the bossbabe podcast - 288. What I’m Doing To Operate As My Most Energetic, Productive + Focused Self with Natalie Ellis

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

Feeling drained, depleted and in need of a recharge? Let us introduce you to The Freedom Formula. Say GOODBYE to chronic burnout, exhaustion and procrastination and HELLO to long-lasting energy, creativity and freedom.On this week’s episode, Natalie unveils the top five areas you might be leaking energy and how to plug those leaks so you can better maintain your daily energy and productivity. If you’re committed to creating a whole new level of freedom in your life, look no further. This episode is full of insights that will help you break free from chronic burnout and finally feel like your best self. Highlights: Top reasons why you’re feeling drained and burnt out every week. 5 (non-health-related) things you can do to boost and maintain your daily energy. How to stop micromanaging and start improving you and your team’s productivity. Links: DM @iamnatalie the word “FREEDOM” to join her personal VIP list for exclusive access to resources that will help you gain more freedom in your life and business. Go to brevo.com/BOSSBABE to sign up for Brevo for free and use code BOSSBABE to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan! Follow: bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie

A boss babe is unapologetically ambitious and paves the way for herself and other women to rise, keep going, and fighting on. She is on a mission to be her best self in all areas. It's just believing in yourself. Confidently stepping outside her comfort zone to create her own vision of success. I am so excited to share something completely brand new coming to the podcast. I know so many of you are wanting to create more freedom in your lives. I'm talking about time freedom, location freedom, schedule freedom, and something that honestly I don't hear a lot of people talking about, which is the inner freedom. And honestly, this is the

most important one in the equation. Without this, you can never really achieve the harmony, peace, and fulfillment that I know that you're really craving. And so I'm dropping a brand new series called The Freedom Formula over the next few weeks to deep dive with you on all the things when it comes to truly creating sustainable and lasting freedom in your business and life. It is really incredible what happens when you implement things that not just support the outer freedom in your life but the inner freedom. So we're going to talk about managing your energy, overcoming chronic burnout, designing your million dollar day, building an operating system around your life, getting free of the things that continuously trigger you and keep you stuck.

So if this is resonating with you and you are committed to creating a whole new level of freedom for yourself than you probably ever imagined was even possible, come over to Instagram and DM me at IamNatalie with the word freedom and I will add you to my personal VIP list and I'll continue sharing every time we've got a resource that's really going to support you in making it happen. Let's visualize your energy as a battery, right? You want to wake up with it fully charged and you want to go throughout your day having enough energy to get done the things you want to get done and to show up in the way you want to show up. So enough energy for the being and enough energy for the doing. Being is how you show up, how you are being and doing is obviously all the things that

you're doing. But if we have a faulty battery and it's leaking energy throughout the day and throughout the night, it means that we're waking up probably already feeling depleted and then it hits about lunchtime and we feel like the battery is completely drained and there's no energy to do anything. I'm sure as I'm saying this, a lot of you can really resonate and maybe feeling like you are going through the day with an empty battery or there are a lot of leaks happening. And so I want to share with you five main areas that your energy may be leaking. There are more than this, but these five are really, really core to start off with when you're doing an audit to see how you could be looking after your energy a little bit better. One thing I'm not going to go into in this episode is the health stuff around energy,

because that in itself is a whole different episode and I'm going to do one of those because there's so many ways on a health level that we can really make sure our energy is on point. I feel like as an entrepreneur and a CEO and a mom and a wife and a friend and all the titles I wear plus self, I feel like energy is really my number one job and that goes hand in hand with health. Making sure that my energy is as high as it can be is really, really important so that I can show up being the kind of person I want to be and doing the kind of things at the level I want to do them. So it's really, really important for me to focus on energy. So in this session, we're going to go over five things that you can do from a non-health standpoint So in this session, we're going to go over five things that you can do from a non-health standpoint. And in another session, we're going to go over the health

stuff too, because there's so many ways that we can come at energy and take it from me, you know, as the mom of a one-year-old, which is, oh my goodness, crazy that Noemi is one now, as the mom of a one-year-old and CEO of a company that is growing so quickly and having so many things going on behind the scenes it is possible to get your energy into a place where you wake up feeling refreshed and energized and you have enough in the tank to get through the day trust me it's possible even if you're in a chronic state of burnout and you're listening to this and you're like Natalie you might have one baby I're listening to this and you're like, Natalie, you might have one baby, I've got five. This is just impossible for me.

