Regina’s story!

We’ve had multiple 100 days together and I’ve loved the variety of your projects and also how you’ve really gone with the flow. Could you tell us more about the projects you’ve worked on and how you chose them?

I have done a wide variety of things: created a family memory cookbook, started new outreach programs for our Food Pantry, focused on developing good routines, and am currently doing a gratitude project which focuses on writing thank you letters to important people in my life and writing essays about things that delight me. In the first two One Woman Bands, the projects found me a few weeks into the hundred days and in the latter two I had a better idea of what I wanted to do.

One of the biggest things I love about One Woman Band is the range of things people are working on. I get asked a lot whether One Woman Band is solely for business owners or people who are incredibly creative. What do you think?

I don’t really fit either of those profiles. I actually signed up for the first One Woman Band because I knew I needed to get my confidence level up. I ended up doing a very personal project (the cookbook) that was a pulling together of existing photos, stories, and recipes. It turned out great but wasn’t creating something from scratch. (Bad pun!) In another round of One Woman Band, I decided to just focus on myself, figuring out good morning and evening routines that would help me reclaim some of my own time and energy. The wonderful thing about One Woman Band is it doesn’t matter what you do, you have an amazing group of people cheering you on. In One Woman Band, you will meet amazing women from multiple continents. These have been the most supportive and encouraging people that I have ever been around. Everyone genuinely cares about the success of everyone else. They will celebrate with you when things go well and commiserate when things are tough. You get a group of your very own cheerleaders and you get to be one also.

One of the things I know the women I work with struggle with is giving themselves permission to spend time and energy on themselves, especially, when like you, they give so much to their communities and people around them. From my perspective, one of the biggest mindset shifts you’ve had during our time together is prioritising yourself. What do you think changed?

I think I finally realized with your coaching and by talking with the other women that I am MORE effective, creative, and good to others when I am kind to myself. When we expect too much of ourselves we have the awful tendency of doing the same to others. We just get in these cycles of overwork, frustration, and guilt. In learning to loosen up, I have decided it’s not about working harder or smarter. It’s about working kinder and that has to start with me to carry over to others.

I know you’re incredibly busy, with the Food Pantry, work, your community and loved ones. Sometimes you do your morning routine on co-working, other times you’re popping in to get stuff done before going out to work. How have you fit One Woman Band into your life?

This is a very flexible program. You don’t have to make it to every single opportunity to get a lot out of it. It’s also okay to show up for just part of co-working or group gatherings. And there is always a chance to catch up with everyone on the social media platform. One Woman Band has helped me put systems in place so hard things are much easier and I am able to sleep better at night. I have gained so many skills and so much more confidence and presence of mind through it. You do an amazing job of keeping everyone on track individually through group meetings, co-working, and the social media platform. You offer such helpful advice and resources and provide much-needed accountability (which often just looks like reminding us of what our goals were so we don’t wander tooo far from the path!)

Lastly, you’ve become known in One Woman Band for your absolutely brilliant book recommendations! It’s not rare for you to mention a book and before long, we’re all reading it! What have been your favourite reads of this year?

That is really hard! I think my book of the year will end up being The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I just read an amazing, amazing short novel, A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, which is a close second. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel was also a great read this year. For pure fun, I have been enjoying the murder mysteries of Louise Penny. In non-fiction, I have loved The Book of Delights by Ross Gay so much that I will be giving it to several friends.

Thank you, Regina!