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Debunking the Myths About Slowing Down · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, hey, welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome and thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend with me.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've been a follower of my podcast, you may have noticed that there haven't been very many episodes over the last several weeks.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because I did take some time off and some time to slow down, some time to step away, and to just regroup and also to spend some time with my kiddos while they were home for the summer.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard though, and that's what I want to talk about on this episode is when you are a high achiever or you're a high performer, you tend to struggle with this idea of slowing down.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to think that if we slow down, that we're not going to be able to pick up the momentum again, or we there's fears, there's fears around it.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about the myths around slowing down.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about how we can give ourselves permission to slow down and why it might just be exactly what you need.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the most common conception about slowing down is that there is a fear that you'll sacrifice your performance and your ability to keep going.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And even like myself, I know that I struggled with this idea of stepping away from recording podcast episodes because it was part of, it was part of my routine.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was also part of what I do.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And there was definitely a fear of if I stop, will I start up again?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're driven, we're ambitious, and we're always looking for that next milestone.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we get to a place of I've accomplished this, and then we're ready to accomplish the very next achievement.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing really is, is that if we continue to constantly go at that full speed, at that, at the full throttle all the time, it's not sustainable.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we do find that when we continue to do that, while it may seem sustainable for a certain amount of time, we do end up burning out.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it can be detrimental to our health, it can be detrimental to just our own mental and emotional health.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So physical health, mental, and emotional, all um mixed into one.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the different myths, right?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like the very first one is I don't have enough time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many times have you said that to yourself?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Where the there's this idea that you don't have enough time to slow down.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's already not enough time in the day.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you just you have to keep going.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's no, there's no ability to take a step back.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you're trying so, so hard to just squeeze out as much as you can out of every minute of the day.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: But when you slow down, you actually create more time.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you take the time to pause and to reflect and understand what's working and what's not, and give yourself time to reset, you allow yourself to be more focused and more intentional, and ultimately you'll be more productive.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's really not about the quantity of the time that you're spending, but the quality of the time and the energy that you can give it at the time that you're doing it.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Again, even for me, taking the time away from the podcast and giving myself the weeks of the summer to just reset and to understand for myself what does work for me and what doesn't has allowed me to come back with such excitement around sharing these episodes with everybody again.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Another myth is, as I mentioned before, that I'm gonna lose momentum.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So many of us high achievers have this fear that if we are, if we ever take that foot off the gas pedal, right?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: We if we take um take a step back, we we will lose our momentum and we will not be able to regain it.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing if you constantly push forward, you will eventually burn yourself out.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: You'll eventually feel overwhelmed and just like you can't continue to go at that speed at that speed.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, because if you're constantly in motion and you're constantly pushing yourself and never giving yourself that time to recharge, eventually all of that momentum you have will fizzle out.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get, you'll get to that place of exhaustion.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So when you do slow yourself down, you you sustain the energy over a long period of time.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: But also when you're slowing down, you're giving yourself time to replenish and refuel.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about, you know, marathon runners, when they are running all of those miles, they don't sprint the entire time.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: They pace themselves.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes during the course of that race, they're gonna slow down and then other times they're gonna speed up.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So this isn't about saying you just constantly slow down.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: There is an ebb and flow to it, but you learn to pace yourself.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Another myth is I can't afford to, especially with um entrepreneurs, this happens a lot because you are in charge of your business.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's this fear that you can't slow down because and and because you can't afford to.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you were to slow down, it could cost you business, it could cost you revenue.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And even if you're working for someone else in corporate, there's this idea that I can't afford to because I've got these pressures of these deadlines.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: I have these expectations I have to meet.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if I don't meet them now, I might have some financial, um, some financial detriment to myself.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easy to believe that if you slow down, it's gonna cost you, whether it's in terms of money, opportunities, you know, again, if I slow down, I'll lose the opportunity for promotion, perhaps.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Or if I slow down, now it's gonna hurt my reputation.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the truth again is if you you can't really afford to not slow down, because when you consistently go at such a breakneck speed and you never give yourself time to back off and slow it down, you're running yourself into the ground.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And there's actually a rater, a greater risk that it will cost you more in the end.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you if you continue to push yourself and push yourself and you get to that place of burnout, you'll actually end up missing those opportunities for promotion because you're not going to be in a place to level up.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're an entrepreneur and you're burnt out, you're going to maybe get to a place where you just aren't even passionate about what it is you're doing anymore.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Another myth is like if I stop, I don't give myself permission to stop when I get to fill in the blank, right?