Doing It All Is Not The Right Goal

by Feb 20, 2022Blog, Community, Mindset, Wise Women's Council

For the last five years, we’ve been building an incredible virtual gathering space for driven, ambitious women who are carving out a new world of work, leadership, and parenting.

It’s a place to connect, level up, be real, and be vulnerable together in a private community space dedicated to you and your peers. We’ve just started interviewing folks to join us for another year, and I’m absolutely blown away by the people who have applied so far — thank you, all, for your detailed and thoughtful applications.

While I love talking your ear off about all that the Wise Women’s Council has to offer, I understand that I am just a little bit biased. That’s why I’m sharing what other people have said so you can hear from them, get to know them, and understand what the WWC experience is like.

There are so many things to consider when facing a commitment like this, and some of the biggest hesitations I hear from people about applying to join are related to the time commitment (because who has time?), and curiosity about who else is joining.

Surrounding yourself with people who inspire and challenge you is an essential part of growth. I’ll start with the second question—here are a few of the fabulous faces joining us this year:

Will I have time to do WWC this year?

One of the biggest hesitations I hear is “Ack, Sarah, I’m already so full with everything, how will I possibly fit this in?”. This makes so much sense. One of the things we done in designing the program is think long and hard about how it will fit into the lives of most working parents everywhere.

The last thing you need is more on your to-do list. Our community has been designed and refined over many iterations to fit the lives of most busy working parents everywhere. Of course, “just do less” is much easier in theory than in practice, so allow us to elaborate…

The first thing we want you to know is the Wise Women’s Council is not a course.

You don’t have to watch a huge pile of videos, you don’t have to read all the books, and you definitely don’t have to complete anything for a grade.This is a leadership incubator designed to fit into your life as best as possible, and it’s okay if you have to skip some of the calls. Most people make around 50% of them. We have lots of drop-in times so you can make the ones that fit your schedule best.

We’re here to help you with what’s already on your plate, not add more to it. Plus, in a world where women are encouraged to “do it all” to be successful, we’re committed to doing things differently around here.

Doing it all is not the goal.

In fact, in the WWC we think it’s an anti-goal — trying to “do it all” will get in the way of you accomplishing what you really want to with your limited (and very precious) time. In WWC, we teach you skills around doing less, finding focus, and figuring out what to say no to.

This includes the business classes we offer! We offer a suite of 12 classes with guest teachers, and most people focus on the three or four sessions that will help them the most where they are right now.

If you want a life of meaning, purpose, pleasure, and joy, you must decide what to keep and what to drop in order to find a path forward for the few things that we want. That’s why our philosophy inside of the Wise Women’s Council is all about dropping the ball and focusing on you, your growth, and what YOU need.

Plus, we’ve made the program eight months long for a reason — that way, if you are completely underwater one month, you still have plenty of time to come back, dust your feet off, and dive right back in. (We’ve been there!) Since so many women are pregnant, giving birth, or have little ones at home, it is completely reasonable that you’re going to miss a few calls. We’ve built the program so that it’s okay if that happens.

We take a slower pace on purpose.

There’s a reason our program lasts almost an entire year. Too often, I sign up for six week or eight week courses, and then—whoops—kid gets sick, business project gets slammed, and I look up and realize I missed the entire thing.

I need to slow down and drip things out in order to make them work in this messy parenting-business-family world. So, we slow down with WWC. Here’s how it works: 

We meet the first week of every month to connect. 

That’s the #1 call I’d love you to make, if you can make it live. (Come in your pajamas, lie in bed if you need, chill out, and if the kids are around that’s totally fine.)

Our business sessions happen the second week of the month, all recorded. 

We’ll post a list of guest teachers in advance. Come to the ones that feel really delicious to you.

Voxer Circles never require a meeting on the calendar. 

Voxer is rad, because it’s an audio discussion circle that can happen whenever, wherever. It’s like a women’s circle and a private podcast had a baby, and you can listen and call in whenever you want, without every having to get on a video call.

Our forum is where I post prompts to start conversations each week.

We’ve got a digital space for members so you can check in once or twice a week and find your own groove. People find they love saying hi when they need some connection, and chat with the community whenever they have pockets of time in between the intensity of life. I highly recommend this as a small pocket in your week—I love checking my social networks Fridays as my “happy hour” time.

The content that we share is recorded for playback. 

We focus on audio, on-demand, and asynchronous delivery as much as possible, so you can listen while folding laundry-driving-running errands — whatever you’ve got going on.

You don’t need to add more to your plate to get a tremendous amount of growth.

The measure of success for this space is whether you feel seen, heard, supported, and connected in the year ahead. We designed this place to be about support, growth, and connection. Each week you can pick what you need most. You don’t have to “do it all” to get what you need. 

 

If you show up as you are, exactly where you are—mess and all—then you’re doing it right.

This is the first leadership practice in the Wise Women’s Council: listen in to where you’re at, and pick the things that will serve you the most, then like our pal Elsa, we’re just going to let the other things go.

What people say about our program is that it helps them feel less lonely, more connected, and gives them space to laugh more… that’s the goal. No matter what your day (or night) holds, you won’t be alone in it.

 

Here’s what a few more people said about WWC last year:

Come join us in WWC to get the community, connection and growth that you need this year.

Grab a snack, pack your bag, and come join us for the year ahead.

We’d love to have you join us in The Wise Women’s Council this year.

Applications close on Tuesday, March 1st, 2022 this year.

I hope to see you on the inside!

ABOUT THE STARTUP PARENT PODCAST

If you're growing a business, leading a team, or figuring out entrepreneurship and you have kids, this podcast is for you. We go in-depth with founders and entrepreneurial parents about what it really takes to have babies, grow businesses, and get a little bit of sleep. Sign up for the newsletter to get new episodes in your inbox. And leave us a review on iTunes. 

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Sarah K Peck

Founder, Startup Parent

Sarah Peck is a writer, startup advisor, and yoga teacher based in New York City. She’s the founder and executive director of Startup Parent, a media company documenting the stories of women’s leadership across work and family. She hosts the weekly Startup Parent Podcast and Let's Talk, her second podcast. Previously, she worked at Y Combinator backed One Month, Inc, a company that teaches people to code in 30 days, and before that she was a writing and communications consultant.

She’s a 20-time All-American swimmer who successfully swam the Escape from Alcatraz nine separate times, once wearing only a swim cap and goggles to raise $33k for charity: water. She’s written for more than 75 different web publications and and has delivered speeches and workshops at Penn, UVA, Berkeley, Harvard, Craft & Commerce, WDS, and more.