Every Friday I am going to feature a woman that I adore. They exude all the qualities of an Alpha Female and I want to dig into their lives to get some nuggets of knowledge to help us all live happier, healthier lives balancing life & work.
Definition of an Alpha Female
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony.
She is the brightest star in her constellation. When an Alpha Female stays true to their authentic selves and their missions they shine. An Alpha Female puts herself first so that she can fill up her cup and then have more energy for her friends, family, and coworkers. She strives for synergy with the world around her. She knows that work/life harmony is found by staying true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with all the people in her life.
Meet Margaret Schlachter!
Margaret Schlachter is the creator of Dirt in Your Skirt, a website with race & gear reviews, industry insight and more. She was one of the first professional female obstacle course racer. She’s competed in the Death Race, 5 World’s Toughest Mudder, and Survival Run in Nicaragua among many. Schlachter helped found the Spartan Chicked movement with over 15,000 members today. She is a full-time author, writer, industry expert, and coach. Her first book, Obstacle Race Training was released April 15, 2014. She is the editor-in-chief for MudRunGuide.com. And last but not least, when not writing or taking on the next obstacle race or mud run she can be found working on her Urban Farm in Salt Lake City.
Since I was young I have always been pushing the boundaries of what women are told they can or should do. For nearly a decade I coached alpine skiing. Often I was the only female on staff with over a dozen or more men. In 2012, I left my job in education administration to create my own brand – Dirt in Your Skirt, which since then has turned into a full website, business, book, and most recently podcast.
I continue to push myself daily with new challenges and push my own boundaries.
What does work/life harmony look like for you?
Honestly, I still work on this daily. I am an all or nothing sort of person so for me to have harmony I have to schedule in the balance. Create limits on work hours, and cultivate activities outside of my work. Since I work in a field that most people do as a hobby I am in a unique situation when it comes to OCR. So instead of jumping into chat rooms and groups, I spend my free time working on home projects, my own projects or most recently Spanish tutoring.
What are you most passionate about?
Outside of my work, I am most passionate about health, food, and urban farming. Every day at my house entails at least one or two trips to visit the chickens we have in the backyard.
What are you daily health habits that keep your immune system boosted?
I take daily probiotics and try to live a life without added sugar and processed foods. For me, health comes from within and I work to feed myself first to maintain health. Also if I need sleep I take it when I can and don’t wake with an alarm instead letting my internal clock let me know when to wake up. That or my dog and cat wanting to eat breakfast.
What is your weekly fitness routine like?
These days I focus on movement instead of exercise to stay fit. Movement comes in all sorts of ways and I find myself finding new ways to move each day. Currently, taking on the 10-Week Wim Hof Method online course which works on breathing and incorporating some exercise into it. When it comes to movement I take a queue from best-selling author Katy Bowman and can be found standing at my desk, sitting on the floor, or even working laying down sometimes. In all these ways I am nourishing my body with movement and often missing element in the world today.
How do you challenge yourself fitness wise?
If you asked me this question a few years ago I would have had an epic adventure planned to keep me challenged. Such as a Survival Run in Nicaragua, Ultramarathon somewhere, or an epic trip planned. These days instead of physical activity I focus mostly on my nutrition and continuing to learn about how the body works and read and listen to lots of information. So these days I am challenging my mind mostly but the Wim How cold showers are also a challenge every day.
What are you daily/weekly nutrition habits that keep you well nourished?
It all starts with food for me, eating local (if possible) seasonal veggies and fruits along with grass fed meats sourced as local as well. I drink a fat filled coffee in the morning and try to incorporate at least two veggies in every meal.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
I could write about all the things I am supposed to do to unwind at the end of a day, but honestly, it comes down to making dinner as a way to disconnect from work for the day since I work from home. Then after dinner and maybe a cocktail, beer or glass of wine my partner and I settle in for some Netflix, a movie, or a couple episodes of our favorite shows on the computer. We use f.Lux on our computer to diminish the blue light to help our get ready to go into sleep mode. If my brain is racing when it’s time to sleep I will fall asleep to an audiobook.
What are some pain points of being an Alpha Female that you have to problem solve for?
I love working and sometimes I can take it too far. Because I love my work I can be all consumed by it and literally forget about the world around me. Call it the extreme gene. I have often had to have someone around me pull me out of the extreme work and remind me there is more in the world. It always balances back out but it is a continual work in progress.
I have dealt with trolls in my work world as well and received comments based on my gender. Those are always fun but have learned to take them in stride and to continue to work on putting out the best work I can and let the work speak for itself.
What is your definition of happiness?
Happiness comes from within; it’s being in the moment and creating a life full of people and things around you that you love!