Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / [SOLO] The Energy Audit: How To Protect Your Most Precious Asset, Identify Leaks & Strengthen Your Resilience Muscle

Transcript

[SOLO] The Energy Audit: How To Protect Your Most Precious Asset, Identify Leaks & Strengthen Your Resilience Muscle · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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Speaker 1: Your most expensive asset isn't your time. It's the finite
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Speaker 1: energy you have to spend before you go to bed tonight.
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Speaker 1: If you're pouring all of your effort into habits that
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Speaker 1: offers zero joy, you aren't winning. You're just going bankrupt
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Speaker 1: from the inside out. Good morning, good afternoon, Good evening.
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Speaker 1: Emily Badi. Here you are listening to another episode of Hurdle,
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Speaker 1: a podcast featuring the mindset, secrets, and true stories of
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Speaker 1: the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, empowering you
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Speaker 1: to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life and of course,
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Speaker 1: conquer your own hurdles.
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Speaker 2: Today, I'm doing things a little a bit differently. You
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Speaker 2: know me.
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Speaker 1: You know I love the top of the year, and
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Speaker 1: you know I love a good solo and that is
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Speaker 1: why I'm here to talk about your energy.
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Speaker 2: R oh I listen.
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Speaker 1: We talk a lot about the grind, we talk about
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Speaker 1: pushing through. But my question for you this week is
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Speaker 1: when was the last time you looked at your calendar
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Speaker 1: and asked, what is the cost of this entry versus
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Speaker 1: the payout? An example of this maybe your meal prepping
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Speaker 1: a perfect macro balanced salad that you don't even enjoy
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Speaker 1: eating every single day and that meal prep takes you hours. Well,
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Speaker 1: that's a clear sign that your joy to effort ratio
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Speaker 1: is broken. So today we're doing a new year's audit
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Speaker 1: that has nothing to do with things like your weight
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Speaker 1: or your bank account, and everything to do with I'm
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Speaker 1: going to say it again, the energy r oh I
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Speaker 1: that stands or return on investment. Let me dive into
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Speaker 1: this just a little bit more so you can really
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Speaker 1: holistically see what I'm getting at.
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Speaker 2: It's let's say seven.
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Speaker 1: O'clock on a Tuesday night, and you just finished a
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Speaker 1: workout that you didn't really want to do, but you
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Speaker 1: did it because someone told you you should. You're looking
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Speaker 1: at your refrigerator and it has nothing in there that
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Speaker 1: entices you, and you feel overwhelmed and exhausted, and not
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Speaker 1: like the good kind of exhausted, like.
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Speaker 2: That's soul deep kind of exhausted.
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Speaker 1: You feel like you've been running around at one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent effort, but your joy tank is sitting at roughly
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Speaker 1: five percent. The question is why do we do this
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Speaker 1: to ourselves, especially at the top of a new year,
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Speaker 1: when we are conditioned to believe that more effort equals
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Speaker 1: more wellness. Well, today, I am challenging that. In today's episode,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to move past the surface level New Year's
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Speaker 1: resolutions and get into the actual mechanics of how you
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Speaker 1: spend your life. First, we're going to break down the
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Speaker 1: four quadrants of effort, so I'm going to help you
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Speaker 1: map out your life on a simple grids so you
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Speaker 1: can finally see in black and white where you're getting
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Speaker 1: a master return on your energy and where you're seeing
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Speaker 1: a leak. Then we're gonna dive deep into the health
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Speaker 1: halo trap, discuss why high achievers often mistakes suffering for progress,
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Speaker 1: and how to identify the habits that are actually costing
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Speaker 1: you more.
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Speaker 2: Than they're giving back.
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Speaker 1: I'll offer you four pointed, uncomfortable but necessary questions to
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Speaker 1: help you audit your performance wellness versus your actual wellness.
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Speaker 2: And last, but not least, we're gonna get tactical.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to introduce two of my favorite frameworks. It's
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Speaker 1: called firing the Drain and the power of the Floor
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Speaker 1: are their tools that I promise will help you move
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Speaker 1: from a state.
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Speaker 2: Of decision fatigue.
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Speaker 1: We have no time for that, into a state of
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Speaker 1: strategic underperformance. I know it sounds silly, you're like, why
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Speaker 1: would I want to underperform? But I promise you it's
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Speaker 1: the secret weapon of some of the world's most elite athletes,
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Speaker 1: business owners.
