Ready to ditch self-doubt and lead with confidence as a corporate female director or VP? Download my free imposter syndrome guide now!
#161 The Real Impact of Work Worries Stealing Your Presence at Home (What I Wish I Realised Sooner)
The 360 Leadhership Podcast, Episode 161, 19 January 2025 by Lucy Gernon
Are work worries stealing your presence at home and draining your energy?
You walk through the door after a chaotic day at work, but instead of feeling relief, your mind is spinning with emails, deadlines, and the never-ending to-do list. Work has followed you home, and it’s stealing your presence from the people and moments that matter most.
In this episode of the 360 LeadHERship Podcast, I share my personal struggles with work-life balance and the mindset shifts that helped me reclaim my time, energy, and well-being.
If you’re a driven woman in leadership trying to juggle executive presence, career growth, and family life, this episode is a must-listen.
Tune in to discover:
- Why your health and energy aren’t infinite resources
- My personal wake-up call & the tools I used to avoid burnout
- How work stress can distance you from loved ones
- How to prioritize, delegate, and build the resilience to lead with confidence
Quicklinks
Recommended Next Steps
Subscribe to the 360 Leadership Newsletter to get empowering weekly insights delivered straight to your inbox – Join here
Enjoyed the episode?
Don’t keep it to yourself!
Hit follow, leave a review, and tell your friends about the 360 LeadHership Podcast
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
“I love Lucy’s podcast, it’s so useful.”
This helps me support more women — just like you — move towards achieving their leadership career goals faster. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Prefer to read?
Lucy Gernon (00:00.942)
Have you ever considered the real impact of work worries, stealing your presence at home in this week’s episode of the 360 leadership podcast? I am being really vulnerable and I am sharing some things that I went through last year and the year before. And I’m sharing some things that I really wish that I realized sooner in the hope that it will prevent you from making the same mistakes I did, because I always like to go first and try to share my learnings with you so you can avoid
some pitfalls and avoid some pain and exhaustion.
Lucy Gernon (00:36.846)
So tune into the podcast, let me know what you think.
That’s crap.
Lucy Gernon (00:49.944)
It’ll be fine. Be fine.
Lucy Gernon (00:54.66)
Hello there, lovely lady and welcome back to the 360 Leadership Podcast. Can you believe we are almost at the end of dreary January? This time last year I was in Dubai and I’m really raging that I didn’t book a nice sunny, sunny holiday for this time of year. Let’s do it next year. Maybe we should do a retreat abroad in somewhere fabulous in January next year. But in this week’s episode of of this show, I really want you to
set the year off on the right foot because I know how easy it is for work worries and the latest crisis and overwhelm to consume your brain. And we really don’t want that for you in 2025 or me, OK, because I really want you to have the best year ever this year, which is why I want to just get real with you and talk about the real impact of all of this on you at home. OK.
So, as you know, I am Lucy Gurnan. I am your host and an award winning executive coach and a fellow mom who really understands the struggles of balancing work demands with trying to create a meaningful life for yourself and also be present with family. before we get into today’s episode, I just want to give another shout out to another amazing podcast listener. And this is LKM1977 and she says on the podcast, she’s given it five stars and said,
It’s a must for any female leader. I love listening on my morning walks and getting inspired for the week ahead. I learned something with every listen and I really enjoy Lucy’s style and approach to leadership problems. Thank you so much for the review. And guys, as always, please go and give us a little rate and review. Follow the show. Subscribe so you never miss an episode because you’re going to get weekly episodes every single Wednesday at 7 a.m. And if you want to be notified via email, if you’re not in my email community already.
Just go to Lucy Garnon dot com forward slash newsletter straight away. Pause this show right now. Head over and subscribe, because not only do you get the Wednesday podcast email, which is just really short, letting you know what the new episode is. You also get our infamous and highly popular 360 leadership newsletter, which is on a Sunday night at half eight, which I designed this newsletter to really alleviate those Sunday night scaries and set you up with some empowerment.
Lucy Gernon (03:14.638)
for the week ahead and we get so much good feedback on the newsletter. So if you’re not in my email community, go to lucigarron.com forward slash newsletter or just check wherever you’re listening to this right now. You can sign up in the show notes. So let you just press pause and come back. Okay, let’s get into the podcast. We are going to be talking about this whole thing about not being present because it’s something I hear a lot. So let me just, let’s just set the scene together and just.
Picture this. You have wrapped up a chaotic day of full meetings, unexpected crisis and relentless demands. You walk through the door at home, but instead of feeling relieved and ready to unwind, your mind is still spinning. Maybe you’re preoccupied with that last minute request from your boss or replaying a situation where you felt overruled by a certain someone or underappreciated.
