September 23, 2024 • 23 mins
SPECIAL WORKSHOP-STYLE EPISODE. Listen and use the companion workbook (linked below), to explore your occupational therapy business through the Kawa Model.
We are applying, the Kawa Model, an innovative occupational therapy model from Japan to assess and enhance the life flow of your OT business. By visualizing your professional journey as a river, I hope you'll build awareness of your values, workflows, log jams, and be able chart a course towards an expansive and fulfilling future.
Listen to the podcast anytime and then download the PDF workbook to reflect on your own business life flow. With these two parts together, you'll be guided through reflective exercises designed to provide insights into your priorities, environment, obstacles, and the influential factors shaping your business. Whether you’re driving, walking, or making dinner, listen in to start your journey towards greater clarity and vitality in your OT career which is an imporant part of your life.
I share how I've reflected on my own journey through this process to help you consider what this might look like.
This episode promises not only to deepen your understanding of your business flow but to inspire actionable steps towards a more balanced and thriving OT practice.
-
Explore joining the ACTivate Vitality Program when doors re-open in October
-
Connect with Carlyn Neek on social media for further discussion and support
- Meet Jane. She's my right-hand digital helper and when you sign up with the code, VITALITY, listeners will recieve a 1 month grace period on new subscriptions.
As always, be brave OTs!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
As an occupational therapy businessowner, do you ever pause and assess
the occupational performance of yourbusiness, figure out what's working,
what's not working, step back curiouslyand really observe, dig into the
elements and the factors, how they'replaying together, or are you just
too busy, just doing one thing afteranother, never getting through that to
(00:21):
do list, and there's no time to pauseand have a good look at what's going on?
I find that a lot of OTbusiness owners are just busy.
There are so many people that needtheir help and it is hard to say no.
And so it becomes difficult totake the time to make that pause.
(00:41):
It's something I've done a lot in myown business as I find my capacity,
fluctuating, over the last fewyears between the pandemic, shifts
in family dynamics, perimenopause,shifts in the way I want to be
working and don't want to be working.
And so I do a lot of pausing to reflect
and I definitely help otherOT business owners do that in
(01:04):
the ACTivate Vitality program.
But I wanted to make this podcasta little bit of a workshop.
So there is a PDF linked in the shownotes for you to use as a workbook.
It's about 10 pages, but that's alot of pages for drawing because we
are using the Kawa Model to have alook at the flow of your business.
you're listening to the BraveOT Podcast with me, Carlyn Neek.
(01:26):
This podcast is all about empoweringoccupational therapists to step up,
level up, blaze some trails, and maybeengage in a little conscious rebellion.
In service of our profession, ourclients, our work, our businesses,
and living our mission wholeheartedly.
We are all about keeping it real,doing hard things, unhustling, being
(01:46):
curious, exploring, growing throughour challenges, and finding joy,
fulfillment, and vitality as we do so.
Really, we're OT ingourselves, and each other.
I hope you love this episode!
Now, if you're listening while you'redriving or walking or making supper, still
listen and go later and do the workbook.
(02:08):
There will still be valuejust in listening through it.
for the next little bit, we'regoing to be talking about finding
your flow, exploring your OTbusiness through the Kawa model.
The Kawa model is centered around aclient and the river as their life flow.
Kawa means river in Japanese.
And, in this case, we're going to beapplying that same concept, but thinking
(02:30):
about your career or business journey asthe life flow, that journey of the river.
Your professional journey is much likea river, sometimes flowing smoothly,
sometimes hitting obstacles, and alwaysmoving towards something more expansive.
The Kawa model is an occupationaltherapy model created in Japan, and
it uses the metaphor of a river.
(02:51):
Through this podcast and the workshop,we're going to use it to help you
visualize and reflect on your path fromwhere you started to where you'd like
to be, understanding the elements thatinfluence your journey along the way.
You'll explore different elements ofyour business river, your achievements,
challenges, environments, and resources.
You'll identify areas where you feeljammed up and clarify what you need to
(03:15):
move forward with purpose and vitality.
Through this reflective exercise,I hope you'll gain insight into how
to navigate your journey from herewith more clarity and identify the
support you might need along the way.
I want to be sure to give creditto the Kawa Made Easy publication.
I've linked it in the document.
I'll put it in the show notes as well.
(03:35):
It's a guide to applying the Kawamodel in OT practice, and it was put
together by Michael Iwama and Tio Ju Yin.
Before we jump into today's episode, let'sgive a shout out to our sponsor, Jane,
a clinic management software and EMR.
Whether you're just starting to do yourresearch or you've been contemplating
switching your software for a whilenow, the Jane team understands that
(03:59):
the process can feel intimidating.
That's why their goal is to provideyou with all the onboarding resources
you need to make the switch.
As smooth as possible.