I think there are things that we can do that will really support you in that. So kicking off straight away is context switching. Context switching is a huge way that we drain the battery from our brain. It takes so much energy to context switch. And what I mean by that is, let's say you're in a meeting and then you hop off and you record a podcast and then you go to the gym and then you record another podcast, you do another meeting, another podcast, then

you're writing, you're just kind of all over the place. You're working on multiple different projects. You're using your creative side of your brain and then you're also in meetings and talking and communicating and you're doing so many different things that it feels like you get in the flow and then it stops and you're on to the next thing. Then you get in the flow and it stops and you're on to the next thing. The way I want you to see using your energy and your battery really is when you're in flow, you use a lot less energy because you're in a really constant state. You're in a constant state and that energy is being used slowly and gradually. Every time you context switch and start something new, that uses a lot of energy. That's a whole new thing that your

brain's having to focus on. And then you'll get into flow state there, hopefully, and same thing. So context switching, first and foremost, is something that I really recommend changing up. I think having a rhythm to how you run your week is really, really important. You know, Monday through Sunday, what are you doing each day and how are you minimizing the switching? And having like a really high level rhythm as a template that you apply to every week is a really great way to move through that. So first things first, start to do an audit of how often you're context switching throughout the days and see if you can notice where your energy might be leaking because if you can plug that leak right away you might notice your energy go up significantly. Another place that your energy

might be leaking is with anxiety or worry. Hands up if you're a worrier. Worrying is one of the biggest energy drains. It can take so much energy from you because you'll be doing something, you'll be focused on something, but your mind is completely elsewhere and is really using up more than double the amount of energy. So you might be typing out an email but if in the back of your mind you're really really worried about something or you're feeling anxious about something and you cannot get your mind off that but you keep trying to power through, you are using so much more energy than if you decide you know what I'm just gonna go deal with this worry. I'm gonna go on a walk, I'm gonna listen to a podcast, I'm gonna have an uncomfortable conversation, I'm gonna call my coach or my therapist, I'm going to go on a walk, I'm going to listen to a podcast, I'm going to have an uncomfortable conversation, I'm going to call my coach or my therapist, I'm going to call a friend

and chat to them, I'm just going to process the worry. Because what they say is what you resist persists, right? Have you heard that before? What you resist persists. And if you're worried and anxious in the back of your mind about anything, and you're trying to ignore it to just get on with your day and heads down, you're resisting it. And so that worry that you might have been able to feel and heal within, you know, a few minutes is actually persisting for hours and hours throughout your day. That is really not the kind of way that you want to go throughout your day because you could, you know, have a direct conversation with someone and realize you are worrying over nothing, or you could map out all the worst case scenarios that you're imagining

you come to peace with them and get back on with it that's really what I recommend if you are a worrier or you tend to lean into being more of an anxious person you know if you have diagnosed anxiety obviously this is different and you'll have your own coping mechanisms for that. But I do really recommend thinking about where your energy is leaking because of that anxiety. Which kind of leads me on to the third big energy leak. And that is procrastination. We all know how much that is draining. Firstly, because we're procrastinating and it's taking us an hour to get something done that could have taken us 10 minutes because we're procrastinating on it. But the self-talk that comes with the procrastination is so draining. You'll be procrastinating and you'll be having this narrative run through your brain of you're wasting so much time. Why can't you stay on task?

