Meet Kelly Oberle | Mental performance coach for athletic and corporate teams and individuals.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelly Oberle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelly, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Initially, I believed that work-life balance was all about balancing work and personal life equally, like a 50/50 split; but I have come to realize that it’s really more about prioritizing in any given moment and across time. Sometimes work needs more attention, and other times my personal life needs more attention. It’s like a teeter-totter or a scale, where the weight can shift to either side depending on the circumstances.

As my priorities have shifted in life, so has my approach to work-life balance. In my 20s and 30s, I was focused on building my career and climbing the corporate ladder, so work took priority over most everything else. When I started a family in my late 30s, my priorities changed, and I had to adjust my work-life balance accordingly.

Today, I think about work-life integration, rather than balance, and this integration is based on my values and what’s most important in my life, at that exact moment in time. I focus on how to integrate the different components of work and my life as a whole into the life I want to live. It’s less about balance and more about fitting the most important aspects, based on my values.

I have learned to give myself permission to meet my work deadlines, even if my family thinks they need me, then I give myself permission for fun family time, rest, adventure, or whatever I need next for my own mental health and life satisfaction. For instance, when I have three kids’ events at the same time, I know I can’t be everywhere at the same time, so I’ve learned to ask questions to myself and others. I want to know what’s most important to them and what’s most important to me in the grand scheme of things. Then I can make solid decisions based on that information. The key is to ask myself what’s most important right now and prioritize accordingly.

All-in-all, life is life, and work is a part of it, but it’s not all of it. Work-life balance is a constant juggling that ebbs and flows between priorities. It’s not about achieving a perfect 50/50 balance, but rather about prioritizing in any given moment.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I originally launched my business in 2009, thinking I’d left the corporate world behind. For almost 8 years, I enjoyed the independence and autonomy of being my own boss, but then an opportunity presented itself that I simply couldn’t refuse. I was offered a leadership role in a corporate setting, and it was a chance to live out everything I had been learning and working on for the past few years. Plus, after 8 years of being on my own, I missed working as part of a team, and leadership development was a focal point in my life, my skills, and my desires. It seemed like the perfect choice.

For the next 3-1/2 years, I worked in leadership in the corporate world, but I never lost sight of my dream to make a bigger impact in life as an entrepreneur. During that time, I went back to school and earned my Masters in Management. My original plan was to work in the corporate world for another five years, but I burned out faster than I anticipated. Despite having all the tools and techniques at my disposal, I realized that they were not working for me in this situation, and it felt like I was banging my head against a wall trying to get people to listen. I knew in my heart that I could make a bigger impact as an entrepreneur, and I wanted to work with organizations that cared about the human element.

With that intention in mind, I decided to take two months off and work with organizations on emotional intelligence, positive psychology, and leadership development. But just as I was getting started, COVID hit, and everything changed. Despite the challenges, I remained committed to my dream, and in 2020, I started my second journey as an entrepreneur.
In the first year of my new venture, I worked with organizations on remote leadership, and it became clear to me that positive psychology, emotional intelligence, and empathy were huge factors in developing remote leadership. As I continued to work with my clients, I noticed that resilience and stress management training were also crucial components of effective leadership.

But then, something happened that changed everything. In one of my workshops, there was an athletic director who attended and that’s where I realized that my skills could transfer between athletic organizations and corporate organizations, because after all, a team is a team, no matter the context. Whether it’s in sports or in business, the struggles of teamwork and individual contributions are the same. Drawing on my background as an athlete, a leader in athletics, and my leadership roles and skills from corporate, I knew that I had found my niche, and the core of my business was born.
Now I get to help teams of all sizes, ages, and issues, and I know I make a positive impact with my job. I get to see people’s attitudes change as they learn to apply simple self-care tools that they learn to allow themselves to receive. We’re all our own worst enemies at times. Once we learn to be our own best friends, we show up as better team members, too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My family and I live near the hills and there are lots of things to do outdoors. In the hills, you can hike, enjoy nature, play golf and other sports, grab selfies and group shots with the beautiful backgrounds. We have a cool little getaway in Orange County with mini-Redwood trees. I say mini because compared to the Sequoias, ours are tiny. But they’re still a great escape to nature that backs up to Chino Hills State Park, making it a great adventure and also great for taking pictures

For the Beach, we prefer Newport, which has a great fun zone for kids and teens. You can rent a Duffy boat and head out with snacks and drinks for a cruise on the ocean, or rent kayaks on the Back Bay, or rent bikes or Stand Up Paddleboards. It’s also great to stick your feet in the sand and watch the kids body board, boogie board, surf, and make sand castles. The local taco stands are amazing and there are great dessert places along the beach.

If guests were staying with us for a week, we’d likely also visit Downtown Disney to shop and eat at some of the cool restaurants, like Tortilla Jo’s and Taqueria or CrazyShake™ Window by Black Tap, but a favorite place a lot of people like to have dinner in the area is the JW Marriott in Anaheim. It gives us the most perfect view of the Disneyland fireworks and the food is amazing on their rooftop lounge.  In addition, in North Orange county there are great local breweries with food trucks and fun games.

Other things you can do include biking the trails down to the beach, eating breakfast on the sand at Beachcombers, ax throwing at Stumpy’s Hatchet Houst in Huntington Beach, and indoor rock climbing at Sender One Climbing.
We like to be competitive, so going bowling on occasion is fun and our next adventure is to try Top Golf in Ontario.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate this Shoutout to my family, Yvonne and our three kids: Olivia, Ocean and Orlando, who were a big part of the impetus for my change, as well as a few others who lead down the path to become the mental health coach that I am today, namely Michelle Adams who introduced me to HeartMath®, Dr. Rita Ellithorpe who helped me focus on checking my bloodwork before making any changes to my diet and Nicole O’Henley who introduced me to the power of breathwork.

My career change came when I knew I wanted to break the cycle of life I was stuck in, and I knew I wanted to fall far my family tree. I was looking for change in every area, from my family dynamics and the time I had at home to career I felt pigeonholed into, yet I wasn’t elated about; my soul was yearning for more and I found it. I delved in with both feet after being exposed to the power of positive psychology. Today, I have more control over my schedule more, I have time to attend my kids’ events, and hopefully I am creating a legacy for which my family can be proud of me.  It is not perfect and work in progress, but my focus is on process over outcome and being presence as much as possible.

Website: ahpnow.net

Instagram: @kellyoberle; @access_human_potential

Linkedin: Kelly Oberle

Twitter: @ahpnow

Facebook: @ahpnow

Youtube: @accesshumanpotential4261