Karita Beard is the Personal Transformation Coach and Owner of Truly You Coaching, where she helps overwhelmed professionals overcome personal and professional challenges.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
Prior to Truly You I spent 20 years of my career in corporate management roles in the UK and Australia working on or with big household brands. My last role was as director/owner of a creative agency where I experienced my second case of burn out.
I reached breaking point, I’d lost confidence in myself and my abilities, I felt like an utter failure in every aspect of my life. I realised that I had to make a significant change to my situation.
So, I made the hardest decision I’d had to make in my life and that was to step down from my role as Director and pursue a different path and go after my dreams of starting my own business.
During my career I’d been fortunate enough to work for one of the world’s largest FMCG companies that endorsed a coaching culture.
I’d fallen in love with coaching from day one – I could see instant results and the ripple effect it had within the business for people transforming both personally and professionally.
People were lighter, happier and more productive. I had a number of coaching certificates and 12 years experience under my belt and it felt like the right time to pursue my passion.
Suffering from burnout was the best thing that could have happened to me.
I discovered there is a major problem for many professionals who have spent their lives pursuing a successful career, achieving goals, climbing the ladder and enjoying the perks that come with it.
The problem is that as their careers have grown with greater responsibilities, the same has happened in their personal lives.
They have different priorities and they start questioning what they’re doing it for, losing sight of who they are, what they want from life and where they’re heading.
I started Truly You Coaching with a clear vision to help senior professionals to live a life authentically aligned to their inner being both personally and professionally, because when you do life is better – much better!
I help empower professionals to get crystal clear on who they are, regain their confidence to move forward, to take back control of their lives and not let anything hold them back!
2) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
I’m an early riser so I’m always up and about by 6am. Most mornings I go to the gym for an early class which means I’m back in time for when my little girls wake up, to get them ready and take them to school.
Generally from 9am to 3pm is when I have coaching sessions with local business owners, meetings and networking.
Three evenings a week I have coaching sessions with my international clients from 7 to 9.30pm.
The beauty of owning your own business is that you get to choose the hours you work to suit your situation.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
100% and I built Truly You Coaching with exactly this in mind.
Family, freedom and flexibility are three of my core values and it’s essential that these personal values are aligned to my business. It caused me a lot of problems in the past by not having these values present in my career and ultimately contributed to burn out.
I’m now fortunate enough to be able to travel whenever I choose and it not have a big impact on my business.
I’m able to get back to the UK to see family and friends and when I was back there last Christmas I held coaching sessions via Zoom. I also held a workshop for UK clients.
4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you manage your workload and schedule?
It’s all about structure and focus for me.
I have a job list where I have everything I need to do noted down, which I add to and delete things off as I go along, it’s a live document that is continually changing.
At the start of each day I review the list and determine what the three things are that I need to achieve that day.
The trick is to keep tasks as small as possible. For example, if you’re working on a big project there is no point writing ‘complete project’ as one of the tasks as a) it doesn’t say what you need to work on now b) it could be very overwhelming and you put off even starting – you need to chunk it down.
For example if you were working on a big project you’d think about the 3 things that you must do first to ensure that you’re working towards completing the project i.e.
Task 1) – Call Ryan regarding change in marketing plan
Task 2) – Revise marketing plan post phone call to Ryan
Task 3) – Send new marketing plan to client
At the end of the day you’ll be surprised and pleased at how much you’ve achieved – all through having a little more structure and focus.
5) What does work life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I actually think that work life balance is a bit of a myth.
The reason being is that I used to work 70+ hours a week in a job I wasn’t enjoying and it felt like torture. I now work 70+ hours a week in a job I LOVE and it feels like a hobby, it doesn’t feel like work at all.
The reason for this is because I feel completely aligned with my personal and professional life.
When you’re living a life aligned to who you are and your core values you naturally have more energy, you’re more positive, you’re happier and everything seems to fall into a place easier.
It’s important to remember that everyone has the same 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days in the year. What you do with your time is your choice and you need to use it wisely – value it.
6) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?
Best habits include ensuring that every single day I have at least 30 minutes ‘me time’, where I’m completely alone to do anything I want – go to the gym, yoga, meditation, reading, walk the dog etc.
Investing in personal development. I may be a coach but I have two coaches myself, the reason being is that I know that with their support and guidance I can achieve far more in a short time than trying to do navigate it all on my own.
When I walked away from a high salary was a big challenge, especially with starting a new business on a shoestring. However, I’m really pleased for the experience as it made me realise that you need far less money in life than you think you do.
Money unfortunately is what holds so many people back from making changes in their lives but when you don’t have as much you soon work out how to budget!
7) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?
There are many books I’ve read in the last couple of years, two that stand out are…
1) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was the book that gave me the courage to quit my previous job and gave me great learnings on values.
2) Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza. OMG this book is a gamechanger and has now become my bible.
8) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
Walking my girls to school (and most recently with our new puppy). This is something so simple but brings me so much joy. Every single time I feel so alive and so grateful, it was something used to yearn to do but wasn’t in a position to do so.
The feel good energy of being able to do this sets me up for a positive and productive day.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Life is short, live it to love it!
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