My Sustainable PACE “I’ve rediscovered joy in my work”
Client: Carolyn Parrella
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Occupation: Head of Niche Distribution, Suncorp
foundher program: Sustainable PACE & Reset YOU Retreat
Before Carolyn Parrella started foundher’s signature Sustainable PACE program, she’d been through a period of significant upheaval at work.
As a result, “I realised that I had probably lost a bit of joy in what I do,” she says.
Carolyn had already booked into foundher’s RESET YOU Retreat at SOMA, which meant she was enrolled in Sustainable PACE as an added extra to enhance her retreat experience.
She went into the eight-week program ahead of the retreat with a simple but meaningful goal: to find joy in her work again.
Not only did the PACE program help Carolyn reinvigorate her career, it also equipped her with a sustainable toolkit of practices, routines and rituals to support her in work and life.
Open to change
PACE’s Friday morning group coaching calls led by Elana quickly became a highlight of Carolyn’s week.
“The way Elana settles us into the call, you just feel really present in the moment,” she says. “Whatever else is happening outside, you forget about that for the time that you’re in the call. I really found myself looking forward to the next session every week.”
This live support from Elana supercharges the PACE content so that students experience game-changing shifts from the very first week. For Carolyn, the Doing Diary – keeping track of your activities every day for a week – was a powerful exercise that led to immediate transformation.
The Doing Diary is a simple task that allows students to see in black and white what their typical week looks like – and how their productivity and performance might be upgraded.
As a senior executive leading a team of around 300 people, Carolyn’s workday was often booked with back-to-back meetings, leaving her frustrated at how little space was left to actually do her work at a time that suited her. The Doing Diary exercise helped her to recognise where she could make proactive changes to take back control of her day.
“It was a challenging part [of the program], but it was also the best part in terms of seeing what could be,” Carolyn says. “It helped me to identify which meetings were the ones that were really important, where there were some that I didn’t have to be at, and also where it was within my control to reschedule them at a time when I knew I would be at my most energised.”
Now, after learning to design her own sustainable rhythm on a daily and weekly basis, Carolyn’s scheduling in more time for ‘being’ and noticing an uptick in her productivity as a result. “My calendar looks so much better than it used to. I have deliberately left space in there. I used to guard every half-hour block, but I’m not doing that anymore.”
Better yet, the Doing Diary unlocked an empowering realisation that would become the theme of her PACE journey: “I recognised that the only way things will change is if I make changes to do it.”
A new rhythm
Like many PACE students, Carolyn has dabbled with meditation and mindfulness practices in the past but struggled to make them a daily habit. “I would practise them ad hoc, when I felt a little bit overwhelmed,” she explains.
She says that PACE’s focus on morning and evening routines and rituals has helped her finally make meditation stick, allowing her to experience the full benefits of a regular practice.
“The thing that I’ve loved most that has come out of PACE is the routines that I’ve established. In creating the morning routines, I’m meditating every day now,” Carolyn says. “I’ve got the alarm set at five o’clock, and I will read for half an hour, then I’ll meditate, do a gratitude practice and journal, and then I’ll either go for a walk or do some yoga. Even when I was on holidays, I still kept those things going. And that has made such a difference because I feel mentally and physically more energised. It’s a really lovely way to start the day.”
“I’ve found that I’ve got more energy during the day, through having learned these new routines and set myself new ways of doing things. I don’t feel these highs and lows of energy shifts. I feel much more level.”
Similarly, at the end of the day, a simple evening ritual signals that it’s time to switch off and rest. “It’s just about putting an end to the day. Those rituals have been really big game-changers for me,” Carolyn says.
“I’ve found that, every day, whether it be the weekend or a business day, I feel like I’ve got more energy during the day, through having learned these new routines and set myself new ways of doing things. I don’t feel these highs and lows of energy shifts. I feel much more level.”
Bringing back the joy
Often, PACE students find that when they switch off autopilot and begin tuning into their awareness with practices like the Doing Diary and morning routines, ‘aha’ moments have space to drop in.
For Carolyn, the most powerful ‘aha’ came early in the program, around the end of week two, when she realised how she could inject more joy into her work.
“I recognised that coaching is something that I’m really interested in and have been thinking about for a really long time, but I didn’t have any qualifications,” she says.
The PACE program isn’t just about creating space for exciting ideas like this to drop in, but directly combatting any negative self-talk and beliefs or ‘stories’ that might keep people from exploring possibilities.
This component was a big help to Carolyn, who acknowledges that a niggling seed of self-doubt had been holding her back.
“[The story] was ‘Who did you think you are that you could do this? There are so many other people who do it,” she says. “But I thought, well, if not me, then who? Everyone does it a little bit differently. And there is a need for it. So, it was absolutely about letting go of some of those stories that you tell yourself about not being good enough, and just recognising that of course you are.”
Carolyn took action straightaway to enrol in a coaching course that would enhance her performance as a leader. She’s now doing the post-course work required to achieve her first coaching qualification.
“Bringing that coaching mindset into the area that I work in is going to be hugely beneficial. We’re going through enormous amounts of transformation over the next couple of years as customer behaviours change,” she explains.
“It’s about ‘how do we lead our people through that sort of transformation and empower them’, and for me, having that coaching mindset and culture is really important. I’ve loved doing the [coaching] course and I love that I had the awareness to do it. It’s definitely helping me find joy in work.”
Embracing change
There are many flow-on benefits to building your self-awareness muscle – one of them is a boost in emotional intelligence. Carolyn discovered that PACE’s focus on awareness has also had a positive impact on her interactions with colleagues.
“I’ve found that I’m able to have better conversations, even with my leader, through being more mindful of what I’m thinking about something, but also from their perspective, too. It’s helped reframe some discussions and I’ve found that really, really useful,” she explains.
Sustainable PACE wasn’t Carolyn’s first foray into personal development. She’s participated in several self-development courses in the past but admits that they rarely result in real, long-term change.
PACE, however, was a different story.
“This is the first time where I have made significant change from what I’ve learned, so that’s why it stands out for me as being something that is transformational,” Carolyn says.
“This is the first time where I have made significant change from what I’ve learned, so that’s why PACE stands out for me as being something that is transformational.”
She credits this deep transformation to the way Elana invites PACE students to explore and experiment with changes that feel good for them, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all directive. Experiencing the benefits of her new sustainable pace has encouraged Carolyn to keep going.
Carolyn says the value Sustainable PACE offers senior corporate managers like her is simple: it teaches you how much change is within your control, “If you’re willing to step into discomfort for a little while as you’re laying down new routines … and give yourself the time and space to explore it,” she says.
“Elana talks a lot about creating your own future as opposed to having things happen to you,” Carolyn adds. “It’s the self-realisation of how much power is within each of us to make the changes that we need to make if we want things to be different. That’s one of the big things that came out of PACE for me.”
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