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Speaker 2: Entrepreneurs, you name it.
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Speaker 1: When you walk away from today's episode, maybe you're walking
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Speaker 1: while listening to today's episode, You're not going to have
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Speaker 1: a to do list. You're going to have a to
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Speaker 1: don't list, a redefined identity outside of your stats, and
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Speaker 1: a clear path to making twenty twenty six the year
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Speaker 1: you stop grinding and start actually growing. Now, I know
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Speaker 1: this is a pivot from our traditional content on the show.
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Speaker 1: It's giving five minute Friday vibes, but this is a
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Speaker 1: type of content that's often requested here and I'm just
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Speaker 1: here trying to give the people what it is.
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Speaker 2: That they want.
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Speaker 1: Had a lot of new listeners come in last week
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Speaker 1: from Gabby's episode, so so excited to have you here.
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Speaker 1: If you haven't listened to Gabby Thomas on Hurdle, I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna link that in the show notes for you to
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Speaker 1: check it out for context before we jump into today's
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Speaker 1: episode again. I am a certified professional coach, which you
4:52
Speaker 1: can like into a life coach, but I'm not fangirling
4:55
Speaker 1: over the top athletes and experts within sports and wellness.
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Speaker 2: I'm I'm doing this work.
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Speaker 1: I'm helping people get to where they want to be,
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Speaker 1: and so I am hopeful that through this audit on
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Speaker 1: your energy, we can kickstart the new year in a
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Speaker 1: way that truly makes you not only feel proud, but
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Speaker 1: also fulfilled. Make sure you're following along with Hurdle over
5:17
Speaker 1: on social It's over at Hurdle podcast. You can also
5:20
Speaker 1: check out Iheartwoman's Sports over at iHeart Women's Sports and
5:24
Speaker 1: me over at Emily Abadi. Listen to Hurdle with Emily
5:27
Speaker 1: A Body on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
5:31
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.
5:33
Speaker 2: And with that, let's get into it. Let's get it's
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Speaker 2: a hurdling.
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Speaker 1: If you are new around these parts, if you are
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Speaker 1: a veteran hurdler, there's one thing you need to know
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Speaker 1: about me. I absolutely love a goal and I spend
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Speaker 1: a lot of time talking to a lad athletes and
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Speaker 1: top tier onrepreneurs about what their goals are. But in
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Speaker 1: doing that, I've really realized that the greatest champions are
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Speaker 1: most disciplined about where they spend their energy. Over the
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Speaker 1: last handful of years, auditing my energy output versus my
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Speaker 1: energy input. Taking stock of what is a drain and
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Speaker 1: what is a faucet has been such an important practice
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Speaker 1: for me to be clear so we're all on the
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Speaker 1: same page. And energy faucet is something that fills up
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Speaker 1: your cup. Even if you're someone that has difficulty looking
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Speaker 1: at a cup and seeing it as half full, you
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Speaker 1: can recognize that an energy faucet, whether it be a
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Speaker 1: special relationship or an activity that brings you joy, or
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Speaker 1: simply the opportunity to move your body, that is something
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Speaker 1: that raises the level of.
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Speaker 2: What you are holding in your own glass.
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Speaker 1: An energy drain, inversely, is something that creates a leak,
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Speaker 1: something that depletes you, whether or not you are conscious
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Speaker 1: about that depletion. So many of us have this health
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Speaker 1: halo trap. And what I mean by health halo is
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Speaker 1: a cognitive bias that we assume that just because in
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Speaker 1: activity is often labeled as healthy or athletic or productive,
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Speaker 1: it is inherently good for us at all times, regardless
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Speaker 1: of the actual cost to our mental and physical well being.
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Speaker 1: An example of this in practice, maybe you're exhausted. Maybe
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Speaker 1: you're someone right now that, like so many people are
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Speaker 1: struggling with this flu situation, which means that you're rusting,
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Speaker 1: heart rate is up, you're exhausted, you're fighting this nasty virus.
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Speaker 1: But even though you're experiencing all this, you still think
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Speaker 1: that going to a hit class is something that's good
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Speaker 1: for you because it's healthy. The halo, the health halo.