Jane offers a personalized call to setup your account, a free date import,
and a variety of online resourcesto get you up and running quickly.
And if you need a helping handalong the way, you'll have access to
(04:19):
unlimited phone, email, and chat supportincluded with your Jane subscription.
If you're interested in learningmore, book a one on one demo at jane.
app.
switch.
And, if you decide to make the switch,don't forget to use the code VITALITY
at signup to receive a one monthgrace period on your new Jane account.
(04:40):
Now I must admit, I only learnedabout the Kawa model in the last
couple of years and haven't usedit extensively in my own practice.
So this is a bit of a stretch for me.
I'm going to do it imperfectly.
Some of you who are listening andmuch more fluid with this model will
probably notice places where I slip up ormisinterpret something, so bear with me.
I'm all about growing andexpanding and stretching the
(05:02):
comfort zone, so here we are.
In the Kawa Model, the participantsown interpretation of the elements and
their interplay is really important.
So please feel free with this to drawyour own diagrams, use the images for
inspiration, or find another way...
A way that works for you.
Maybe you prefer to writeor describe it to somebody.
(05:25):
I invite you to consider the life flowof your OT career as the river, and
the bird's eye view in the context ofa bit of a timeline of your career.
At any point in your career, that rivermay have looked a little different.
The elements, the pace, the breadth,the depth, and the location were
different at different stages.
You are welcome to start atany point that serves you.
(05:46):
I chose to start when I graduated,but focused more in detail on the
time since I started my business.
There are five elements toconsider in the Kawa model.
The river flow is yourlife flow and priorities.
so in this context, we're probablythinking about the life flow of your
(06:06):
career, or the life flow of your business.
for listening.
But this is all subject to interpretationby the person who's drawing their Kawa.
The riverbanks are the environments withinwhich you're working, so environments and
contexts, so that could be social, thatcould be physical, could be otherwise.
The rocks are obstacles and challenges.
(06:27):
Driftwood are influencing factors.
These could be positive, these couldbe negative, these could be neutral.
And then the spaces.
The spaces are opportunitiesfor flow enhancement.
the spaces are where the river flows.
So consider If the life ofyour career or business was a
river, what would it look like?
(06:48):
Imagine for a moment drawing a bird's eyeview, or actually draw it in the workbook.
Again, the workbook islinked in the show notes.
Include a starting point, where youare now, and leave room for the future.
and if you're sitting down witha pen and paper doing this,
press pause and do the drawing.
Let's take a closer lookat your journey to here.
(07:12):
choose a few significant pointsin your journey and add details.
You could add words and graphics to yourbird's eye view, or you could draw a cross
section for any points along the journeythat would be helpful to explore further.
So bird's eye view is like seeing thatwinding river in its entirety, like
almost like a map and the Cross sectionview is if we sliced at 90 degrees,
(07:39):
through the river and had a window andwe could see the bottom of the river,
the sides of the river, the top of theriver, everything that's in the river.
So you're yeah, having a windowinto a cross section of the river.
And feel free to use these Followingquestions as considerations, as
explorations, you can omit any ofthem, you don't have to answer them
(08:03):
all, but just think about theseand how you might depict them or
describe them on your diagram.
At any given time, we're lookingat a cross section or a turn in
the river or point in the river.
Where were you?
What were you doing?
What was the experience like?
What created flow inyour work at that time?
(08:26):
What did you learn or accomplish?
What were you proud of?
What were the obstacles?
Who was around you?
What did your days look like?
How did you feel at the end of the day?
And what prompted change orprompted you to start your business?
If that's the stage you're looking at.
(08:47):
Draw as many cross sections or pointsalong the river as are meaningful to you.
Now let's look at what work is like today.
Reflect on the flow ofyour business today.
And write or draw how thedifferent parts work together
to make your current situation.
And I'll just remind you again, I knowit's tricky when you're first learning
(09:08):
this model, the five elements that areworking together are the river flow,
that life flow and priorities, the riverbanks, the environments and contexts, the
rocks, those are obstacles and challenges,driftwood, those are influencing factors,
they could be positive, negative, neutral.
Things like attributesor helpers or skills.
(09:29):
Or difficult attributes,that sort of thing.
anything that's influencing it.
Spaces.
Now spaces are the opportunitiesfor flow enhancement.
So typically we're drawing in riverbanks,rocks, driftwood, and then maybe labeling
those types of things, what those are.
Thinking about work today, whichenvironments do you work in?
(09:51):
are you doing?
What does work feel like to you?
What facilitates flow inyour work and business?
What lights you up?
What are you learningand how are you growing?
What are the disruptors and challenges?
Which are your favorite andleast favorite days of the week?
Why?
Who's around you?
(10:12):
What feels expansive?
Playful?
Joyful?
Easy?
Exciting?
Dreamy?
