and productive conversation with your partner about sharing the load at home better, and start to reduce the immeasurable tension a lack of equality can cause in relationships, consider these 3 techniques…

The middle of the year could be the perfect time to set some new or updated intentions for your life. With the (blind?) optimism of the start of the year behind you, and the intensity of the end of the year in front of you, July could be the ideal month to tune in to your inner-realist and start making things happen.

When Hillary Clinton addressed the sell-out crowd at Sydney’s International Convention Centre Theatre last week, her story was one of resilience and perseverance. The one-time F.L.O.T.U.S., who experienced an unprecedented and unexpected loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election is in many ways the epitome of resilience and grace under pressure, and in this sense, a role model to many women…

So, was my answer a social media detox? Well, no – although it would have been a healthy thing to do nonetheless! My decision to let go of the temptation to compare was what really made the difference. Freeing myself from this soul-destroying habit, meant that I was still able to indulge in the benefits of social media, without feeling like I was failing in my most-important role, because of regular and unrealistic comparisons to others…

It’s hard to believe that a young woman leaving school today will have 17 different employers in her lifetime, and 5 different careers. And whilst 5 careers may not seem realistic to a woman in her mid-career today, a handful of career pursuits over a 52-year career is certainly feasible…