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Speaker 1: It tells you that working out is good. But the
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Speaker 1: reality in this example is that your body actually really
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Speaker 1: needs to sleep and recover. Just because a habit is
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Speaker 1: healthy on paper doesn't mean it's healthy for you right
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Speaker 1: now or candidly maybe ever, if a wellness practice is
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Speaker 1: costing you your peace of mind, your sleep, or your
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Speaker 1: ability to be present, the halo has slipped. I said it.
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Speaker 1: It's no longer an investment, it is a debt. So
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Speaker 1: on that note, I want to talk about the four quadrants,
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Speaker 1: and these quadrants are going to be a tool for
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Speaker 1: us to use so that you can see where your
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Speaker 1: energy is leaking. And one more thing before I get
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Speaker 1: into the quadrants, I'm a little all over the place here.
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Speaker 1: You deserve to prioritize your mental health and well being
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Speaker 1: just as much as your physical health and well being.
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Speaker 1: So that is why an episode like This is a
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Speaker 1: part of the hurdle feed.
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Speaker 2: Overall, health and well being is.
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Speaker 1: The mental, it's the physical, it's the spiritual, it's the
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Speaker 1: relationships that you have with your own finances, sexuality, and
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Speaker 1: the people around you. It is such a big picture thing,
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Speaker 1: and it's not just am I getting up and moving
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Speaker 1: my body first thing in the day. So let's get
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Speaker 1: into the quadrants. Quadrant one, the sweet spot. This is
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Speaker 1: low effort and high joy. In the sweet spot, think
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Speaker 1: about the things that bring you joy for very little effort.
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Speaker 1: So for me, that is one hundred and ten percent
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Speaker 1: my morning routine. It's the first twenty minutes of my
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Speaker 1: day when I have coffee.
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Speaker 2: I'm not on my phone. I am simply journaling.
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Speaker 1: I'm reading a page right now from Brianna Weiss The
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Speaker 1: Pivot Year. I am having some quiet time before the
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Speaker 1: rest of the world wakes up. And bonus points for
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Speaker 1: my sweet spot of low effort high joy if chill
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Speaker 1: Jazz is playing ten out of ten. Now other examples
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Speaker 1: of the sweet spot. You can think of like an
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Speaker 1: instant win of putting on your favorite massive sweatshirt. Bonus
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Speaker 1: points if it's a hurdle sweatshirt, lighting your favorite candle
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Speaker 1: after a long day getting cozy on the couch. This
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Speaker 1: is a low effort, high joy scenario that really puts
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Speaker 1: a cherry on top of a long day. You can
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Speaker 1: think of sending a thinking of you voice note or
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Speaker 1: a text to a friend and getting that immediate ping
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Speaker 1: of warmth back.
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Speaker 2: Low effort, high joy.
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Speaker 1: Last example, standing outside for two minutes in the cold
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Speaker 1: air to clear your head after back to back zoom calls.
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Speaker 1: Does it require a lot of effort, but can make
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Speaker 1: a major difference. Again, these are low effort things that
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Speaker 1: are a part of your subconscious. They are things that
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Speaker 1: you shouldn't have to put too much thought into when
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Speaker 1: it comes to inserting them into your week. Now, when
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Speaker 1: I talk about this sweet spot, if you do feel
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Speaker 1: as though you're missing some of these in your routine,
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Speaker 1: then now's your opportunity to sit down and ask yourself,
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Speaker 1: what are small things in my life that bring me
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Speaker 1: joy that don't require a lot of effort, and then
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Speaker 1: schedule them, literally, sit down and schedule them. I find
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Speaker 1: the sweet spot extra extra important on the days where
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Speaker 1: I am feeling frustrated by external factors. So maybe I
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Speaker 1: had a conversation that didn't go as I would hope,
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Speaker 1: or something's not panning out the right way with work,
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Speaker 1: I will then lean into my sweet spot and do
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Speaker 1: things that bring me that happiness that don't feel like
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Speaker 1: a heavy lift, and that can really help me come
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Speaker 1: back to calm, help me come back and find my center.
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Speaker 1: Years ago, I sat down and made myself a joy
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Speaker 1: list for the first time, and it is just that.
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Speaker 1: It's sitting down and making a list of, let's say,
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Speaker 1: twenty different things that you can do that make you happy.
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Speaker 1: Even better if there are things on this list that
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Speaker 1: require no spending, right, So, yes, a dinner at my
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Speaker 1: favorite restaurant bar brings me a ton of joy, But
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Speaker 1: you might not always want to spend the one hundred
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Speaker 1: dollars to make that happen. So something like coloring or painting,
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Speaker 1: or getting on the phone with a friend, or cleaning
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Speaker 1: out your closet. Am I a unique type of weird work?
