Thriving Amidst Competing Roles and Responsibilities

You have likely discovered throughout your personal and professional life that juggling multiple and complex roles and responsibilities is a necessary skill. Approaching the crossroads of 60 and beyond, the competing demands on your physical, mental, and emotional resources can feel more challenging. It’s natural to reflect upon how you have managed the stress and demands up to this point. It's important that we acknowledge our competence. It's also important to reassess what practices can be transferred and what new practices can be introduced to ensure continued trust in our competence and to experience a sense of fulfillment.

This post explores how you can use your experience and wisdom to take practical action to preserve and conserve your resources.

First, let's understand an important distinction:

• To preserve resources is to protect them from change.
• To conserve resources is to use resources sparingly with the knowledge that they could be depleted.

Finding Fulfillment When Demands Conflict and Overwhelm

The transition into your 60s and beyond brings both opportunities and concerns when it comes to finding fulfillment. With competing responsibilities in your personal and professional life, you might find yourself questioning if you’re doing enough or being overwhelmed by demands on your resources. To make sure that you accomplish the goals that you set for your own fulfillment, it’s helpful to assess what has been working for you so far and how you can adjust to respect the changes in your body, mind, and emotions and build reserves in your resources. Developing emotional intelligence skills in self-awareness, self-expression, and reality-testing will fuel healthy resilience and optimism to protect and utilize your resources wisely.

Harness Your Strengths and What Has Worked

One of the best ways to cope well with competing responsibilities as you live longer, is to harness what has helped you to achieve and succeed in the past. Being successful for this long requires commitment and dedication that need to be acknowledged and appreciated.

Reflect on the systems, strategies, and skills that got you here. How can you utilize what you have learned to help you to progress? On the flip side, what must you let go of that no longer serves you, might keep you stuck in the past, or might hold you back from finding fulfillment.

Review best practices, routines, and habits that have helped you cope with competing responsibilities over the years. Our professional lives provided valuable opportunities to learn about lean and effective best practices at work. Write them down and consider how you can adapt these practices to suit your current lifestyle.

Plan, Prioritize, and Level Up Your Self-care

We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day demands of life and work. We need constant reminders that taking time for good quality self-care is crucial and a wise investment.

Utilize your planning skills to prioritize AND level up your health and well-being. Begin where you are (that's important).

• Develop and implement a plan that helps you enhance your physical, mental, and emotional fitness.
  • Increase your physical exercise and change up your activities to be inspired.
  • Invest in moments of mindfulness and/or meditation in your day.
  • Consider the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of walking meditation in nature.
• Reassess your dietary and nutritional needs. We have more choice and more access to food and nutritional advice than any other time in our lives. However, we need to engage our wisdom to be discerning and to trust in our own judgment in what we consume - information, advice, food, supplements, etc.. Take time to explore and investigate evidence to decide on what will work best for you.
• Explore the power of YOUR creative expression: doodling, colouring, painting, pottery, or writing a blog post like this one!  Find what best supports your unique self-expression and fulfillment.
• Research and implement best practices for good sleep hygiene to support all you do. Rest is critical for recovery from demands on our resources: physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Your body deserves the highest respect and care. Your body is a holistic and truly magical system that helps you perform at your best. Develop high Self-regard.

Tap Into Your Network: Get Help When/Where Possible. 

As successful entrepreneurs and executives, it’s natural to want to take on everything ourselves. However, as we live longer, our ability to ask for help is essential. Create and build your personal dream team: Trusted advisors who can lessen decision-making fatigue and assistants who can take care of tasks to lessen your workload. Outsource what you can to free up your time and energy for more critical work and fulfillment. Humility in seeking help is a sign of wisdom, strength, and willingness to empower other people to develop expertise and skills. 

Network and connect with other women entrepreneurs and executives in multiple generations to receive valuable support particularly when you are feeling overwhelmed or in need of inspiration. Attend conferences, seminars, and webinars featuring thought-leaders and like-minded people. Participate in groups on your preferred social media platform - CAUTION: Participate with the intent to share rather than compare. This strategy will help you remain visible and open to new opportunities or collaborative partnerships you had not considered before.

Embrace Lifelong Learning - Personal and Professional Development. 

Lifelong learning is important for personal and professional growth. Consider attending conferences for your current and evolving personal and professional interests. Explore the plethora of courses available online to update knowledge, skills, and tools for coping with life and work. This strategy will help you stay up-to-date and relevant, expand your network of resources, and maintain a hunger for knowledge.

Final Word - Your Executive Encore

It takes time, effort, and wisdom to successfully navigate the demands of our many roles at every phase of life. As women entrepreneurs or executives who are living longer and contributing into our 60s and beyond, knowing how to cope with competing responsibilities remains invaluable. By reflecting on our journey, prioritizing self-care, getting good quality help, networking with others in diverse groups and ages, and embracing lifelong learning, we can continue to cultivate fulfillment. By doing so, we are not only ensuring our success but also setting a good example for the next generation of female entrepreneurs and executives.

For resources available to aspiring women entrepreneurs and business owners of all ages, contact me with your request at [email protected]

For Executive Encore blogs related to this topic, click on "Categories" on this page.

Your Next Steps

• Listen to the Executive Encore podcast. Women Finding Fulfillment After 60!  
• Receive Maestro's Encore blog in your inbox with more VIP content related to this topic and to accelerate your emotional well-being and resilience. Download your 90-Day EQ Mini-Plan to learn more about emotional and social functioning, performance, and overall sense of fulfillment and well-being.