We recently connected with Erin Woodruff and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

While I was in school, I worked for a physical therapy clinic in the billing office. The most impactful thing I learned during that job was the skill of patience. Anyone who works with insurance companies knows that it can be a long, drawn-out process. There were times I would be on hold for 3-4 hours before I talked with a representative.

I learned how to be patient and kind during these long work days because, at the end of everything, it didn’t matter what I did, I would still be waiting for hours to talk to someone. So I could be rude, impatient, and annoyed when someone finally took the call, or I could be kind, patient, and calm.

Every time I get frustrated now with the way something is going or how long something is taking, I think back on that job. I reflect on the hours sitting with my desk phone on speaker while elevator music played in the background.

Patience is a skill that can and needs to be learned by everyone. Patience and the ability to wait can open doors of opportunity and when we arrive, we will be steady, ready, and confident that it is the right place for us to be.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a mom, wife, and CEO. I am a certified life coach who helps high-achieving women stay happily married to introverts.

Honestly, I had no idea how introverted my husband was before we got married. I didn’t realize all of the challenges that would come with that and how easy it would be for me to lose myself.

And now, that’s why I do what I do.

I believe that communication, marriage, and life can be hard. But I also believe we make it harder on ourselves when we’re going alone and neglect taking care of our own needs.

I believe that you can find yourself, do what you want, and stay happily married to an introvert.

As a life coach, I help you reconnect with yourself so you can create the abundant life you’re excited about. I teach you how to communicate with confidence, clarity, and curiosity, love unconditionally, and create time for yourself.

I help you to uncover limiting beliefs, pitfalls, and other distractions you may not have noticed in your life. My goal is to help you stop holding yourself back and to stop self-sabotage. I believe that you are the only one who can change you, that you are the only one in your own way, and that it’s time to be yourself again.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Much of what I do know has been shaped by my own journey of personal development and growth.

One of the must-read books in my opinion is “Quiet” by Susan Cain. As I read that book, I understood myself, my husband, and everyone else much better as I really started to understand the differences between introverts and extroverts. Her concepts expanded my mind and allowed me to be more of myself and in turn, I allowed others to be more of themselves. I stopped pushing the introverts in my life in directions that were clearly not what they want to do, and for the first time, I finally understood why. It has blessed my personal and professional life greatly as I know understand the social spectrum of personalities with much more clarity and understanding. This book changed my life.

Another must-read book “Eat That Frog” by Bryan Tracy. This book has been extremely helpful when I need a fresh take on time management and productivity. The book is short, impactful, and to the point. It doesn’t have much fluff and is a great starting place for anyone who needs to revamp their routines.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I think about the pivots I have made in my life and business, one comes to mind more than any other.

I had graduated from college and started working at a local university and life seemed to be going according to plan. But coming up on a year of trying to get pregnant, with no success, I started to realize that maybe this wasn’t going to happen for me.

I started asking myself a lot of questions and doing a lot of self-discovery, wondering what would I do if I never had the opportunity to become a mom.

Long story short, I realized that I had a seed of entrepreneurship planted deep in my soul. So I started my own business and ran it on the side while I kept my full-time job.

I pivoted the life I was living to the life that I really wanted. I started growing things that I could control, while so many of the other things I wanted in life were out of my control.

I put all my effort into creating the life I wanted, with or without kids, and found myself along the way. I discovered so much about myself as a woman and my deepest desires for my life.

Now, my business is 3 years old and my baby is 2 years old. The pivot I made before I got pregnant has altered the way I will be a mom and CEO for the rest of my life. And it’s the life I absolutely love living.

Pivot before you’re ready, make changes when things feel uncertain, and focus on the things within your control. Everything else will work out just the way it was supposed to.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.erinwoodruffcoaching.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinwoodruffcoaching/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinwoodruffcoaching
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-woodruff-b5109a8b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/coacherin_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxUUiIb7Zz4Z04eOTp2NZgA
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@erinwoodruffcoaching?lang=en Podcast: https://timeforyou.buzzsprout.com/share Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/erinwoodruffcoaching/