Breaking Free from Over-functioning--Free Your Magic Challenge #4

Send me a text! I'd love to hear your comments, what you'd like to hear on future episodes and your questions.

You’re not tired because you’re doing too much.
You’re tired because you’re doing too much of the wrong things.

In Day Four of the Free Your Magic Challenge, we’re exposing one of the most toxic patterns high-achieving women unknowingly fall into: overfunctioning. It looks like leadership, it feels like service—but it’s actually self-abandonment in disguise. In this episode, Christine reveals the three hidden ways overfunctioning hijacks your creativity, bottlenecks your business, and keeps you stuck in your zone of excellence instead of unleashing your true genius.

You’ll hear real-world examples, get a powerful journaling prompt, and walk away with one small shift you can make today to reclaim your energy, your clarity, and your spark. This one hits deep—so if you’ve been holding everything together, constantly reacting, or overdelivering just to feel safe… this episode is for you. Click play and take your power back.

Book a call to learn more about how I can help you break free from over functioning in your business. Click here. 

If you're loving You Are The Magic, please follow the show and leave a five-star review.

Did this episode get you thinking? I'd love to hear from you. Text me at link at the top of the page.

Follow Christine on Instagram

Learn more Christine and how she helps high achievers reach next level business success on her website.

Thank you for listening and just remember, you are the magic!

Episode Transcript

Christine DeHerrera (00:00):
Welcome to the Free your Magic Challenge.
I cannot believe we're alreadyon day four.
Are you starting to feel yourmagic returning?
I hope so.
Be sure to tell me all about itin the text, in the show notes
or DM me on Instagram.
Today we're talking aboutsomething I see all the time
with brilliant business owners,especially high-achieving women.
It's something that looks likeresponsibility, feels like

(00:21):
leadership, but is actuallydraining your magic at the root.
Let's talk aboutover-functioning.
Over-functioning is when you dotoo much for too long for too
many people.
It's when you take onresponsibilities that aren't
yours, solve problems thataren't yours to solve and make
sure everyone else is okay,while slowly disappearing from
your own life.
In business, it can look likeanswering emails at all hours

(00:43):
and texts saying yes to just onemore thing for a client
refusing to delegate becauseit's just easier to do it myself
.
While it might seem like goodcustomer service, it's really a
recipe for disaster for you andyour business, because
over-functioning is a form ofself-abandonment.
It feels like control, but it'sactually disconnection from
your genius, your vision andyour creativity, which are the

(01:05):
lifeblood of your business.
Here are three waysover-functioning shows up in
business and how it blocks yourflow.
The first is reactivity.
I feel this one deeply becauserunning a publicity and
advertising firm is all aboutreacting all the time
Last-minute media requests,deadlines, deadlines, deadlines,
not to mention everything elsethat comes along with all those
things Emails, texts, calls.

(01:26):
I speak from first-handexperience.
When you're constantly reactingto everything in your business
every ping, every question,every fire you leave zero space
for deep work or creativethought.
Creativity doesn't live inchaos.
It lives in the calm.
It lives in the space youprotect.
When you're always reacting,you're not creating, especially
the cool new things that arewhat keep your business alive

(01:49):
and growing and keep new peoplecoming into your world.
Another way over-functioningshows up is as people-pleasing
for your clients.
Over-functioning was drilledinto me and my generation as
excellent customer service,always going above and beyond,
regardless of the cost.
When you're over-functioning inyour business, you say yes to
things that don't feel good.
You over-deliver constantly.

(02:11):
You hold back on your actualexpertise because you don't want
to ruffle feathers, and thisleads to you feeling resentful,
underpaid and exhausted, butstill smiling on the Zoom screen
Hello, toxic positivity.
When you're performing forapproval, your true magic stays
hidden because you're using yourenergy for everything else,
starting to get scared yet aboutoverfunctioning.

(02:33):
Well, the third form ofoverfunctioning is holding
everything in your head.
So you don't have systems, youdon't delegate, you can't take a
vacation because you are thesystem.
And why are you the system?
It's because of number two.
When you're constantly peoplepolicing for your clients,
there's no energy left to createsystems and ways of delegating

(02:54):
or taking a vacation.
And while holding everything inyour head sounds like control,
it's actually fear.
Fear of losing clients, fear ofnot being enough, and it's
costing you so much time, somuch space and so much creative
energy.
When your brain is filled withto-dos, your genius has nowhere
to land.
No one tells you this, butover-functioning isn't noble,

(03:21):
it's not sustainable and it'sactually not required for
success.
In fact, it's slowing you down,it's keeping you busy instead
of potent.
It's keeping you safe insteadof sovereign.
It's keeping you in your zoneof excellence instead of your
zone of genius.
So be sure to listen to theepisode earlier this week about
how excellence kills genius.
Now that you have this awareness, let's start breaking the
pattern.
We're going to start takingback your energy, using it for

(03:43):
good, to get in the flow, to seesomething no one else has seen,
to create your next big thing.
Let's start with some questions.
Ask yourself where am Iover-functioning in my business?
Make a list of that and then,next to each of those things,
write what is it costing me?
It might scare you this list,but becoming aware is always the
first step.

(04:04):
Next you're going to pick oneof those things on your list to
stop over-functioning.
You can keep it simple.
At first.
It might just mean saying no toa request or delegating that
request to somebody else on yourteam.
It might be one place to createa standard operating procedure.
Just simply record yourselfdoing the task on a Loom video

(04:27):
and bam, you now have a systemthat you can give to someone
else.
And if all that seems even liketoo big of a step, start by just
pausing before you react or gowild and crazy and take the rest
of the afternoon off.
So one tiny shift today, just acouple of minutes, can create a
ripple of magic tomorrow.

(04:48):
And I should know, becauseover-functioning used to be a
way of life.
Instead, after years ofmigraines and trying to hold too
many things all at the sametime, I finally had had enough
and said no more.
I waited too long, and I don'twant that for you, because it's
required literally hundreds andhundreds of hours of deep

(05:09):
nervous system work and deepinward looking to unravel and
release my own over-functioning.
Now I help my clients createspace in their business so they
can do this deep work andmastery required for their
biggest dreams withoutover-functioning.
So if you're ready to achievemore by doing less, you can book
a call today.
You can find a link in the shownotes, of course.

(05:30):
You've been doing amazing workhere.
Thank you for showing up foryourself and your future and all
the people you're going to help.
I'll see you on Monday for dayfive, our last day of the Free
your Magic Challenge.
Until then, give yourselfpermission to stop doing the
most, because you, you are themagic.