Maybe you're just not meant to do this. Maybe you're not good enough for this. You're probably nodding along because so many of us have a similar critical voice that it's so critical. We're like, wait, I would never speak to my friends, my partner, my children like this. It's so critical. And that voice is such a big energy drain. And often in a work setting that can come from procrastination. It's like you want to do the thing and you're judging yourself for not doing the thing and again what you resist persists. If you are really procrastinating on something you need to just put out your to-do list and decide you know what I am doing this thing no matter what. I am going in and I'm not gonna be distracted until I complete this thing end to what. I am going in and I'm not going to be distracted until I complete this

thing end to end. That is one way of doing it. Another way of doing it is doing some self-inquiry. Why am I procrastinating on this? Is it that I actually don't want to do it? Is it that I have a blog around this? Is it that I'm starting to question this thing? Like, is there a real deeper reason? Is it that I feel like an imposter or I'm not going to get it right or I'm nervous to be seen? I'm scared to do this. Is there fear involved? Really have a think about where that procrastination may be coming from and just address it so that it's not holding you back. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi. You know I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run

so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place. So it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients

and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet, now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash boss babe. The fourth thing, and I know we're going through these quickly because if you plug these, some of these you already know and just hearing them is like, yeah, Natalie, I totally get it. I am doing this. I am guilty of this. So as I'm walking through,

if you are noticing that you do do these things, maybe make a note of just one thing that you're gonna change and then come back to this podcast and say a month's time and decide, okay, I'm ready to tackle another energy leak and I'm slowly going to build it up. You can do this in your own timeline. But the fourth thing that can really

drain your energy is micromanagement. If you are micromanaging a team member, whether because they're not doing things and so you're having to constantly dive in and make sure things are getting done and really holding people accountable or things are just not getting done to the standard that you want them to be getting done and you feel like you're constantly having to go in and do other people's work on top of your workload and rewrite things and redo things this is a huge energy drain in a work setting and so there's a few ways that you can address this. Firstly, you really want to look inward and think,

okay, what may I be doing that may not be setting my team up for success? Have I really outlined all the processes they need to be able to do this task end to end the way I want it done? Have I really spent the time to delegate this out properly? Have I really spent the time to show people what done looks like? Or have I kind of half delegated it and just hope that the person receiving this is a mind reader and can do it right and then I'm gonna come back

to it at the end and then make them redo it all and get really frustrated with them. Like really look inward and see what you may or may not be doing that's really not setting this person up for success. Are you constantly jumping in so they're actually not getting a chance to figure it out on their own? There's often so much that we can look at as leaders to see where we could be improving what we do. So I really encourage you is that that's your first step of how could I improve this process? How could I create a loom or something step by step or invest in some mentorship and training to get that person where I really want them to be so that I don't feel like I have to micromanage them? Because as entrepreneurs, one of the things that we can definitely do is say, oh, it would be so

much faster if I did this myself. Or you know what, I'm just going to jump in and get it done because it'll be done my way. That is a really slippery slope to fall into because I know that you're desiring freedom and you're desiring to feel supported by your team. You're desiring to feel supported by the people you are trusting with your work. And I know that desire exists within you, but we often do have blocks to receiving support. We often self-sabotage. We often get so busy on our own stuff that we don't delegate appropriately. And then when it comes back to us not done, it kind of reinforces the story that no one does things the way I do them. No one does them as good as I do them. And so thatces the story that no one does things the way I do them no one does them as

good as I do them and so that's a story that we really don't want to continue with there's so many ways that you can get your team up to the standard like their work the same standard that you're creating yourself or you're looking for it is possible to find that but a big part of that is going to come from you as entrepreneur as a CEO as the leader and then beyond that of course there is a question about is that the right person and are they in the right seat it's not always the case that that's the right person and it's not always the case that that person is in the right seat and if you have done all of that you know looking inward and self-reflection and you've gone through the way in which you've delegated things and you've really addressed your own

patterns, then it might be the kind of conversation where you need to have with them and say, you know, do you feel like you can level up to match my expectations? Or do you feel like there's another seat that would be more appropriate for you? Or, you know, is this just just not working is this not a fit and you know those conversations aren't ever fun to have but they can also be quite illuminating we can find out a lot from having those uncomfortable conversations you might be thinking this is totally not the right person they have no idea how to build to match your standard and you have this conversation with them and you realize that actually there was just this huge communication issue that's been going on for