And even when you try to engage with your family, those work worries and stresses, they just hang in the background. And it’s like they’re dragging you away from the moment that you’re in, clouding your ability to be present. Does that sound familiar? You are not alone because unfortunately, work worries often don’t just stay in work for many women. They can bleed into every aspect of your life.
And the impact can be more devastating than you realize. So that’s I kind of just feel like I need to remind you of again, before you get stuck in the hamster wheel in 2025, I just want to remind you of the impact of what happens when you’re not present. OK. So the first thing is let’s consider the impact on your health. Chronic stress and from always being switched on takes a physical toll.
Now, I went for Reiki last year and I thought it wasn’t stressed. I I feel fine. I’m just busy. I’m always fine. And she said to me and kind of struck a chord was that you might feel fine. But she said, your organs are telling me that they’re not fine. And I was like, my organs are telling you energetically that they’re not fine. This is not good. So sometimes you may not even like I do. I may not even realize I’m stressed, but my body is sending off signals that I am.
Lucy Gernon (05:37.218)
So this is something that I’m really doubling down on. And again, I share it vulnerable. I am so sorry. I’m not the perfect coach. I do not have all my shit together. But what I do have is tools and frameworks and processes and support and coaches and structure to ensure that I kind of have a little wobble rather than a massive blip. And it’s about you being aware constantly, which is why I invest so heavily in myself in Reiki and spas and coaches and energetics and mindfulness and courses.
Because I just want to be the best. And I know if you are listening to this episode or this podcast, too, you want to be the best. You want to be the best leader, the best mother, the best partner, the best sister, the best friend. And we put all this pressure on ourselves to be perfect. But what’s really important is you remember that this pressure can really lead to a lot of unresolved stress, which can lead to burnout or more severe health problems. And
The reality is that your well-being, isn’t a renewable resource. It requires dedication and care and protection and constant work worries that you think are just in your head are draining you faster than you think. So I know you know this. I know you’re an intelligent woman, but I just wanted to remind you that, you know, it sounds so obvious, but sometimes we just need to hear the obvious things. Now, if you’re like, it doesn’t matter. I know my health is important to me, but I’m so busy.
I invite you to consider the second impact, which is the impact of all of this on your family. Ouch. For me, that’s the one that kills me because when you are constantly distracted and stressed, your loved ones, they feel the distance. Your kids or your your partner or whoever might be excited to tell you about their day, but instead of feeling connected.
You find yourself zoning out, drifting on back over to that last email or that thing you didn’t get done or that project that’s late. Your partner might be seeking your attention or support or just vying for that connection, but you’re too preoccupied to truly connect. And I know that’s something I had to work on massively. I had to and still have to work on, guys. This is the thing. I’m still working on this stuff, but I’m doing it with you. OK, we’re doing it together. And
Lucy Gernon (08:01.976)
from a partnership perspective, when you have an emotional disconnect from your significant other, especially if you’ve got children in the home, like that sets the tone for the entire family and it affects everybody in your home. So my invitation for you is just to remember that all the while that you’re, you know, overworking and given 100 percent of your energy to work. What’s the cost? The cost on your family, the cost in your health. OK.
The third impact that again, I want you to be aware of is the impact on your actual career and decision making. And if you’re multitasking, come back to me, because if you’re driven and successful, you’re going to want to listen to this. Here’s the hard truth. Allowing yourself to be consumed by the day to day operations and the latest crisis just keeps you in a reactive mode. And I know you know this keeps you on the hamster wheel. If you know it, why aren’t you doing anything about it, my lovely lady?
Come join 360Liters Club actually if you’re feeling called because we are at the moment accepting applications for new members. All you’ve got to do is go to 360LitersClub.com forward slash apply or just click the link in the shown also and I can share more about how I can support you. But it’s all about getting you out of that reactive state and carving out the time to think strategically, to develop yourself, to get coaching so that you can see the wood for the trees because
You know, one of our members, she came back to us recently and was so excited to see her coming back and she had been gone for like six months because she wanted to go off and do her thing. She had got had such an amazing experience, but she’s come back because she said that she just finds it very difficult to stay on the success balance and happiness path when work seems to just try to pull everything from her. So she knows one thing about me is in terms of accountability. I love, you know.
providing that accountability, instruction, support, and she goes the value. So she’s coming back. So it’s really important for you to that you have some sort of a support system around you. Some people, a group of people are people that you can lean on that are going to recognize when you are falling off the radar and get you back on track. Because if you’re not thinking strategically enough and you’re not you don’t have the mental clarity to identify new opportunities for visibility or progression.