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Speaker 1: Cleaning out my closet brings me joy? I am unsure,
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Speaker 1: but you get the picture. It doesn't need to be
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Speaker 1: super complex, and it's okay if sometimes when you are
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Speaker 1: feeling frazzled, to be able to look at a physical
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Speaker 1: reminder of the things that bring you joy. That can
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Speaker 1: be a really special opportunity. And so now we talk
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Speaker 1: about quadrant two. Okay, Quadrant one the sweet spot low effort,
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Speaker 1: high joy quadrant to the investment high effort high joy.
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Speaker 2: This is the big stuff.
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Speaker 1: So for me, let's say once a year typically I
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Speaker 1: run a marathon. That is a lot of effort and
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Speaker 1: it's also a lot of joy. Another example a promotion
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Speaker 1: that you're chasing or moving to a new city. These
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Speaker 1: things can be a grind, they can be messy, but
13:20
Speaker 1: they are things that will feed your soul. The key
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Speaker 1: here is that you've got to protect these butt and
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Speaker 1: this is a really big butt. You can only handle
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Speaker 1: maybe two of these at a time. There, I said it.
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Speaker 1: You cannot do everything all at once. You know it's funny.
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Speaker 1: I'm watching Scandal right now for the first time. I
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Speaker 1: know I'm behind the times seriously, and what we see
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Speaker 1: happen is that when Olivia Pope takes on too many clients,
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Speaker 1: she can't dedicate her energy to actually helping anyone. Really,
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Speaker 1: same goes for setting out your investments. When you have
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Speaker 1: too many investments, you can't protect them. You're an arsonist
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Speaker 1: and you're going to burn your house down, and that
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Speaker 1: is the last thing that we want. Quadrant number two
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Speaker 1: the investment, high effort, high joy. One other thing I
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Speaker 1: will say about things that fall into this specific quadrant
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Speaker 1: is I want you to make sure that you have
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Speaker 1: a strong why for any big investment you put in
14:26
Speaker 1: quadrant number two. So just because, and I've said this before,
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Speaker 1: you see someone that's doing something that looks fun and
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Speaker 1: exciting on the highlight reel that is social media, that
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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it is something that you need to
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Speaker 1: be doing as well. When you think about your values
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Speaker 1: and you think about the things that you set out
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Speaker 1: to do in this year and beyond, are those things
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Speaker 1: things that align with who it is that you are
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Speaker 1: and what it is that excites you. You deserve to
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Speaker 1: be acting in purpose on purpose. Now Number three the drain,
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Speaker 1: high effort low joy.
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Speaker 2: This is the danger zone.
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Speaker 1: This is the skincare routine that's got twelve steps that
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Speaker 1: makes you go to bed.
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Speaker 2: Thirty minutes later than you should.
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Speaker 1: This is the networking coffee you said yes too because
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Speaker 1: you felt guilty even though you have absolutely zero interest
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Speaker 1: in the project. High effort low joy. We don't have
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Speaker 1: time for high effort low joy in twenty twenty six.
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Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest problems about things in
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Speaker 1: this quadrant is we often confuse high effort with meaningful
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Speaker 1: But just because something.
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Speaker 2: Is hard does not mean it matters.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to say that one more time, just because
15:43
Speaker 1: something is hard doesn't mean it matters. A practical example
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Speaker 1: of the drain going to a spin class, workout that
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Speaker 1: takes an hour of your time that you actually hate,
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Speaker 1: in a studio with music that you don't like, just
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Speaker 1: because it burns a lot of calories.
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Speaker 2: End quote.
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Speaker 1: If you aren't enjoying yourself, there are going to be
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Speaker 1: moments in your days, in your life where you do
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Speaker 1: hard things because that is just part of the recipe.
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Speaker 1: But continually doing something that has a low return on
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Speaker 1: your energy and doesn't make you feel stellar, yeah, we're
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Speaker 1: not doing that in twenty twenty six. Now, I'm already
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Speaker 1: anticipating your messages people saying I know I need to
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Speaker 1: move my body and I really just don't enjoy it,
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Speaker 1: but I know that going to spin class is good
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Speaker 1: for me.
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Speaker 2: I don't understand what you're saying here.
