My interview with Executive coach and well-being specialist Sarita Johan
Sarita, what trends are you aware of in business today that stops people being balanced?
I think one of the issues I experience and see when working with my clients is the enormous amount of expectation and pressure we put ourselves under. Bigger, better, more and comparing ourselves to others. This trend does not discriminate and applies to both men and woman.
Overload on choice and information makes it difficult to make the right decision for you, perceived levels of success and happiness that do not match the reality, chasing the carrot on the stick, it never being enough.
In business, we sometimes forget to celebrate our wins, small or big if we do so it actually slows us down and can bring back some balance.
The other thing is the unrealistic “quick fix” attitude, instant gratification. A balanced life is different for everybody, it needs to fit your lifestyle and living conditions and takes time to get right.
What made you follow a path from pure business coaching into holistic well-being?
It started 10 years ago when I spontaneously snapped my femur. At that time in my life I was highly stressed, I was living a fast paced life, being a mum, career woman, wife. Travelling a lot due to a demanding job, but it was not sustainable and until this day I feel that is why I snapped my femur, a warning to make me stop and take stock of where I was at in my life. I was working in an industry that was highly male dominated and I had modelled most of my business behaviours of man (without consciously knowing) and even though I was a female in business I operated like a male, almost like a fist on table approach to get my message across, felt like I had to be loud to be heard.
There was something that I had found quite disturbing and that was really part of the old traditional business model, work hard, make lots of profit was the main focus in business about 20 years ago when I moved to Australia.
I felt something was not right but could not put my finger on it. I got the opportunity to develop the People side of the business I was running with my then husband and this was the beginning of growing and learning first about the importance of looking after people in business and the ripple effect it has in the business and in the community full stop. I decided that business must be about more then making profits, it is about the human aspect and how to create a culture that incorporates all aspects. By looking after our staff we were in return getting better results which then lead to increased profits by default. I have not stopped since.
About 5 years ago my daughter Maxime and I found that we had something that could add to that vision, Max was a PT and Fitness Model and I was working with clients helping them to achieve their goals both in their professional and personal life’s. During one of our conversations Max referred me to one of her clients who had difficulties reaching her next level of goals, it turned out she had created quite a few road blocks without even knowing.
She thought if she would go to the gym everything else would automatically disappear, the reality though is that nothing is separate, we are not made of parts and even though we think we can treat things separate all is connected and ripples through. It was then that we realized if we combined our skill sets we could really make an impact. Having worked alongside Maxime it has given me new insights on how important it is to be connected to ourselves and how we can create our Maximum You, I now get the opportunity to work with people and help them connect the dots.
What are you most passionate about in changing peoples well-being?
Seeing people totally take charge in their business and personal life’s in a way that leaves them empowered, seeing them break through their limitations, finding their groove and flow it is just the best experience and hard to put into words.
Come and meet Sarita, by joining next Wednesday the 13th September @Digitalwomensnetwork
September 13th 2017 and learn more about her tips on helping you to find a balance .
Limited tickets remain https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/find-a-balance-and-improve-well-being-with-digital-womens-network-tickets-35401306260
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Cheers, Angela Mellak CIM
Director and Strategist of Digital White Space
Co-founder of Digital Womens Network
Level 2, 287 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
M: +61(0)466 619 631
https://digitalwhitespace.com.au
L: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/angela-mellak/15/931/922
“Your smile is your logo, your personality your business card and how you leave people feeling after they dealt with you becomes your trademark”.. Angela Mellak
