Ep 257 Energy Shifts & Evolving Through Change

 

Join me today for a fun conversation around shifting your energy and the importance of growth for your human evolution.

In This Episode:

• Energy shifts and evolving through change. 0:00
  • Michelle Bourque discusses energy shifts and change, sharing insights from two books and reflecting on recent changes at work.
  • Molly Fletcher: The Energy Clock (Book) Game Changers (Podcast)
  • Brad Stulberg: Master of Change
  • Vacation location: The Otesaga
• Embracing change and growth in a team. 1:43
  • Importance of change and growth in a company, and how it can lead to new opportunities.
• Personal growth and energy management. 3:23
  • Reframing negative situations as opportunities for growth.
  • Growth and development, finding joy in the process.
• Resisting change and finding energy drains. 7:10
  • Bourque suggests questioning self-imposed obligations to identify underlying motivations.
• Prioritizing energy and productivity. 9:02
  • Prioritize energy-boosting tasks and delegate/delete/delay less fulfilling ones.
  • Prioritize your energy and embrace change for personal growth.

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Episode Transcript: Transcribed by OtterAI with minimal edits

You are listening to the It’s Your Time podcast and I’m your host certified life coach Michelle Arnold Bourque and today’s episode I’m discussing energy shifts and evolving through change.

Bourque 0:12 Welcome to the It’s Your Time Podcast, the podcast. We’re busy professionals like you get the practical solutions and support you need to gain control of your schedule so you can strive to be the best in your career, but without the stress and overwhelm. If you’re looking to increase your energy and decrease your stress, you are in the right place.

0:35 Hello, hello. Hello. Welcome back to the podcast friends. How are you doing today I have to tell you, as I am getting this episode together, I am looking out at at cigar lake and the sun is coming up. The leaves are changing colors. It is just so pretty. We did a couple of days away from Marc’s birthday. And it has been lovely. The weekend was also the start of fall. So I thought it would be a great chance to talk about change here today. And I also want to incorporate shifting energy and this discussion. Energy you may have heard is my word for the year. And as we are away this past weekend here I am reading two books which can be helpful in the discussion. One is called the Energy clock by Molly Fletcher. Which by the way, I love Molly’s podcast game changers, you should totally check it out. And the other book is master of change by Brad Stulberg. Now, last week, I alluded to some changes at work. And today I can share it, it is all official. You all know how much I tell you. I love our team. And with any great team there is gross and with growth, there are new opportunities. So one of our team members is moving to the next chapter in her life, which opens up a position to work with us and begins the process all over again, of building the team change, which I know is the one consistent thing we have going in this company. Listen isn’t changed the one constant in life. I mean, hopefully if we want to grow and evolve right side note, if you are interested in learning more about the position, please feel free to DM me on the socials. I do have it posted on LinkedIn. So you can take a peek there as well. Here’s the funny thing about change. A lot of times we want to resist change. Remember, our brain is motivated to avoid pain, seek pleasure and be as efficient as possible. So it totally makes sense. And this is the idea of living in a state of homeostasis. homeo same stasis standing. But growth comes from change and truly at our cores. We want to evolve as humans and grow. And I think that is especially true for you if you are here taking the time to listen. So in at the book master of change. Stulberg talks about the idea of aloe stasis. Now I have never heard about this before. But it is the ability to gain stability through change. And it’s a new way to consider the process of change. He talks about order disorder and then reorder so you’re not trying to go back to old ways. And I think this can be used in so many aspects of our lives. For example, I think that to the teams that we’ve built over the years after a member leaves. Also, before we get too far into this, I would just like to record to show that usually they are leaving because of some new fantastic opportunity. I am not the common denominator, as Marc often likes to joke. But of course, it is such a bummer when you lose amazing teammates. And let’s be honest, maybe not so much a bummer when they’re not quite as amazing. But the truth is, how we reorder is the key to expansion. And many folks will often focus on thinking things like This shouldn’t have happened, I want you to just take a moment and think about times in your life when maybe a change came about. And you had that thought and it can for sure be an initial reaction. But here is where the importance of being in charge of your energy comes into play. You can argue with reality, which as Byron Katie says is a battle you will lose 100% of the time. But being able to intentionally channeling your energy in a way that is useful is such an amazing skill set to have. And as Fletcher says in her book, the energy clock, you can simply ask yourself, what do I want here? And the example of our new work team, we can decide, okay, this is a great opportunity for one person to move on. Now how can we make this team even better? And I almost think of Stolberg concept of the or Unknown Speaker 5:00 Order disorder reorder, in a similar way to the idea that I’ve mentioned here before, when I’ve talked about the spirals of growth, so I want you to envision a spiral that is going up. So you go around, and there is often a lesson in life to be learned that we are faced with a challenge. And guess what, as with any things in life, it comes back around for us, right, but now at a higher level, because you are also a different version of yourself. And so the spiral continues as you grow. But what if the exact reason this is happening is to help you move to that next level of growth in your life? What if it can get even better? So we don’t want to go to the old ways of thinking of order disorder back to order? Again, it’s order, disorder, and reorder. Unknown Speaker 6:00 Do you remember that song, closing time back in the day? I love the quote, Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings. And the new beginning might be fun, dare I say? And speaking of dare I say, what if the result is not always the end all be all? What do you mean, you might be asking Stolberg talks about the true joy of life being in the process of growing nearer to the person that you are becoming? Let that land?