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Speaker 1: Listen, there are so many ways to do things.
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Speaker 2: That are good for you and your body.
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Speaker 1: When it comes to movement, I promise you there is
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Speaker 1: a type of movement that you can enjoy. Does that
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Speaker 1: mean that your chosen type of movement is going to
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Speaker 1: be the best movement for you. Well, that's up for debate, right,
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Speaker 1: But I am of the mind set and I sit
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Speaker 1: in the camp that something is better than nothing, Especially
17:05
Speaker 1: when it comes to beginning. You are more likely to
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Speaker 1: stick with an activity that you enjoy, then continue on
17:12
Speaker 1: with something that you dread each and every time that
17:15
Speaker 1: you show up.
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Speaker 2: So begin there.
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Speaker 1: Then get honest about what your goals are aside from
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Speaker 1: regular movement, and that's when you can really do some
17:24
Speaker 1: inquisition into the best type of movement to accomplish whatever
17:29
Speaker 1: it is that your specific goal is. All right, I'm
17:33
Speaker 1: going to get off my soapbox and tell you about
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Speaker 1: quadrant number four.
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Speaker 2: The ghost. This is low effort, low joy.
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Speaker 1: There is nothing that epitomizes the ghost more than doom scrolling,
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Speaker 1: Like waking up in the morning, you're on your phone.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't take much of anything to scroll through your
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Speaker 1: Instagram page, but you're not really gaining a lot of joy.
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Speaker 1: Another example of this convenience snacking. This is something that
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Speaker 1: I'm super guilty of which is literally just walking to
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Speaker 1: your kitchen because it exists and eating something, not because
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Speaker 1: you're hungry or it tastes good, but just because it
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Speaker 1: is there. The reality is is that a lot of
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Speaker 1: us live in the quadrants of the investment quadrant to
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Speaker 1: high effort high joy and the drain high effort low joy,
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Speaker 1: because that's what we think that being an adult looks like.
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Speaker 1: The goal of this audit, though, the goal of this
18:30
Speaker 1: episode is to truly move things out of the drain
18:33
Speaker 1: and into the sweet spot. So, for instance, if high
18:37
Speaker 1: effort meal prepping is a drain, then maybe low effort
18:41
Speaker 1: grocery delivery or simple fifteen minute meals becomes your new
18:47
Speaker 1: sweet spot. You're getting the same result, which is being fed,
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Speaker 1: but you've hacked the ratio. Twenty twenty six is the
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Speaker 1: year that we hack the ratio. So before we segue
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Speaker 1: into four important questions that I want you to ask
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Speaker 1: yourself so that you can hack the ratio, I want
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Speaker 1: you to do this inventory. I want you to, whether
19:08
Speaker 1: it be in your notes app or on a piece
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Speaker 1: of paper, write out the four quadrants and identify some
19:14
Speaker 1: of your most frequent behaviors. Ask yourself what are my faucets?
19:18
Speaker 1: What are my dreams? What falls into each of the
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Speaker 1: four one more time? Those four quadrants, the sweet spot
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Speaker 1: low effort high joy, the investment high effort high joy,
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Speaker 1: the drain high effort low joy, and the ghost low
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Speaker 1: effort low joy. Once you're done with this exercise, I
19:38
Speaker 1: want you to ask yourself the following four questions, and
19:42
Speaker 1: I don't want you to overthink them. Listen, and the
19:46
Speaker 1: first answer that pops up is the answer that pops
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Speaker 1: up the first question, Look at your morning routine. How
19:52
Speaker 1: much of that morning routine is for your health? And
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Speaker 1: how much of it is a performance for an audience
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Speaker 1: that isn't even watching?
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Speaker 2: Yep, you're thinking about it.
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Speaker 1: If you're waking up at five am just to say
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Speaker 1: that you did, but you're miserable until ten am, who
20:10
Speaker 1: are you doing that for? This is your performance? Audit
20:14
Speaker 1: question number two? What was the last thing you said
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Speaker 1: yes to that made you feel a pit in your stomach?
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Speaker 2: Again?
20:22
Speaker 1: What was the last thing you said yes to that
20:25
Speaker 1: made you feel a pit in your stomach? The follow
20:29
Speaker 1: up question to that was a trait of your energy?
