Latest / ROI of Peace / I can run a company. Why does motherhood feel like the hardest thing? with Sarah Smith

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I can run a company. Why does motherhood feel like the hardest thing? with Sarah Smith · ROI of Peace

• Courtney Koenig: Hey, welcome everybody to the ROI of Peace podcast, friends. I'm so excited you're here. I'm sending you so much hugs and loves. During COVID, we lived in Texas and we've lived here for like 22 years. During, I think everybody remembers the moment that COVID hit, remembers where we were, what we were doing. So we had kids in high school, out of high school. ⁓ our second daughter was about to graduate high school. We had middle school and things. And I remember them saying during spring break, hey, we're going to have spring break because this is our typical time of having spring break. And then I'm sure after that, we'll just need a couple more weeks to like do some protocols and come back to it. Well, we all know if there was no protocols that could go through COVID to get us back to school. And so my daughter who was graduating, she was like, She never got to go back to school. She never got to have a prom. She never got to have these experiences that were part of her senior year. She never even got to walk back into the building ever again. And we had her graduation at the Globe Life Field because it was an open baseball stadium. And so that was okay. And they sat us all sporadically throughout the stadium. And now Brynn Lee had worked so hard her whole high school career to be ⁓ in the top 20 and she was actually number six in her graduating class and she had worked so hard for this moment, for this senior year. And I remember her crying so much and like going crazy and we took family walks and, and you know, we tried to make the best of this time that was so hard and so unsettling and so scary. And Sarah Smith, my guest on today. She had a baby during COVID. I always felt so bad when people had babies during COVID. was like, oh, what an awful experience. What a scary experience to go through something, a time that's supposed to be super exciting and filled with joy and to go through a time that's so unsettling and filled with so much stress and anxiety. And we talked about her journey through motherhood during this really unsettling period of the world. And so I'm so excited for you to meet her. She's super fun and she has a fantastic human design. So I cannot wait for you to experience that. Sarah Smith is a chief innovation officer and she has over 13 years of experience helping Fortune 10 to 500 companies, founders, startups. Her work has enabled more than 60 million in business impact by redesigning how teams plan, prioritize and execute scale. So I can't wait for you to meet her. ⁓ And I can't wait for you to spend time with her together today and get to know her. And remember that we can spend more time together. In the show notes, you can get access to the app, you can get access to the mastermind, and ⁓ learn more about your human design and your inner fears as well. All right, we'll see you inside the episode. Take a breath. You've got this. Sarah, thank you so much and welcome to the ROI of Peace podcast. I'm so excited you're here. I'm so excited to be here. I can't wait for this conversation and to get my gifts. Yes. And your human design is freaking awesome. I was telling you before we started recording, was like, Sarah, stop it. And I'm so excited to dive into your story. It so relates with... So what experience so much of us have had. So, but before we get into that, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do our pick your piece at game. So from my app, this is the page of the interferers. And on this 12 interferers, these are patterns that ⁓ sabotage us over and over and over again. And there's an assessment to take of which patterns that we do particularly over and over again. For today, I've randomized numbers one through 12 and they're assigned to a different interferer. And you get to choose a number between one and 12. And we're going to do a visualization story to teach us and to give it the same experience before we dive in. What number would you like? Just from the gut, it's saying seven. Seven? Yeah. Okay. That is the over-worker. yep. Gee, I don't know that one. at all. I know. Who knows? You're like doing all these things and getting your MBA on top of it. know. Yeah, and it's wild. ⁓ Yeah, for reals. Craziness. So, all right. Well, everybody, all our friends listening, if you're in a seated position and Sarah, you can go ahead and close down your eyes. We're going to take a deep breath, inhaling and exhale. Take another deep breath. Inhale and exhale all those edges and stress and everything releasing. In these few minutes you're investing in peace and that investment starts working right now. The overworker believes that worth is measured in output. That slowing down means falling behind. But that's a lie. Rest isn't weakness. It's a return to all that you've invested. Let's let the story begin. There once was a woman who believed time was something she had to conquer. Every morning she flipped her glass clock, an hourglass filled with shimmering sand, and watched it fall. She worked faster than the grains could settle. Each project, each goal, each promise, she measured her worth in the speed of completion. The sound of falling sand became her heartbeat. But no matter how quickly she worked, she always fell behind. The more she achieved, the faster she flipped the glass, never realizing that in her race to beat time, she