May 20, 2025 • 52 mins
In this empowering episode of Next Steps Forward, host Dr. Chris Meek sits down with Becca Powers, an international keynote speaker, USA TODAY best-selling author, and founder of Powers Peak Potential. Becca shares her transformative journey from a minimum-wage Dollar Store employee to an award-winning Fortune 500 sales executive, illustrating how mindset mastery can propel high performers toward extraordinary success. Drawing from her proprietary framework, The POWER Method, Becca discusses how adopting a "both/and" mindset - balancing ambition with well-being - can help individuals break free from mediocrity and achieve both career success and personal fulfillment. She emphasizes the importance of embracing limiting beliefs as opportunities for growth and provides actionable strategies to unlock one's full potential. Whether you're a senior leader, entrepreneur, or someone seeking to elevate your life and career, this conversation offers invaluable insights into achieving sustainable success without sacrificing happiness.
About Becca Powers: Becca Powers, has been referred to as the female Tony Robbins, is a renowned keynote speaker and the visionary Founder of Powers Peak Potential, a leading keynote and training company specializing in mindset mastery for high performers. From her humble beginnings as a minimum-wage Dollar Store employee to an award-winning, 20-year career as a Fortune 500 sales executive, Becca has perfected her expertise in empowering senior leaders and high-performance teams to unlock their full potential through her proprietary methodology, The POWER Method. Becca’s transformative programs include sales optimization, employee engagement, and leadership development, helping corporations shift from either/or thinking to both/and thinking, fostering innovation, productivity, and sustainable success.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are few things that make people successful. Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some time to get there. How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you? Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek. Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here is Chris Meek. Hello. You've tuned to this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek. As always, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Our focus is on personal empowerment, a commitment to wellbeing, and the motivation to achieve more than ever thought possible. We have another outstanding guest this week. Becca Powers has been described as the female Tony Robbins. She's a renowned keynote speaker and the visionary founder of Power's Peak Potential, a training company specializing in mindset mastery for high performers. From her humble beginnings as a minimum wage dollar store employee to an award-winning 20-year career as a Fortune 500 sales executive, Becca empowers senior leaders and high-performance teams to unlock their full potential through her proprietary methodology, the pun intended here, the Power Method. Becca's transformative programs help corporations shift from either-or thinking to both-and thinking to foster innovation, productivity, and sustainable success. Becca is also the author of not one, not two, but yes, three bestselling books, A Return to Radiance, Harness Your Inner CEO, and the Workplace Burnout Workbook. Becca Powers, welcome to Next Steps Forward.
(01:34):
Speaker3: Hey, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Three bestsellers. We're going to get to that later, but congratulations. I know where you find the time. But Becca, you founded Power's Peak Potential to work with high performers, but before you did, you had a very successful corporate career. What was missing and how did that realization shape the mission of Power's Peak Potential?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
When you get into your purpose, so I'm going to start there, is that I think so often we try to find our purpose, but sometimes it's not an actual thing that we do. It's a meaning that surfaces like a calling within us. I mean, I had a natural, I've been keynote speaking since 2008, I've been coaching on the side, I'm a sales leader, so there's certain aspects of this that have just been very organic and native, so to speak. But as a senior leader, I experienced extreme burnout at one point in my career, going back about eight years ago now, and I remember coming home from work for my fourth bad day in a row. I'm sure some listeners can even put themselves in that shoes, that was my fourth bad day in a row. We had extreme sales goals, there was a lot of pressure in the company. At home, I had four kids in middle school, my husband and I are raising a blended family, so everything's just on full blast, right? And so I come home after my fourth bad day in a row, and I remember sitting in the car and just pulling everything I had to put on that happy face, right? And I'm like, I can do it, and I walk through the door, and then my kids are in middle school, so it wasn't like they're like, hey, mom, I love you. They're like, mom, I need you to sign this, mom, and I lost my mind. And in that split second, my response was just anger. I was like, can I put my freaking purse down? And I didn't say that exactly, right? But it was a moment that shifted my life and really, I think, awakened that purpose within me because I remember my kids looking at me in shame and fear and sadness, and I still tear up eight, nine years later because those are such foundational years, and what I realized is I was so far from being present, you know? And I get the goosebumps talking to you, it made me question, who am I as a mom, who am I as a leader, who am I as a wife, who am I as a person? And that night, I looked at myself in the mirror, and I really had a hard time recognizing myself, and that emotional weight, so to speak, sent me to an emotional collapse on the floor. And I'll wrap up the story here in a second, but on the floor, it's kind of like when you hit rock bottom, it's kind of hilarious in one way because you're so broken that humor is really like your only way out sometimes. And so I remember sitting on the floor and crying and just calling up to God Universe, like, I don't know how to do tomorrow any differently than I'm doing today. And if I don't get some help, I'm going to do the same thing over again. And I heard a voice from within me just say, like, Becca, you're the CEO of your life. And so I had this like comical moment where it's like, I'm on the floor, but I'm like, well, if I'm the CEO of my life, then why am I crying on the bathroom floor? I probably have a lot more power in my decisions and how I'm approaching things than I think I do. And that feeling did send a surge of empowerment through my body, and I rose off that bathroom floor. I didn't know how I was going to do the next day, but I did. And then I did the next day, and slowly but surely, 180'd my life completely. And when I got to a point that I felt strong enough to share the frameworks I used on myself that it was rinse and repeatable, then it became like this, where I started the conversation like this purpose within me. So that's how it unfolded, Chris.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So before I get to a fault for that, well, first I'll start with, I think I've got the title for your next book, you're the CEO of your life. So I don't know if you've got anything in the works, but I'd love that. So I'd like to kind of do that with some of our guys working stuff. What kind of dog do you have?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
That's a, he's a French Bulldog. And normally right now he's napping, but he's not.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I asked because my dog, my 30 pound fierce Shih Tzu, Zeke, is sleeping next to me. But every now and then he'll let you know when the Amazon or UPS guy are here.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yes, yes. And I think that's what happened is they were napping. So I had my door open and then somebody came and now he's awake. So that's Mac.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So post-COVID, new normal. So what's the name?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
His name's Mac.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Mac. I love it.
Speaker 3: Thank you for inviting him into the show. (06:17):
undefined
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Of course. Absolutely. It's a family show. And you're allowed to say things other than frigging too, because we're satellites, so it's okay.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All right. Good.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So you talked about breaking down, you know, obviously that was your turning point. Does it have to get that far for people? Are there signs that we can see along the way before you actually have that point where you drop the frigging bomb and cry?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And I have spent quite a few years refining easy ways to help people not hit a bathroom floor. And as I share what I call my bathroom floor moment, people will be like, oh, I've had a side of the road moment, or I've had a mentor. So I feel that many people have had these type of moments, but really what I have come down to is I try to simplify things so it's not as scientific or not as psychology crazy so that an everyday person can wrap their head around this. I call it the unders and the overs. So if you were overing is what I call it. If you're in the overs, if you're overwhelmed, overthinking, overanalyzing, overstressing, overworking, overeating, overextending, overcommitting, like if you're in a series of these overs, when overs are not stopped, they cause burnout and they cause collapse. So if you can catch yourself overing the layer under that, I call the unders. And when we're overing because there's a part of us that feels undervalued, underappreciated, underrecognized, I mean, you put the under to it, it's there. And from a psychology perspective, when we feel undervalued, underappreciated, underrecognized, we overcompensate. It's in our wiring to overachieve or prove my value or prove my worth or I'll prove to you that I am worthy of recognition or whatever that is. And so I appreciate you asking that question because yes, I think that the listeners, if you find yourself overing for an extended period of time, that's not like project-based or a week-based because you just have something you have to do, catch yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Well, I'm asking as you go through that, and I know this is a little bit off topic here, but I'm thinking about my wife who is an over. She overcommits, she overstretches, she's involved with everything, and she's just always kind of running around just trying to play catch up. And one of her friends recently said, Christine, you're so optimistic. And so just like thinking about how much she can accomplish. And so I'm wondering if that was a detriment or something that helped her like saying, okay, what I'm doing is great. Or is it sort of something like she should actually, to your point, start undercommitting, start pulling back?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I would recommend to stop to pull back because here's the thing with overachievers, and this is why I'm like so obsessed with working with high performers because I am one. I'm like, I see you and I know, is that we are wired for optimism. And so that was a perfect lead-in too because we are wired for optimism. Truth be told is my optimism, as much as it was a strength, it was also one of my biggest setbacks because every single day I woke up saying, I got this today. Today is my day. I can reset from yesterday. And instead of acknowledging what I was really experiencing, I was powering through and almost bypassing. So there's always, what I have learned is that there's really just two sides to everything. And the best thing to do is to analyze both to see where the truth is.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
What surprised you most about your recovery from burnout emotionally and physically?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
That we are 10 times more resilient than we think we ever could be. At my bottom, I didn't know at the time, I knew I was experiencing symptoms, but I want to digress before I fully answer that, is that oftentimes when we hit burnout, the ailments show up a year or two later. So two years after my bathroom floor moment, although I was healing in so many ways, I was- Loving Mac right now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Absolutely. For our listeners, you have to watch this on YouTube because Mac is having a blast with a blanket back there. So he's our comic relief.
