Balancing your work with your personal and family life is a challenge for any ambitious professional, but it can be especially taxing for speakers. Scaling your speaker business to the point where you can make a living takes time, and in those early “lean years” you might be traveling to every gig you can land at the expense of time with your family. Before you know it, you find yourself burnt out in all areas, adrift in the chaos, and not sure what to prioritize.
Fortunately, speaker and coach Cory Carlson has some solutions for you. Cory is the author of Win at Home First, an inspirational book that teaches you how to prioritize your personal life so you can then succeed in your professional life. He joined our founder Grant Baldwin for Episode 440 of The Speaker Lab podcast to share lessons from his own experience with a perfect storm of professional and personal burnout, overwhelm, and exhaustion. Cory had an incredibly successful rise to the C-suite in his first career, but he was constantly stressed trying to be “super-employee, super-dad, and super-husband” at the same time. Worst of all, he had no close friends. With the help of an executive coach, he was able to re-prioritize his personal life and build a close circle of supportive friends who could support him to be his best self at home and on the job.
As part of his journey toward winning at home, Cory left corporate work in March 2020. Coincidentally, the entire world shut down at the same time. Despite the bleak atmosphere in which he started out on his journey as a full-time speaker and coach, he made things work and found himself less stressed overall. If you feel that speaking will afford you greater flexibility to make time for your loved ones but feel trapped by the stability of your 9-5 job, Cory’s story is sure to inspire. And for those of you trying to come up for air during a season of overwhelm, he also shares important warning signs that mean you might be about to hit a breaking point.
You’ll also learn all about:
- How a coach’s outside perspective and accountability can lead you to breakthrough.
- The framework that helped Cory reach his “aha” moment
- How to organize your calendar effectively without letting it control you.
- Why it’s so common for business leaders to have no friends (and how to fix that).
- How to curb the temptation to never stop working as a solopreneur.
- Why you should always “date your spouse” even during incredibly busy seasons.
- …and so much more!