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll stop when I get to this revenue goal, or I'll stop when I get to X number of podcasts.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: We all have those benchmarks.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's the I'll take a break when this project is finished, or I'll relax when I hit this milestone.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the problem with that thinking is that there's always another, there's always another uh milestone on the horizon.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, high achievers are known for this idea of nexting.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, once we get to one thing, we're like, okay, that's great.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now we go on to the next.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: So if we don't slow down, we're basically postponing self-care in the end.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's about giving ourselves permission to consistently pause, reflect, understand what's working so that you don't get trapped in that rabbit hole of constantly chasing the next thing where you're never actually even giving yourself permission to enjoy where you are.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Another myth that I know that I've dealt with is no one else can do this but me.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So high performers often carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: We definitely convince ourselves that if we don't handle something, it's not gonna get done, it's not gonna get done right, or you know, we just really truly don't trust that someone else is gonna follow through.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: But we need to learn to delegate tasks.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: We need to learn to rely on other people, learn to ask for help.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: That does free up some time and it does empower not just you, but it empowers others to feel like they have the ability to contribute.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're thinking about leadership, leadership isn't about doing everything yourself.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is about empowering and enable others to also succeed and to also feel like they have a contribution to give as well.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Which leads into another myth, which is no one else can do this as well as me, right?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And this kind of is a part of the perfectionist mantra as well, that we are the only ones that can get this thing done and get it done perfectly.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Slowing down allows you the ability to prioritize what actually matters versus what um actually needs to be, quote unquote, flawless.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sure, there's some things that we need to do flawlessly.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a surgeon, you are going to want to go into that surgery and and try to be as flawless as possible.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: But giving yourself permission to delegate or to simply say, this is good enough allows for that freedom of mental and emotional space.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: It allows you to take some time to slow down and to just reflect again on what is going well and what maybe you could could work on.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, the final myth that I wanted to talk about is um I'm sacrificing my now for later, meaning I'm going to work really, really, really hard and push myself over the top right now because later I'll be able to enjoy it.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is like one of the toughest myths that we could possibly lean into because what ends up happening is that later for the relaxation never happens.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: That later never comes.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's again something always that we push ourselves to.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's always that next goal, there's always another challenge, another deadline.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so that mindset keeps you in a perpetual state of stress and overwhelm.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if you stay in that state of stress and overwhelm, what you're going to find is that it will affect you mentally, emotionally, and physically.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So many individuals are dealing with autoimmune issues.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because it's the result of a lot of chronic stress, and it's because we never have the opportunity to slow down.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we think about what happens when we we constantly are staying busy, we're constantly pushing ourselves, we are not giving ourselves to fully take care of ourselves and we're constantly running at that full steed, at that full speed.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's harmful and it deteriorates our overall health, but it also deteriorates our relationships and it can just have an effect on your long-term, your long-term goals and aspirations.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we do about this?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: How do we, how do we slow down to speed up?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, definitely giving yourself scheduled breaks during the day.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's one thing that you can make a habit.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Where, you know, if you have, if you're used to having a packed schedule of back-to-back meetings, be really cognizant about giving yourself scheduled breaks within the day.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have an assistant, for instance, who is managing your schedule, take ownership of communicating that you need to have breaks in in between some of your meetings.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Boundaries are huge.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Setting boundaries with others and also with yourself.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So learning to say no, learning to protect your time and energy, and then also having those clear boundaries with yourself and keeping your word to yourself.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Practicing mindfulness is huge to slowing down.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: What that what does that entail?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: It entails taking moments out of your day where you are present momently aware.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: You can do this by tapping into one of your five senses, you know, uh paying attention.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: For instance, I'm an auditory person, paying attention to sounds that I can hear is just five or six sounds that I can hear in a moment allows me to practice that mindfulness, coming back to this present moment.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Another way to practice mindfulness is to just feel your feet on the ground, breathe in and breathe out, come back to this present moment.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Another great way to do it is to journal and to get out of your head, you know, what you've been thinking about and get it onto paper, give it an output, an output channel.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what that does is it also allows you to um to release what you've been thinking about, which does allow you to also slow down.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, the other one that I had mentioned earlier is learning how to delegate, delegate to others, learn to communicate what it is that you really need and start building up that trust and empowering the people around you, whether it's your team at work, your employees if you are an entrepreneur, or even in your own family, familial setting, being able to delegate within the family unit in order to create some time for yourself.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: If slowing down scares you, or you would like some support on this topic or something else that you feel coaching would be helpful with, feel free to reach out to me at any time at coachwithcomedy.com.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authenticme.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.