This week I had the opportunity to interview Debra Shigley, Author of The Go-Getter Girls Guide: Get What You Want in Work and Life (and Look Great While You’re At It).  She earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard, and her law degree, cum laude, at Georgia State. She frequently appears as a career and lifestyle expert on programs such as The Today Show, CBS Early Show, The View, CNN, and ABC News, and was recognized by the National Diversity Council as one of Georgia’s fifteen Most Powerful and Influential Women.

So I have to tell you where I first spotted Debra Shigley and her book. Back this past summer, we were both featured in People Stylewatch magazine side by side. I looked at her name and her book title and I said I MUST MEET HER! So I sent her a tweet and said I was truly honored to be featured next to her in the magazine.

I figured she was super busy so she would never tweet me back but she tweeted me right back!  Reading her book this weekend, I was impressed to find out that Debra also reached out to her role model, Soledad O’Brien, when she was trying to break into her media career. She didn’t expect Soledad to respond back to her letter. But she did, and it turned into an internship! So, you never know what might happen if you ask to meet with your role model so make sure you ask!

The title of our 1-hour call was “How To Juggle The Daily Schedule “Ballet” With Your Full-Time Job, Your Family, Your Passions AND Your Health.”

In the interview, we found out the definition of a Go-Getter Girl and how we can become a Go-Getter Girl rather than a Get-Along Girl. We also learned how to improve our time management and make sure we make time for our health and passions in our busy schedules.

We learned that “Go Getter Girls know that they will not forever be able to eat and drink whatever they want, all the time with no consequences to your health, energy level, and physique is absurd!  Instead, Go Getter Girls accept the reality and plan and choose accordingly.Eating nutritiously is not just about your weight, it’s so that you can deal with the other professional and life obstacles that come your way.”

And of course, a Classy Career Girl interview is not complete without asking my favorite question at the end of the interview!

What is one thing you wish you would have known as a young professional woman just starting out in her career?

Here is what Debra said: “Your success is now.  Success is not 10 years from now. Success is not some amount of money or some certain tangible object because that object is constantly going to be changing and pushed further and further away.  Be in the moment.  Give every job you have your very very best and don’t be so attached to what is next.  By doing this, you are probably going to end up a lot further ahead than you would if you were always thinking about what is next.” 

Thanks so much, Debra for taking the time to talk with us about how to make the juggle work!