Join 60 other fabulous women for an evening of all things fab.

I will be speaking about Superwoman Syndrome at the Ealing Fabulous women event on 17^th July and will be giving away a copy of my book Rocking Your Role as a prize, in addition I will be offering  a free 30 minute ‘Rocking and Shocking’ assessment session to the first 5 women who request it, after my talk.

Alongside myself, UK’s leading life coach, Carole Ann Rice, Style Guru, Kate Nightingale, Strange Fruit Founder, Denise Rawls, Mum&Career Founder, Inge Woudstra and Motivational Coach, Inge Deksnewill also be speaking.

Come along and join 60 other fabulous women for an evening of all things fab. These events are always a treat. Come and hear amazing speakers each talking to topics fabulous women care about. Have a mini-treatment, indulge in some cupcakes or simply sit back, relax and have a great time. All while raising funds for The Rainbow Trust.

Tickets are only £10 with proceeds going to The Rainbow Trust
Don’t delay. These popular evenings sell out!
Bookings and info: www.fabulous-women.co.uk/ealing

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Find out more about Rocking Your Role at www.rockingyourrole.com

You can purchase Rocking Your Role from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rocking-Your-Role-Success-Breadwinners/dp/1908746203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340370320&sr=8-1

Find out more about my company Reflexion Associates at www.reflexion-uk.co.uk
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jennifergarrett

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Reflexion.Associates
Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4324467&trk=hb_side_g

Are you listening with all of your heart?

I have been preparing for a Leader as Coach programme that I am facilitating in collaboration with ACEVO on Thursday.

I was thinking of creative ways I could talk about listening, as it seems so basic that we often take it for granted.

I came across the Chinese symbol for listening which is pictured above.

When translated into English, the Chinese symbol is made up of five elements:

• you
• your ears
• your eyes
• your heart
• your undivided attention

A much more thorough explanation than that of us Westerners don’t you think?

How will you listen with all of your heart tomorrow?

Let me know the difference that it makes

————————————————————————————————————

Throughout the month of June, I will be sending out daily inspiration and tips for female breadwinners, sign up to my newsletter to ensure that you receive them direct to your inbox

My book Rocking Your Role – the ‘how to’ guide to success for Female Breadwinners, will be out on 28th June 2012

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Tweet me @jennifergarrett

www.reflexion-uk.co.uk

Female Breadwinners – A Resource for you

It’s pleasing to see a small number of courageous women sharing their experience of being a female breadwinner, and those who want to support them. Here are a few:

Divine Caroline – who has taken 10 years to admit that she is the breadwinner

My piece on the fabulous Women Blog on why women should come out of the closet as breadwinner

A further segmenting of female breadwinners focusing on black women who this article states have been the breadwinner for a long time

The breadwinner Mom blog written by Traci Love Feit which shares her experience with her husband who is a stay at home Dad

Here’s a counselling and psychotherapy angle from Anne Marie Hearne which says that resentment, shame and guilt are part of the package for female breadwinners

The female breadwinners debate  from Women of HR

Lastly, a blog about female breadwinners and the law, shockingly some women are losing their children when they become divorced

Lot’s of good reading.  If any strike a chord with you or if indeed you disagree with any of them, please feel free to share your thoughts.

Enjoy your Saturday

———————————————————————–

Throughout the month of June, I will be sending out daily inspiration and tips for female breadwinners, sign up to my newsletter to ensure that you receive them direct to your inbox

My book Rocking Your Role – the ‘how to’ guide to success for Female Breadwinners, will be out on 28th June 2012

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Tweet me @jennifergarrett

www.reflexion-uk.co.uk

Which wolf did you feed today?

An old Cherokee told his grandson,’ My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil.  It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego.  The other is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy and truth.”
The boy thought about it and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quickly replies, “ The one you feed.”

Which wolf did you feed today?

Throughout the month of June, I will be sending out daily inspiration and tips for female breadwinners, sign up to my newsletter to ensure that you receive them direct to your inbox

My book Rocking Your Role – the ‘how to’ guide to success for Female Breadwinners, will be out  on 28th June 2012

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Tweet me @jennifergarrett

www.reflexion-uk.co.uk

Acceptance speaks louder than words

I posted the following quote on twitter and have never had so many retweets:

If you judge people, you have no time to Love them

I wondered why and started to think about how judgement has been playing out in my life.

When we judge others it becomes impossible to empathise with them.  It becomes the ‘I’m right and you’re wrong’ situation which we’ve all experienced.  What I have also noticed is that sometimes we convince ourselves that we are empathising, but what we’re really doing is pretending to do so while trying to get the other person around to our way of thinking.