Speaker3: He's going back to bed. There we go.
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
He's so cute though. So, but what I was saying is I was sick in autoimmune disease. So I kept myself in that state. I stayed in that panic state of over-ing for probably two years. So when I came out, I was officially diagnosed with three anxiety disorders, chronic stress, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease. And here I am, you know, still raising kids, still in the middle of my career. So I can't stop working. I don't have time to go on a sabbatical. So I'm like, I got to do this now. And what I found is that we can, you know? And so that's my answer. We're 10 times more resilient than we think we are. And we need to give that power back to ourselves that we can be the CEO of our life, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I have another random question. What makes somebody a high performer or an overachiever? Is it because they think there's 36 hours in the day or they just want to prove that they're better than people think they are?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I think it's a wiring. You know, I have thought of, contemplated that a lot because I look at myself, I'm like, where's my drive coming from? But what I have noticed, and I think there's a part of age, not necessarily how old you are, but where you are in your career too. I think that one, I think it starts out as a drive for success. And just like, and anybody who's played, I see a lot of high performers are from former athletes too. So it's also kind of like, what can I accomplish? How far can I push myself? So there's an inner drive of creating through work. But then it goes too far, right? You start sacrificing yourself. You start sacrificing moments with your family. You start building a life around you where there's no fulfillment. And so I think that's when high performers start crumbling, so to speak. But I think it's innate, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, I'm laughing when you said the former athletes. The last sales team I ran, there were eight of us on the team and it was unintentional, but every single one was a collegiate athlete. See? It was totally unintentional. It just happened that way. We had a lacrosse player, a Duke cheerleader I rode in college. We had a couple of football players. So yeah, I can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I played soccer growing up pretty competitively until I was 19. And I find too, I mean, I've grown up in the tech industry. So I am maybe a 10% of the population for most of my career. And almost all of my colleagues have been like football players, baseball players. So it's funny you say that, because that's like, I've put that connection together.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
It's a common thread, absolutely. So burnout obviously has costs. What are the hidden costs of burnout that we don't talk enough about?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I'm going to start at the most severe and kind of work back. So I call it the pyramid of unpotential. So what I talked to you about was the overs and the unders. Those would be like level one and level two. So in this pyramid, and it's an upside down pyramid in my view, because I think if anyone's listening is familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that's a pyramid and there's five levels of needs. Well, when those needs don't get met and you're stuck in survival too long, then you start experiencing what I call the pyramid of unpotential and different symptoms start. And so that you start feeling the unders, well, actually, I wanted to start at worse and work my way down because it's easier, I think, to understand what happens, Chris, is that I call it the devastation of the Ds. And as I've been focusing on working with high performers for a long time, the truth is that if they stay in this condition, it's really horrible. You'll see disease, you'll see divorce, you'll see disconnected relationships with kids, especially amongst high performers. They keep pushing and pushing, and so they lose their relationships, they end up extremely depleted and depressed, and just like a shell of who they used to be. That typically leads to disease. So in high performing professionals, you'll see an increase of heart disease, cancer, things like that. And then I would say then that leads to drugs or drinking, whether it's recreational for the drugs or prescribed. They're trying to manage the anxieties, the this, the that, and then there's death. So that's why I call it devastation of the Ds at the highest end. Because for some reason, they all start with Ds. I don't know why, but they do. So that's what I call it. And then I'll pause in a second. But then right under that, which I would call is level four, as far as the cost, I would say, I call it dysfunction in the bodies. And that's when you start to feel dysfunction in your physical body. And then many people, whether you're a high performer or not, you'll feel that like pain in your shoulder for two weeks, you're like, I must have messed that up when I worked out. No, that's your body like not, not aligned to what you're doing, you know, but you'll feel the physical discomfort, mental, emotional discomfort. Then I go to spiritual discomfort, you start losing hope, things like that. And then financial discomfort to either your state, you stay in a position that's below your value, and your worth, or especially in women, but happens in men to shopping. And so debt starts to increase. So anyway, it's just a mess. There's a whole lot of costs, especially the shopping part. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, my Amazon cart back then was very full.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
You said burnout can be a quote, soul cry. What does that mean? And how do we recognize a soul cry when one is screaming at us for attention?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know, that's a good question. And I think that our soul speaks to us and that's what my last book was a return to radiance so much more than we give it credit for. I feel that all the things that I just mentioned, starting off with even like that middle layer that I didn't talk about, I would call it questioning belonging. I think that's the first level of the soul's cry is like when we stay, and it makes me sad to think like how many people experience this, whether it's in personal relationships or at work. But once they have overed to a certain degree, and they're not getting the response that they thought they would get, which would be like, you're doing a good job, or I really appreciate you, right? They start questioning their belonging. And as a soul, like here on earth, like embodied in this human experience, we connect with others. Love is a really big deal, friendship, things like that. And so I think when we start questioning, you know, when we hear that internal, should I stay or should I go, I think that's our soul's cry to be like, we're not in alignment right now. Like, we need help.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, you know, you talk about friendship and relationships. When we hit rock bottom, when we have that bathroom floor moment, do people typically go and talk and reach out to their friends and say, hey, I've got an issue here, or just something that they're embarrassed about and they just try and hold it in?
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah. I mean, I would say the latter, right? They're very embarrassed that they let themselves get to that point. And some people stay on the bathroom floor metaphorically because of that. You know, I will say I'm very happy that you mentioned that, because there's a lot of things that I did like the next day unintentionally, like starting to put boundaries in and things like that. But, you know, in my recovery, I think one of the things that helped me so much is that I did call about two or three girlfriends and just said, I'm losing my mind. Like I, and like on the outside, I was powerful sales leader and all this stuff. And I was like, called one of my best friends. I was like, I fell to the floor last night, like half laughing, still half crying, you know, and just be like, I don't know what I need to do, but I need a friend to just like listen and be there for me. And it is such a gift to get past your own humility about it so that you can get the support you need, whether it's from friends, a lover, a therapist, but support's so huge.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And why do you think, I think I know the answer to this, but why do you feel that high performers are embarrassed? It's just a sense of failure?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah. I think high performers are afraid of failing. I also think it's the persona, right? We've taken so much pride in being able to figure it out and break quotas and, you know, bring up like innovative solutions and stuff, and then we can't figure out our own life. It's like, you know, look at all these things I've done and I can't figure out this, like, I don't know. It's so embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And you mentioned too, just a personal case, but, you know, generically, or I guess, broader speaking, when people hit that bathroom floor, again, I keep going back to that, sorry. Do they typically go to friends first, or would it be, to your point, the spouse or the lover? And do they not go to the spouse or lover again for fear of failure?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I think it's different per person out of the years of working with people. I do. If they have a healthy to mediocre healthy relationship with their spouse, I find that most people go to their spouse first and or in tandem with like a best friend.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Makes sense. What myths about burnout are doing more harm than good?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
That's a good question. So I think the biggest myth about burnout is that burnout is the actual problem. The problem is disconnection from our soul. I think that we're all wired and that's why, like, as I started contemplating this, I wrote a return to radiance because we were all, if you step back a few steps, right? When you think to like being born as a baby, you look at this beautiful baby and inside this baby, they're just glowing and gaga gooing and all this stuff, but you can hold this baby and almost be like, this baby is meant for something great. You know, you don't ever look at a baby and be like, oh, this baby's never going to amount to anything, you know? We were once that. And so inside every single one of us is innate gifts, innate talents, innate strengths. We are pre-wired to make a difference, I believe. And I think that, and this is where I was saying, I think we just get lost. I think in the pursuit of standing up and fitting that societal mold of needing to have a paycheck and get the house and just provide for ourselves, at some point, like that recipe card was handed out to everybody, but then how to come back to fulfillment, how to come back to who you are, that's the piece that's missing. And so I think my biggest myth about burnout is that burnout's not the problem. So many people are trying to solve burnout. Well, we need to solve fulfillment, you know? And then I think burnout would naturally be solved.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
How can we rebuild our sense of self or sense of purpose after burning out?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I think it's easier to do it after you burn out. Because when you got nothing left, you're just like, it's survival, but in a different way. I think you burn, speaking of survival mode, so before you burn out, you're in survival mode and you're clinging, right? There is just, you are pushing through every day or you're even just referring to your wife. Even if we're positive about it, it's like that gripping and doing, and it's a very active thing. On the post side of burnout, you can barely move. And so now you're contemplating, I only have enough energy to do one thing. That one thing needs to give me energy, otherwise I'm going to end up right back in bed. And so for me, burnout was a gift because it changed the complete perception that I had about life and I think opened me up to the beauty that I have now. So I often say on the other side of burnout is your most beautiful life.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
You touched on this briefly before, but is burnout avoidable or even inevitable in high performance roles? I think it's totally avoidable.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I'm performing at my highest calibers and I'm doing it from energy. And that's kind of where I was stating is like when that passion, I think even relating to high performers, when you first start your career, you're so passionate, you're trying to figure everything out or even when you're playing sports, the reason that you're amped and you show up and you can do four hours of practice or whatever is because you have passion for what you're doing. And so I now teach, find your passion. Now as adults with careers, our passion might not actually be our job anymore, right? So if you need to garden, go garden. If you need to go dance, go dance. If you need to go work out, go work out. I'm a writer. I write in the mornings, but what I found, and that's why I talk about the power of ands, what I've learned is that it's not about less, it's about more, but it's about more mindful mores. So I write, I work out, I meditate, I do things that increase my passion. And so when I show up to work, even though technically I have longer days of doing, so many hours are replenishing me that when I show up to do the things that I have to do, the work, it's easy and it's fun.