was losing herself inside of it. One night, long after everyone had gone home, she sat in her office surrounded by finished work, paper stacked, project signed, deadlines met. She reached for the hourglass again. But her hands trembled. This glass slipped through her fingers and shattered across the floor. Tiny grains of sand sparkled in the lamplight. She bent down to gather them. And for the first time in years, she really looked. The sand wasn't escaping, it was simply being. Each grain caught the light differently. Each one its own moment. Its own small miracle of reflection. It occurred to her that maybe time wasn't something to manage, but something to meet. She stopped picking up the sand and just let it rest where it fell, glistening quietly in the stillness. The next morning when the sunlight streamed through the window, the scattered sand shimmered like a constellation. She realized she hadn't lost time. She had actually found it. And as she sat in the glow, she whispered, I'm not running out of time. I'm walking with it. Where in your life have you been racing time instead of walking with it? What moments or achievements are you speeding past in the name of checking off a to-do list, getting the next thing done? How can you celebrate what you are and what you've been accomplishing? Can take a deep breath, exhale, and when you're ready, you can open your eyes. Well done! I feel personally attacked. yes, ⁓ that was very much me. That was that was eerie, if I'm gonna be honest. Wow. So how have you been speeding past through things, trying to get all your to-dos done? I mean, everything. have, I literally am building an agent right now, like an AI agent on how do I take all of my to-do tasks from emails and my calls and just like my normal to-do tasks, like things I write down, and how do I put them into it? Like I just dump them into one notion. you know, documents you get it prioritized and understand and, you know, make sure I'm not duplicating anything so that I can be more efficient and to get where? To get where? what's the end goal? Yeah, because there's always so much to do and so much pressure, I think, from it. And I do think, feel like AI can really help establish, you know, protocols for us and work for us. I love that about it. It's so great, but it does still come down to we're in the driver's seat and deciding, you know, how to, much to push and how much to pause. in the pause, think sometimes, and I get this way too, and I'm like, wait, if I'm pausing, I'm not accomplishing or I'm not like moving things forward or everything's going to fall apart. But honestly, the pauses are where I've recognized where the journey. next needs to go to and what the most important things to focus in on are. Well, they say that, you know, you have your best ideas when you're step, you've stepped away from work. So it's on vacation, it's in the shower, it's on a walk, talking to your friends. And it took me a really long time. Like I used to get up in the middle of like watching some kind of like, I'd be watching a show with my husband. I'd just be like, and I'm done with sitting down. And so I'd go and like do the dishes and like, we'd be in the middle of a show and I just couldn't do it. Go fold laundry, whatever. But yeah, my husband bless his heart. Like from him, I've learned the art of slowing down. Yes. Yes. Well, and it goes into your human design, where it's a challenge and we'll get into that, you know? But it is, there is that over-worker that states that the more that we do, the more we'll be, the more we'll accomplish. But it's not that formula. It's a formula that we really need to recognize is not always the case. for success and for peace and for happiness personally and professionally. I know there's a lot of times when I've been hanging out with my family in my mind somewhere else and I'm like, wait a second, you know, these are my priorities. What's, you know, like, why can't I stop this thinking, you know? And, and it really is about changing the story that the more is it always more. Yeah. Yeah. I have a very hard time with that. And especially when I had my first kid, it was kind of unexpected. It was in a pandemic and I was really struggling with like, am I being a mom versus how am I being Sarah? Like I could not differentiate that. And I had a really, really hard time doing that. Yeah. Now you have this crazy experience during COVID of having a baby, which I would be... I mean, having a baby at any time in life is very difficult, but especially during that time. you had a lot of other moving pieces on top of that. So tell us about that. Yeah, 2020 was nuts. I ran my first half marathon in February and I had been training for like six months up to it. And then the world shut down in March of 2020 and I was like, okay. And then, you know, my husband and I, We were both traveling like crazy. got married in 2018. I traveled every week for work from Miami to Detroit. He was gone all the time. And so sometimes it would be like a month. We wouldn't see each other. Like it was crazy, but like one of us would be home. One of us wouldn't be in the joke that I had was like, we'd high five in the airport, you know, like, but, you know, so that was one of the things. And then all of sudden the world shuts down and I'm like, I don't know the last time I spent this much time with this man. So we got to know each other. And then I was pregnant, a little bit unexpected. Because we had been talking about like freezing my eggs candidly. we were like, I know I was like, it's, you know, we were really like, we love our careers. We're really