It’s easy to sometimes forget to prioritize yourself.
I know because it happened to me.
In addition to working here at Martin Waymire I also have two young girls, Cameron and Olivia, a husband and a somewhat robust extracurricular calendar. Needless to say caring for three other people sometimes always leaves myself at the bottom of the priority list.
That is, until I recently took time to step back and refocus on myself. I’m involved with a group that my good friend, Jodi Schafer, co-founded called Pure Reinvention and they coordinate a retreat called WE.INVENT. I was featured recently as a guest on their podcast, where I shared what WE.INVENT provided me (you can listen to it in its entirety here).
Bottom line: It’s hard being a working mom, prioritizing school lunches, coordinating Valentine’s Day parties and ensuring everyone gets to school on-time. Trying to squeeze in goal-setting for ourselves? Forget it.
But we can’t use that as an excuse. We have to talk about these things, allowing ourselves to step back and make sure we’re on a path that makes sense. We don’t necessarily have full control over this path, but what we can control is whether or not it aligns with our goals.
Therefore, if you lose track of your goals you lose track what path you’re on.
I realized a few things along the way that have helped prioritize myself, and I want to share them should you find yourself in this all-too-common scenario:
CONNECT YOURSELF WITH NEW PEOPLE
The more diverse your network, the more people you have to help you. Martin Waymire encourages us to get out in the Lansing community and through doing so I have gained a spectrum of mentors and colleagues that save me both time and effort of recreating the wheel. The more diverse this network is, the better.
NEW IS ONLY SCARY UNTIL YOU START
Once you start learning a new skill, it’s not as intimidating as it is from the outside looking in. The fear comes when you’re not willing to learn the things you need to move forward. Fortunately, I’m not even close to being there. I still have a thirst for knowledge.
At Martin Waymire, we’re encouraged to push the creativity envelope. That’s why we’re able to win for our clients, and win for ourselves by doing things that might be a little outside the norm. For me as a graphic designer, that’s huge.
MAKE TIME TO PRIORITIZE YOU
In a time when work lives and personal lives continue to blend together, it’s important to take time and make sure you’re moving toward a balance of growth, both personally and professionally.
WE.INVENT allowed me to refocus. I’m realizing the things I can do to grow myself personally which, in turn, will grow me professionally. It’s a beautiful synergy, one that you can only maintain by taking that step back every now and again.
One of our core values at Martin Waymire is “winning with balance.” That includes both for our clients and ourselves. We work hard, but we also understand that everyone has to stay healthy and sane in order to do so.
Martin Waymire has provided the opportunity, Pure Reinvention the reminder, to rise above settling for this mindset:
“I was so focused on other things; I just wasn’t a thought anymore. I had fallen to the backburner. I had lost sight of what I wanted; what my goals were. I thought to myself: how did I get so far off course?”
And to always strive for this:
“No matter what comes my way, whatever I have a passion for should fit in with what I’m doing professionally.”
How else are we going to become the best versions of ourselves?