20:30
Speaker 1: Worth avoiding a thirty second uncomfortable conversation or not. This
20:35
Speaker 1: is what we're calling the resentment compass. The third question,
20:39
Speaker 1: if we stripped away your statistics for tomorrow, like your
20:43
Speaker 1: job title, maybe your pace, your followers, what is the
20:48
Speaker 1: low effort thing that still makes you feel like you?
20:52
Speaker 1: So for some it's cooking without a recipe. For others,
20:55
Speaker 1: maybe it's just being a really good listener. Do you
20:58
Speaker 1: give that per in any time? Again, the question, if
21:03
Speaker 1: we stripped away your statistics tomorrow, what is a low
21:08
Speaker 1: effort thing that still makes you feel like you? And last,
21:13
Speaker 1: but not least, question number four, where are you putting
21:17
Speaker 1: in one hundred percent effort for a ten percent return?
21:21
Speaker 2: Enjoy?
21:22
Speaker 1: Where are you putting in one hundred percent effort for
21:26
Speaker 1: a ten percent return enjoy? When you identify that thing,
21:31
Speaker 1: could you do that task at seventy percent and use
21:36
Speaker 1: the left over thirty percent for something else.
21:40
Speaker 2: I'll give you an example of this.
21:43
Speaker 1: If I am unnecessarily trying to run three miles every
21:50
Speaker 1: day at a seven minute pace. That's a very hard
21:54
Speaker 1: thing to execute. That is extremely difficult and very tired.
22:00
Speaker 1: Although I might find some enjoyment in it because I
22:02
Speaker 1: am crazy. But with that said, if I was to
22:06
Speaker 1: instead run three miles every day at a much more
22:10
Speaker 1: leisurely pace, and use that time to maybe enjoy a podcast,
22:15
Speaker 1: or enjoy listening to music, or really be able to soak.
22:19
Speaker 2: In my surroundings.
22:21
Speaker 1: Then I'd have that extra thirty two, candidly maybe forty
22:24
Speaker 1: or fifty percent of my energy back to invest in
22:29
Speaker 1: something else. This is what I like to call the
22:31
Speaker 1: seventy percent rule. Now, let me give you a practical
22:53
Speaker 1: example that has nothing to do with working.
22:56
Speaker 2: Out or movement.
22:58
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe you you are someone that's tasked with sending
23:02
Speaker 1: a weekly status update to your team at work. Okay,
23:05
Speaker 1: and oftentimes you spend something like ninety minutes formatting this
23:11
Speaker 1: idyllic slide deck, obsessing over it, checking the fonts, the bullets,
23:14
Speaker 1: et cetera. Understandable, you want it to be great, and
23:17
Speaker 1: the result is from wanting this email to be great
23:20
Speaker 1: that often maybe you're mentally fried because you have been
23:24
Speaker 1: putting so much energy into something that individuals may take
23:29
Speaker 1: a total of two minutes to look at. This is
23:31
Speaker 1: a high effort, low joy roo. I So what if
23:36
Speaker 1: we reframe that. What if this specific type of task
23:40
Speaker 1: gets seventy percent of your effort, you use the same
23:44
Speaker 1: simple bulleted email template every week, and in doing so,
23:49
Speaker 1: it's clear, it's accurate. It might not be a work
23:51
Speaker 1: of art, but it only takes you fifteen minutes. What
23:55
Speaker 1: that does is it gives you back your mental energy.
24:00
Speaker 2: That is what we want.
24:01
Speaker 1: We want you to feel like you have agency over
24:04
Speaker 1: what you are putting yourself into. And to be clear,
24:08
Speaker 1: this isn't me telling you to be mediocre. This is
24:10
Speaker 1: me telling you to be as strategic as possible. If
24:15
Speaker 1: you are constantly trying to give one hundred percent to everything,
24:18
Speaker 1: then you're actually giving one hundred percent to nothing, if
24:21
Speaker 1: we're being honest, because you're spread too thin when you
24:24
Speaker 1: give seventy percent effort to the things that are often
24:27
Speaker 1: considered mundane. If you will, that, my friends, is how
24:32
Speaker 1: you save the one hundred percent for the miraculous, the
24:35
Speaker 1: one hundred percent for the things.
24:37
Speaker 2: That really matter.
24:39
Speaker 1: So now that you've answered those four questions, another question arises,
24:46
Speaker 1: how do we really get a handle on our energy?
