Your Future Realized
Work Smarter, Feel Lighter—The Your Future Realized Podcast is your unapologetic permission slip to ditch the grind and rediscover what makes work matter. With Laura Malinowski, you’ll get straightforward strategies, fresh experiments, and tiny wins that create practical shifts you’ll notice right away. Designed for operations leaders and their teams. Find out how to connect with your people, build steady, resilient habits, and sharpen your focus—so every workday feels more rewarding. Each episode is like having a coach in your corner, bringing you proven tools to handle anything that comes your way, strengthen what works, and keep making progress—day after day.
Your Future Realized
112: The 5-Minute Habit Ops Execs Use to Prevent Burnout Before Breakfast
Find the full transcript at yourfuturerealized.com/112.
What if you could start your morning feeling noticeably better and stronger, before the day pulls at you?
I recently coached a leader who was always in firefighting mode, glued to email before sunrise, even before she was out of bed. Always on, her stress set the pace every day.
Then she tried a simple experiment one morning: A five-minute brain dump in her journal before anything else. That day, she found her thinking was clearer, and she could keep what really mattered in focus. She didn’t feel overwhelmed, or snappy. Burnout didn’t get a chance to creep in.
Today, I’ll share the one small routine that’s quietly changing the way high-level ops leaders start their day, why most skip it, and what actually could happen if you give it a try—starting tomorrow.
What if you could start your morning feeling noticeably better and stronger, before the day pulls at you?
I recently coached a leader who was always in firefighting mode, glued to email before sunrise, even before she was out of bed. Always on, her stress set the pace every day.
Then she tried a simple experiment one morning: A five-minute brain dump in her journal before anything else. That day, she found her thinking was clearer, and she could keep what really mattered in focus. She didn’t feel overwhelmed, or snappy. Burnout didn’t get a chance to creep in.
Today, I’ll share the one small routine that’s quietly changing the way high-level ops leaders start their day, why most skip it, and what actually could happen if you give it a try—starting tomorrow. Find the full transcript at yourfuturerealized.com/112.
Hey Ops Execs,
Why Old Habits Fail Ops Leaders
You know how it feels when your usual habits just… fizzle? That old momentum is just gone. It’s even harder when everything’s changing. Those old routines feel safe, even when they’re not helping.
You solve problems day in and day out. For many I know, that means sifting out that inbox at the crack of dawn. But here’s I keep seeing: the most effective leaders have focused, non-negotiable morning habits.
Even the people who keep everyone else’s wheels turning need a tune-up now and then too. Think for a moment about your own setup. If it doesn't help you run smoother, it’s worth a rethink.
Funny thing is, it’s almost never a new tool that makes the difference, but the honest attention we give ourselves. We get so used to searching for the next fix, when often what works best is already right here.
No big fat new strategy or fancy app. Just a tiny experiment like this one:
“What if tomorrow morning I took five minutes to do a brain dump—before I open a single email?”
Five minutes, and my client had the mental space she didn’t even know she needed.
What Happens When You Hit Pause Instead
If you hear the word “journaling” and immediately cringe, thinking “that’s not me” or “it’s too weird,” I know. Lots of people roll their eyes at the idea at first: It’s too soft, too slow, or otherwise just not their style.
But it’s not keeping a diary. It’s a private brain dump just to clear space and start the day. No need to be deep or wise, nobody’s checking your work. It’s a pause, not prose. Sometimes the simple act of processing junk out of your head is what actually lets you move forward.
Why don’t more leaders do this? Ops is urgent. “Fix now, move fast.” Quick wins can keep you bubbling with adrenaline, but missing the bigger play.
Journaling is not fluff. It’s a quick tune-up for your operational mind that gets at the deeper structure of how you show up.
How to Start a 5-Minute Journaling Habit
I like the term “strategic shedding”: Letting go of what isn’t working anymore. Here’s three steps to do it:
- Spot your outdated moves, like quick reactions and mindless reactivity. In my client’s case, it was diving into email before even getting out of bed every single day, even on weekends.
- Notice the hidden cost, like stress, foggy thinking, resentment, or lost purpose. In her case, it was feeling behind the 8-ball from minute one, and getting stuck in that mode all day.
- Swap in one simple habit to shake it up, like investing five minutes in jotting down what’s top of mind or your main focus for the day, untangling whatever’s in your head before the day takes control.
Not just a thing to check off (you’ve got plenty of those!). It’s a chance to start your day feeling solid and filtering for what’s important.
Today I’ll leave you with this question: If you spent five minutes journaling before work, what effect might it have on your focus by midday?
Try it tomorrow for just five minutes and see what happens. And, as always, I’d love to hear how it goes.
If you’re ready to move beyond burnout prevention and juggling tasks to making a bigger difference, check out Episode 70: “How Ops Execs Transform from Busy to Brilliant.” Time to start making your impact more visible. Find it at: YourFutureRealized.com/70.
You can’t stop the chaos, but you can change the game.