doing well there. We wanted to go further. It just felt like not the right time for a baby. And then it was the right time for a baby. Yes, there were a lot of COVID babies, you know? Yes. Yeah, we spent a lot of time making fun of that, of all the people that were getting pregnant. And then we were part of the problem. And I was like, okay, how funny, how funny for us. But yeah, and it was, you know, in 2020, it was, we knew we were going to have to move from, we were in South Florida at the time. And we're originally from Atlanta, my husband and I are. And so we had already moved in 2018. It was kind of crazy. And then we knew we were going to have to move to DC at some point with my husband's job. And so what happened was we got the, the, uh, what was it? The notice that we had to move. And I was like heavily pregnant, not feeling great. had a couple of like issues going on with pregnancy. had like poly hydramides where I was carrying a bunch of extra weight. He was also ginormous and he ended up being like a nine pound 10, 10 ounce baby. bananas big and I'm like five foot nothing. My goodness. It looked like I was having twins. So my mobility was compromised to be nice. But yeah, so we had we had 10 days to find a house in DC area, the DMV area. We did it. I don't know how. In 2020. think everybody was trying to buy a house. Well, like the distance that you still had to have with traveling and with going to public places? Yeah. Yeah. It was terrible. was terrified the entire time. My husband, he was home from work all the time, which was oddly enough like a saving grace. But there was a lot of civil unrest going on. There was a young man in South Georgia who had been killed while he was out running and my husband at the time was running a lot to the point where I was like and so I was freaking out about that and I was like don't you know we're like not that far from there we're from Atlanta that's not far from us I was like please either run and be safe or like just be careful and so I was terrified about that terrified about going outside, you know? Yes. Terrified about being pregnant. It was the first pregnancy. I had no, like, baby shower, really. I had virtual ones. But I was like, this is not, I'm gonna hug people. So I think during COVID, what made it so difficult is that distance from people, you know, like people were having online graduations on online showers and all these things, but there is something about being in person with people, especially having a baby needing that extra support and love, you know, and those good vibes. And how did that affect you having, you know, like Yeah. Being pregnant and having a baby too, the isolation. Okay. I think I'm back. Okay. did that affect me? Having a baby. I actually had really bad, and I'm laughing, but it was so incredible. Like I had pretty bad postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression to the point where it was like, I'm terrified about having this baby. I don't know what to do. I have no family around me. And the other, the, pardon me, the follow-up piece to that is that, is that, so when I, had the baby, I thought it was fine. I was like, ⁓ cool, we did it. I'm out of that. He's here. He won't stop crying, but I hear that's normal. He's ginormous. so the other part of that is like, nine months later, I'm back at work. I'm really mad. like, I don't enjoy what I'm doing. I'm really frustrated. And before I'm like, I love my job. I love what I'm doing. I love the people I'm doing it with. And then like everything my husband did was wrong, just wrong. And I ended up having like this crazy panic attack when my son went to daycare for the first day. Yeah. And I passed out and like in the bathroom and they had to call my husband, bless his heart, had to call an ambulance. So I missed my son's first day of daycare. He's fine. He's totally normal. I'm fine now, but I didn't realize that was a panic attack. I didn't know that happened with panic attack. And so I thought it was good. was like, ⁓ we'll just push through nine months. And I'm like, my therapist was like, I think you're depressed. And I was like, live, laugh, toast your bath. When am I not to pro? You know, I was like, I thought that's just normal. Right. It was not normal. Cause I was like, so I ended up in 2021 getting diagnosed with postpartum depression and dyad and ended up having to take like a long-term medical leave because of it, which If anybody knows American healthcare, knows that that's almost impossible to do to get on long-term disability for that. Yes. So that should tell you something about how bad it was. ⁓ And that is so hard to go through a time where when I look back when my kids were little, and especially my first one, we had some friends. And I was talking to the mom and we were both holding our little babies and she's like, ⁓ my gosh, don't you just love being around your little baby? Especially like 2 a.m. feedings, isn't it so sweet? And I was like, are you crazy? And I thought, again, in my mind I was like, there's all these comparisons of like what it should be versus what it really is. And my oldest... was a terrible baby. She struggled so much. And I was like, this thing, we're not really connecting, you know? And so it is hard. It is really hard when it's not ideal because a lot of times life is just not ideal, you know? And especially when you put on a pandemic that's across the world where you're not having the support that you need, where you're having to put on top of that and questioning yourself, what do you feel like if nobody told you during that season that you really needed to hear? feel like everybody, I have two sisters, one of them is a twin, and I feel like everybody was just meant to be mom around me. And I was like, what the hell? Like this is, I didn't get all of the endorphins or I missed something. I don't know. And like, I just, I did not know it would be so hard. Like, and that hard was normal. And then I'm not actually a bad mom. