65: Balancing Motherhood with Your Need to Grow, Learn & Create (with Tammy Cannon)

In this episode Tammy Cannon shares her experiences of being a busy, overwhelmed mom of 3 kids under age 3 and how learning to ask for help made all the difference in her happiness. Now, as a mom of 3 teens, Tammy does a fantastic job balancing motherhood with her love of learning, her creativity, and her desire to help other women create a business doing something they love.

Tammy Cannon is the owner of Cannon Social Media helping creative business owners leverage online marketing. Tammy lives in Snohomish, WA with her husband and 3 teens. In her spare time Tammy loves cooking, gardening, and hiking.

Nuggets of Wisdom from Tammy:

“Dom Perignon: Come quickly, I am tasting the stars.”

“Happy accidents can happen at anytime and just to be ready for them, to be excited and curious about life because you just never know when something amazing is going to happen.”

“I am a really curious person. I love learning… And so I just love life and being curious and being hopeful for whatever is to come.”

“I realized at that time, I didn't know how to ask for help. Being a mother of 3 young children was not something that was modeled for me. I mean, my parents were working and I am an only child, and things were very quiet and organized, and I didn't have any relatives around me, to just kind of see what that looked like until a friend of mine, she is a few years behind me and having kids but once she started having her babies, I watched her really organize her life and asked for help when she needed it. So she got on care.com and got herself a house cleaner and a really good baby sitter, but not just one but a couple when that one didn't meet the time. She'd catch her date night with her husband. And so, I was looking at that and said, ‘Wow, I just didn't ask for help.' I didn't recognize that I just really needed the help, but I do not know if it was ego or just not having you know the modeling for myself. I just didn't really know how to go about it.”

“So, I think that it is really important that we have the confidence to actually create the things that we love and maximize that time, but there is nothing wrong with profiting from that stuff and actually starting you know a small business, a side business, whatever it is to you, be yourself. You know, give that time back to yourself. I mean, we give our time to our kids and our family, we volunteer, we are out and about. But to really sit and be creative, or to start something new just for yourself is pretty awesome.”

“Recently, I have discovered that I really need to set boundaries around myself, and the boundaries are going to help me get more respect for my family and myself, respect in myself. And also confidence to charge what I work and to follow through with those boundaries.”

Some of Tammy‘s Favorite Things:

Personal habit: “I love learning. So, I read a lot of books, a lot of blog articles. I take a lot of online courses. I just really love learning new things and learning how to apply them in my own life and then teaching them to other people.”

Easy meal: “Quinoa salad. Quinoa grains that you cook really simply and then you ad red wine vinegar, like a little vinaigrette to it. And then you can corn sometimes, red onions, you just add in your veggies and then let it sit in the refrigerator. It is great for potluck, for just a side salad, for everything.”

Favorite kitchen gadget: “Coffee grinder”

Tammy's Favorite Books: “Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss” and “Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty”

Best advice received: “That is the way it should be. We go through life not recognizing that we just need to dream big and go after it.”

Tammy's Happiness Formula:

“Really just sitting down and breaking bread with friends and family is super huge to me. Combine that with learning something new. And a sunny day. And I am the happiest girl in the world.”

A Challenge from Tammy:

“I would love for your listeners to download that freebie (5 Steps to a Growth Mindset) and fill it out and over the next 30, 60 or 90 days, pick one big hairy goal, one over-arching goal that you are trying to achieve. Fill out the worksheet and let us know what happened. I think that you are going to be surprised at how the worksheet's going to help. And when you focus on just one thing, over that time frame, you are going to see big things happen.”

Resources

5 Steps to a Growth Mindset (freebie from Tammy)

Beautiful Ruins: A Novel

Tim Ferriss Podcast

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

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