What feels constrictive,tight, sticky, paralyzing?
What are your values?
How do you connect with them?
Your business values, yourOT values, your life values.
Do those feel some overlap and alignment?
(10:33):
Are they expressed in your day to day?
Which personal attributes areinfluencing your business flow?
Which resources are helping you right now?
What do you know is ahead andwhat do you need to navigate that?
So once you've taken some time, again,pause to do these exercises at the
different points, thinking about whereyou're headed and where you are now.
(10:58):
I'd like you to consider yourobservations and characterizations
of the elements influencing your workand business right now and what are
some ways you might enhance the flow.
What might help you facilitate movingtoward that next space, the space that
has even more flow that you'd like to be.
How can you create space for flow?
(11:18):
Can any of the rocks bemade smaller or left behind?
Will they just tumble behindyou as the river moves on?
Can the riverbanks be widened or narrowed?
How might you use the driftwood to helppush away rocks or change the banks?
What's ahead of you on your river?
What's needed to navigate that?
(11:40):
What do you crave or desire asyour river keeps moving forward?
What do you need in terms ofsupport and people around you?
More of less of?
What might you do with this awareness?
Does your river have a clear end point,like retirement is coming the end of
a job, the end of a, an era, or isit a few turns away and out of sight?
(12:05):
It's okay if you can't see it.
What do you need to better understandand navigate your river forward?
So in the workbook, I leave you spaceto continue with this reflection.
I would love to hear how this reflectionimpacts you, what you notice, how you
notice yourself in relation to this river.
(12:27):
I'll tell you a little bit about my river.
I've done this exercisea couple times myself.
And I'm going to tell you alittle bit about my river.
And if you're a person who wouldprefer not to be influenced by hearing
somebody else's story, I encourageyou to pause here, go do your own
Kawa and come back and listen later.
Because again, your riveris probably going to look a
(12:49):
lot different from my river.
You might even symbolize differentthings differently, and that's okay.
That's the whole idea with the Kawa.
How you subjectively perceivethe different elements coming
together is really important.
But here's what I've done.
When I look at starting my careeras an OT, I really wanted to work in
pediatrics and we had moved to Ottawabecause my husband was transferred
(13:13):
there with his job, boyfriend at thetime, and I was placed in a job that
wasn't my ideal job, but it was the jobI could get at the time in that city.
One of the limitations was that I wasn'tfluent in French and wasn't able to
qualify to apply for many of the jobsin the public health system there.
(13:34):
So I was placed by arecruiter at a clinic.
It was a physiotherapy clinic that hadan OT there and, psychologists coming
in and out, doing some interdisciplinaryreturn to work sort of work.
And I thought, okay, that'llbe all right for now.
I'll gain some experiences.
So at that time I wasliving in a new city.
That was one of the banksof my river was Ottawa.
(13:56):
There were some language barriers to beingable to work in that public health system,
and I worked with this lovely group ofpeople who really embraced me and really
made me feel supported as a new grad.
My husband and I were starting ourlife together in the same city.
We had lived long distance untilthat point, and there was a lot of
(14:16):
joy and fun in figuring it out andmaking friends and finding our way and
enjoying our day to day activities.
The work was a stretch for me, butI expected it to be at that stage,
doing things that were new to me, butI had a lot of support and mentorship.
We moved a couple moretimes, had a couple kids.
So this is the part I'llfast forward through.
(14:37):
I went on a couplematernity leaves in Canada.
We have one year of paid maternityleave as part of our government
benefit, and that was just great.
It's not paid at 100%, but still havinga year off for each kid was wonderful.
We moved to Calgary.
and I was continuing to work for thatsame company, ended up working in home
(14:58):
care for a while, and then, decided tostart my business on the side in 2007.
I actually had my second child in2008, so I'd started on the side,
in 2007 and in 2011, I decidedto go all in on my business.
And, started contracting ata place that, had me doing a
(15:18):
particular type of assessment.
I was an easily detached member of theteam, but they had me going out and
doing assessments and I really enjoyedthem and I met some really neat people.
I continued to build my business while Iwas still working part time in home care.
in 2012, my dad died.
And it was unexpected.
He was only 59 and that was prettyearly on in my entrepreneurial journey.
(15:44):
I hadn't quite found a flow, entirelyin my business at that point and, was
still subcontracting, that sort of thing.
But, had the flexibility totake time off to be with him and
help care for him in that time
so I was very grateful for that.
At the time when I started my business,I was really craving more flexibility.
(16:07):
I wanted to be flexible with my time andwork so that I could focus on prioritizing
my family, prioritizing travel, andhave flexibility to volunteer in the
kids schools and that sort of thing.
And at the same time, I wantedto not worry about money.
So I just wanted enough moneythat I was, not feeling concerned.
So this was never like a giant get richquick scheme or anything like that.