(25:27):
Speaker2: You're ready to rock and roll.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
You've said, quote, success doesn't have to come at the cost of yourself.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Unpack that for us.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Well, I think I have a little bit, but I'll be more specific because I would say the self with a little S and then self with a big S. So we have like your spirit self, which would be your biggest. Then our human S is a little S, right? I think there's a sacrifice of little self, like ourselves and what we do when we're not taught how I was just saying to fill ourselves up. So it's like, oh, I'll give you the example of even when I was leading up to burnout, I remember I missed family dinners. I missed basketball practices. I missed things that were important because I was sacrificing for my family. I was sacrificing for my job. I was sacrificing and I felt entitled. I felt like I was making the right decision. And don't get me wrong, there's still times where you have to make those decisions, but I would like blindly make them all the time. And that's kind of what I mean. What I have learned is that, put it this way, when I was sacrificing using my small self, like I was saying, like doing all the things that I was doing, I made a good living, six figures. I got my shit together, since I'm allowed to say that now, and re-approached life with fulfillment, passion, a part of me, because I had to for healing. And I like tripled my income in three or four years. So it's like, that's what I'm saying, I'm like the success doesn't have to come at the cost of yourself. Actually, if you put yourself first, your human self, and you connect to passion, which I could just convert to like soul stuff, you know, it puts you in alignment with passion and purpose, and then you approach work, dude, like game changer. So that's why I get so pumped to talk about it, I'm like, yeah, let's go, let's talk about this.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Are there any challenges that are surprisingly similar, whether you're coaching a fortune 500 executive or a frontline employee?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yes, fundamentals are relatively the same though. So with an executive, their level of responsibility is really high. So you find it, not that there's a lot of excuses, they're much more open minded, because they have seen what it takes to open up doors and do things. But getting them to prioritize themselves is sometimes a challenge, because they're just like, where and when, like, I understand what you're saying, and I wanted, but I don't understand where it fits in my life. Right. So then there's this real, like, we really have to do work to fit them in. And then I would say with a frontline worker, I think it's, they're more willing to fit them in from a time perspective, but I think they lack the belief of possibility. And so you're working different angles, is what I have found.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Are there things you've noticed that nearly everyone, regardless of their title or experience, is quietly wrestling with that can lead to burnout?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes. Yes. And I'm going to go back to the unders and the overs. Simply because I mean, if I'm going back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and if you're a listener, and you're not familiar with that, I'd look it up, because it's kind of cool. But the first level is the first two levels are security and safety.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
And within that, as a human being, we need to feel loved, we need to feel supported, we need to feel important. And what I have found is, we might not, we might have those needs secure at home, but we might not have them at work. And or we might have them at work, we might not have them at home. So it's super important to notice how I said, it's just a psychological response. So if you're overing, you'd be like, am I feeling that's, that's your invitation to be like, Oh, am I feeling undervalued? Am I feeling underappreciated? And then I bring that back to what I call the ons. So over under ons. And that's means like, if I'm doing if my outward expression is the overs, that means somewhere I'm feeling under. And even under that is the seed of feeling unseen, unimportant, unheard, unloved. And like, where is that coming from? And so I think that if if someone's aware enough to catch themselves in the overs practice that over to under to on, and then you can work on repairing that if you keep your those three levels clean, you won't get to burn out, especially if you add some passion into your life. Again, whether it's gardening or work, it doesn't have to be, you know, I like writing books, and I went for the USA Today, and I got it we but like, you know, I'm an overachiever. So I got to do things like that. It still makes me happy. But I hope that answered the question.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
No, it did. Thank you. What internal narratives do you think hold women back the most? And how do we rewrite them?
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I mean, honestly, I think it's the whether consciously it's known or not. It's kind of like that good girl thing. And I can speak for I mean, I've worked with hundreds, if not thousands of women at this point. And, and it all kind of comes back to being good enough, not thinking they're good enough, not thinking that they're worthy enough, and kind of accepting to fit into somebody else's box or image that they think they should. And why I think that's important to highlight is because whether you're a male or whether you're a female, I mean, males do it to to get the promotion to provide for their family, it's just packaged differently. But every time you make yourself fit in someone else's box, for too long, like, I mean, we're living, right? Because sometimes you got to do something uncomfortable to get to the next thing. But it's when it's not a conscious choice, and it keeps happening, and you're repackaging yourself. And now all of a sudden, you no longer fit. And that's what I see, see the most.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I often hear that women are more competitive with and less supportive of other women in the workplace than they are with men. First you think that's true. And what's your take on the phrase, empowered women empower women?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I well, you know, as far as competitiveness, I'm very fortunate in my career that I have often surrounded myself with a lot of women who support other women. But I mean, I think it's, I've been in fortune 500 for 20, 20 years. And although I'd like to answer that question directly, I have seen men cut down men, I have seen women cut down women, I have seen women cut down men, like, I kind of think it's gender neutral, as far as the competitiveness. However, I have once a woman is empowered, and doesn't feel that competitive spirit, I have seen the, I understand where the phrase empowered women empower women, because you want to like almost microphone it, like, we don't have to be that way. There's room for everybody.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Does burnout look different or manifest itself differently, depending on where someone is on the organization chart? And I mean, and I guess by that, is it worse for people with greater responsibilities? Or does burnout affect everyone pretty much the same?
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I think it does affect them. I think how it shows up is different, but how it impacts has those same results, you know, disharmony in the body is devastation of the DS. But I will give an example, like, someone might at lower in the organization might get burnt out, because, you know, it is example, how I was saying, you're starting to question your belonging, but say you have Sally and Joe, Sally's been with the company for four years, Joe's been at the company for one year, Joe's gung ho, he's moved sales, Sally's the loyalist, she knows everywhere, everybody's buried, you know, and so really, the promotion, Sally thinks it's hers in the head, you know, Joe's like, I'm gonna go for it, because I'm all gung ho, and Joe gets it. And Sally's like, what the hell, you know? And so like, that is a situation where she's gonna start questioning her belonging, she's gonna initially start trying to prove to the organization that they made a wrong choice. So you're gonna see Sally overworking, overstressing, overanalyzing, doing stuff that Sally's never done before. And then all of a sudden, she's gonna start freaking out because she's undervalued, underappreciated. At most, like, this is where organizations get it backwards. When they see people overing, they get a good like, you're doing a good job, keep doing that. And it's like encouraging them to like, burn out, right? So someone like Sally, if it wasn't checked, would burn out. And it would be from too much effort. I think from a executive standpoint, not that I don't see them burning out from an effort standpoint, but I see them, it's more of like that support. Like because they're at the top, they have lacked asking for help, they may not have, they might not have support within the organization, they might be the only one leading. So you just see that there's a lot more, I think it really stems from responsibility and not knowing how to balance that out so that there's room for themselves.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
How do you help high achieving professionals give themselves permission to rest?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
You know, that's a fun one, because it's not innate, it's not, it's not, but it is such a superpower. And I think that, you know, sometimes high achievers and I keep using examples like sports or dancing or gardening, it is hard to get a high achiever to like sit on a couch, right? But it's not hard to get a high achiever to do something softer with their energy. So I often just invite them to like, what did you used to do for fun? You know, like, let's go back 20 years. Let's pretend what did you do? And it's funny, Chris, because I have seen, you know, grown men and women, 40s, 50s and 60s return back to like, local sports, like not to get and this is the thing, we're older now, we don't have to do it to get an award. You know, like, I've seen people return back to ballroom dancing, I've seen people lead book clubs, just, I come back to gardening, the reconnecting with nature is such a wonderful thing for high performers, it's so on the opposite side of what they do. But I get so many pictures of like, my clients gardens, and they're just like, oh, I did this on the weekend. And, and for them, that's rest. So I know that was kind of a longer answer. But I think it's good to show some examples of what it could look like.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Well, and you mentioned getting back to nature, there have been a number of studies showing the positive mental health benefits of going for a walk, going for a hike, you know, gardening, things like that, just be at one, if you will, with the world and in your soul, to mention that earlier. So I appreciate you mentioning gardening a lot, because that is just, you know, the whole nature aspect is something we all need. And when you're that high performer, you don't actually stop to smell the roses, you're just go, go, go.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
Yes. And I want to just comment on that, too. Because, you know, I'm still super high performing, I have very, very full schedules, I probably still work 40 plus hours, 60 hours a week, some weeks. But I, when I walk, I try to walk with intention. And this is what I can say to high performers is that you can start doing it now. Like when I walk to the mailbox to get my mail, I am trying not to listen to anything I am trying not to, like, I'm actually trying to count the freaking butterflies, right? Like, I like I am going to be present, it's going to work. And it's such a, like I said, it's such a beautiful gift to, to do little moments like that.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Earlier, I mentioned both and thinking, you focus a lot in helping people in organizations move from either or thinking to both and thinking. For someone who's never heard of that distinction, what's the difference? And why does it matter?
