Name: Rachel Schultz
Location: Colorado
Company: Manage Motherhood
Professional Industry: Life-Organizing Expert & Certified Holistic Health Coaching
Job Title: President & Founder
WIXII-ISM™ FROM RACHEL:
“I believe one’s entire life is about perspective and perspective is malleable. It can be shaped exactly to your specifications so one of my primary focuses is on maintaining mental fitness. Clearing mental clutter is foundational to my life and to what I teach other women looking to live their fullest lives.”
RACHEL’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Rachel Schultz. She is her late 30s and mother to a 9 year old son and 7 year old daughter. She graduated cum laude from the University of Colorado – Boulder studying business with a dual emphasis in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. She also studied at The Culinary Institute of America, Associates Baking & Pastry Arts, and The Institute for Integrative Nutrition – Certified Holistic Heath Coach. She is currently the President & Founder of Manage Motherhood in the Life-Organizing Expert & Certified Holistic Health Coaching industry.
Rachel believes that a person can do anything they commit to and to prove such she’ve run a marathon, even though she was never a runner (her max had been 4 miles and she only ran every once in a while).
RACHEL’S CAREER PATH:
I’ve had a very crooked career path. After graduating with a business degree and spending two years in sales and banking, I returned to school at the Culinary Institute of America to become a professional pastry chef.
I adored being a pastry chef, the creativity and inspiration associated with making beautiful, delicious, artisan food filled my heart and soul. I didn’t even mind the long, grueling hours in the kitchen. For the few years I was in business, the clock could never go fast enough but in the kitchen, I was always in a race against the clock. I loved my work.
Having children changed me though. I spent a few years at home full-time with my children and then briefly returned to the field as a partner in a restaurant. The all-consuming industry no longer suited me and I left the field to be home with my children again full-time.
I knew I needed a professional pursuit to fulfill my intellectual side but it took time, self-exploration and many dead-ends before I found what I consider to be my true calling.
Creating Manage Motherhood and working with women to help them manage the overwhelm of wearing many hats, so to speak, is the most fulfilling work I have ever done next to the joys of raising two beautiful human beings.
RACHEL’S MINDSET AND WORK-LIFE MIX:
Life is filled with so much depth, it would take a dozen lifetimes to pursue all the areas I find fascinating. My love of learning has no bounds, which is why I relate so well to others and have deep interest in their experiences and knowledge.
I believe one’s entire life is about perspective and perspective is malleable. It can be shaped exactly to your specifications so one of my primary focuses is on maintaining mental fitness. Clearing mental clutter is foundational to my life and to what I teach other women looking to live their fullest lives.
I believe that everyday we have the opportunity to be better than we were the day before if we’re willing to approach life with an open heart and mind which is what makes life so exciting. So I would say my attitude is that of continual growth.
DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT WORK-LIFE MIX:
I’ve been home full-time and worked 70-hour weeks since becoming a mom almost 10 years ago and I’m happy to say, I’ve landed in the middle.
I only work when my kids, almost 7 and 10 years old, are in school. And because I created Manage Motherhood, I have my own mix down to a science – it’s my area of expertise. That doesn’t mean it’s the easiest thing to execute though, because some areas of my life could truly be all consuming. I have to remind myself to be patient.
To feel whole, I start with a focus that feeds my mind, body and spirit so I eat healthy foods, exercise at least 5 days a week, spend time outside with my dog and maintain a spiritual practice that feeds my soul and keeps me mentally fit.
How we experience our home is an important element as well, so it’s well-organized with systems that help me run it effectively. I cook a lot because I have a passion for food and a belief that few things matter more than what you put in your body. That means I have someone clean my house 2 times per month so I know the big stuff gets taken care of. This frees me up to focus more on cooking, menu-planning and dishes. I also do laundry everyday.
I maintain a balance of staying connected to my friends and community but am very careful not to overcommit or overschedule myself. Weekends are rarely booked with events as that is our time to reconnect as a family in an intimate way and prep things for the week ahead. It’s not very sexy but we feel a sense of calm in our lives from the downtime.
I try not to overdo it during the day so I have energy in the evening to connect with my husband in a meaningful way. I try not to get on the computer at night and we limit time on the TV.
While motherhood requires a lot of doing, when I’m with my kids I try to carve out a chunk of time where I am truly focused on them so playing a short game, reading aloud or making something in the kitchen together is important.
For me, it’s about how you are not what you are that matters most and so I work to fill my heart with love so I can be patient and kind, stay out of my own head and actively engage with the world around me.
Work: how do you “think outside the box” with respect to your work-life potential and opportunities?
I am always asking if there is a better way and so I continually evaluate, rethink and experiment.
I essentially made-up a career for myself in creating Manage Motherhood. It’s wonderful to know that freedom but also the challenge to create something from nothing.
Everyday is out of the box thinking for me as I continue to imagine this company and then work to bring it into reality so that it serves women and my life in the most meaningful, significant way it can.
House: how do you maintain order/status quo and/or how do you “manage it all” just a bit better?
I have a lot of systems in place. For example my upstairs/downstairs basket is a place everyone can dump their stuff so it’s not all over the house. We bring it upstairs at the end of the day and return things to their place and bring anything downstairs that needs to be put away.
I have strong routines around repeatable tasks, which helps me know that over the course of the day or week everything will be attended to. For example, I start a load of laundry after dinner, switch it to the dryer before I go to bed, refresh the load at 6:15 am and put it away at 6:30. It may sound so exacting and perfectionistic but it frees up so much energy to know it gets done.
How does your current mindset/attitude empower and/or frustrate your ability to thrive in your work-life mix? How has your mindset/attitude toward life changed over time?
My ambition far exceeds my ability to complete everything I want to do and so I have to remind myself to be patient. I chose my path for very specific reasons and sometimes I lose my connection to those reasons and start to tell myself I should be a lot more than I am.
Because nothing is stagnant, I am always changing and adapting. My kids are older which means how I parent and what they need shifts. I am much more able to trust, surrender and go with the flow which brings a beauty all its own.
Please share specific tips for effectively managing your time and schedule.
Get clear on what you want to accomplish and schedule it in your calendar. You get done what you measure. I know where I am suppose to be every hour of my day.
Uni-task: bring single minded focus to each thing you do. It will increase your level of focus and make you feel less stressed. This takes practice we are so used to being scattered and interrupted.
Avoid distractions like getting on the computer or dawdling on a task. I often set a timer in areas where I can lose track of time like responding to email.
Please share your favorite efficiencies and timesavers.
Before I start making dinner, I fill the sink with hot soapy water and make sure the dishwasher is empty. That means I run it in the morning and empty it when I get home.
Get your car washed and fueled on a specific day of the week. Otherwise you’ll need gas at the least convenient time.
Do one extra task in the shower like scrubbing your feet or shaving your legs or exfoliating your skin. Over time you’ll be in a great state of maintenance.
Is there anything you would like to share about work-life mix?
My analogy of [my work-life mix] is that of the tree of life. For me being whole means a strong connection to my mind, body and spirit so that the branches of partnership, parenting, profession, passion, community and home can flourish.
