Weekend Lift - Japan Edition

Stacey works with leaders and teams who want to create more balance, stress less and perform even better.

She is a Leadership and Positive Psychology Certified Coach, has 15+ years of corporate and business experience, and has gone through her own transformational change from being close to burning out to figuring out how to be more balanced, feel happier and achieve even more. Stacey incorporates positive psychology (the scientific study of what enables people to flourish), well-being, and high-performance practices into her work. She is the founder of The Balanced Leader™ coaching program and offers leadership and executive coaching, workshops and speaking. Stacey lives in Regina with her husband and kids, loves spending time at the lake, and is on a mission to empower more happiness, balance and presence in our everyday lives and leadership. Oh, and she is one of my best friends from way back when we both worked together.

What’s your ideal start to a Sunday?

My ideal start to a Sunday is the same as any morning. It is quiet alone time – alone being the imperative! I love having a cup of coffee all by myself before the kids are up and my husband is out for a run. It’s quiet time to reflect, read, or meditate. Whatever I feel like. And on a Sunday, that can be all morning sometimes! We rarely have plans on Sunday mornings.

Your current book or TV obsession.

I enjoy self-development books and personal stories. I usually have three or four books on the go at a time– different topics – and will read whatever I feel like reading for the day. I don’t watch much TV, but I will get into a series every now and then, and just finished the third season of The Morning Show.

What’s your morning drink of choice? 

Coffee. Every single day. It makes me happy.

How do you take care of yourself during the weekend?

 I take care of myself on the weekend by not over scheduling and having as much downtime/free space to do whatever we want (that’s a theme isn’t it?) and also get done the errands like grocery shopping or laundry that set us up for the week ahead. Since the week is fuller with work, school, and driving kids around, I value more space and unscheduled time on the weekend. I recharge and enjoy the weekend, which makes the following week easier.

What are your plans for the Fall/Winter?

Focus on business and enjoying everyday life is pretty much the plan. I take most of the summer off to spend at the lake (I love lake time), so fall and winter is the time to focus on business – coaching, speaking, etc. I am writing a book, so that’s exciting! We also like to go out skiing to Mission Ridge with the kids as much as we can. As they get older and want to hang out with us less, I try to prioritize skiing since we all enjoy it – although I hold my breath half the time because it also terrifies me.

Your soundtrack of choice for the weekend?

I love relaxing music. I usually ask Alexa to play me relaxing music . . . it makes me happy even when doing a mundane task. I also often listen to the same songs over and over and OVER, to my family's delight.

What advice am I glad I didn’t follow?

In general, it’s learning not to follow other people’s advice when my intuition tells me otherwise, especially when it does not align with my values or how I want to show up in my life. Advice is helpful, but trusting yourself is more important (this is a work in progress for me).

Deep down, you know what's right for you. For example, when I started my business, I had SO many marketing and business coaches say to be successful, I had to hustle and sacrifice – get my husband to go to the kids' activities, stop volunteering, put my head down and hustle for 2-3 years and then I’d have time for those things. I had already learned this lesson in my corporate career. And so, from day one in my business, I've intentionally designed it to fit the life and balance we want, and thankfully, I did NOT follow that advice. And considering this is what I help people with, I must walk my talk😉.