Lucy Gernon (10:25.624)
You’re literally stuck in firefighting mode. And what happens to firefighters? They’re usually the unsung heroes. Where the politicians who are like the boys, sorry lads, for all my male listeners, I know I have a few. You’re out there promoting yourselves and more power to you. But my lovely ladies, you missed the chance to showcase your real leadership that I know you like you are such a fantastic leader. But I think what’s missing for you is this whole area of self leadership, because in order to
lead others, you first got to learn to lead yourself, which is exactly why I’d love you to join 360. So I could support you to do that. So you can be the best leader, mother, partner, sister, daughter and friend, because there’s opportunities for growth and impact all around you. But when you’re overwhelmed, they just pass you by. OK. The next one then, and this is the last one is really this is a hard one to talk about, but the impact is you missing out on life’s precious moments.
I’ve shared before how my father in law very sadly passed away after a six week battle with cancer. He worked so hard and there was so many times where, you know, he was working and he couldn’t come to family events and then we’d miss him when he wasn’t there. And then at the end of his life, I’m sure he had regrets. I remember when my aunt, Lord rest her, she passed away. She died of cancer. And I’ll never forget she was dying like two weeks before she died. She said to me, there’s just so many more things I want to do.
So many things I wish I had done differently. And man, that got me. And I just swore I just I’m not going to have those regrets. And it’s the same for you. I don’t want you to miss out on your one and only wonderful, wonderful life because you deserve the world. You didn’t work so hard to get to your level of seniority just to stay stuck on a laptop and stuck in emails. You had a vision of wanting to enjoy your career, to develop yourself, to make an impact, to use your qualifications for the good of the world.
You know, and I think it’s really, really important that you remind yourself that you deserve to deserve. You deserve to enjoy your life, OK, you deserve to enjoy your life, too. You’re missing the magic of being fully present, the joy of experiencing genuine laughter and connection with your loved ones. And deep down, I know you’re probably wondering, is this really the life that I want to lead? And I do get it because I’ve been there and so have so many of my clients. So just to share a quick story.
Lucy Gernon (12:52.738)
about my client Suzanne. She actually recorded a podcast episode with me on her journey from burnout to leading a billion dollar revenue stream. You might have heard me talk about it before, but she’s like two years, three, nearly three years, two and a half years on now. And she’s still like on the straight and narrow because we work together and she got the tools that she needed and she got the support from me to to support her to thrive. So Suzanne’s episode is episode number one.
If we will link that in the show notes, definitely go and check it out so you can hear from a vice president in a very large organization. She’s a mom of two. She’s working in the US multinational. I know it will resonate with lots of my listeners. Please go check out her podcast so you can hear from the horse’s mouth what’s possible for you to when you stop lying to yourself and telling yourself you don’t have enough time, OK, to focus on you. You’ve got to make the time. Oprah doesn’t have the time. Beyonce doesn’t have the time.
Lucy Garner doesn’t have the time. You don’t have the time. You’ve got to make the time. And that’s exactly why I create it. 360 leaders slope was to carve out that time for you. It’s full of women in corporate and SME leadership who are ready to become the strategic impactful leaders they’re meant to be without sacrificing their health, their relationships, their joy. And I know you might be thinking you don’t have the time or.
You might be thinking, like, God, how much is it? It’s it’s like nearly five grand. Yes, it is. It’s four, nine, nine, five for six months. And that might feel like a huge expense, especially if you want to book a family holiday or do something in the home. So I’d love to just actually talk about that, because I hear these things so, so often when it comes to women investing in themselves to work with me or investing themselves to work with other coaches. And then you have the women who don’t even know it’s an option to work with a coach, which is just.
something that we really, really need to address, because if you are carrying the weight of what you do, you carry a heavy weight, a heavy burden of decision making, of authority, of revenue generation, of impact decisions you’re making. That’s a lot to carry for a woman, not just a woman, for anybody. And you throw into the mix, like children, elderly parents, health issues, balancing it all. It’s fricking hard, which is why I create a 360L Slope.
Lucy Gernon (15:11.716)
There’s nothing else like it on the market. So what I want to do now, just for those of you who are interested, if you’re not, can pause the episode right now. You can skip on through. But I do want to address some of the common kind of objections that I would hear from women around investing in themselves, because this will set the scene for everything you do in your life. So I hope it’s helpful. The first thing is it’s around time.