(16:30):
It was just to have enough moneyto feel comfortable raising
a couple kids, and I did.
My business got bigger, busy enoughthat I was turning work away.
Took on some contractors at one pointand tried mentoring others to help
with the overflow, hired a VA atsome point and decided that it was
somewhere in 2019 that I was feelinga bit burnt out by, the workflow.
(16:56):
There were things I wastired about in my business.
And, so in 2019, I started lookingat building something online that
could be more of a leveraged offer.
And so I was looking at maybe makinga planner or an online coaching
program or something like that.
And I wasn't sure what that wouldlook like, but I ended up investing
in a coaching program that taughtme how to build an online course.
(17:18):
And led to the whole ACTivate Vitalityprogram that I now offer to OT business
owners, as well as the ACTivateVitality Personal Development Planner
that was actually number one in a fewcategories on Amazon Canada last week.
So that was very exciting.
That was 2019 and then 2020happened and oh my goodness!
(17:40):
We were all pivotingand finding a new way.
And it was a perfect time to really expandinto my online social media marketing
and connecting with international OTsand building a network and really leaning
into those non-traditional services.
So looking at that environment shift,it shifted from me being out and about
(18:01):
in the community and seeing clientsto me being online, going on YouTube,
going on Facebook, finding Facebookgroups, going to online summits,
meeting all these interesting OTs whoare trying to do things differently.
That environment was very differentand we were all in this place
where we were making it work in thepandemic, while essentially living
(18:22):
in an ongoing health crisis, wewere in a global pandemic, right?
It was very stressful.
It was an ongoing crisis sothere was stress with that.
There was everybody at home.
There were people being laid off.
There was fear for our health andthen there was social conflict with
different people having differentmessages and different opinions
about restrictions and such.
(18:42):
So in it, I really exercised myflexibility and adaptability and
creativity and desire to connect.
Those are my driftwood, thoseriverbanks were the pandemic.
They were the people in the environmentsand being online, and then there
were those rocks, like things comingup, and we're in lockdown, we're
not in lockdown, I'm learning onlineplatforms and trying to connect them
(19:05):
together and building funnels andlearning Canva and figuring out YouTube
and oh my goodness, those were,.
some of those things were driftwood.
Some of those things were rocks,but man, they were floating all over
the place and connecting with peoplewho can help me with those things.
And then a little further down the road,through 2020, there was some stress and
then 2021, it was more like possibilityand being okay with it just not yet
(19:31):
thriving, trying to figure it out.
It's not supposed to be smooth yet.
And so really workingon smoothing things out.
The economy in 2022 really shifted andpeople were hesitant to invest in some
of the things, a little bit tired ofsome of those online things happening.
I'm looking at my driftwoodto, at the banks, I've got my
(19:52):
economy, On my driftwood, I'vegot some social media fatigue.
I love my people at the same time.
rocks, I'm feeling tired.
What am I doing?
Like I should be a success by now.
Those were some of the thingsthat I've labeled on rocks.
And then when I did this in 2023, Ifloated myself some driftwood actually.
(20:13):
And I put in pause for a bit, produceless, do what you love, revise.
And I wrote myself a note onreflecting on all of this at that time.
I made a note that said, youcan't speed up the river.
It is what it is.
Let the river carry you.
Your effort to change itis what is exhausting you.
(20:34):
And that was just this big aha.
Like, okay, take a minute.
this thing's going to grow asfast as it's going to grow.
let it be.
And that's not abandoning it.
That's not giving up.
That's not working hard.
that's not stopping the hard work.
I was still working hard, butI needed to be more allowing.
I needed to lean into, just nottrying to speed up the river.
(20:57):
Sort of, let it carry me, wasa really big, big thing for me.
I found another one I had done along theway too, and it showed an expansiveness
that came up and that there was comfortand discomfort in the spaciousness.
There's the sense of being autonomousand independent and not in crisis,
but feeling a little bit looseygoosey and lacking structure.
(21:18):
I didn't want too much structure.
My driftwood was creative, brave,empathetic, caring, persistent,
cautious, optimistic, empowering.
Some rocks are along the bank or howothers perceive me, some inconsistencies
in my business, some uncontrollablefactors about the flow of work.
And then the home office, thehouse, and whether my family's
(21:40):
here or not at any given time.
And so anyways, these are all thingsthat are floating in my river.
They influenced me differently atdifferent times and I'm wondering if
any 'ahas' come out of this for you.
I would love it if you would emailme cneek@balanceworksot.ca, or
(22:01):
share on social media and tag me.
I'm on Facebook a lot.
I'm Carlyn OT-Coach.
I would love to hear if you haveany breakthroughs from this exercise
of trying to find flow in yourbusiness through the Kawa model.
If you would like to learn moreabout the ACTivate Vitality program
that I've mentioned a couple times,there are some links in the workbook.