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Well, from a societal point, point of view, we get preconditioned with what is called either or thinking. And that's why we get in so many ruts. It's like, I, I have to do this, or I have to do that. Or if I do this, I can't do that. And so, you know, you talk about executives and burnout, well, I think they're so disconnected from personal fulfillment, that and it's, and it really leads to an either or mindset. They are so committed to work that the thought of working and having personal fulfillment is not even like, like what, you know, and so that's an easy example. But when I invite them to do these things, like you can work full time and start gardening. And that's what I mean. It's like, let's just what are you passionate about? Can we layer in some ands, even if it's only for five or 10 minutes a day, that can give you energy and what they find and science proves it is that as we are tapped into passion, purpose, it gives us vitality. And that vitality brings us life force energy. And then all of a sudden, we're starting to heal the ailments start to go away. So the and is very important for any high performer to make sure that they're not getting stuck into a limited mindset when it comes to themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You mentioned passion and purpose. I saw something on TV about a week ago that I remember was but started making me think about like, who am I? What am I? What's the show about? Who's Chris Mika? What's he about? And I literally typed up to my team, passion, purpose, pursuit. I love that literally about a week and a half ago.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
So that's so great. And I just want to expand on that for the audience because and I would love to hear just like what you're experiencing. But I have found that the pursuit happens when you're in touch with that part of you, where passion is alive and purpose is alive. Like my purpose isn't to write books. That's the vehicle that I, you know, the vehicle I use is communication, speaking, writing, podcasting, whatever, any time of communication I'm in. But what I realized is that the more I honor that feeling, it does become a pursuit. Like I couldn't stop doing what I'm doing if I wanted to, because I wake up at like two in the morning like, oh, I got an idea. So I want like, how are you experiencing that passion, purpose, pursuit trilogy?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
So it's, you know, I've been a financial services executive for 30 years. And being a sales guy in Wall Street is not my purpose. It's a means to an end. And like many people, I was at my transformative point was I was at Ground Zero 9-11.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And so a handful of years after that started doing stuff locally, which led to a nonprofit. We started sending care packages to deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. That organization grew. We now fund exoskeletons, which enable paralyzed veterans to stand and walk, and virtual reality software to help veterans with PTSD who are suicidal. So that was my first purpose, if you will. The second one was, again, with 9-11, it took me 17 years to go back. I self-diagnosed myself with PTSD. And, you know, the 20th anniversary came and went, and it was the heart of COVID. There was political controversy between Trump and Biden. And I was disappointed because that was a major milestone. And the last three years, three plus years since then, I've been working on with Michael Geier who's been on the show. We're doing a documentary for the Heroism and Resiliency of 9-11, which led to me creating a new organization called the 9-11 Legacy Foundation, which is to elevate the events of the three attack sites. So think about like the Olympic organizing committee model. And that has really just started to snowball right now. We just landed Gary Sinise to do the narration for our film. And so we've got Andy Carter, who's chief of staff to President Bush, Leon Panetta, who's secretary of defense and CIA director. Everyone knows I'm a huge Yankees fan. So it's like the 1927 Murders Row Yankees. And so I'm very blessed to have an eclectic Rolodex. But that's my passion, my purpose and my pursuit for the 25th anniversary of 9-11 next year.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Oh, man, that makes me tear. My husband's a firefighter for Fort Lauderdale and he has 343, you know, tattooed and a tribute when they were raising the American flag. He has that tattooed on him. So it's been a big part of our life is to remembering 9-11 and honoring it every year.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
And it's off topic, but we've forgotten. We've broken that vow of never forget. And we are forgetting. And so I'm changing the narrative and you may have noticed my coffee mug. I'm using the phrase we remember.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
And so I'm trying to change that narrative in a more positive, forward thinking.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Yes, I got the goose bumps. See, that's what passion and purpose does.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
See, high five, virtual high five. I love it. I love it. All right, back to serious stuff here now. Are high achievers immune to either or thinking or they feel they tend to default to it?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
I think they default to it. I think, you know, I come back to so much is just and I don't think anything is definite is. Intended to be harmful, but so much of the societal molding is based around surviving and not. Fulfilling your destiny or fulfilling your purpose, right, so I think that we're all just modeling what we know.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
How has your definition of leadership evolved over the course of your career and what role does emotional intelligence play in effective leadership today?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
I think your example is how I view leadership. It's it's following your heart to such a degree that you believe in something that's unseen and people start to follow you. Then you put a message to it. And, you know, that could be a small just on a team like you and I have been sales leaders, right? Or it could be something much more extraordinary because we're coming out of the mold and making an impact in the world through our work. But, you know, leadership is we remember. Right, and you leading and taking that charge as the trailblazer, you are now going to give that gift to how many thousands of people to help them remember so we don't never experience anything like that. I mean, I can tear up just talking to you, Chris, but that's that's how I view leadership. At one time, I think that I did view leadership on like a corporate leadership wavelength where it's like I manage my team and yes, I inspire, but I've got this little book of business that I'm really responsible for and I got to do that. And then what I realized is real leadership was when I decided to get up and share my story of being a senior leader and hitting the bathroom floor. And then all of a sudden I had other senior leaders come out and like me too, you know, me too. And, you know, how can I get better? And then I teach them like now I teach leaders and now they're teaching their teams. They're leading healthier teams because they're healthier and they have some tools that they can utilize. So that's a long answer because it's very heartfelt. But I think what I define leadership now is really embodying your beliefs in a positive way that inspires other people to be better.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
You know, you talk about the me too when you admitted to having having your bathroom floor moment. I've done a lot of work in the mental health space with first responders and veterans, and there's that stigma associated with it in terms of, you know, I need help.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Oh, gosh, I know.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
It's the same thing. You know, it takes one trailblazer, to use your phrase, to really set the standard of something I've used with my sales teams and say, OK, you know, it's OK to not be OK.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
And you're not alone. And we're all the same. We're all, are we wired differently? Sure. But inside you've got a heart. You know, we all take the same. And so open up, talk to somebody again, spouse, lover, best friend. It's OK. So don't press yourself to the point where you're in the hospital with diabetes sticking out of you.
Speaker3: I couldn't have said it better myself.
(47:52):
What are your views on servant leadership or leading with vulnerability?
Speaker 3 (47:56):
I think I've indicated that a little bit, but my views on it is I just wish more people would do it. It's scary. I get it. We're building reputations. You know, when you're in leadership, depends on your point of view. But we're all we're building something for our family. We're building something for the organization. We're building a reputation. And it's scary to step outside the box. I'll just give you a quick example on the vulnerability. I didn't I felt so purpose driven to share my story, but I was like, is this going to ruin my career? I talk about vulnerability. I think I did actually throw up like three times before I stepped on my first stage, you know. But it's so important because you change lives when you share the truth of who you are.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Well said, I love that. If you could give one message to any corporate leaders listening today, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Creating a safe environment for your team isn't soft. It's necessary. When you lead a person nervous system, when you help them feel safe, you help them feel regulated. When they're regulated, they perform. And so I'm just want to say that learning to lead your people to their potential isn't a soft way to lead, it's necessary.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
What rituals or habits have been most essential to keeping you grounded and in the present?
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Breath.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
My breath is so important. Breath. My breath. I teach so much breath work. Granted, I'm a yoga teacher, too, behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
We don't have time to get that, unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Like that's part of my and and that's like just to go on a quite soft derail like the and you do whatever you want. I'm a salesperson. I'm a professional salesperson. I went to go be a yoga teacher. Doesn't mean I have to go teach it all the time, but I like loved it. So I brought it in. But my breath. Our breath. It's we need it. We don't even think about it because we're alive and we just have to have it. But when you can intentionally breathe, you bring your life force back in. And so that's how I ground myself every day. I intentionally breathe multiple, multiple times a day.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Biggest question of the show for you today. How can people get in touch with you? Learn more about PowerSpeak Potential or get their own copies of your books?