months and it's gone unaddressed but we've kind of avoided it because we've avoided having that uncomfortable conversation because we didn't want to tell someone that they weren't performing to a standard we were desiring so I encourage you to have those conversations and really think about how you can level up as a leader and bring your team with you and then finally a huge energy leak is tasks that you don't need to be doing or that you don't enjoy doing you've probably all heard about doing task audits like really auditing where you're spending your time on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. And if you're spending your time consistently doing things that you're not great at, you don't really need to be doing because someone else could definitely be doing it and you don't enjoy doing it. Those things you

really need to get off your plate ASAP because those things will be draining your energy so significantly and also pulling you away from actually doing things that are going to move the needle in your business, that are going to be bringing in revenue, that are going to be supporting your team and driving your vision forward. And so the way that I often coach people on this, which sounds a little bit harsh, but I often say, you know, you're being selfish by not taking this thing off your plate. First and foremost, you're not giving your team a chance to actually support you and a chance to actually take on things that may be their zone of excellence and maybe they'd have real enjoyment in executing. You're not giving them that chance.

And then beyond that, you're doing your vision a disservice because if you stay in that zone doing those kinds of things, you're not really giving yourself the path to be able to build this vision. Because to really build the vision that you've got is going to require so much of you and it's going to require you to spend like 75% of time in your zone of genius or zone of excellence. 75% is a lot of time driving revenue, driving the vision forward. You know, whether it's hiring those A players, getting mentorship, learning, being creative, being in the zone that you know you deliver best on, you're doing your vision a disservice and you're letting your team down by not letting them step up and take things off of your plate. And so that's a way that I tend to

look at this. It can sound quite harsh, but it's a real reframe that we often, you know, think, oh, I don't want to delegate this thing because I don't enjoy doing it. I'm putting it on someone else. That's you assuming that everything you enjoy, other people enjoy and everything you don't enjoy, other people don't enjoy. And that's just not the way things generally work. You know, when we have a great team put together, we have a team of people with completely different skill sets, completely different likes, completely different dislikes, and completely different zones of genius. And that's something that you as a leader really want to be digging into. You want to be constantly auditing people's roles and seeing if they're sitting in the seat that makes sense for them. If they are, you know,

focused on the tasks that are moving the needle, are important to the business, and then auditing your own and seeing where you can be delegating and taking things off your plate. So to kind of sum those up, we have context switching, that is a really big one anxiety or worry procrastination micromanagement and then tasks you don't need to be doing or don't enjoy I guarantee if you plug those five things let's say you decide to plug one thing a week or one thing every two weeks by the end of those things, you might barely recognize the way in which you feel. And that's without changing any of the health stuff. You know that I'm big on routines, balancing your blood sugar, making sure you're really eating for success, getting your sleep in,

doing the things that you know you can do to boost your energy up. I actually have a list of energy hacks of things that make me my best self that I do on a rhythmic basis. If you're not even doing those yet, but you're plugging your energy leaks at work, you're going to find you have so much more energy to then go and focus on your health. Maybe start getting those workouts in, going on the walks, connecting more with the people around you, meal prepping, eating healthier, not just grabbing, you know, something that's convenient as you're running out of the door, eating at your desk. There's so many things that you probably know already you can be doing, but if we're already

feeling drained and depleted, then that can be really challenging. So plugging these leaks is a really great way for you to start to say, okay, I'm going to charge my own battery up so that I have more energy to go and give to the things, the people, the tasks that I want to be showing up better for, my health, all of those things. So again, five things, contact switching, anxiety and worry, procrastination, micromanagement and tasks you don't need or don't enjoy to be doing. Change them up, give it a go. I think you'll be really, really happy with the results. Thank you so much for listening and if you enjoyed this episode on the Boss Babe podcast then I'd absolutely love it if you leave us a review. As a thank you, we'll send you our

side hustle success kit, your simple no BS guide to keeping track of everything that you need to do to start and grow your business. To access this freebie, all you need to do is leave us a review, then share a screenshot of your review with contact at bossbabe.com and we'll send this must-have kit straight to your inbox.