24:49
Speaker 1: ROI I talked to a career coach recently who said
24:53
Speaker 1: that every yes is a no to something else. Every
24:57
Speaker 1: yes is a no to something else. So when you
25:01
Speaker 1: say yes to a high effort, low joy task. You
25:05
Speaker 1: are saying no to your recovery. When you say yes
25:11
Speaker 1: to a high effort, low joy task, you are saying
25:14
Speaker 1: no to your recovery. This week, I want you to
25:18
Speaker 1: start by picking one thing. Maybe it's grocery shopping. Maybe
25:21
Speaker 1: it's identifying a recurring meeting that could be an email.
25:25
Speaker 1: I want you to do something that I refer to
25:28
Speaker 1: personally as firing the dream. Identify something in your weekly
25:34
Speaker 1: routine that takes a lot of effort and doesn't bring
25:39
Speaker 1: you a lot of joy in return. That is the
25:42
Speaker 1: thing that's got to go. The next thing that you're
25:45
Speaker 1: going to do is establish your floor. So we all
25:48
Speaker 1: have these days that you know that's the epitome of
25:51
Speaker 1: your ceiling. It's a day where everything feels like you're
25:54
Speaker 1: doing it right and you're feeling really fulfilled. Maybe it
25:57
Speaker 1: involves moving and journaling and gratitude and doing well at
26:01
Speaker 1: work and eating well. You get what I'm saying. But
26:03
Speaker 1: what if I were to ask you, what is the floor? Inversely,
26:08
Speaker 1: the floor is the bare minimum you do on a
26:12
Speaker 1: day when life hits the fan to keep your joy
26:15
Speaker 1: to effort ratio.
26:16
Speaker 2: In the black.
26:17
Speaker 1: These are the days that life just be life in
26:20
Speaker 1: so you're thinking, I'm like, give me an example, not
26:23
Speaker 1: a problem my floor. When I have so much going on,
26:27
Speaker 1: I can't do my morning routine the way that I
26:29
Speaker 1: want to do it.
26:30
Speaker 2: My floor, no matter what, is a ten minute walk.
26:32
Speaker 1: If I don't have time to actually get moving to
26:35
Speaker 1: do what I want to do, I'm doing a ten
26:37
Speaker 1: minute walk ideally it's outside.
26:39
Speaker 2: No matter what.
26:39
Speaker 1: It's low effort, it's high joy, and it keeps my
26:42
Speaker 1: momentum alive. Actually, and also like in my brain, maybe
26:48
Speaker 1: your floor is five minutes of journaling, or maybe it's
26:52
Speaker 1: just making your bed. I will say that my floor
26:54
Speaker 1: also involves making my bed. It is an absolute requirement
26:58
Speaker 1: before I leave my house, and I even sometimes do
27:00
Speaker 1: it in hotel rooms because I.
27:02
Speaker 2: Am that sort of special.
27:03
Speaker 1: You can define what your bare minimum is, what your
27:07
Speaker 1: floor is, so that you can never fail, so that
27:11
Speaker 1: you will never end up in the red. Your energy
27:16
Speaker 1: is your most precious asset. Plain and simple energy is
27:21
Speaker 1: the gift that keeps on giving. If you go to
27:23
Speaker 1: the gym and your energy is depleted, you're going through
27:26
Speaker 1: the motions, you're just checking the box. But when you
27:29
Speaker 1: have energy, it is the multiplier of time. Life is
27:34
Speaker 1: going to throw you hurdles, it's inevitable. But when your
27:37
Speaker 1: energy tank is full, something like I don't know a
27:41
Speaker 1: flat tire, I don't drive a car anymore, But a
27:44
Speaker 1: flat tire or a difficult email, those become a minor
27:48
Speaker 1: inconvenience instead of like a world ending feeling moment. When
27:53
Speaker 1: you're running on fumes, that flat tire, that tough email,
27:59
Speaker 1: they like a catastrophe. So energy isn't just for doing stuff.
28:04
Speaker 1: It's the buffer that keeps you from breaking when things
28:08
Speaker 1: get hard. This is what hurdling is about in practice,
28:12
Speaker 1: the verb that we talk about here on the show,
28:15
Speaker 1: when you learn after doing and surviving hard things, that
28:19
Speaker 1: not only are you capable of doing and surviving hard
28:23
Speaker 1: things moving forward, but you can get better at it.
28:26
Speaker 1: You can learn to strengthen your resiliency muscle by putting
28:31
Speaker 1: in the reps, and the same goes.