Speaker 3 (50:50):
Everything you need to know is at BeccaPowers.com from a social media perspective. I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram the most. And that handle is at BeccaPowers1313.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Becca Powers, founder of PowerSpeak Potential and author of three bestsellers and future author of your CEO of your own life. Thank you so much for being with us today. And a special thank you to Mac, who, again, listeners, you got to watch the video because he is so cute taking that right now. And I was laughing because I could hear him snore over my dog. And so that's you've got a good mic over there. That's it. We'll see you next week. Same time, same place. I'm Chris Meek. Until then, stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.
There are few things that make people successful. Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some time to get there. How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you? Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek. Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here is Chris Meek. Hello. You've tuned to this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek. As always, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Our focus is on personal empowerment, a commitment to wellbeing, and the motivation to achieve more than ever thought possible. We have another outstanding guest this week. Becca Powers has been described as the female Tony Robbins. She's a renowned keynote speaker and the visionary founder of Power's Peak Potential, a training company specializing in mindset mastery for high performers. From her humble beginnings as a minimum wage dollar store employee to an award-winning 20-year career as a Fortune 500 sales executive, Becca empowers senior leaders and high-performance teams to unlock their full potential through her proprietary methodology, the pun intended here, the Power Method. Becca's transformative programs help corporations shift from either-or thinking to both-and thinking to foster innovation, productivity, and sustainable success. Becca is also the author of not one, not two, but yes, three bestselling books, A Return to Radiance, Harness Your Inner CEO, and the Workplace Burnout Workbook. Becca Powers, welcome to Next Steps Forward.
(01:34):
Speaker3: Hey, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Three bestsellers. We're going to get to that later, but congratulations. I know where you find the time. But Becca, you founded Power's Peak Potential to work with high performers, but before you did, you had a very successful corporate career. What was missing and how did that realization shape the mission of Power's Peak Potential?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
When you get into your purpose, so I'm going to start there, is that I think so often we try to find our purpose, but sometimes it's not an actual thing that we do. It's a meaning that surfaces like a calling within us. I mean, I had a natural, I've been keynote speaking since 2008, I've been coaching on the side, I'm a sales leader, so there's certain aspects of this that have just been very organic and native, so to speak. But as a senior leader, I experienced extreme burnout at one point in my career, going back about eight years ago now, and I remember coming home from work for my fourth bad day in a row. I'm sure some listeners can even put themselves in that shoes, that was my fourth bad day in a row. We had extreme sales goals, there was a lot of pressure in the company. At home, I had four kids in middle school, my husband and I are raising a blended family, so everything's just on full blast, right? And so I come home after my fourth bad day in a row, and I remember sitting in the car and just pulling everything I had to put on that happy face, right? And I'm like, I can do it, and I walk through the door, and then my kids are in middle school, so it wasn't like they're like, hey, mom, I love you. They're like, mom, I need you to sign this, mom, and I lost my mind. And in that split second, my response was just anger. I was like, can I put my freaking purse down? And I didn't say that exactly, right? But it was a moment that shifted my life and really, I think, awakened that purpose within me because I remember my kids looking at me in shame and fear and sadness, and I still tear up eight, nine years later because those are such foundational years, and what I realized is I was so far from being present, you know? And I get the goosebumps talking to you, it made me question, who am I as a mom, who am I as a leader, who am I as a wife, who am I as a person? And that night, I looked at myself in the mirror, and I really had a hard time recognizing myself, and that emotional weight, so to speak, sent me to an emotional collapse on the floor. And I'll wrap up the story here in a second, but on the floor, it's kind of like when you hit rock bottom, it's kind of hilarious in one way because you're so broken that humor is really like your only way out sometimes. And so I remember sitting on the floor and crying and just calling up to God Universe, like, I don't know how to do tomorrow any differently than I'm doing today. And if I don't get some help, I'm going to do the same thing over again. And I heard a voice from within me just say, like, Becca, you're the CEO of your life. And so I had this like comical moment where it's like, I'm on the floor, but I'm like, well, if I'm the CEO of my life, then why am I crying on the bathroom floor? I probably have a lot more power in my decisions and how I'm approaching things than I think I do. And that feeling did send a surge of empowerment through my body, and I rose off that bathroom floor. I didn't know how I was going to do the next day, but I did. And then I did the next day, and slowly but surely, 180'd my life completely. And when I got to a point that I felt strong enough to share the frameworks I used on myself that it was rinse and repeatable, then it became like this, where I started the conversation like this purpose within me. So that's how it unfolded, Chris.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So before I get to a fault for that, well, first I'll start with, I think I've got the title for your next book, you're the CEO of your life. So I don't know if you've got anything in the works, but I'd love that. So I'd like to kind of do that with some of our guys working stuff. What kind of dog do you have?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
That's a, he's a French Bulldog. And normally right now he's napping, but he's not.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I asked because my dog, my 30 pound fierce Shih Tzu, Zeke, is sleeping next to me. But every now and then he'll let you know when the Amazon or UPS guy are here.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yes, yes. And I think that's what happened is they were napping. So I had my door open and then somebody came and now he's awake. So that's Mac.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So post-COVID, new normal. So what's the name?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
His name's Mac.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Mac. I love it.
Speaker 3: Thank you for inviting him into the show. (06:17):
undefined
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Of course. Absolutely. It's a family show. And you're allowed to say things other than frigging too, because we're satellites, so it's okay.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All right. Good.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So you talked about breaking down, you know, obviously that was your turning point. Does it have to get that far for people? Are there signs that we can see along the way before you actually have that point where you drop the frigging bomb and cry?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And I have spent quite a few years refining easy ways to help people not hit a bathroom floor. And as I share what I call my bathroom floor moment, people will be like, oh, I've had a side of the road moment, or I've had a mentor. So I feel that many people have had these type of moments, but really what I have come down to is I try to simplify things so it's not as scientific or not as psychology crazy so that an everyday person can wrap their head around this. I call it the unders and the overs. So if you were overing is what I call it. If you're in the overs, if you're overwhelmed, overthinking, overanalyzing, overstressing, overworking, overeating, overextending, overcommitting, like if you're in a series of these overs, when overs are not stopped, they cause burnout and they cause collapse. So if you can catch yourself overing the layer under that, I call the unders. And when we're overing because there's a part of us that feels undervalued, underappreciated, underrecognized, I mean, you put the under to it, it's there. And from a psychology perspective, when we feel undervalued, underappreciated, underrecognized, we overcompensate. It's in our wiring to overachieve or prove my value or prove my worth or I'll prove to you that I am worthy of recognition or whatever that is. And so I appreciate you asking that question because yes, I think that the listeners, if you find yourself overing for an extended period of time, that's not like project-based or a week-based because you just have something you have to do, catch yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Well, I'm asking as you go through that, and I know this is a little bit off topic here, but I'm thinking about my wife who is an over. She overcommits, she overstretches, she's involved with everything, and she's just always kind of running around just trying to play catch up. And one of her friends recently said, Christine, you're so optimistic. And so just like thinking about how much she can accomplish. And so I'm wondering if that was a detriment or something that helped her like saying, okay, what I'm doing is great. Or is it sort of something like she should actually, to your point, start undercommitting, start pulling back?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I would recommend to stop to pull back because here's the thing with overachievers, and this is why I'm like so obsessed with working with high performers because I am one. I'm like, I see you and I know, is that we are wired for optimism. And so that was a perfect lead-in too because we are wired for optimism. Truth be told is my optimism, as much as it was a strength, it was also one of my biggest setbacks because every single day I woke up saying, I got this today. Today is my day. I can reset from yesterday. And instead of acknowledging what I was really experiencing, I was powering through and almost bypassing. So there's always, what I have learned is that there's really just two sides to everything. And the best thing to do is to analyze both to see where the truth is.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
What surprised you most about your recovery from burnout emotionally and physically?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
That we are 10 times more resilient than we think we ever could be. At my bottom, I didn't know at the time, I knew I was experiencing symptoms, but I want to digress before I fully answer that, is that oftentimes when we hit burnout, the ailments show up a year or two later. So two years after my bathroom floor moment, although I was healing in so many ways, I was- Loving Mac right now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Absolutely. For our listeners, you have to watch this on YouTube because Mac is having a blast with a blanket back there. So he's our comic relief.
Speaker3: He's going back to bed. There we go.