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Like all those, that pressure of perfection, of connection, of whatever it's supposed to be. Yeah. I think that really harms the relationships that we can have and the experiences that we can have instead of just being like, we're going to, you know, like, we're going to take this for what it is. I'm really, I mean, the hormones and the being so tired. Oh, that wrecked me. I was like, I am not. And I realized too that I was like, I'm not good at being a younger baby mom. I'm much better with like older kids and teenagers. I love teenagers. And I know some people are like, I hate it, but I'm like, no, me a teenager any day over someone that like doesn't sleep through the night. know? So I think it can be, we can make it what we want it to be and not have those expectations of everybody. What it seems like everybody else is experiencing, you know? Yeah, I mean, and like, I had just gotten on TikTok and because everybody I think did during the pandemic. And I was seeing like all of this, like, you know, it's like the algorithm, like that's when we really started learning about the algorithm. And it was like, yeah, I fell into like a, you know, a breastfeeding is best kind of thing. And I'm not a supplier. it that was part of it is like, you know, I'd pump for like all day and get like, and I was like, I can't, I can't. And so at six weeks, I was like, I'm done. You are, you're taking every nutrient I have. I had six cavities after he came out. I've never had a cavity before in my life. I was like, what, what is going on? And so like just the amount that they take from you was overwhelming. I love him. He is my best friend and I have another baby. So we did this again. Better prepared. And then also having like, my husband got 12 weeks off. And I was like, what? I had my stomach ripped open and I got six. And I took about six for two weeks. Yes. I know it is wild. Paradigms need to change to give mothers that support, you know? And I think other countries do a lot better. But it is, really is like, you know, taking it day by day and seeing what we need and listening to our bodies and being very in tune with You know what? This does feel off. That's probably a sign enough that I need to explore some more support and some more help. Some more help. Yeah. There was no signal for me. Like I thought it was just, okay, you'll do this and then you'll get back to work and you'll do the things. But it's like, no. Like, and then I did, I was not prepared for the shift of like, you are mom. You are almost like everybody expects you to be wholly prepared for this small tiny thing. And I was like, what? Yes. And so like our second time around, my husband was like, I'm sleeping in the baby's room with the baby. I'm going to handle night feedings. And he did that for 12 weeks, you know, so that I could heal and rest, recover. had C-sections both times and like, I didn't have the birth plan I wanted with my first one. But I mean, like, and so the second time I was like, I want to not die. I want the baby to be healthy. Like that's my birth plan. Yes, it totally is. I do that all the time. I like super lower my expectations so that it's just easy to exceed them. And I'm like, look at me, you know, but it is, totally is. Nailed it. Yeah, exactly. I think the beautiful thing that I wish I would have known as a mother early is my human design because it would have helped me to understand who I am coming into this new relationship. But also I love knowing the human design of my kids because So human design is, so everybody, we're all on the same page, is a personality test. It's like StrengthBinders and Enneagram. And if we love those, people love human design 10 times more because it goes into this 10 times more detail. It only uses the time and date and place of birth. So even kids, we can know what our kids' human designs are. We can know what their gifts are. And we can help. build this relationship together from the get-go, which I think is so beautiful. I've pulled, usually on a human design, there's about 35 to 40 parts, and I've pulled a few parts of your chart. And we'll dive into that and tell you these gifts that you were born with. So the first place to start off is your type. Now a type is how you operate best and you are a generator. And so a generator has this, I know, you and it's like a generator. has this go, go, go energizer. Think Energizer Bunny, you know? You have this deep, sustainable life force energy from the moment that you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. you're, especially this energy gets fueled when you're doing what lights you up. So think about a sparkler and a match that turns on a sparkler. It just goes. And that's what you do when you're doing what you love and you, ⁓ people can, are just drawn towards that light and towards that energy because you're doing what you love and it's magnetic and it's limitless. Now, of course there's burnout and we'll talk about that too, because generators, know, our greatest gifts can also be our greatest challenges. for us. But, but the key for, ⁓ this, mantra for this is I build what I love. and my energy does the rest. You can trust when you're going into deep