Are you busy or burned out?

NACWE is doing a series of articles on working women – women who work full-time outside the home and are entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms of babies, toddlers, and small children who are entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who work part-time outside the home, entrepeneurs who homeschool their children, or some combination in between these. Today’s first post about the working woman is by Rhoda Baty.

Guest post by Rhoda Baty

A famous Lucille Ball quote says, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” Why is that? For me I plan and prioritize. I know who I am and what I want. I know my values, strengths and boundaries, and running my responsibilities and activities through those filters allows me to choose only what motivates and energizes me.

Buzzzz! The alarm clock interrupts my dream. My feet hit the floor; I pour a cup of coffee and settle into spending time with God. Before you think I am “Super Spiritual Woman,” you should know that I rely on accountability groups to keep on track. Without my values of God and accountability, I get little accomplished.

During the week, I work four 8-hour days with at-risk, know-it-all teenagers with issues! A hostile work environment, with staff who mirrors the demanding students, prompted me to set boundaries which limits extra unpaid hours to no more than 10%. This is an exercise in perseverance for me. I have no choice but to keep my job; I need health insurance. Yet I love how God has placed me in a job with kids who are growing up in a home environment much like mine. I use my strengths of listening and coaching every day as students come to me saying, “I’m never going to graduate!”, “My boyfriend is such a jerk!” or the one I experienced, “My parents kicked me out; I have nowhere to go!”

Arriving home, I work on my business Hopeful Heart Coaching. I engage with clients, work on projects, write articles, work on classes, or organize. This is my passion, my favorite part of the working day.

I reserve Fridays for meeting with coaching clients who enjoy face-to-face interaction and for spending time with a friend who has terminal cancer. Weekends are set aside to catch up on housework and to enjoy my husband and our grandchildren.

I do volunteer work with first-time juvenile offenders through the Juvenile Court, facilitate a women’s book study at my church, and assist my adult children entrepreneurs. For six weeks in October, I volunteer 20 hours each weekend at the agri-tainment farm of my youngest daughter. Volunteer work coincides with my values of family and of generousity.

I know I can take my strength of responsibility too far to my own detriment. I couldn’t manage all this and remain sane if it wasn’t for boundaries, which help to remind me of my core values and to avoid burn-out.

I don’t always see when I am out-of-balance. My family has two code phrases that remind me that I’m off course: “You’re walking sideways,” a clue that I’m crabby, and “get down off the cross,” meaning that I’m trying to do it all and I’m not the Messiah.

God doesn’t waste our pain. Yes, I’m busy…busy using the pain of my childhood to bring hope and following my God-given gifts and purpose.

Rhoda Baty is a Life Coach with Hopeful Heart Coaching, and works as a secretary at an alternative high school. Rhoda lives in Snohomish, WA, about 30 miles north of Seattle, with her pastor husband of 37 ‘never a dull moment’ years, two daughter’s/son’s in law and her 7 grandchildren.

Rhoda has been working with women for over 30 years. At this stage of her life, she feels her most valuable contribution is in helping women discover and fulfill their “God Planned Purpose”.