I'll put some links in the shownotes as well for you to explore
(22:23):
more because this is the sort ofthing we do in ACTivate Vitality.
We explore, we figure out what'sflowing, we figure out what's not
flowing, we make it work better.
Sometimes we want to, Movethings along differently.
Sometimes we want to grow our business.
Sometimes we want to reduce our efforts.
Sometimes we want to slow things downand adjust and all things are okay.
It's more about getting curious andconnecting to what it is we need
(22:47):
at the time, and you really haveto pause and check in with others
and discuss it and, be in communityto do that in a really lovely way,
Thank you so much for listening,and as always, be BRAVE, OTs!
As an occupational therapy businessowner, do you ever pause and assess
the occupational performance of yourbusiness, figure out what's working,
what's not working, step back curiouslyand really observe, dig into the
elements and the factors, how they'replaying together, or are you just
too busy, just doing one thing afteranother, never getting through that to
(00:21):
do list, and there's no time to pauseand have a good look at what's going on?
I find that a lot of OTbusiness owners are just busy.
There are so many people that needtheir help and it is hard to say no.
And so it becomes difficult totake the time to make that pause.
(00:41):
It's something I've done a lot in myown business as I find my capacity,
fluctuating, over the last fewyears between the pandemic, shifts
in family dynamics, perimenopause,shifts in the way I want to be
working and don't want to be working.
And so I do a lot of pausing to reflect
and I definitely help otherOT business owners do that in
(01:04):
the ACTivate Vitality program.
But I wanted to make this podcasta little bit of a workshop.
So there is a PDF linked in the shownotes for you to use as a workbook.
It's about 10 pages, but that's alot of pages for drawing because we
are using the Kawa Model to have alook at the flow of your business.
you're listening to the BraveOT Podcast with me, Carlyn Neek.
(01:26):
This podcast is all about empoweringoccupational therapists to step up,
level up, blaze some trails, and maybeengage in a little conscious rebellion.
In service of our profession, ourclients, our work, our businesses,
and living our mission wholeheartedly.
We are all about keeping it real,doing hard things, unhustling, being
(01:46):
curious, exploring, growing throughour challenges, and finding joy,
fulfillment, and vitality as we do so.
Really, we're OT ingourselves, and each other.
I hope you love this episode!
Now, if you're listening while you'redriving or walking or making supper, still
listen and go later and do the workbook.
(02:08):
There will still be valuejust in listening through it.
for the next little bit, we'regoing to be talking about finding
your flow, exploring your OTbusiness through the Kawa model.
The Kawa model is centered around aclient and the river as their life flow.
Kawa means river in Japanese.
And, in this case, we're going to beapplying that same concept, but thinking
(02:30):
about your career or business journey asthe life flow, that journey of the river.
Your professional journey is much likea river, sometimes flowing smoothly,
sometimes hitting obstacles, and alwaysmoving towards something more expansive.
The Kawa model is an occupationaltherapy model created in Japan, and
it uses the metaphor of a river.
(02:51):
Through this podcast and the workshop,we're going to use it to help you
visualize and reflect on your path fromwhere you started to where you'd like
to be, understanding the elements thatinfluence your journey along the way.
You'll explore different elements ofyour business river, your achievements,
challenges, environments, and resources.
You'll identify areas where you feeljammed up and clarify what you need to
(03:15):
move forward with purpose and vitality.
Through this reflective exercise,I hope you'll gain insight into how
to navigate your journey from herewith more clarity and identify the
support you might need along the way.
I want to be sure to give creditto the Kawa Made Easy publication.
I've linked it in the document.
I'll put it in the show notes as well.
(03:35):
It's a guide to applying the Kawamodel in OT practice, and it was put
together by Michael Iwama and Tio Ju Yin.
Before we jump into today's episode, let'sgive a shout out to our sponsor, Jane,
a clinic management software and EMR.
Whether you're just starting to do yourresearch or you've been contemplating
switching your software for a whilenow, the Jane team understands that
(03:59):
the process can feel intimidating.
That's why their goal is to provideyou with all the onboarding resources
you need to make the switch.
As smooth as possible.
Jane offers a personalized call to setup your account, a free date import,
and a variety of online resourcesto get you up and running quickly.
And if you need a helping handalong the way, you'll have access to
(04:19):
unlimited phone, email, and chat supportincluded with your Jane subscription.
If you're interested in learningmore, book a one on one demo at jane.
app.
switch.
And, if you decide to make the switch,don't forget to use the code VITALITY
at signup to receive a one monthgrace period on your new Jane account.
(04:40):
Now I must admit, I only learnedabout the Kawa model in the last
couple of years and haven't usedit extensively in my own practice.
So this is a bit of a stretch for me.
I'm going to do it imperfectly.