seasons where you need a lot of energy and it feels overwhelming that you're going to be able to accomplish it because you were born with this gift. Now I don't have that gift of energy. I'm a different type and I literally have ⁓ some jealousy about it, but you know. so I would love to hear, that, have you noticed that energy ⁓ getting you through difficult times? Literally, I was just thinking about it of I have two kids. I have a husband that travels quite often or he was traveling more. We don't have any family near us and I'm like boosting my business. I've got a new gig starting next week. We talked about, oh, and by the way, I'm doing an MBA online. So chill, so chill, whatever. And so like you were talking about that and I was like, there's no question of if I'll get through it. It's just, how do I like, how do I, I joke about it as my husband is like the governor on me and like, he rails me back for, he winds me back in of like having, like I hosted a, on Easter, I hosted a egg hunt at my house. Why? Like, you know, like my husband was out of town on Christmas, I think last year. I could get her a whole Christmas Eve party and like cooked everything. I was like, what? I cleaned the house, two small kids. How did I do that? Why did I do that? yeah, so that, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Well, and the strategy for generators too is because you typically will do all the things. People will rely on you. You'll volunteer. You'll be like, sure, why not? You know? that type of thing. But the strategy to make sure you have this continual energy is to do a little something for yourself. Now, this is accommodating the high volume season that you're in. And so it's not going to be like, ⁓ well, you're just going to take a weekend off for yourself. You know, that's not possible. But it can be little small moments that you have to yourself. it? a hobby is it, you know, taking your, even taking your kids on a walk, you know, they're in a stroller and kids typically, you know, or like they're playing somewhere and you're listening to an audio book, you know, something like that, that you can integrate into your season of super high volume energy. So is there something that comes to mind that you're like, ⁓ so I don't burn out and want to burn my whole world down that you could do during this high energy season to help yourself? Yeah. So I usually, so I make it a point. I'm on like this crazy 300 and I don't know, it's over a year long streak of reading every night. It's, and I'm on like a Duolingo streak of 382. That one is right there to learn Spanish. It's like I said, like this generator thing could not be any more accurate. Like it's so freaky and the overworker, but yeah, so I, I make it a point to read every night in bed, like a fun book. Cause I usually have like a business book on audio book and I'm also in like two book clubs because why not? Of course. This is actually becoming a problem. And so I have a fun book club and a business book club. And so I have those going. have audio books on for business and a fun one. And then I usually am reading like a Kindle version of like a business book and a fun book. So I read the fun book at night before I go to sleep. That's like the 10 minutes, 20 minutes I get for me. And then I also like really like to take baths and like, you know, do the whole like my husband gets me seated like bath salts and stuff. Yeah. That's like his thing that he always gets me for holidays. So I do those. I love that. And I love having those sacred moments that this is you and what you're pouring yourself into. And I think Sometimes we think it has to be grand or has to be long, but I love it. said it's like 10 minutes, you know, a 10 minute reset can really bring a whole lot to helping you not to burn out and just keeping those stable as you go through this really crazy season. know, one other thing on your human design that really stood out to me is how you make decisions best. And so I love that human design shares with us like our unique blueprint of how this happens for us. And yours is your sacral, your sacral inner authority, which means you make decisions from your gut. So this gut instinct, that is your compass. So a lot of times when people are making decisions, they look at things more analytical, you know, like a pro-con list, you know? But that means nothing when our gut is saying do this certain thing, go this direction. It's a It's a truth detector and it doesn't really work on analyzing, you know, when we overanalyze things. So going back to that feeling of in your gut, this physical sensation of this is a yes, this feels expansive. This feels like exciting. This feels purposeful and intentional and a no feels contraction. It feels blah or a responsibility. And this can be for anything personally or professionally. So you can ask yourself like with a party, know, by like, do I want to throw this party? And you can tap into your gut and say yes or no and really truly listen to that instead of being like, I just should do this because no one else will. But you know, that type of thing or with work opportunities, is this a yes? And really feel into that and respond into that. So yeah, love to hear like your thoughts on that. Well, you saw me do it real time in the beginning. When I said my gut says seven, boom, nailed it. Like, I don't know. It's like, it's almost like I'm a plant for this. Like I feel like this is getting real weird. It's so eerie. geez. I know. But yeah. And I also was like, yeah, that's off it. I think it took me a while to actually trust my gut. ⁓ I, so I come from a family