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
He's so cute though. So, but what I was saying is I was sick in autoimmune disease. So I kept myself in that state. I stayed in that panic state of over-ing for probably two years. So when I came out, I was officially diagnosed with three anxiety disorders, chronic stress, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease. And here I am, you know, still raising kids, still in the middle of my career. So I can't stop working. I don't have time to go on a sabbatical. So I'm like, I got to do this now. And what I found is that we can, you know? And so that's my answer. We're 10 times more resilient than we think we are. And we need to give that power back to ourselves that we can be the CEO of our life, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I have another random question. What makes somebody a high performer or an overachiever? Is it because they think there's 36 hours in the day or they just want to prove that they're better than people think they are?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I think it's a wiring. You know, I have thought of, contemplated that a lot because I look at myself, I'm like, where's my drive coming from? But what I have noticed, and I think there's a part of age, not necessarily how old you are, but where you are in your career too. I think that one, I think it starts out as a drive for success. And just like, and anybody who's played, I see a lot of high performers are from former athletes too. So it's also kind of like, what can I accomplish? How far can I push myself? So there's an inner drive of creating through work. But then it goes too far, right? You start sacrificing yourself. You start sacrificing moments with your family. You start building a life around you where there's no fulfillment. And so I think that's when high performers start crumbling, so to speak. But I think it's innate, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, I'm laughing when you said the former athletes. The last sales team I ran, there were eight of us on the team and it was unintentional, but every single one was a collegiate athlete. See? It was totally unintentional. It just happened that way. We had a lacrosse player, a Duke cheerleader I rode in college. We had a couple of football players. So yeah, I can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I played soccer growing up pretty competitively until I was 19. And I find too, I mean, I've grown up in the tech industry. So I am maybe a 10% of the population for most of my career. And almost all of my colleagues have been like football players, baseball players. So it's funny you say that, because that's like, I've put that connection together.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
It's a common thread, absolutely. So burnout obviously has costs. What are the hidden costs of burnout that we don't talk enough about?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I'm going to start at the most severe and kind of work back. So I call it the pyramid of unpotential. So what I talked to you about was the overs and the unders. Those would be like level one and level two. So in this pyramid, and it's an upside down pyramid in my view, because I think if anyone's listening is familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that's a pyramid and there's five levels of needs. Well, when those needs don't get met and you're stuck in survival too long, then you start experiencing what I call the pyramid of unpotential and different symptoms start. And so that you start feeling the unders, well, actually, I wanted to start at worse and work my way down because it's easier, I think, to understand what happens, Chris, is that I call it the devastation of the Ds. And as I've been focusing on working with high performers for a long time, the truth is that if they stay in this condition, it's really horrible. You'll see disease, you'll see divorce, you'll see disconnected relationships with kids, especially amongst high performers. They keep pushing and pushing, and so they lose their relationships, they end up extremely depleted and depressed, and just like a shell of who they used to be. That typically leads to disease. So in high performing professionals, you'll see an increase of heart disease, cancer, things like that. And then I would say then that leads to drugs or drinking, whether it's recreational for the drugs or prescribed. They're trying to manage the anxieties, the this, the that, and then there's death. So that's why I call it devastation of the Ds at the highest end. Because for some reason, they all start with Ds. I don't know why, but they do. So that's what I call it. And then I'll pause in a second. But then right under that, which I would call is level four, as far as the cost, I would say, I call it dysfunction in the bodies. And that's when you start to feel dysfunction in your physical body. And then many people, whether you're a high performer or not, you'll feel that like pain in your shoulder for two weeks, you're like, I must have messed that up when I worked out. No, that's your body like not, not aligned to what you're doing, you know, but you'll feel the physical discomfort, mental, emotional discomfort. Then I go to spiritual discomfort, you start losing hope, things like that. And then financial discomfort to either your state, you stay in a position that's below your value, and your worth, or especially in women, but happens in men to shopping. And so debt starts to increase. So anyway, it's just a mess. There's a whole lot of costs, especially the shopping part. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, my Amazon cart back then was very full.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
You said burnout can be a quote, soul cry. What does that mean? And how do we recognize a soul cry when one is screaming at us for attention?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know, that's a good question. And I think that our soul speaks to us and that's what my last book was a return to radiance so much more than we give it credit for. I feel that all the things that I just mentioned, starting off with even like that middle layer that I didn't talk about, I would call it questioning belonging. I think that's the first level of the soul's cry is like when we stay, and it makes me sad to think like how many people experience this, whether it's in personal relationships or at work. But once they have overed to a certain degree, and they're not getting the response that they thought they would get, which would be like, you're doing a good job, or I really appreciate you, right? They start questioning their belonging. And as a soul, like here on earth, like embodied in this human experience, we connect with others. Love is a really big deal, friendship, things like that. And so I think when we start questioning, you know, when we hear that internal, should I stay or should I go, I think that's our soul's cry to be like, we're not in alignment right now. Like, we need help.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, you know, you talk about friendship and relationships. When we hit rock bottom, when we have that bathroom floor moment, do people typically go and talk and reach out to their friends and say, hey, I've got an issue here, or just something that they're embarrassed about and they just try and hold it in?
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah. I mean, I would say the latter, right? They're very embarrassed that they let themselves get to that point. And some people stay on the bathroom floor metaphorically because of that. You know, I will say I'm very happy that you mentioned that, because there's a lot of things that I did like the next day unintentionally, like starting to put boundaries in and things like that. But, you know, in my recovery, I think one of the things that helped me so much is that I did call about two or three girlfriends and just said, I'm losing my mind. Like I, and like on the outside, I was powerful sales leader and all this stuff. And I was like, called one of my best friends. I was like, I fell to the floor last night, like half laughing, still half crying, you know, and just be like, I don't know what I need to do, but I need a friend to just like listen and be there for me. And it is such a gift to get past your own humility about it so that you can get the support you need, whether it's from friends, a lover, a therapist, but support's so huge.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And why do you think, I think I know the answer to this, but why do you feel that high performers are embarrassed? It's just a sense of failure?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah. I think high performers are afraid of failing. I also think it's the persona, right? We've taken so much pride in being able to figure it out and break quotas and, you know, bring up like innovative solutions and stuff, and then we can't figure out our own life. It's like, you know, look at all these things I've done and I can't figure out this, like, I don't know. It's so embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And you mentioned too, just a personal case, but, you know, generically, or I guess, broader speaking, when people hit that bathroom floor, again, I keep going back to that, sorry. Do they typically go to friends first, or would it be, to your point, the spouse or the lover? And do they not go to the spouse or lover again for fear of failure?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I think it's different per person out of the years of working with people. I do. If they have a healthy to mediocre healthy relationship with their spouse, I find that most people go to their spouse first and or in tandem with like a best friend.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Makes sense. What myths about burnout are doing more harm than good?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
That's a good question. So I think the biggest myth about burnout is that burnout is the actual problem. The problem is disconnection from our soul. I think that we're all wired and that's why, like, as I started contemplating this, I wrote a return to radiance because we were all, if you step back a few steps, right? When you think to like being born as a baby, you look at this beautiful baby and inside this baby, they're just glowing and gaga gooing and all this stuff, but you can hold this baby and almost be like, this baby is meant for something great. You know, you don't ever look at a baby and be like, oh, this baby's never going to amount to anything, you know? We were once that. And so inside every single one of us is innate gifts, innate talents, innate strengths. We are pre-wired to make a difference, I believe. And I think that, and this is where I was saying, I think we just get lost. I think in the pursuit of standing up and fitting that societal mold of needing to have a paycheck and get the house and just provide for ourselves, at some point, like that recipe card was handed out to everybody, but then how to come back to fulfillment, how to come back to who you are, that's the piece that's missing. And so I think my biggest myth about burnout is that burnout's not the problem. So many people are trying to solve burnout. Well, we need to solve fulfillment, you know? And then I think burnout would naturally be solved.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
How can we rebuild our sense of self or sense of purpose after burning out?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I think it's easier to do it after you burn out. Because when you got nothing left, you're just like, it's survival, but in a different way. I think you burn, speaking of survival mode, so before you burn out, you're in survival mode and you're clinging, right? There is just, you are pushing through every day or you're even just referring to your wife. Even if we're positive about it, it's like that gripping and doing, and it's a very active thing. On the post side of burnout, you can barely move. And so now you're contemplating, I only have enough energy to do one thing. That one thing needs to give me energy, otherwise I'm going to end up right back in bed. And so for me, burnout was a gift because it changed the complete perception that I had about life and I think opened me up to the beauty that I have now. So I often say on the other side of burnout is your most beautiful life.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
You touched on this briefly before, but is burnout avoidable or even inevitable in high performance roles? I think it's totally avoidable.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I'm performing at my highest calibers and I'm doing it from energy. And that's kind of where I was stating is like when that passion, I think even relating to high performers, when you first start your career, you're so passionate, you're trying to figure everything out or even when you're playing sports, the reason that you're amped and you show up and you can do four hours of practice or whatever is because you have passion for what you're doing. And so I now teach, find your passion. Now as adults with careers, our passion might not actually be our job anymore, right? So if you need to garden, go garden. If you need to go dance, go dance. If you need to go work out, go work out. I'm a writer. I write in the mornings, but what I found, and that's why I talk about the power of ands, what I've learned is that it's not about less, it's about more, but it's about more mindful mores. So I write, I work out, I meditate, I do things that increase my passion. And so when I show up to work, even though technically I have longer days of doing, so many hours are replenishing me that when I show up to do the things that I have to do, the work, it's easy and it's fun.
