So many times when we’re thinking about balancing our work-life ideas of success, we think about juggling the meetings and the soccer games, but we forget about the other important parts of our life – like finances! Christy enjoyed reading Michelle Perry Higgins’ approach to this more multidimensional perspective on “work-life balance” in reviewing Michelle’s new book, Stocks, Bonds & Soccer Moms. – InPower Editors
I have to admit after I finished school and completed my HR certification I didn’t plan on reading many books. I was never a big reader and had the thought that all good books became movies. Combine that with the advent of Google and the ability to look up the specific information I needed I figured I was home free on the reading front…all that changed when I heard about a book that I will always say could have been titled, “Christy…the story of her life and her search for balance.” Michelle Perry Higgins, author of Stocks, Bonds & Soccer Moms: 7 Steps to a Balanced, captured the life that so many women live every day and more importantly made me feel like I will survive it.
From taking care of ourselves to letting go of things that we need to let go of in order to hold on to the truly important things, Perry Higgins uses a very logical and no-nonsense approach to help the reader understand why the work-life balance that we typically talk about doesn’t really exist, but the successful lives we want can.
This book is concise and to the point and in 106 pages manages to create a roadmap we all can follow to help us manage the endless number of hats we wear and do so with a level of success and sanity we all crave. It opens with a description of Michelle’s reality and what many would call her rock bottom moment. Whether it’s the misery loves company philosophy or the honesty and transparency that many dare not show, I found this section very relatable and comforting. This book wasn’t written by a researcher spouting out the most recent theories, it was written by a mom, wife and executive struggling with the same things so many of us struggle with.
She went on to outline a seven step plan on how to forgive ourselves, streamline our lives and define success in terms that were both obtainable and joy producing. From taking care of ourselves to letting go of things that we need to let go of in order to hold on to the truly important things, Perry Higgins uses a very logical and no-nonsense approach to help the reader understand why the balance that we typically talk about doesn’t really exist but the successful lives we want can.
Her writing style, use of humor and candor made this an easy read (most of which I finished on the soccer field during practices, warm ups and really slow games). One thing I appreciate most is the book ends with, what is likely most important to moms, how to help our kids avoid the same pitfalls many of us fell in…so the book truly is the gift that keeps on giving (to future generations).
While I still love the phrase, “SuperMom”, because I secretly wish I could walk around wearing a cape I now feel that goal is within reach and is up to my own interpretation. Since reading Stocks, Bonds and Soccer Moms I have let go of some relationships that were doing more harm than good, reaffirmed my personal dream team (because we can’t do this alone), gotten a better lease on my finances, let go of the guilt I often felt in the rare moments that I admitted that I loved my work and become a happier version of myself. My husband and the girls enjoy the new Christy as much if not more than I do.
Like most life-improving initiatives, this is not a quick fix and as Michelle points out, it’s an ongoing process but I am well on my way to My Balanced Life. I now recommend this book to every women’s group I speak to especially when I talk about balance. Thank you Michelle Perry Higgins for understanding the struggle so many women go through and for helping us know we are not alone and we can be the women we want to be!