of alcoholics and like we, have a joke that in my family, it doesn't run at gallops. And so, you know. And so if anybody comes from that and like, you like my dark sense of humor, you'll get it. But, but I've been sober in July, it'll be 11 years, you know? And so it took me such a crazy long time just to like, get back towards like, ⁓ yeah, I do make good decisions and I can listen to that inner part of me. And so that was part of it. I also do like pro-cons, but I can get very into like. analysis paralysis, which I cannot stand. hate it. That overthinking of those things, which is also a sabotaging character. Yeah. And I think, you know, as you lean into your gut, the mantra for this is my body knows before my mind catches up. So almost like that first instinctual, like, ⁓ this is what I do. But then our minds kind of clutter things going back to that. So really the strategy here for you to enable this gift. And this way of decision making is to pause, is to pause and be like, okay, what is my body really saying? Oftentimes there's these Pinterest boards and there's books that are written on, we should make a decision right away. It should be very decisive. But it's almost like this ⁓ decisive of where we've analyzed it more. But it's this actual decisiveness that lives inside of our body that's not talked about a whole lot. And that's where you want to make your decisions. That's where that expanse of yes is coming from, where it's like, Ooh, a little sparkly, a little exciting. Maybe, of course, a little bit nervous, but like, it's still that like feeling of I should go this way. doesn't quite make sense, but our bodies know the way and we can really trust into that. Yeah. I it was like when I, I had a first, when I thought about applying for an MBA, I was like, I tried this. This one school that didn't have quite the accreditation as like it was an online school. And I was like, ⁓ I can get my MBA and it's like X amount of dollars and it's fine. ⁓ and then my husband was like, why don't you try like the university of Illinois? And I was like, but that's like a big school. Like people know that school. He was like, you should try it. And I was like, I should try it. Then. I did, I got in and I was like, ⁓ And so that expansive yes was that idea of like, I didn't know I could do that. Exploring and challenging myself too. Yeah, yeah. Because it is always a challenge. think the way that life is not quite mapped out for us. It's not in the details. It's not like, ⁓ you made a decision and now here's the whole story. It's very much like an actual GPS that's like, now you will turn here in 400 feet. then, you you have to keep listening to it to really get, go in the right direction. And I think that's the beautiful thing about changing the script on how do we trust ourselves and push ourselves. Because if it's in here, it's right for us. You know, and that's what I tell people. even like people that are going through relationship problems, like My husband and I had a real moment where it was like 45 days before he got married. We had all of these things. We were like, everything had been paid for. We were ready. And it was like, we had a moment where it was like, are we really going to do this? Are we the right people for one another? And we had that moment where it was like, we got to make a decision. Thankfully we made what I think is the right decision. But I mean, like we did have that moment of like pause, right? That's something that I had to learn after I got sober. No decision is also a decision. Yes, that is. Again, that trusting what is a yes can continue. Of course, there'll be flex, live in flex and stuff like that, but it is still for us. There's one more part on your human design chart that I, they're called gates. Now gates are layers of personality. And this gate is all about, you have the gift of the sacredness of time. Now you can feel the specialness of time and that there's this powerful drive to fill your days with what truly matters. And a lot of people have a hard time. I think about these gifts, they're not like, you have the gift of playing the piano, you have the gift of whatever, but these are really like... layered in deep characteristics that we have that we can utilize in our business. I always tell people, I'm like, talk about these with our clients and because you get to help people fill their time with what truly matters as well, which is so beautiful that you can see and that you can sense this. So this is really has an intuition part that you have a lot of gifts of intuition on your human design. So your intuition is like, boo-doo-doo, you know, let's go. And which is really beautiful. And you can intuitively sense when something or someone is wasting time. And when what needs to be, what matters most that we spend our time on those things. You're not chasing magic, but you make it and you choose the magic. So, yeah. The mantra for this is I trust my inner knowing to guide how I spend my time. Have you always been able to be in tune with this like, what deeply matters versus this wasteful energies? No, and I mean, I know I've said this like a lot, but like getting sober just, gosh, it made me actually be able to understand who I was a lot easier. Like I'm not fighting against like some addiction all the time. Like, and that's a huge energy suck in general, right? But like just being able to create and build and guide and coach and nurture, like all of those things would not have been possible if I was not the person I am now, right? Yeah. And like you talk about, you know, dedicating my time to stuff that matters. My