6:31 True joy in life is being in the process of growing nearer to the person that you are becoming? And I get it. I’m a generator by human design, I am all about going going going, what is the result? Let’s get off the good energy, baby. But we also need to be able to pay attention along the way. Ask yourself, are you finding joy in your life as you go? And here is a new shift that I am working on? Instead of minutes, hours and days and weeks? What if you consider it how you are spending your energy versus your time. This is so important when we’re facing different changes in our lives. So many people talk about being burned out these days. But most of us are not in that state. Because we’re doing too many of the things that we absolutely love. We are feeling this way, because we are doing too many things that are draining our energy, or maybe we are resisting the changes. So where are you telling yourself that you have to do something? Question it, what would happen if you stopped doing that, if it is really something that you need to do then own the reasons why you are doing it. And this can sometimes be a challenging idea to understand because a lot of times we tell ourselves, I have to do this with the you know, dot dot dot after it usually sounding like an I don’t want to. But that’s usually a lie that we’re telling ourselves, because here’s the thing, there is likely a reason that you are doing it. For example, I was recently watching someone get coached, and she was feeling drained and burned down. And she thought it was because she, quote unquote, had to take care of her aging parent on top of having the life that she was living with her job in her family. But as the coaching went on, it was evident, there were for sure other things that could have been done for her dad. In fact, the truth is, the daughter wanted to do what she was doing, because it was important to her to be able to show up in that way as a daughter, and she didn’t want to regret anything once he passed away. Listen, we all tell ourselves stories. So in this case, it really was not super useful for her to be telling herself that she had to do it, because that was in part what was draining her energy when she can step into owning that she wanted to do it for those reasons. It’s a much more empowered state. So we need to make sure that we are telling ourselves good stories. And if you are in that place where you are feeling like your energy is strain, you decide to either own the reasons you are doing the things or have the courage to make the change that kind of in between victim place. It is no fun to be hanging out there. Trust me, I’m familiar with it. You guys, most of the podcasts that I share with you are because I think either you need to hear the idea and or I need to hear it again. Right. So I am right here with you. We need to be paying attention to where our energy is going. Where we are doing things that light us up and where maybe things are just kind of neutral. And that’s just totally fine too. Right. It’s kind of really looking at how can we do less of what drains us

]10:00 More and more of what lights us up. And another thing to keep in mind as you’re paying attention to your energy levels is that question, what does light you up? What is it? That is a true drain for you? Newsflash, we are in a society that often honors the badge of busy, especially in this industry. But busy is not the same as productive. So where are you doing tasks that could either be delegated, deleted or delayed, prioritize your energy to do more of what lights you up less of what drains you and watch how much more you’re able to do and how much better you feel along the way. It might take a little time to make these changes, but I promise you, it will be worth it in the long run. And that’s what we’re here for. Right folks? We are in it for the long game. I mean, here’s one simple activity. How do you feel when you say, I am so busy? My guess is overwhelmed. What if you decide? I am going to number one, take an audit of my energy. Number two, decide and prioritize every single day. What is most important? My guess is when you’re thinking along those lines, it’s a different feeling. Maybe you even feel more committed or determined or empowered, like what is that for you? I want you to think about it this week. I want you to look at embracing change, knowing that it is going to bring about growth and start paying attention to what lights you up. I would love to know what lights you up most in life. Please feel free to share it, put it in a picture and put it on the socials and tag me it can be so much fun. Share it, talk about it. Most importantly, do it. You deserve it. And listen, if you need help, especially with the prioritizing the six week online coaching program that I have has one entire week that is dedicated to this getting clear on your priorities. So go to Michelle Bourque coaching.com, forward slash confidence to learn more and it has so many other great tools within the program. So it is $47 one time payment again, Michelle Bourquecoaching.com/confidence. I like to think it is quite a bargain. Okay. That’s what I have for you today. Let’s meet back here next week, but for now, make it a great day. Take care.

12:40 Did you know you can take this work to a deeper level with me one on one. Go to Michellebourquecoaching.com and click on get started to begin