Welcome to Visionaries Pursuit, a podcast where we explore what it takes to turn your bold and inspiring ideas into reality. I'm Carolina Zuleta. I'm a life and a business coach and your host for this podcast. I'm thrilled to have you here. Hello, hello, and welcome to episode eight of the Visionaries Pursuit podcast.
As always, I am just so grateful that I get to be with all of you today. So here's what I want us to talk about. I've noticed that I've had multiple conversations with people who are brilliant, who are high performers, who are leaders, who inside of them, they're feeling this calling to create something, to make something that is going to impact the lives of many other people.
And when I tell them, yeah, let's go for it, let's do it. Their concern is that they're going to be too tired. That is going to require too much energy, too much effort. That they may get burnt out or can't manage their stress levels. And I get it. I don't want to be naive and say that creating our vision, realizing our dreams, doesn't take energy.
It does. The point here is that we can do it by expelling a lot of energy, increasing our capacity to have more energy without that meaning that we're going to be burnt out. And so stressed or getting sick. So, what I want us to talk about today is this fear we have of being tired, and how can we best manage our energy so that fear doesn't stop us.
I'm no doctor, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time here. It may seem obvious, but the first place we need to look when we're talking about energy is our body. How are we taking care of our body? And for me, I think the most basic things are sleep, hydration, food, and exercise. So that would be the first place I would recommend anyone who's struggling with energy to look.
Are you sleeping well? Are you getting enough food and nutrients? Are you hydrating yourself every day, drinking plenty of water? And are you moving your body in some way, shape, or form? But if you know you're doing all the right things and you're still feeling tired, I definitely recommend talking with a doctor.
I've noticed that for me, taking extra vitamins or some supplements makes a huge difference in my energy level. But let's be honest, so many of us are not sleeping well, so many of us forget to drink enough water during the day. And if we want to be leaders in this world, if we want to be visionaries that are creating a difference in this planet, we have to take care of our bodies.
So just make sure you pay attention to these basic things, talk to a doctor if you need to. Where I really want to focus the majority of the time in this podcast is how our brain, how our mind, how our thoughts also create tiredness and what we can do about that. So the first belief I want us all to explore is this belief that says, if I'm tired, I'm being productive.
If I'm tired, I'm being successful. I've noticed often so many of us are saying, Oh my God, I work 80 hours a week or I barely could sleep. I have so much work. And we talk about that like if you were wearing a badge of honor that says we are successful. Look how hard I work. Look how little sleep I have.
And we say it because I think our culture, our society, It's supporting that. It's saying people who work really hard, many hours, who are not sleeping, who are the people who are spending the most time in the office, are the high performers, are the people who are the most driven. And because it's in the air, it's in all of us, we don't realize how that is impacting us.
One, because we're not setting boundaries or delegating enough, or setting the structure of our business or our project in a way that is supporting our well being. And two, because we believe we're high performers, so we find things to do and get busy every day, to be in alignment with the belief that we are high performers.
And if you want to test this belief, what do you think about the people that end their days earlier, who make sure they get plenty of rest, who prioritize going for a workout or taking a nap? Just notice within you if maybe you have a belief that they're lazy or that they're not as driven, that maybe they're not the most important leaders.
Or that maybe they're not the highest performers. It's important that we question this belief, because it's affecting us. It's draining our energy by making us work harder and harder and harder, so inside we can feel like, yes, I am a high performer. In order to achieve the biggest goals, we really have to challenge the belief that more hours means better.
That more time spent is higher productivity. And I want to invite you to change that belief for how can I work smarter? How can I take care of myself so I can be at my best? If I'm going to spend two hours, I'm going to be so focused, feeling so energized, that my, the delivery of my product is going to be way superior than if I'm working 10 hours a day and feeling burnt out for six of them.
In our society today, we think work and productivity come above our well being, are above, above the enjoyment of our life experience. So remember, getting to the goal, the goal itself, is a moment in time. The journey to get to that goal is the majority of our life. And that amount of time has to be above the moment we achieve the goal.
As I was thinking about our current culture, where our work and our productivity go above our well being, I was reminded of the research by Dan Buettner, The guy who spent many years studying the blue zones, which are the areas in the world where people live longer, healthier lives than anywhere else.
And in his work, he explains that people who live in those zones have one thing in common. They live a human need first lifestyle, in which the things that we need as human beings are prioritized. And I think we can all learn from that. But in order for all of us to really prioritize the needs we have as human beings, we have to challenge or change that belief.