Some of you who are listening andmuch more fluid with this model will
probably notice places where I slip up ormisinterpret something, so bear with me.
I'm all about growing andexpanding and stretching the
(05:02):
comfort zone, so here we are.
In the Kawa Model, the participantsown interpretation of the elements and
their interplay is really important.
So please feel free with this to drawyour own diagrams, use the images for
inspiration, or find another way...
A way that works for you.
Maybe you prefer to writeor describe it to somebody.
(05:25):
I invite you to consider the life flowof your OT career as the river, and
the bird's eye view in the context ofa bit of a timeline of your career.
At any point in your career, that rivermay have looked a little different.
The elements, the pace, the breadth,the depth, and the location were
different at different stages.
You are welcome to start atany point that serves you.
(05:46):
I chose to start when I graduated,but focused more in detail on the
time since I started my business.
There are five elements toconsider in the Kawa model.
The river flow is yourlife flow and priorities.
so in this context, we're probablythinking about the life flow of your
(06:06):
career, or the life flow of your business.
for listening.
But this is all subject to interpretationby the person who's drawing their Kawa.
The riverbanks are the environments withinwhich you're working, so environments and
contexts, so that could be social, thatcould be physical, could be otherwise.
The rocks are obstacles and challenges.
(06:27):
Driftwood are influencing factors.
These could be positive, these couldbe negative, these could be neutral.
And then the spaces.
The spaces are opportunitiesfor flow enhancement.
the spaces are where the river flows.
So consider If the life ofyour career or business was a
river, what would it look like?
(06:48):
Imagine for a moment drawing a bird's eyeview, or actually draw it in the workbook.
Again, the workbook islinked in the show notes.
Include a starting point, where youare now, and leave room for the future.
and if you're sitting down witha pen and paper doing this,
press pause and do the drawing.
Let's take a closer lookat your journey to here.
(07:12):
choose a few significant pointsin your journey and add details.
You could add words and graphics to yourbird's eye view, or you could draw a cross
section for any points along the journeythat would be helpful to explore further.
So bird's eye view is like seeing thatwinding river in its entirety, like
almost like a map and the Cross sectionview is if we sliced at 90 degrees,
(07:39):
through the river and had a window andwe could see the bottom of the river,
the sides of the river, the top of theriver, everything that's in the river.
So you're yeah, having a windowinto a cross section of the river.
And feel free to use these Followingquestions as considerations, as
explorations, you can omit any ofthem, you don't have to answer them
(08:03):
all, but just think about theseand how you might depict them or
describe them on your diagram.
At any given time, we're lookingat a cross section or a turn in
the river or point in the river.
Where were you?
What were you doing?
What was the experience like?
What created flow inyour work at that time?
(08:26):
What did you learn or accomplish?
What were you proud of?
What were the obstacles?
Who was around you?
What did your days look like?
How did you feel at the end of the day?
And what prompted change orprompted you to start your business?
If that's the stage you're looking at.
(08:47):
Draw as many cross sections or pointsalong the river as are meaningful to you.
Now let's look at what work is like today.
Reflect on the flow ofyour business today.
And write or draw how thedifferent parts work together
to make your current situation.
And I'll just remind you again, I knowit's tricky when you're first learning
(09:08):
this model, the five elements that areworking together are the river flow,
that life flow and priorities, the riverbanks, the environments and contexts, the
rocks, those are obstacles and challenges,driftwood, those are influencing factors,
they could be positive, negative, neutral.
Things like attributesor helpers or skills.
(09:29):
Or difficult attributes,that sort of thing.
anything that's influencing it.
Spaces.
Now spaces are the opportunitiesfor flow enhancement.
So typically we're drawing in riverbanks,rocks, driftwood, and then maybe labeling
those types of things, what those are.
Thinking about work today, whichenvironments do you work in?
(09:51):
are you doing?
What does work feel like to you?
What facilitates flow inyour work and business?
What lights you up?
What are you learningand how are you growing?
What are the disruptors and challenges?
Which are your favorite andleast favorite days of the week?
Why?
Who's around you?
(10:12):
What feels expansive?
Playful?
Joyful?
Easy?
Exciting?
Dreamy?
What feels constrictive,tight, sticky, paralyzing?
What are your values?
How do you connect with them?
Your business values, yourOT values, your life values.
Do those feel some overlap and alignment?
(10:33):
Are they expressed in your day to day?
Which personal attributes areinfluencing your business flow?
Which resources are helping you right now?
What do you know is ahead andwhat do you need to navigate that?
So once you've taken some time, again,pause to do these exercises at the
different points, thinking about whereyou're headed and where you are now.
(10:58):
I'd like you to consider yourobservations and characterizations
of the elements influencing your workand business right now and what are
some ways you might enhance the flow.
What might help you facilitate movingtoward that next space, the space that
has even more flow that you'd like to be.
