Gloria Feldt (left), Take The Lead co-founder and president, and Amy Leigh Looper, founder and CEO of Leading Motherhood, share strategies on finding your own balance to create your entrepreneurial dreams.

Learning about your circadian rhythms—your forever biological clock—can inform how you work and lead your life. It can also give you the energy you need to find and fulfill your entrepreneurship goals and “do it without being exhausted,” says Amy Leigh Looper, founder and CEO of Leading Motherhood.

“Learning about your circadian rhythms can inform how you work and lead your life. It can also give you the energy you need to find and fulfill your #entrepreneurship goals and “do it without being exhausted,” says Amy Leigh Looper, founder and CEO of #LeadingMotherhood. #leadingwomen”

Wasting energy on people, events, tasks and things that no longer serve your purpose is one of the 9 Power Demons that can block you from the career and life you dream to have, says Gloria Feldt, co-founder and CEO of Take The Lead.

In the recent dynamic webinar, “Strike Your Own Damn Balance,” Looper and Feldt offered participants a roadmap, worksheet and resources to help understand and solve the equilibrium challenges of work/ life balance.

Whether you are an early bird, night owl, bear (a doer) or a dolphin (someone with creative spurts of energy), when you understand how you can integrate your natural tendencies into your life productively, then you can can understand how you can best accomplish your goals, advises Looper, author of Leading Motherhood: Surrendering To Faith Over Fear From The Delivery Room To Board Room.

“Wasting energy on people, events, tasks and things that no longer serve your purpose is one of the 9 Power Demons that can block you from the career and life you dream to have, says @GloriaFeldt, co-founder and CEO of @Takeleadwomen. #careersuccess #intentioning”

After her children were born, Looper says, “I believed the myth that I had to step out of leadership.”

Working hard and parenting well, she hit a wall of burnout, Looper says. Dealing with postpartum depression and a family suicide, Looper says it was very difficult to process it all.

“I was empty inside and I wasn’t managing chronic stress. Through that journey I became an entrepreneur. Now I am doing all these things in a way that is integrated and feels balanced.”

Burnout is a common theme this year, following COVID, economic upheavals and increased demands in the workplace and at home.

“#Burnout is a common theme this year, following #COVID, economic upheavals and increased demands in the #workplace and at home.”

A new report from Future Forum of 10,243 workers across the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K., shows the highest levels of burnout and stress since 2021 with 42 percent of the workforce reporting burnout. And women are among the most stressed of all.

“A new report from @FutureForum of 10,243 workers across the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K., shows the highest levels of #burnout and #stress since 2021 with 42 percent of the workforce reporting burnout. And women are among the most stressed of all. ”

The report shows 46% of women say they are burned out compared with 37% of men. Age also is a factors, as 48% of workers under age 30 saying they feel burned out at work compared with 40% of workers age 30 and up.

The World Health Organization defines burnout as characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and reduced professional efficacy.

Rebecca Pope-Ruark, author of Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal, writes in Inside Higher Ed, “Everyone’s experience with burnout is going to be different. Overcoming mine meant medical leave and ultimately changing careers and institutions. That won’t work or be necessary for everyone, it’s just what happened to work for me. For many of the people I work with and encounter, they just want a strategy, a best practice, something they can do to make burnout go away.”

Pope-Ruark adds that it is best to “develop a working repository of strategies, actions, scripts for saying no, as a place to start what could ultimately be a culture shift that takes work volume and faculty well-being into consideration for a workplace environment that doesn’t lead to burnout.”

Recovering from burnout and regaining control over stress involves shifts that can include supportive connections and a redesign of the work itself.

Even as these recent challenges have shifted the workplace and women still incur a pay gap, Feldt says this is a good time to seek new avenues.

“Recovering from #burnout and regaining control over stress involves shifts that can include supportive connections and a redesign of the work itself. Even as these recent challenges have shifted the #workplace and women still incur a pay gap, @GloriaFeldt says this is a good time to seek new avenues. ”

“The pandemic and the disruption of it is the best opportunity ever in our lifetimes to make systemic change,” she says. “Companies have come to terms with the remote changes.” Many corporate leaders realize that the biggest competitors are women starting their own businesses.

“There is so much power in creation, that is the blessing of entrepreneurship,” Looper says. “You are not only selling, and marketing, you are creating.”

Entrepreneur reports that more women are opening their own businesses: “In 2021, 49% of new businesses were started by women, up from 28% in 2019, according to a survey by HR services company Gusto.”

The best arenas for entrepreneurs in 2023 include ecommerce, social media management and the freelance gig economy, Entrepreneur reports.

“The best arenas for #entrepreneurs in 2023 include ecommerce, social media management and the freelance gig economy, @Entrepreneur reports. #femaleentrepreneurs”

“The number of freelancers is growing rapidly, with more than 70 million people in the U.S. freelancing in 2023. How much you make depends on your particular skill, and could range anywhere from $20 to $100 per hour,” according to Entrepreneur.

Online education, professional organizing and consulting are also big, with the consulting industry valued at nearly $330 billion in 2023. Entrepreneur also reports that app development, digital marketing, laundromats and real estate are huge arenas for growth.

Launching her own consulting and coaching firm, Looper says “required a shift in courage.“ She adds. “Looking back at the first year it required me to say, that’s on me and now let’s step in and align where we want to make an impact.”

Newsweek reports, “During the pandemic, need and opportunity combined to fuel the explosion of entrepreneurship among women. As COVID-19 gripped the economy, women's labor force participation rate dipped to its lowest level since 1988 as female-dominated industries suffered the worst layoffs and mothers left their jobs to care for children stuck at home thanks to school and daycare closures. For many women, launching a business was the best option available to regain control of their careers and bring in needed income, while maintaining the flexibility to care for loved ones during lockdown.”

Looper says when considering launching an enterprise, it involves the “trifecta” of personal stories, your passion and meaningful connections.

“The biggest lesson is not everyone is willing to do this work, but the ones who are lean in and create the most transformation.”

“Looper says when considering launching an enterprise, it involves the “trifecta” of personal stories, your passion and meaningful connections. “The biggest lesson is not everyone is willing to do this work, but the ones who are lean in and create the most transformation.” #leadingwomen ”

Feldt adds, “Transformation is what we’re focusing in on in the Intentioning mastermind. We have lots of information and lots of power, we need to transform that into the life we want.”

Looper agrees that adopting leadership skills of intentioning can be extremely helpful. “Women often undervalue themselves.” And that can shift.

“As we ascend into leadership, we need to thinking differently as we rise in those positions,” Feldt says. “The thought processes make all the difference. The secret sauce is nurturing those relationships.”

She adds, “There is no substitute for preparation. The more complex things are, the simpler you need to make them.”

““Transformation is what we’re focusing in on in the @Takeleadwomen #Intentioning mastermind. We have lots of information and lots of power, we need to transform that into the life we want.” —@GloriaFeldt, co-founder and president of @Takeleadwomen. #careersuccess ”

Take The Lead Leadership Takeaway:

“There is so much power in creation, that is the blessing of entrepreneurship.”

Amy Leigh Looper, CEO/Founder, Leading Motherhood.

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com