28:34
Speaker 2: For your energy ROI.
28:36
Speaker 1: By doing an honest inventory, you have the opportunity to
28:39
Speaker 1: be smarter about how you spend your energy. Now, I
28:44
Speaker 1: need to take a moment to talk about decision fatigue,
28:47
Speaker 1: because when we talk about energy, it is a finite
28:50
Speaker 1: resource and there are going to be moments when decision
28:52
Speaker 1: fatigue kicks in. I wrote about decision fatigue in last
28:56
Speaker 1: week's newsletter. It's called The Weekly Hurdle. It comes out
28:59
Speaker 1: every Friday. Love for you to subscribe, and the link
29:01
Speaker 1: to do that is in the show notes.
29:03
Speaker 2: It's absolutely free.
29:04
Speaker 1: But decision fatigue when you feel like you have no
29:08
Speaker 1: energy left, you can't make decisions that otherwise might feel simple.
29:14
Speaker 1: So remove the decision fatigue in your day to day
29:17
Speaker 1: to the best of your ability by thinking forward. By
29:21
Speaker 1: doing that, when you have more energy, trust me, you'll
29:26
Speaker 1: be better for it. A biggest example of me eliminating
29:30
Speaker 1: decision fatigue in my life is really with my morning routine.
29:33
Speaker 1: I know exactly what notebook I'm going to reach for.
29:35
Speaker 1: I know exactly what cup I make my coffee in.
29:38
Speaker 1: I know exactly what coffee I'm going to drink. I
29:41
Speaker 1: have a drawer where I keep the leggings that I
29:43
Speaker 1: like to work out in, and in that drawer there
29:45
Speaker 1: are no leggings that I would pick out and say, hmmm,
29:48
Speaker 1: not today. I know exactly what workout I'm going to
29:53
Speaker 1: do on what day because I make the plan ahead
29:56
Speaker 1: of time on Sundays to really lay out my schedule
30:00
Speaker 1: for the entire week, and I know if I'm meeting
30:03
Speaker 1: a friend and have people to reach out to when
30:05
Speaker 1: I want to be held accountable. These are all things
30:09
Speaker 1: I do for myself, a favor I do for myself
30:12
Speaker 1: because I prioritize my mental health, my well being, and
30:15
Speaker 1: I know that I am worth it, and I know
30:19
Speaker 1: that I deserve a great ro I on my energy.
30:26
Speaker 1: So as we head into the second week of the year,
30:29
Speaker 1: I want you to remember that you're more than your output.
30:33
Speaker 1: You're a human being. You're not a productivity machine. And
30:36
Speaker 1: if you're feeling fatigued, it's not because you're not strong enough.
30:40
Speaker 1: It's because you're spending your currency in the wrong places.
30:43
Speaker 1: Take the audit, find your sweet spots this week, delete
30:48
Speaker 1: one drain, schedule one sweet spot again.
30:51
Speaker 2: That's so simple.
30:52
Speaker 1: It could be as easy as putting a ten minute
30:55
Speaker 1: coffee on the calendar like it's a board meeting. And
30:58
Speaker 1: then the third thing I want you to do is
31:00
Speaker 1: I want you to use that good enough pass I
31:02
Speaker 1: talked about. I want you to pick one task that
31:05
Speaker 1: you usually obsess over and agree to do it at
31:09
Speaker 1: seventy percent effort. It's okay, You're Okay, for the love
31:14
Speaker 1: of everything, please just remember that it doesn't need to
31:17
Speaker 1: be so serious that you deserve to have fun and
31:20
Speaker 1: everything's going to be just fine. We get to design
31:24
Speaker 1: the life that we are after. It just takes a
31:27
Speaker 1: little finagling to make it all happen, you know the drill.
31:31
Speaker 1: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast. Please
31:35
Speaker 1: tag me as you're doing any and all of these
31:37
Speaker 1: exercises and let me know how are you feeling about
31:40
Speaker 1: this type of episode. It's been a minute since I've
31:43
Speaker 1: done a solo in long format like this, and I'm
31:46
Speaker 1: just trying to do the best I can with what
31:48
Speaker 1: I have and make sure everyone here is happy and
31:50
Speaker 1: satisfied and feeling empowered to step into all the goodness
31:56
Speaker 1: that is working to be your best self.
31:59
Speaker 2: A Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time. H