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Motivation Called In Sick, Leadership Still Showed Up · Fierce Encouragement

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi there.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Mark, and this is Fierce Encouragement.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast for leaders and parents and professionals who want to live with more clarity and work with more clarity, but also a sense of steadiness and self-respect.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's no hype here, just practical encouragement for your real days.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here with me today.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And well, all right, let's get started.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um honestly, today is not a high energy day for me.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not really fired up.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not um burgeoning with inspiration for you today.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm definitely not here trying to hype anything or hype myself up or anything like that.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that's exactly why I think this episode matters.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because most of our lives are not lived on our best days.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Most leadership doesn't come or doesn't happen when we feel that sense of complete clarity or that confidence, or when we feel motivated.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think leadership happens on ordinary days on that Tuesday afternoon.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It also happens when we're tired, on our tired days, or maybe on those days when our mind kind of wants that comfort and that body wants that sense of just relaxing and maybe even feels a little bit off.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if today feels flat or a bit lost for you, I want you to stick with me.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the truth about motivation.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think, well, and let me ask you, do you feel like you've been sold this kind of quiet lie that good leaders and founders and creators that they feel ready before they start to act?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've been sold that lie.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think great creators and great leaders feel ready all the time before they act.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: They act because that sense of acting or creating or moving forward keeps them oriented, keeps them grounded in a sense with action.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Some days are for that sense of momentum.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Some days are created for more of a maintenance or more of like admin work.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I do believe in both the momentum and the maintenance days count.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we're not always going to feel like it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I do believe when we start to mix or confuse our motivation with our sense of leadership or our leadership actions, we can start waiting.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: We will start waiting to feel right or feel better.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: We will start waiting to have that sense of clarity or feel more clear about where we need to head.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe even as leaders or parents or managers, we start wanting to feel more like ourselves again, whatever that might mean.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: But that waiting can cost us so much.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: It can cost us money, of course, it can cost us the time, and I think it can cost us more than a day off ever will.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is why slowing down and pausing works even on those difficult days.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: This idea of pausing still works even when you can't or don't or refuse to.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe even especially when we don't work or when we're not pushing through, or we don't feel balance.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is a fact, though.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: When we pause, even briefly, there's something that very practical and useful happens in our minds.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: The catastrophic and negative thinking that we have kind of predisposition to, well, that slows down a little bit.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the part of us that can choose the next best step or the next best action in whatever we're facing, whatever trouble or difficulty, that better part of us, that higher mind, if you will, it comes back online.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't just spiritual woo-woo fluff.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's physiology.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is cognitive science.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that one breath before we respond, those two breaths before we decide what we need to do, and maybe even that sixty seconds before we react, those are all enough.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can practice small moments of breathing or a couple breaths, and we don't need to go on a long retreat, or we don't need to escape where we're currently at.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: We don't even need a perfect morning routine, or even to feel like it in many ways.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing we can do is give ourselves the gift of pausing and slowing down a few times today.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: You need a pause.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership in real life, well, this is what leadership in an honest real view or a real life kind of looks like.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And again, maybe asking you as a parent, as a leader, as a manager, as somebody who's walked the streets of life, do we need to calm down because life is so hard?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or do we need to change how we look at life?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't need to be calm because life is easy.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: That calmness shows up the moment we start to slow down.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your team does not need you to be ideal or perfect.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: They just need you to be regulated and aware and approaching things in a balanced way.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Our family doesn't even really need our answers, even though we often want to share them.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm just speaking for myself.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I think our families and our teams and our friends, they need our presence.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just that presence, knowing you're listening.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And even yourself.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you need to fix your entire life today.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: You need to not make it worse by reacting unconsciously.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: When we slow down and pause, that's leadership.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's a sense of strength and courage in action.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to close this session and let you know if today is not your day, maybe it's a little lower on energy, or maybe it's just not feeling tuned in.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Don't quit.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Take that pause.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Take that deep breath with me right now.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll invite you to just take that next small clean step in front of you.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: That step does count.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: This day counts, this breath counts, and you count.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And tomorrow we go out again.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is Fierce Encouragement.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is Mark Walker.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you sharing your time with me.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you got something out of this.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, this is a short podcast for leaders and parents and people who want to live with more clarity and more steadiness and that inner encouragement.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it isn't just hype, but it's real encouragement that can last for days.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for listening and share this with a friend who might enjoy this content.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, I appreciate you and I hope you have a great week.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Catch you next time.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.