How can you create space for flow?
(11:18):
Can any of the rocks bemade smaller or left behind?
Will they just tumble behindyou as the river moves on?
Can the riverbanks be widened or narrowed?
How might you use the driftwood to helppush away rocks or change the banks?
What's ahead of you on your river?
What's needed to navigate that?
(11:40):
What do you crave or desire asyour river keeps moving forward?
What do you need in terms ofsupport and people around you?
More of less of?
What might you do with this awareness?
Does your river have a clear end point,like retirement is coming the end of
a job, the end of a, an era, or isit a few turns away and out of sight?
(12:05):
It's okay if you can't see it.
What do you need to better understandand navigate your river forward?
So in the workbook, I leave you spaceto continue with this reflection.
I would love to hear how this reflectionimpacts you, what you notice, how you
notice yourself in relation to this river.
(12:27):
I'll tell you a little bit about my river.
I've done this exercisea couple times myself.
And I'm going to tell you alittle bit about my river.
And if you're a person who wouldprefer not to be influenced by hearing
somebody else's story, I encourageyou to pause here, go do your own
Kawa and come back and listen later.
Because again, your riveris probably going to look a
(12:49):
lot different from my river.
You might even symbolize differentthings differently, and that's okay.
That's the whole idea with the Kawa.
How you subjectively perceivethe different elements coming
together is really important.
But here's what I've done.
When I look at starting my careeras an OT, I really wanted to work in
pediatrics and we had moved to Ottawabecause my husband was transferred
(13:13):
there with his job, boyfriend at thetime, and I was placed in a job that
wasn't my ideal job, but it was the jobI could get at the time in that city.
One of the limitations was that I wasn'tfluent in French and wasn't able to
qualify to apply for many of the jobsin the public health system there.
(13:34):
So I was placed by arecruiter at a clinic.
It was a physiotherapy clinic that hadan OT there and, psychologists coming
in and out, doing some interdisciplinaryreturn to work sort of work.
And I thought, okay, that'llbe all right for now.
I'll gain some experiences.
So at that time I wasliving in a new city.
That was one of the banksof my river was Ottawa.
(13:56):
There were some language barriers to beingable to work in that public health system,
and I worked with this lovely group ofpeople who really embraced me and really
made me feel supported as a new grad.
My husband and I were starting ourlife together in the same city.
We had lived long distance untilthat point, and there was a lot of
(14:16):
joy and fun in figuring it out andmaking friends and finding our way and
enjoying our day to day activities.
The work was a stretch for me, butI expected it to be at that stage,
doing things that were new to me, butI had a lot of support and mentorship.
We moved a couple moretimes, had a couple kids.
So this is the part I'llfast forward through.
(14:37):
I went on a couplematernity leaves in Canada.
We have one year of paid maternityleave as part of our government
benefit, and that was just great.
It's not paid at 100%, but still havinga year off for each kid was wonderful.
We moved to Calgary.
and I was continuing to work for thatsame company, ended up working in home
(14:58):
care for a while, and then, decided tostart my business on the side in 2007.
I actually had my second child in2008, so I'd started on the side,
in 2007 and in 2011, I decidedto go all in on my business.
And, started contracting ata place that, had me doing a
(15:18):
particular type of assessment.
I was an easily detached member of theteam, but they had me going out and
doing assessments and I really enjoyedthem and I met some really neat people.
I continued to build my business while Iwas still working part time in home care.
in 2012, my dad died.
And it was unexpected.
He was only 59 and that was prettyearly on in my entrepreneurial journey.
(15:44):
I hadn't quite found a flow, entirelyin my business at that point and, was
still subcontracting, that sort of thing.
But, had the flexibility totake time off to be with him and
help care for him in that time
so I was very grateful for that.
At the time when I started my business,I was really craving more flexibility.
(16:07):
I wanted to be flexible with my time andwork so that I could focus on prioritizing
my family, prioritizing travel, andhave flexibility to volunteer in the
kids schools and that sort of thing.
And at the same time, I wantedto not worry about money.
So I just wanted enough moneythat I was, not feeling concerned.
So this was never like a giant get richquick scheme or anything like that.
(16:30):
It was just to have enough moneyto feel comfortable raising
a couple kids, and I did.
My business got bigger, busy enoughthat I was turning work away.
Took on some contractors at one pointand tried mentoring others to help
with the overflow, hired a VA atsome point and decided that it was
somewhere in 2019 that I was feelinga bit burnt out by, the workflow.
(16:56):
There were things I wastired about in my business.
And, so in 2019, I started lookingat building something online that
could be more of a leveraged offer.
And so I was looking at maybe makinga planner or an online coaching
program or something like that.
And I wasn't sure what that wouldlook like, but I ended up investing
in a coaching program that taughtme how to build an online course.