That work comes above our well being, that more hours means higher productivity, that the only way to get successful is by working really, really hard. The second set of thoughts that I think are affecting us, are affecting our energy levels is our brain constantly presenting us with the thought, I'm so tired, I'm so tired, I'm exhausted.
Just take a moment and notice how often do you say to yourself, I'm so tired, I'm so tired, I'm exhausted. Remember that whatever we're saying in our mind, our brain, and our body take it as the reality. A simple example to prove this true. When you're in a movie theater and you're watching a horror movie, you actually experience fear.
Your heart rate goes up. You might even start sweating. You may jump out of your chair when something scary happens in the movie. And you know it's a movie, you know how movies are made up, but for your brain, that is the reality. So, the same thing happens when you're often telling your brain, I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm tired, your body starts feeling tired.
Now, let's understand a little bit more why when we're thinking about a big project or something that's going to require effort. Immediately, the thought of I'm tired comes to our mind. Well, there's something that's called the Motivational Triad. The Motivational Triad are the forces that drive our unconscious part of ourselves to make decisions to take action.
The first one. Moving us away from pain. Anything our brain perceives that can hurt us, it will create a story so we step away from it. Number two, it will move us towards pleasure. Scrolling on social media, taking a nap, doing nothing, our brain perceives it as pleasure. So, it's moving us towards that. And third, our unconscious brain wants to save energy.
Because these three forces is what has allowed us to survive as humans for all of history. So of course when you think about a new idea, a new project, and you know it's going to require energy, your primitive brain starts saying, alert, alert, we're so tired, we don't have the energy for that. And it comes up with story cells, Oh, I'm so tired today, I'm going to do this tomorrow.
Or, you know what, I'm going to cut corners here, I'm not going to really go fully for that. Because it's the way that it's protecting us, keeping us in what's safe and what it's known. So there's a really good reason why we tell ourselves we're tired. But also, we have to remember that we have the power to not engage with those thoughts.
To decide consciously, I'm gonna stop telling myself that I'm tired. I'm gonna start showing my brain why I do have energy. Why do I have a bigger capacity to expand my energy, to use energy to create what I want. One of my favorite podcasts is called The Armchair Expert, and Dax Shepard is the host. And I remember once he said, he noticed he kept telling himself, I'm so tired, I'm so tired.
I didn't sleep well. And he decided to stop telling himself that. And all of a sudden his energy started coming back. He started sleeping better. And I've been trying that for myself, and it makes a huge difference. So I invite you to test it for a month. Decide, for one month, I'm not going to tell myself I'm tired.
And when my brain presents me that thought, like, oh, I'm tired, In that moment, I'm going to give my brain proof as to why I'm not tired. I've had enough food, I slept, I am so engaged in this project, I really want to do it and these are the reasons why, I'm healthy, all the evidence you have as to why you can continue using energy.
to pursue your vision, to achieve your goals, to make the difference that you really want to make in this planet. And if you're really tired, then sleep, take a nap, take a break. The problem is that many of us say, I'm so tired, I'm so tired. And when we take a break, we don't nap, we don't sleep. We end up endlessly scrolling on the internet or doing things that are low value, that really.
Don't make a difference in our business, in our project, or in our life. Third set of thoughts that drain our energy, and it's all of our negative self talk. It is exhausting to be fighting with ourselves saying, I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I'm too slow, or I'll never make it, or we're worrying about money, or we're worrying about what other people are going to say.
All that energy that goes into worrying, talking bad about ourselves, beating ourselves up, that is draining our energy. When we resist our reality, when we look at what we have to do for the day, and we are like, Oh, I don't want to do that. That's so boring, or I can't do it. I'm not good enough. That drains our energy, but the moment that we connect to what we're doing and we find the why we're doing it and we remind ourselves that we have everything within us to do it, our energy comes back up.
Some months ago, I was invited to go on a hike and we were hiking this huge mountain. And I remember standing in the bottom, from the bottom you can see the top of the mountain. And I thought, how on earth will I get to the top? It seems so far away. And all of a sudden I felt tired, I felt my energy go down.
I started thinking, why do I sign up for these things? I could be home and resting. I really don't know how I'm going to make it to the top, but then I said, you know what? I'm not going to worry about the top. I am going to connect to all the other people who are doing this hike with me. I'm going to really be present with nature and the views and the beauty of this hike, and we'll see how far I get.