(25:27):
Speaker2: You're ready to rock and roll.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
You've said, quote, success doesn't have to come at the cost of yourself.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Unpack that for us.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Well, I think I have a little bit, but I'll be more specific because I would say the self with a little S and then self with a big S. So we have like your spirit self, which would be your biggest. Then our human S is a little S, right? I think there's a sacrifice of little self, like ourselves and what we do when we're not taught how I was just saying to fill ourselves up. So it's like, oh, I'll give you the example of even when I was leading up to burnout, I remember I missed family dinners. I missed basketball practices. I missed things that were important because I was sacrificing for my family. I was sacrificing for my job. I was sacrificing and I felt entitled. I felt like I was making the right decision. And don't get me wrong, there's still times where you have to make those decisions, but I would like blindly make them all the time. And that's kind of what I mean. What I have learned is that, put it this way, when I was sacrificing using my small self, like I was saying, like doing all the things that I was doing, I made a good living, six figures. I got my shit together, since I'm allowed to say that now, and re-approached life with fulfillment, passion, a part of me, because I had to for healing. And I like tripled my income in three or four years. So it's like, that's what I'm saying, I'm like the success doesn't have to come at the cost of yourself. Actually, if you put yourself first, your human self, and you connect to passion, which I could just convert to like soul stuff, you know, it puts you in alignment with passion and purpose, and then you approach work, dude, like game changer. So that's why I get so pumped to talk about it, I'm like, yeah, let's go, let's talk about this.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Are there any challenges that are surprisingly similar, whether you're coaching a fortune 500 executive or a frontline employee?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yes, fundamentals are relatively the same though. So with an executive, their level of responsibility is really high. So you find it, not that there's a lot of excuses, they're much more open minded, because they have seen what it takes to open up doors and do things. But getting them to prioritize themselves is sometimes a challenge, because they're just like, where and when, like, I understand what you're saying, and I wanted, but I don't understand where it fits in my life. Right. So then there's this real, like, we really have to do work to fit them in. And then I would say with a frontline worker, I think it's, they're more willing to fit them in from a time perspective, but I think they lack the belief of possibility. And so you're working different angles, is what I have found.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Are there things you've noticed that nearly everyone, regardless of their title or experience, is quietly wrestling with that can lead to burnout?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes. Yes. And I'm going to go back to the unders and the overs. Simply because I mean, if I'm going back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and if you're a listener, and you're not familiar with that, I'd look it up, because it's kind of cool. But the first level is the first two levels are security and safety.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
And within that, as a human being, we need to feel loved, we need to feel supported, we need to feel important. And what I have found is, we might not, we might have those needs secure at home, but we might not have them at work. And or we might have them at work, we might not have them at home. So it's super important to notice how I said, it's just a psychological response. So if you're overing, you'd be like, am I feeling that's, that's your invitation to be like, Oh, am I feeling undervalued? Am I feeling underappreciated? And then I bring that back to what I call the ons. So over under ons. And that's means like, if I'm doing if my outward expression is the overs, that means somewhere I'm feeling under. And even under that is the seed of feeling unseen, unimportant, unheard, unloved. And like, where is that coming from? And so I think that if if someone's aware enough to catch themselves in the overs practice that over to under to on, and then you can work on repairing that if you keep your those three levels clean, you won't get to burn out, especially if you add some passion into your life. Again, whether it's gardening or work, it doesn't have to be, you know, I like writing books, and I went for the USA Today, and I got it we but like, you know, I'm an overachiever. So I got to do things like that. It still makes me happy. But I hope that answered the question.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
No, it did. Thank you. What internal narratives do you think hold women back the most? And how do we rewrite them?
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I mean, honestly, I think it's the whether consciously it's known or not. It's kind of like that good girl thing. And I can speak for I mean, I've worked with hundreds, if not thousands of women at this point. And, and it all kind of comes back to being good enough, not thinking they're good enough, not thinking that they're worthy enough, and kind of accepting to fit into somebody else's box or image that they think they should. And why I think that's important to highlight is because whether you're a male or whether you're a female, I mean, males do it to to get the promotion to provide for their family, it's just packaged differently. But every time you make yourself fit in someone else's box, for too long, like, I mean, we're living, right? Because sometimes you got to do something uncomfortable to get to the next thing. But it's when it's not a conscious choice, and it keeps happening, and you're repackaging yourself. And now all of a sudden, you no longer fit. And that's what I see, see the most.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I often hear that women are more competitive with and less supportive of other women in the workplace than they are with men. First you think that's true. And what's your take on the phrase, empowered women empower women?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I well, you know, as far as competitiveness, I'm very fortunate in my career that I have often surrounded myself with a lot of women who support other women. But I mean, I think it's, I've been in fortune 500 for 20, 20 years. And although I'd like to answer that question directly, I have seen men cut down men, I have seen women cut down women, I have seen women cut down men, like, I kind of think it's gender neutral, as far as the competitiveness. However, I have once a woman is empowered, and doesn't feel that competitive spirit, I have seen the, I understand where the phrase empowered women empower women, because you want to like almost microphone it, like, we don't have to be that way. There's room for everybody.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Does burnout look different or manifest itself differently, depending on where someone is on the organization chart? And I mean, and I guess by that, is it worse for people with greater responsibilities? Or does burnout affect everyone pretty much the same?
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I think it does affect them. I think how it shows up is different, but how it impacts has those same results, you know, disharmony in the body is devastation of the DS. But I will give an example, like, someone might at lower in the organization might get burnt out, because, you know, it is example, how I was saying, you're starting to question your belonging, but say you have Sally and Joe, Sally's been with the company for four years, Joe's been at the company for one year, Joe's gung ho, he's moved sales, Sally's the loyalist, she knows everywhere, everybody's buried, you know, and so really, the promotion, Sally thinks it's hers in the head, you know, Joe's like, I'm gonna go for it, because I'm all gung ho, and Joe gets it. And Sally's like, what the hell, you know? And so like, that is a situation where she's gonna start questioning her belonging, she's gonna initially start trying to prove to the organization that they made a wrong choice. So you're gonna see Sally overworking, overstressing, overanalyzing, doing stuff that Sally's never done before. And then all of a sudden, she's gonna start freaking out because she's undervalued, underappreciated. At most, like, this is where organizations get it backwards. When they see people overing, they get a good like, you're doing a good job, keep doing that. And it's like encouraging them to like, burn out, right? So someone like Sally, if it wasn't checked, would burn out. And it would be from too much effort. I think from a executive standpoint, not that I don't see them burning out from an effort standpoint, but I see them, it's more of like that support. Like because they're at the top, they have lacked asking for help, they may not have, they might not have support within the organization, they might be the only one leading. So you just see that there's a lot more, I think it really stems from responsibility and not knowing how to balance that out so that there's room for themselves.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
How do you help high achieving professionals give themselves permission to rest?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
You know, that's a fun one, because it's not innate, it's not, it's not, but it is such a superpower. And I think that, you know, sometimes high achievers and I keep using examples like sports or dancing or gardening, it is hard to get a high achiever to like sit on a couch, right? But it's not hard to get a high achiever to do something softer with their energy. So I often just invite them to like, what did you used to do for fun? You know, like, let's go back 20 years. Let's pretend what did you do? And it's funny, Chris, because I have seen, you know, grown men and women, 40s, 50s and 60s return back to like, local sports, like not to get and this is the thing, we're older now, we don't have to do it to get an award. You know, like, I've seen people return back to ballroom dancing, I've seen people lead book clubs, just, I come back to gardening, the reconnecting with nature is such a wonderful thing for high performers, it's so on the opposite side of what they do. But I get so many pictures of like, my clients gardens, and they're just like, oh, I did this on the weekend. And, and for them, that's rest. So I know that was kind of a longer answer. But I think it's good to show some examples of what it could look like.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Well, and you mentioned getting back to nature, there have been a number of studies showing the positive mental health benefits of going for a walk, going for a hike, you know, gardening, things like that, just be at one, if you will, with the world and in your soul, to mention that earlier. So I appreciate you mentioning gardening a lot, because that is just, you know, the whole nature aspect is something we all need. And when you're that high performer, you don't actually stop to smell the roses, you're just go, go, go.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
Yes. And I want to just comment on that, too. Because, you know, I'm still super high performing, I have very, very full schedules, I probably still work 40 plus hours, 60 hours a week, some weeks. But I, when I walk, I try to walk with intention. And this is what I can say to high performers is that you can start doing it now. Like when I walk to the mailbox to get my mail, I am trying not to listen to anything I am trying not to, like, I'm actually trying to count the freaking butterflies, right? Like, I like I am going to be present, it's going to work. And it's such a, like I said, it's such a beautiful gift to, to do little moments like that.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Earlier, I mentioned both and thinking, you focus a lot in helping people in organizations move from either or thinking to both and thinking. For someone who's never heard of that distinction, what's the difference? And why does it matter?