(17:18):
And led to the whole ACTivate Vitalityprogram that I now offer to OT business
owners, as well as the ACTivateVitality Personal Development Planner
that was actually number one in a fewcategories on Amazon Canada last week.
So that was very exciting.
That was 2019 and then 2020happened and oh my goodness!
(17:40):
We were all pivotingand finding a new way.
And it was a perfect time to really expandinto my online social media marketing
and connecting with international OTsand building a network and really leaning
into those non-traditional services.
So looking at that environment shift,it shifted from me being out and about
(18:01):
in the community and seeing clientsto me being online, going on YouTube,
going on Facebook, finding Facebookgroups, going to online summits,
meeting all these interesting OTs whoare trying to do things differently.
That environment was very differentand we were all in this place
where we were making it work in thepandemic, while essentially living
(18:22):
in an ongoing health crisis, wewere in a global pandemic, right?
It was very stressful.
It was an ongoing crisis sothere was stress with that.
There was everybody at home.
There were people being laid off.
There was fear for our health andthen there was social conflict with
different people having differentmessages and different opinions
about restrictions and such.
(18:42):
So in it, I really exercised myflexibility and adaptability and
creativity and desire to connect.
Those are my driftwood, thoseriverbanks were the pandemic.
They were the people in the environmentsand being online, and then there
were those rocks, like things comingup, and we're in lockdown, we're
not in lockdown, I'm learning onlineplatforms and trying to connect them
(19:05):
together and building funnels andlearning Canva and figuring out YouTube
and oh my goodness, those were,.
some of those things were driftwood.
Some of those things were rocks,but man, they were floating all over
the place and connecting with peoplewho can help me with those things.
And then a little further down the road,through 2020, there was some stress and
then 2021, it was more like possibilityand being okay with it just not yet
(19:31):
thriving, trying to figure it out.
It's not supposed to be smooth yet.
And so really workingon smoothing things out.
The economy in 2022 really shifted andpeople were hesitant to invest in some
of the things, a little bit tired ofsome of those online things happening.
I'm looking at my driftwoodto, at the banks, I've got my
(19:52):
economy, On my driftwood, I'vegot some social media fatigue.
I love my people at the same time.
rocks, I'm feeling tired.
What am I doing?
Like I should be a success by now.
Those were some of the thingsthat I've labeled on rocks.
And then when I did this in 2023, Ifloated myself some driftwood actually.
(20:13):
And I put in pause for a bit, produceless, do what you love, revise.
And I wrote myself a note onreflecting on all of this at that time.
I made a note that said, youcan't speed up the river.
It is what it is.
Let the river carry you.
Your effort to change itis what is exhausting you.
(20:34):
And that was just this big aha.
Like, okay, take a minute.
this thing's going to grow asfast as it's going to grow.
let it be.
And that's not abandoning it.
That's not giving up.
That's not working hard.
that's not stopping the hard work.
I was still working hard, butI needed to be more allowing.
I needed to lean into, just nottrying to speed up the river.
(20:57):
Sort of, let it carry me, wasa really big, big thing for me.
I found another one I had done along theway too, and it showed an expansiveness
that came up and that there was comfortand discomfort in the spaciousness.
There's the sense of being autonomousand independent and not in crisis,
but feeling a little bit looseygoosey and lacking structure.
(21:18):
I didn't want too much structure.
My driftwood was creative, brave,empathetic, caring, persistent,
cautious, optimistic, empowering.
Some rocks are along the bank or howothers perceive me, some inconsistencies
in my business, some uncontrollablefactors about the flow of work.
And then the home office, thehouse, and whether my family's
(21:40):
here or not at any given time.
And so anyways, these are all thingsthat are floating in my river.
They influenced me differently atdifferent times and I'm wondering if
any 'ahas' come out of this for you.
I would love it if you would emailme cneek@balanceworksot.ca, or
(22:01):
share on social media and tag me.
I'm on Facebook a lot.
I'm Carlyn OT-Coach.
I would love to hear if you haveany breakthroughs from this exercise
of trying to find flow in yourbusiness through the Kawa model.
If you would like to learn moreabout the ACTivate Vitality program
that I've mentioned a couple times,there are some links in the workbook.
I'll put some links in the shownotes as well for you to explore
(22:23):
more because this is the sort ofthing we do in ACTivate Vitality.
We explore, we figure out what'sflowing, we figure out what's not
flowing, we make it work better.
Sometimes we want to, Movethings along differently.
Sometimes we want to grow our business.
Sometimes we want to reduce our efforts.
Sometimes we want to slow things downand adjust and all things are okay.
It's more about getting curious andconnecting to what it is we need
(22:47):
at the time, and you really haveto pause and check in with others
and discuss it and, be in communityto do that in a really lovely way,
Thank you so much for listening,and as always, be BRAVE, OTs!
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