And I started doing that. All throughout the hike, I was engaging with people, having conversations. There were moments that it was really steep and I could feel I was out of breath and it was hard, and in those moments I just focused on one step after another, looking at the nature around me, the beautiful flowers, the butterflies.
And I kept going like this, it was hours, and all of a sudden I was at the top, and I couldn't believe it. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was challenging, but I had the energy to do it. And it wasn't honestly as hard as I thought it was going to be, because we have this beautiful ability to refocus our attention.
We have the ability to honestly beat ourselves down. Make us, ourselves feel awful, create shame, but we also have the ability to connect to our purpose, to be present in the moment, to really enjoy everything we're doing and accept our reality fully and engage with it fully. And when we do that, our energy comes back.
And when we do that often, we start realizing that we have way more energy than we gave ourselves credit. A lot of people think, Oh, but if I go for it, I'm going to be feel so stressed. It's going to be so hard. I'm going to be worrying. I want to remind all of you that stress and worry are optional, that you actually can learn to be in control of your thoughts, of your attitude, of your focus, so you can generate more energy than you ever thought you had.
And the last thing I want to remind us all of is that our power lies in our decision making. If, in fact, we're working 80 hours a week, if, in fact, we have so much work that we can't ever get it done, we also have the ability to decide what we're not going to do, who are we going to delegate it to, or if we're gonna push deadlines further so we can do one thing at a time with all of our energy, focus, and love.
The best thing about being a visionary is that you get to decide. You get to decide how you spend your time. When you're inside a corporate world, other people are deciding what your schedule is, what the volume of your work is. But when you're on your own path, you are driving this. As visionaries, as creators of our own projects and ideas, we also get to design our lifestyle.
And by this, I don't mean that we're always working three hours a week and we're never pushing ourselves. Of course, we, we're ambitious. There's gonna be moments that we're gonna decide, Hey, you know what? I'm gonna work the next two or three weekends because I really want to get this product out. Or it's crunch time to finish a movie I'm making.
And that's okay. Do it. Do it with love. And then schedule time for the break, and then schedule time for rest. But remember, power lies in your capacity and your ability to make decisions. So don't feel a victim to feeling tired. Decide how you're gonna manage your energy. Decide how you're going to spend your time and challenge those thoughts that are telling you that the way you want to do it is impossible.
Here's what we often do. Oh, I want to create this business. Oh, but that's going to really hurt my relationship. Oh, I'm going to write a book, but I'm going to be exhausted. So when your brain presents you with two options, leave your dream, create your business. Or take care of yourself and feel rested, but don't have your dream.
Remember that you don't have to actually choose one or the other. That there is always a way of creating your business, achieving your goals and feeling rested and feeling energized. Anytime your brain presents you with two options and either of those options is what you really want. Think, how can I make both happen?
How can I Launch this new product and feel energized. How can I have this impact in the world while I'm rested and taking care of myself and spending time with my family? If you give your brain a better question of how do I get both, your brain will start coming up with ideas and ways that you can achieve both.
But when you decide ahead of time that you have to choose between your dreams and your energy, That's it. You will always have to choose between both of them. Feeling tired is a real thing. There's a moment that we don't have more energy and we can always rest. But I also think that a lot of us with our brain are creating a culture of exhaustion, of feeling tired, of being busy all the time instead of working smart, in being effective.
In thinking strategically, what are the essential things I have to do, and who else can help me to get to my goal? So I hope that by all of us reflecting on that, me included, we've stopped feeling like a victim to being tired. And we remember that we get to decide how to manage our thoughts, our behaviors, how to take care of our body so we can increase our energy.
I truly believe that expanding energy, going for it, catapults us to a next level of energy. Expanding our capacity. Expanding our ability to do bigger things, but it all depends on what we're telling ourselves. So please, don't give up on your dreams because you're scared of being tired. Life will pass and you will feel tired.
You will give up on the things that give purpose and meaning to your life. And make this life experience so much worthwhile. So, take ownership of your energy. If there's physical things you have to change, take action. Make a plan, find help you need. And challenge yourself, at least for the next couple of weeks, to stop telling yourself, Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next week.
If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions, as well as your team and your money, so you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality. Go now to carosuleta. com slash consult.
That is carosuleta. com. That's C A R O Z U L E T A dot com slash consult and complete the form to book a complimentary call with me. See you there!