family is the one that matters. And so I find it to be a very, very sacred time after the kids get home from school and before they go to bed that we are all spending time together doing, you know, if it's just watching the kids dance and sing, feeding my daughter who's 14 months. you know, like, or watching her crawl around and yell at everybody because she's 14 months, you know, cooking dinner, whatever it is. Like, I just want to spend time with my kids and my husband at that time. Yeah. And it's really neat to be able to see that in a personal and professional way, you know, as you go into different areas and take that gift into personal and professional that you can see, okay, this is a time waste or this is where we can be more intentional. ⁓ And you can readily see those lines, which is so cool. One of the strategies that I like for this gift is ⁓ asking ourselves for certain things like, can I delegate this? Can I delete this? Can I diminish this? And kind of looking at about the different categories of how can I bring this more into perspective and get some, because that time is sacred and has to be protected and nurtured as well and really fulfilled with the things that are most. valuable? absolutely does. And it's so important that that happens. And if we don't make space for nurturing, like it's just not going to happen. Yes. Or maybe it doesn't, you know, it's like we let things run over us. And I used to do that. I used to do that. But now it's like having my own business. I'm very, very clear about like, like if I do a call with a client at six o'clock, I know what I'm having to give up, you know? Yes, yes, totally. And there is that ebb and flows. You know, it doesn't have to be perfect. But I think in general, can put, you have this gift of putting your focus where it matters the most. And now, as we look about into the ROI in business, right? It's usually like performance and sales and efficiencies and all these. measurable markers that we look at. But the ROI of peace has its own indicators of clarity, resilience, joy, alignment. Which areas of your life personally or professionally are you looking for more peace right now? And then what would bringing peace into that area actually look like in your daily life? Gosh, I've done a lot of steps to like encourage alignment in my personal life, my business life. I think the main thing I'm chasing, I guess, is like that joy and that freedom for joy. Because, it all like, it all goes back to my kids, right? Like, my husband is like, do I get to have date nights? My husband, do I get to have one-on-one dates with my kids? Like my son is five. It's then I was just saying this. It's really, really important that I actually have a date with him coming up soon because I don't get one-on-one time with him all that much. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So, yeah. it's like, and my husband, when the baby, when my little girl was born, he got a lot of time with her because he was like, he calls himself Nightman because he was in her room all the time, you know, with her. And I was like, she's my baby too. And so like, I spend a lot of time, like she would nap on me during the day because where else would she nap? You know, when she was But yeah, it's like creating those spaces. to just watch my kids play or laugh with them or whatever, just be there. Yes. I love that creating spaces, creating those, being really intentional with that what's a priority is still a priority. it doesn't, again, it can be a priority where it's you're like, hey, we're spending these quality times together. It's not, and I can still get my other stuff done because, but we still have these magical moments, I guess. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, for example, I mean, I have it set up on my calendar where I do MBA work after the kids go to bed, but I'm still protecting that time for me to take 10 minutes and read what I want. You know? Yes. Totally. Yeah, I agree. And that helps you to be able to do all these things and not want to burn the whole thing down. And yes, totally. Well, Sarah, this has been such an amazing conversation. It's been so fun to dive into all this with you. I loved it. yeah, this was just like I said, it's like the topic of this, but it is eerie how right that was. I know, isn't it wild? It's so creepy. like the hundreds and hundreds of charts and human designs that I've read, like everybody's like, that's so on point. No matter where they've grown up, no matter where they were born across the world, it's weird. So, well, Sarah, I know our friends want to get connected with you and jump into your world. What's the best way? So you can always find me on LinkedIn. probably am the most active there. But it's linkedin.com all that, it's slash Sarah Lee Smith. Sarah Lee S A R A H L E A is my grand, great grandmother was a rebel and didn't want to be L E E. It's very interesting. Sarah Lee Smith. And ⁓ yeah, my company is Iconoclast Innovations. And I do a lot of like this ops mass like management and process improvement and help your business run faster, better, smoother, all of it. So yeah, all on the unlinked end, can get all the other things. That's perfect. Excellent. Oh my goodness. Well, all our friends for listening, thank you so much for being on. just means the world to me. Seeing all the listeners all over the world and make sure that you... Share this episode with friends, share it to your stories, and follow for all the episodes that are coming next. And remember, your piece is the most profitable thing you'll ever invest in. We'll see you next time.