30 | Why Leadership Is About Strengths, Not Hustle & Time Management Strategies That Actually Work for Working Moms

Ever feel like no matter how early you wake up, how much you plan, or how many to-dos you check off... you’re still behind?

📣 Here’s the truth nobody’s saying loud enough: You don’t need more hustle. You need more alignment.

In this powerful solo episode, I’m breaking down the real reason why traditional time management fails high-achieving working moms—and how to finally reclaim your energy, confidence, and calendar through strengths-based leadership.

🔥 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ Why hustle culture is secretly burning you out (even when you’re “doing it all right”)
✔️ The 4 working mom leadership styles—and how to lead from your natural strengths
✔️ Custom time strategies that actually work based on how you're wired
✔️ How to ditch the guilt and lead with calm, clarity, and confidence

"Leadership isn’t about how much you do—it’s about how aligned your actions are."

🎯 Bonus: Choose one time strategy based on your style and test it this week. Then come tell me how it goes inside the FB group!

💼 READY TO LEAD WITH CONFIDENCE & CALM?
🚀 Take the FREE Leadership Style Quiz to uncover your strengths and unique leadership path
📲 Join the FB Group for exclusive career tips and networking
💌 Become an Insider and receive weekly career tips, time saving tools & strengths based leadership tips

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👉 Subscribe & leave a review so more career moms can discover these game-changing career strategies!

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Kat and Tanner by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Transcript

Shannon Fox:
Ever feel like no matter how hard you hustle, you're still behind? That time management tools aren't helping and leadership feels more like survival than impact? What if the real solution isn't more effort, but it's more alignment? Let's talk about it. 

Intro:

Hey mama, welcome to Career Growth for Working Moms. If you're stuck in a job that doesn't fit or burning out trying to do it all, you're in the right place.

I'm Shannon, a career coach and fellow working mom. Here, you'll get simple career strategies and strength-based leadership tips to help you grow with clarity and confidence. 

So grab your coffee - or reheat it for the third time - and let's do this.

Shannon Fox:
Hey friend, welcome back to the show. Today, I'm coming in hot with a truth that might surprise you. Leadership has nothing to do with hustle.

Let me say that again for the mamas in the back juggling school lunches and slack notifications.

Leadership is about strength, not hustle. And when you lead from alignment, not pressure, something amazing happens. Your time management gets easier. Your energy lasts longer. Your calendar starts working for you, not against you.

Today, we're going to unpack why hustle culture is keeping working moms stuck,
overwhelmed, and burnt out, and how to reclaim your time and leadership through a strength-based lens. 

So whether you're new here or you've been with me a while, grab your coffee, take
a breath, and let's get into it. Let's get real.

The messages we've been fed as ambitious women are loud. If you get just worked harder, you'll get ahead. Wake up earlier. Stay late. Show up more and say yes more. Do more, be more, and smile while you do it.

And if you're a working mom, that noise is deafening because it's not just about work. It's about being a good mom, a good wife, a good friend, a good person. 

The result, you're doing everything but feeling like you're failing at all of it.
This is what hustle leadership creates. Overwhelm, guilt, exhaustion, resentment. And the worst part, you start to believe the lie. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. 

But here's what I need you to hear loud and clear. It's not
you. It's the model. You weren't meant to lead by grinding yourself into the ground. 

You were meant to lead from your strengths.

So what does that mean? Strengths-based leadership isn't about personality quizzes or soft skills. It's about understanding how you're naturally wired, where your energy flows, and what happens when you stop pretending to lead like someone else. 

I coach on this through the lens of four dominant leadership styles adapted from the CliftonStrengths framework.

If you haven't taken my free leadership style quiz yet, go grab it at theshannonfox.com/leadership-style because it will make everything I say next even more powerful. 

Let's go briefly through the four styles. Boss Lady in Action. You get things done. You thrive on structure, lists, and goals. You're the woman people call
when they need something handled. Your shadow, burnout from doing everything yourself. Your gift, precision, reliability, making ideas happen. 

Okay, next Charismatic Queen. You light up a room. You inspire. You cast vision and lead through connection, confidence, and energy. Your shadow, performing instead of aligning, over committing to please. Your gift though - motivation, influence, big picture energy. 

All right, you Heart-Centered Guides. You lead through connection. You know what people need before they ask. You hold space. You make people feel seen. Your shadow, carrying emotional weight that isn't yours. Losing your own goals in service to others. Your gift, empathy, trust, team cohesion. 

All right, Visionary Brainiacs. You're the planner, the thinker, the strategist. You see possibilities and patterns long before others do. Your shadow is getting stuck in your head, waiting for the perfect plan. But your gift, it's clarity, foresight, innovative direction. 

Here's the kicker. Most time management tools are built for people who operate like machines, but you're not a machine. You're a human leading a family and a career with emotions, cycles, preferences, and seasons.

This is why planners fail. Why productivity hacks feel flat. Why batching or blocking works for someone else, but never seems to stick for you.
You're trying to force tools that aren't aligned with how you actually work best. 

So let's break down time management by leadership style and show you what might actually work for you.

Okay, for those Boss Ladies in Action, you need clear goals and visible progress.
So maybe try weekly goal setting on Monday. Friday, have celebration audits to recognize your wins. Time blocking with two-hour sprints followed by short rewards. But don't feel every moment. Margin is productivity. 

All right, Charismatic Queens, you need energy, not just order. So maybe try planning your day around your energy peaks. Working in public like Zoom or
co-working, accountability check-ins, blocking space for creativity, pitching, or spontaneous ideas. Avoid cramming your calendar. You thrive with space to flow.

Okay, for you Heart-Centered Guides, you need relational anchors. So try connection containers like team check-ins, voice notes, etc., or time blocking solo
time to work to protect emotional energy. End each week with a reflection ritual to reset your heart. Your burnout comes from invisibility and over-responsibility. Set clear boundaries.

For the Visionary Brainiac, you need thinking time and execution pressure. So you might want to try time thinking sprints like 20 minutes to explore, 10 minutes to decide. One messy action daily, dedicated Thursday afternoon strategy hours to vision future projects. And avoid waiting until it's perfect. Momentum creates clarity. 

Here's the final piece. You do not need to hustle harder. You need to lead smarter. You don't need more to-dos. You need more trust in how you're wired. When you lead from your strengths, you protect your time. You reduce burnout.You build confidence. You show up fully without feeling like you're failing someone.

Leadership isn't about how much you do. It's about how aligned your actions are. 

So here's your homework this week. Step 1, take the leadership style quiz if you haven't. Step 2, pick just one new time strategy based on your style and try it out this week. Step 3, leave a quick review if this episode resonated. It's one of the biggest ways you can support the show and help more career moms lead from calm and clarity.

You were never meant to from your values and from a place of peace. And I'm here to help you do exactly that. I'll see you back here soon.

Outro:
Hey, working mama. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds to share it with a friend who's stuck in her career, but doesn't want to sacrifice her family to grow?

Also, please leave a quick review on Apple podcast. It seriously lights me up to know the show is helping you navigate burnout, find clarity and lead with confidence. 

All right, time to shut down my laptop and pretend I'm not hiding from folding
that laundry. I'll meet you back here soon for another episode of Career Growth for Working Moms.

You've got this.