{"id":20760,"date":"2020-12-01T06:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T19:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-328533-4778250.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=20760"},"modified":"2020-12-03T06:37:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:37:17","slug":"clinton-parr-founder-of-a-lion-the-vibes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balancethegrind.co\/interviews\/clinton-parr-founder-of-a-lion-the-vibes\/","title":{"rendered":"Balancing the Grind with Clinton Parr, Founder of A Lion & The Vibes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Clinton Parr is the founder of A Lion & The Vibes<\/a>, a company helping companies create a work environment and experience that employees love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Join our work-life balance community to get access to new daily routines and exclusive content.\u00a0Sign me up<\/a>!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I started my career in hospitality with a dream of one day becoming like Bryan Flanagan (Tom Cruise) in Cocktail. Like Flanagan, I was also studying Business (HR) at University by day and working nights and weekends and quickly grew tired of being on the wrong side of the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found a role selling websites to small businesses in Newcastle in the early 2000\u2019s, where I spent most of my time answering the question \u201cWhat is the internet?\u201d So I decided to move to the big smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I landed a job in recruitment, which, at the time I thought was going to be an external HR Consultant. I quickly found out that it was not. Thankfully I worked at it long enough to build some great client relationships and was offered a role as Talent Manager at a large advertising agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent about 6 years working as Head of People & Culture with a couple of great advertising agencies, until I was one day made redundant (the best thing that ever happened to me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turned down a couple of offers for Head of People & Culture roles with other agencies and instead decided to start my own business, A Lion & The Vibes<\/a>, where I could work with small companies that didn\u2019t need (or can’t afford) a Head of People & Culture full time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have a few different types of days, so I\u2019ll split this into \u201cClient Days\u201d and \u201cA Lion Days\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Client Days: I live on the Central Coast, so I wake at about 5:45, have a cold shower and ride my bike to the train station. On the train I meditate, read my Bible, then spend the rest of the trip reading other books (currently reading The Culture Code<\/em> by Daniel Coyle highly recommended).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a few clients that I work with on an ongoing basis, so will be generally assisting them with rolling out strategic HR programs and managing day-to-day HR challenges, which involves lots of meetings. On other \u201cClient Days\u201d I might be running training sessions or workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I catch the train home, listen to music, and make sure I\u2019m home to hang out with my daughter before bedtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home Days: Wake up, cold shower, meditate and take my daughter to school. I am lucky enough to have an office set up at home, so I get down to work. At the moment that means following up on client calls and creating an online HR program called HRforHumans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do this until it\u2019s time to pick up Princess StormCloud (my daughter) from school. Then it\u2019s Dad time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely! I started my own business around the time that my wife wanted to return to work after maternity leave. Being a dad is my favourite thing, so I created a business that would give me the freedom and ability to choose how and where I spend my time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am lucky to have a very organised wife, so she lets me know when the big events are happening and I put them into my calendar first. I have other things that I want to do (school drop offs and pick ups, taking Princess StormCloud to karate lessons, etc.), which happen every week. I plan my work around those things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I limit myself to three (ideally two) \u201cClient Days\u201d per week, which allows me to focus on building my company and gives me the time and energy to spend on family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To me, work-life balance is making sure that I\u2019ve got the energy to spend on all aspects of my life (work, family, social, health, spiritual and personal growth). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I\u2019m finding that either of these things is not getting the energy it requires, then I assess to see where the time is being spent and then make a conscious decision about what to do with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that there are different seasons in life where I am not spending enough time and energy in each area. But being consciously aware that things are out of balance and making a decision to either change something or push through for a while greatly reduces the stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Order our Daily Routines ebook today! Featuring first-hand interviews, insights and revelations compiled from 50 of the world\u2019s most successful people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n