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Well, from a societal point, point of view, we get preconditioned with what is called either or thinking. And that's why we get in so many ruts. It's like, I, I have to do this, or I have to do that. Or if I do this, I can't do that. And so, you know, you talk about executives and burnout, well, I think they're so disconnected from personal fulfillment, that and it's, and it really leads to an either or mindset. They are so committed to work that the thought of working and having personal fulfillment is not even like, like what, you know, and so that's an easy example. But when I invite them to do these things, like you can work full time and start gardening. And that's what I mean. It's like, let's just what are you passionate about? Can we layer in some ands, even if it's only for five or 10 minutes a day, that can give you energy and what they find and science proves it is that as we are tapped into passion, purpose, it gives us vitality. And that vitality brings us life force energy. And then all of a sudden, we're starting to heal the ailments start to go away. So the and is very important for any high performer to make sure that they're not getting stuck into a limited mindset when it comes to themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You mentioned passion and purpose. I saw something on TV about a week ago that I remember was but started making me think about like, who am I? What am I? What's the show about? Who's Chris Mika? What's he about? And I literally typed up to my team, passion, purpose, pursuit. I love that literally about a week and a half ago.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
So that's so great. And I just want to expand on that for the audience because and I would love to hear just like what you're experiencing. But I have found that the pursuit happens when you're in touch with that part of you, where passion is alive and purpose is alive. Like my purpose isn't to write books. That's the vehicle that I, you know, the vehicle I use is communication, speaking, writing, podcasting, whatever, any time of communication I'm in. But what I realized is that the more I honor that feeling, it does become a pursuit. Like I couldn't stop doing what I'm doing if I wanted to, because I wake up at like two in the morning like, oh, I got an idea. So I want like, how are you experiencing that passion, purpose, pursuit trilogy?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
So it's, you know, I've been a financial services executive for 30 years. And being a sales guy in Wall Street is not my purpose. It's a means to an end. And like many people, I was at my transformative point was I was at Ground Zero 9-11.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And so a handful of years after that started doing stuff locally, which led to a nonprofit. We started sending care packages to deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. That organization grew. We now fund exoskeletons, which enable paralyzed veterans to stand and walk, and virtual reality software to help veterans with PTSD who are suicidal. So that was my first purpose, if you will. The second one was, again, with 9-11, it took me 17 years to go back. I self-diagnosed myself with PTSD. And, you know, the 20th anniversary came and went, and it was the heart of COVID. There was political controversy between Trump and Biden. And I was disappointed because that was a major milestone. And the last three years, three plus years since then, I've been working on with Michael Geier who's been on the show. We're doing a documentary for the Heroism and Resiliency of 9-11, which led to me creating a new organization called the 9-11 Legacy Foundation, which is to elevate the events of the three attack sites. So think about like the Olympic organizing committee model. And that has really just started to snowball right now. We just landed Gary Sinise to do the narration for our film. And so we've got Andy Carter, who's chief of staff to President Bush, Leon Panetta, who's secretary of defense and CIA director. Everyone knows I'm a huge Yankees fan. So it's like the 1927 Murders Row Yankees. And so I'm very blessed to have an eclectic Rolodex. But that's my passion, my purpose and my pursuit for the 25th anniversary of 9-11 next year.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Oh, man, that makes me tear. My husband's a firefighter for Fort Lauderdale and he has 343, you know, tattooed and a tribute when they were raising the American flag. He has that tattooed on him. So it's been a big part of our life is to remembering 9-11 and honoring it every year.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
And it's off topic, but we've forgotten. We've broken that vow of never forget. And we are forgetting. And so I'm changing the narrative and you may have noticed my coffee mug. I'm using the phrase we remember.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
And so I'm trying to change that narrative in a more positive, forward thinking.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Yes, I got the goose bumps. See, that's what passion and purpose does.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
See, high five, virtual high five. I love it. I love it. All right, back to serious stuff here now. Are high achievers immune to either or thinking or they feel they tend to default to it?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
I think they default to it. I think, you know, I come back to so much is just and I don't think anything is definite is. Intended to be harmful, but so much of the societal molding is based around surviving and not. Fulfilling your destiny or fulfilling your purpose, right, so I think that we're all just modeling what we know.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
How has your definition of leadership evolved over the course of your career and what role does emotional intelligence play in effective leadership today?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
I think your example is how I view leadership. It's it's following your heart to such a degree that you believe in something that's unseen and people start to follow you. Then you put a message to it. And, you know, that could be a small just on a team like you and I have been sales leaders, right? Or it could be something much more extraordinary because we're coming out of the mold and making an impact in the world through our work. But, you know, leadership is we remember. Right, and you leading and taking that charge as the trailblazer, you are now going to give that gift to how many thousands of people to help them remember so we don't never experience anything like that. I mean, I can tear up just talking to you, Chris, but that's that's how I view leadership. At one time, I think that I did view leadership on like a corporate leadership wavelength where it's like I manage my team and yes, I inspire, but I've got this little book of business that I'm really responsible for and I got to do that. And then what I realized is real leadership was when I decided to get up and share my story of being a senior leader and hitting the bathroom floor. And then all of a sudden I had other senior leaders come out and like me too, you know, me too. And, you know, how can I get better? And then I teach them like now I teach leaders and now they're teaching their teams. They're leading healthier teams because they're healthier and they have some tools that they can utilize. So that's a long answer because it's very heartfelt. But I think what I define leadership now is really embodying your beliefs in a positive way that inspires other people to be better.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
You know, you talk about the me too when you admitted to having having your bathroom floor moment. I've done a lot of work in the mental health space with first responders and veterans, and there's that stigma associated with it in terms of, you know, I need help.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Oh, gosh, I know.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
It's the same thing. You know, it takes one trailblazer, to use your phrase, to really set the standard of something I've used with my sales teams and say, OK, you know, it's OK to not be OK.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
And you're not alone. And we're all the same. We're all, are we wired differently? Sure. But inside you've got a heart. You know, we all take the same. And so open up, talk to somebody again, spouse, lover, best friend. It's OK. So don't press yourself to the point where you're in the hospital with diabetes sticking out of you.
Speaker3: I couldn't have said it better myself.
(47:52):
What are your views on servant leadership or leading with vulnerability?
Speaker 3 (47:56):
I think I've indicated that a little bit, but my views on it is I just wish more people would do it. It's scary. I get it. We're building reputations. You know, when you're in leadership, depends on your point of view. But we're all we're building something for our family. We're building something for the organization. We're building a reputation. And it's scary to step outside the box. I'll just give you a quick example on the vulnerability. I didn't I felt so purpose driven to share my story, but I was like, is this going to ruin my career? I talk about vulnerability. I think I did actually throw up like three times before I stepped on my first stage, you know. But it's so important because you change lives when you share the truth of who you are.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Well said, I love that. If you could give one message to any corporate leaders listening today, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Creating a safe environment for your team isn't soft. It's necessary. When you lead a person nervous system, when you help them feel safe, you help them feel regulated. When they're regulated, they perform. And so I'm just want to say that learning to lead your people to their potential isn't a soft way to lead, it's necessary.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
What rituals or habits have been most essential to keeping you grounded and in the present?
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Breath.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
My breath is so important. Breath. My breath. I teach so much breath work. Granted, I'm a yoga teacher, too, behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
We don't have time to get that, unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Like that's part of my and and that's like just to go on a quite soft derail like the and you do whatever you want. I'm a salesperson. I'm a professional salesperson. I went to go be a yoga teacher. Doesn't mean I have to go teach it all the time, but I like loved it. So I brought it in. But my breath. Our breath. It's we need it. We don't even think about it because we're alive and we just have to have it. But when you can intentionally breathe, you bring your life force back in. And so that's how I ground myself every day. I intentionally breathe multiple, multiple times a day.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Biggest question of the show for you today. How can people get in touch with you? Learn more about PowerSpeak Potential or get their own copies of your books?
Speaker 3 (50:50):
Everything you need to know is at BeccaPowers.com from a social media perspective. I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram the most. And that handle is at BeccaPowers1313.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Becca Powers, founder of PowerSpeak Potential and author of three bestsellers and future author of your CEO of your own life. Thank you so much for being with us today. And a special thank you to Mac, who, again, listeners, you got to watch the video because he is so cute taking that right now. And I was laughing because I could hear him snore over my dog. And so that's you've got a good mic over there. That's it. We'll see you next week. Same time, same place. I'm Chris Meek. Until then, stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.