We make time for what’s important. And I know your schedule is packed and the idea of adding something else in might feel totally overwhelming. I get that. I see the teams. I see the outlooks. I see my clients calendars before they work with me and we do a little clean up and we get more strategic. But here’s the reality. Continuing to work in a state of constant stress, reactivity and burnout will only drain more of your time and energy. It’s not going to get better. And
When you join 360 leaders club, you will reclaim your time. We have so many tools and strategies in there that you’re going to absolutely love that are going to teach you are so practical how to work smarter, to prioritize more effectively and to delegate with confidence. And imagine if you had those hours back to just literally be able to be more present and just breathe. OK. The next thing I often hear as well is about the cost. So I want to address that.
First of all, I invite you to think about the price of investing in yourself, not as a price, but it’s more about the investment. So you might invest in the stock market. You’re not in control of that at all. When you invest in yourself, you’re literally in full control of the investment. And the beauty of when you invest in you is that you learn skills and tools for life that make you a better leader, better mother, better partner in leadership and in life.
because all the tools will impact every area. You’re also going to have this fantastic ripple effect. And I see it all the time with our 360 ladies where they are using the tools, they’re supporting their teams, they’re teaching their teams who are leaders as well. And then those leaders are teaching their teams. So it’s having these amazing ripple effect in organizations. had one of our ladies who joined 360 last year share how some of the mindset tools that I share, she’s actually teaching her elderly mother.
Lucy Gernon (17:33.848)
which is having a huge impact on her elderly mother in terms of her mindset. You know, I’m a positive psychology coach, so we bring in a lot of positive psychology interventions for well-being and living more positively. And it just has this fantastic ripple effect. And then the flip side of that is what’s the cost of not doing anything? It’s like all those things I said, it’s not being present. It’s missing out on family moment. It’s about health.
And it’s funny, I had a client recently shout out to you because you know who you are. not going to say who you are. But we were chatting about going to Lapland and she told me that she invested like eight thousand to take her family to Lapland for three days. And that is an unbelievable, magical experience. And like I invested like very similar to take my family to Dubai recently as well. But think of that like a holiday for a week or a few days for a K.
And when 360 leaders slope, you’re investing like less than five grand for six whole months of life changing support. That’s going to mean your presence, your your not going to say 100 percent of the time, because that’s like not realistic, but you’re going to be way more presence. You’re going to be showing up way better at home first, like forever, not just for the six months. It’s the tools you’re going to learn are going to have an impact forever. Tools to help you to lead better, to live better, to be more present. It’s an investment in your career and your health and your family.
The other thing I hear then is, and you might be thinking the same, is I’ve tried other programs and they didn’t work for me. Like what makes this different? I do. I’ve done leadership training. And the thing, the beauty about 360 Leaders Club is it isn’t a one size fits all solution. It’s totally personalized to you. I get to know you, your challenges, your goals. You’ll get access to tailored, proven frameworks, tried and tested tools, and a community of like-minded women who are all navigating similar challenges.
It’s a place, it’s the most un-corporate, corporate leadership development offer there is on the market because we have fun. We make learning fun. We make it safe for you to just show up as you. don’t need to go with your suit and, you know, feel like you have to put on a mask. You can just come as you are. Come as you are. You’re accepted. And that’s when you get into like creativity and learning and growth and you just develop into this, into who you’re born to be.
Lucy Gernon (19:56.42)
The other thing I hear as well, then, is this is the last one. OK, so thank you for bearing with me. And I hope these are helping is you might be thinking, but sure, I have Lucy’s podcast. I read books. I’m doing a course in work. I don’t really need this. And that’s fair enough. But I invite you to just answer your ask yourself this one question. Are you truly thriving in your leadership in life or are you just surviving day to day? Are you feeling confident, respected?
full of self-belief and self-assurance and certainty and in control? Or do you feel overwhelmed, undervalued and stretched too thin? If any of that sounds familiar and you’re not already a member of 360, it will make a profound difference to you. So if you’re feeling called and you’re ready to take control, I’d love to invite you to apply. Go to the link in the show notes or just head to 360leadersclub.com forward slash apply to see if you qualify.
So what we do is we review your application. We’ll make sure that your goals and your level and all of that is a good fit for mutually for us and for you and very protective over the community. It’s not, you know, because it’s a premium investment, you can expect a premium service and you can expect to be around the most amazing women who get it because they’re investing in themselves. They are serious about their careers.
There’s series about being there for their families, too. And it’s just a wonderful, wonderful space. So remember, investing in yourself isn’t just about your career. It’s about improving your entire life and the ripple effect. Like I said, I’ve seen it. It’s just amazing. So until next time, take care. Be kind to yourself. And if you’re feeling called, head over and apply to join 360Litres Club. Take care. Bye for now.
Want more actionable tips?
Have a listen to episode #87 - How to Switch Off from Work and Be Present at Home For Women Leaders