The opposite of judgement is acceptance. So if I reworded the quote, it would say:

To accept people is to Love them

I don’t know about you, but for me it can be a challenge at times.  Through my coaching practice, and the theories of Carl Rogers, I have the foundation of ACE – Acceptance, Congruence and Unconditional postive regard for my clients, but it is probably those closest to me that push my buttons.

Now I think about it, how can I say that I want the best for someone, that I love them wholeheartedly and STILL judge them.  I can’t!

In addition that judgement causes tension, whereas acceptance provides release.

Acceptance starts with you, are you accepting yourself or casting unfair and unreasonable judgements?

As a female breadwinner, how can you start to accept and Love yourself?

My wish for you: Accept yourself exactly as you are today.

Let me know how you get on.

 

My book Rocking Your Role – the ‘how to’ guide to success for Female Breadwinners, will be out in June 2012

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Or sign up for my newsletter or tweet me @jennifergarrett

www.reflexion-uk.co.uk

Forget the squeezed middle, what about squeezed women

This week I have been sandwiched between the young and old in my life until it felt like I was squeezed dry and there was little left of me.

It couldn’t be helped, I was called by my daughters school when she fell off a climbing frame (note they didn’t even try to call Daddy, assuming it would be much easier for Mummy to drop any of the unimportant things she does) I then had to race across London to get to her and spend a number of hours in the urgent care unit.

The next day when working from home, I received a call that my grandmother was having trouble breathing so had to cancel my telephone meetings and ended up riding with her in the ambulance to hospital and then staying with her for a number of hours while the doctors and nurses provided a variety of tests to get to the bottom of the problem.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I am complaining because I am glad that I can be there for those closest to me, especially in an emergency. But I wanted to highlight the plight of many squeezed women.

It is not just children, work and partners that you need to spread yourself thin with but also likely to be parents and grandparents.

Waiting around in hospitals feels pointless at the best of times, but with preparation for workshops to do it becomes particularly frustrating. When you need to leave ultra early and know that it is going to be difficult for your daughter to get dressed without you due to her injury it is just another thing to think about.

The squeezed woman can and will definitely rise to the challenge, but recognising when enough is enough is critical.

The question is now that I have been squeezed dry, how do I replenish, ready to be squeezed all over again?

Any ideas?

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Or sign up for my newsletter or tweet me @jennifergarrett

Is she the Ultimate Female Breadwinner?

I have started reading Karren Brady’s book – Strong Woman, ambition, grit and a great pair of heels. Great title, dont you think, particularly the tag line. I must admit that I have only read the first and sixth chapters. it may sound an unconventional way to read a book, but I wanted to know more about her and her thoughts on being a breadwinner and they were encompassed in these two chapters. I will definitely read the rest of the book, but my kindle battery died on me and I think my daughter has hidden the charger in her room somewhere.

When I think of a successful female breadwinner, I always think of Karren, so it was good to begin to get an insight into how she has made it a success. Karren describes herself as a working Mum and says that her Catholicism and trust between her and her husband is what has made it work, (I am paraphrasing here) she also says that they share the money, it is not his, or hers, but theirs.

It wasn’t an in-depth insight into what it means to be a female breadwinner as that is not what the book is about, but we definitely get a sense that Karren is an extremely independent, direct and driven woman who absolutely adores her family.

Even with all this strength, confidence and ambition, there was a slight  tone  of self depreciation common with women, when she described herself more than once as not being particularly academic or clever, she didn’t go on to University to do a degree.

However what stood out from what I have read is her experience of attending Aldenham boys school for a couple of years and her ease with and understanding of men it seems as a result. I have noticed that female breadwinners often have male role models and influences and that the key to success in business is not to act like a man, but to be able to converse and work in ways that men appreciate.

So what?

Karren is one woman who clearly demonstrates success as a female breadwinner, hers is one way and she doesn’t try to sell her way of life to others.  What we need is other female breadwinners to be open about how they navigate their lives so that we can view the plethora of approaches to it.

If you read Karren’s book, let me know what you think or if you are a female breadwinner who would l like to be featured or interviewed  for my upcoming website – get in touch.

My book Rocking Your Role – the ‘how to’ guide to success for Female Breadwinners, will be out in June 2012

If you want to chat, gain support and read the latest from other female breadwinners, join my Rocking Your Role LinkedIn Group

Or sign up for my newsletter or tweet me @jennifergarrett

www.reflexion-uk.co.uk