We had the good fortune of connecting with Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, Esq. and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Lynita, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I used to juggle between building my business, spending time with my family, serving in my community, being faithful to my church, and taking care of my health. With all of these competing interests, something had to give, and it was my health, I developed stage four endometriosis which led to a series of complicated surgeries that included a total hysterectomy and two bowel resections. It was at that point that I realized that something had to give, and it was going to be my efforts to balance. I chose to redefine what balance means to me. And my new definition is happiness. Happiness for me is taking care of myself, spending quality time with my family, doing service that makes my heart sing, and enjoying the work that provides the provision for my vision. When I recalibrated my life to focus on happiness, there was a definite shift in my emotional, spiritual, and intellectual wellbeing. My total, or aggregate, intelligence was complete. When I shared my newfound focus with several friends, they were understandably stunned. They could not believe that I could work less, do more, and still feel good about myself. They could not believe that I could spend less time with my family doing projects and activities that made everyone happy, and get more out of those connections than entire days spent loafing around the house on the weekends. My friends watched in disbelief as my honors and awards and successes actually increased even though I was less and less visible at events and functions. And then a few of these same friends made the recalibration for themselves through my 90-day Breakaway Program. I had a friend who is also a client recently post that she was working less and spending more time with her family and making more money than she had in the previous two years combined. I had another client who is a friend post that she was finally getting into the groove of who she wanted to be at 43 years old. These are the things that can happen when we focus more on happiness than we do on balancing the pieces of our lives. Life is a whole pie. And it is best enjoyed as a whole.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m very grateful to utilize my skills across all of my businesses. I’m an attorney and celebrated my 15th year practicing this past spring. I have had my own firm for almost 15 years now and my primary areas of expertise are residential real estate, estate planning, non-profits, and business law. I have been incredibly blessed to work with small organizations as well as billion dollar firms. And the thing that I learned working with these organizations is that as long as you focus on the person, and how to best support and love them, you will be successful. When your primary focus is to be generous and loving, you automatically work and do your best. There is an innate drive that pushes you to do more than your competitors, not to stamp them out or burn them to the ground, but to ensure your client has the best experience that they possibly can have. It is truly a servant’s heart that wins the prize, no matter what business you’re in. I am also a best-selling author and keynote speaker. I have published four books and I’m working on my fifth. My focus is always on self-improvement and self-love because when you treat yourself well you know how to treat other people. You treat people well from an authentic place and not because of what you can get from them. These lessons have come through many challenges. I have a publishing company that has produced eight best sellers and I have helped many people to start and run their own businesses. My legal skills were integral in the publishing arena, and my publishing skills have made more than one appearance in my legal business as well. I also ran a media company for five years, publishing up to seven magazines at one time, two of which were voted ATL’s Hottest. We also hosted private screenings of the movie, Black Panther and produced our award-winning international leadership awards program BOLD Lifestyles Awards. I loved the diversity of opportunities that allowed me to work with creatives as well as intellectuals, seeing how different people accomplish the same goal but differently. I also appreciated the opportunity to recognize people who were doing things in the community to empower and uplift others without any efforts to obtain reciprocity. These experiences are now forever part of my repertoire, and I utilize them as I work with my clients to build not just their businesses but to enhance their soul growth as well.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love it when people come visit me in the A! It’s an opportunity for me to show them my favorite spots, and also to discover some new locations as well. My daughter and I had a staycation a few years ago and really got a chance to explore the city. I love the Zoo and the Georgia Aquarium – surprisingly the food is really good! The World of Coke was amazing – tasting the different flavors, including the nasty ones, was a lot of fun! The Center for Civil and Human Rights Museum is a humbling and inspiring experience, and Centennial Olympic Park is beautiful – but really that was more for my daughter than myself as she had a ball playing in the sprinklers and riding the gigantic ferris wheel. I don’t know what I was thinking getting on that thing knowing that I do not like heights! The CNN Center was loads of fun – the escalator is one of the tallest in the world and almost took me out! But my daughter enjoyed it so it was worth it. Food spots are my jam. I love Pascal’s downtown. Bonefish is delish, The Italian Oven down in McDonough is great and Sunflower Cafe is amazing, even if you’re not a vegan. Speaking of vegan, Tassilli’s Raw makes the best rolls and they are so big, you’ll be feasting for days. I like walking the Silver Comet Trail with new people because they always have this flabbergasted expression to know that it runs from Cobb County to the Georgia-Alabama border. Another safe place to exercise is the Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville. I don’t go to a lot of sporting events, but I am always down to take a guest if they just have to go. And of course the concerts and the different places around the city such as the Atlanta Comedy Theater in Norcross are always great for entertainment. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am so grateful to the Creator for blessing me with this life experience, this soul growth opportunity. I am thankful to my family and friends, who as my soul group, are taking this wonderful earthly form to experience the joy of living with me. I appreciate every teacher and professor who has poured into me and contributed to my intellectual growth. I honor my ancestors and elders who have shared invaluable wisdom and support in establishing and growing my various businesses. And I thank my circle of love that is my husband, daughter, parents, and siblings – thank you for being my ride or dies!
Website: Lynitamitchellblackwell.com
Instagram: instagram.com/Lynitamitchellblackwellesq
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/LynitaMitchell-Blackwell
Twitter: twitter.com/Lynitamb
Facebook: Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell
Image Credits
Joí Iman