"One of the biggest challenges that I still face is the one I call “Too many desserts on the buffet table of life.” C.J. Hayden, Wings Business Coaching

Over the years I’ve often felt that I was living more than one life at a time, or that I was shot-gunning my way through life, going in so many different directions; getting so many different things done each day in so many different categories.  It can be rather disconcerting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, scattered, unproductive and tired. Plus, it sounds and feels negative.

The other day I came up with a new description of my predicament: Mille Feuille (“thousand leaves” in French). What I’m referring to is the tasty French dessert that is made with a “thousand” layers of puff pastry with creamy sugar filling in between, also known as a Napoleon. I think dealing with layers sounds and feels a lot better than being tugged in too many directions. It implies that each layer is tasty, yummy and a treat, rather than a chore that needs to be addressed.  

Right now my life-layers include everything from taking my 95 year-old dad to physical therapy appointments and baby sitting grandchildren to marketing my husband's and my book and planning get-togethers with friends. These layers make my life rich and interesting, purposeful and rewarding. 

So, now each day starts just as busy as the last, but with a happy new flavor to it. My layers will always be there, I wouldn’t want it any other way. So instead of worrying about how busy I am and getting myself stressed, I look forward to working on the layers of the day, seeing which ones get done, discovering new layers that come up.

I don’t know why, but the idea of layers, a Mille Feuille approach, makes me calmer. It’s a more cheerful way to approach life and work. It almost makes my mouth water.

Besides writing and speaking on topics relating to women in business, entrepreneurship and success, Pam loves to encourage others to try things they’ve never done before to expand their interests and relationships. Pam and her husband did just that by renovating a house—with their own hands and writing about it in their newly released she-said, he-said book Under the Carmel Valley Sun: An Adventure in Remodeling, Relationships and Red Wine. Check it out at www.underthecarmelvalleysun.com.