Your Next Clear Move
Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move.
I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward.
This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next.
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Your Next Clear Move
Five-Minute Reset for Leaders Running on Empty
Leaders who feel drained and overwhelmed don't need a vacation – they need a five-minute habit reset to interrupt burnout patterns and reclaim their energy. It's not about time management but about leadership energy management, with small intentional pauses that help you return to what matters most.
• Overwhelm builds gradually through a slow leak of energy that we often don't notice until we're completely drained
• Signs you need a reset include rereading emails multiple times, snapping at others, avoiding decisions, and waking up already tired
• The five-minute reset includes naming what you're avoiding, physically changing your state, re-anchoring to your role, making one decision, and celebrating a win
• Sustainable momentum comes from small, clear moves, not pushing harder
• Energy, not time, is your most precious leadership resource
• These aren't life hacks but leadership strategies for high-capacity individuals
If your organization is serious about keeping the people they can't afford to lose, visit www.debbiepetersonspeaks.com to learn more about the readiness reset programming.
Hey, hello and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast. This is where you come to get your next clear move so that you stay in momentum in leadership and life. And today we are talking about a reset, just a five-minute reset for when you are running on empty. So stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast.
Speaker 3:The place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
Speaker 2:Here's your Okay.
Speaker 1:I know you've had these days where your calendar is packed, your to-do list is growing faster than you have patience for and you're starting to feel more reactive than being intentional, showing up as your best self. And believe me, I am with you. You're not alone. And that drained feeling, though it rarely hits all at once, you find yourself being there. But it's been building for a while, because you don't notice when it starts, you don't see its momentum and how it grows, because it creeps in, this overwhelm. It creeps quietly, it's like moment by moment, day by day, and it starts with a slow leak of your energy, just a quiet depletion of yourself. It's that sense that you're doing everything right and still somehow you're getting nowhere. Man, for me it was chasing everything. So whether you are maybe in the middle of the pack, you're leading from the middle, or maybe you're in an elevated position of leadership and you're mentoring from the top. This can be you, and probably more than you are comfortable admitting to anyone else. So what I want you to know is that I know you're running hard and it doesn't feel like you're making traction. But your first thought may be that I just need a vacation, I just need a week off. But let's be real, if this is you, it likely wouldn't be time off anyway. So I want to give you something a little off. But let's be real, if this is you, it likely wouldn't be time off anyway. So I want to give you something a little more practical. It's a five minute habit reset instead.
Speaker 1:So what is a habit reset? Well, it is a micro intervention, right? Just a short, intentional pause that helps you to return to what is most important. It helps you to re-energize yourself, your mind, your body and, most importantly, it interrupts the patterns that lead to you feeling overwhelmed or burned out. But it's not a full lifestyle overhaul. It's one clear move that shifts your momentum. And here's what makes it powerful. It's doable. So most overwhelmed leaders that I have had conversations with they stay stuck because a lot of times, the solutions that are offered feel just as overwhelming. Right, we're told to journal for 30 minutes. We're told to overall our routine needs overhauled. Right, we need to meditate, meditate, meditate. Like a monk, I can meditate, but man, it is difficult, for me at least, and I don't mind any of these. Right, but I want you to have an easier solution, something that you're actually going to use. So how about you take five minutes, that's it, and reset your focus instead? That is where your personal clarity comes in and it gets to shine. Not with big, sweeping, dramatic change, but with deliberate, simple yet powerful changes. So here's signs that you might need a reset.
Speaker 1:You find yourself rereading the same email three times and still have no idea what you just read Is that you? You are snapping, you are avoiding, you are zoning out when you need to be focused in. You're responding from stress instead of being very intentional with your responses. Is that you? Maybe it is just small decisions. They feel heavy. You don't want to make them, you're avoiding them. That could be you.
Speaker 1:Maybe you feel guilty no matter what you're doing at home. You are focused on work and you feel guilty at work. Maybe you are focused on something at home and you feel guilty. When you're resting, you feel that you should be doing something else. When you're pushing, you feel that you might be neglecting your personal well-being. You're shooting yourself to death, so that guilt is weighing on you. Maybe that's you.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're somebody who starts your day and you are already tired. You wake up, your feet, hit the ground and you're still exhausted. You know you're already behind in your mind because you didn't have recovery overnight. Your brain never really shut off. Is that you? If that sounds familiar, I'm sure there are others that you can come up with on your own as well.
Speaker 1:This isn't a time management issue. With on your own as well. This isn't a time management issue. It's a leadership energy issue. It is energy, not time, that is your most precious leadership resource. So what is it that you can do instead? I'm so glad you asked Five minutes, five micro moves. That's what I'm going to give you and you can do these right now. There are no special apps, there are no major routine overhauls just to reset.
Speaker 1:So the first one, number one name what you're avoiding. Why do you ask? Well, close your browser tabs, okay, and just ask yourself this question what is one thing that I am dodging? Consider what you're avoiding, and I want you to write it down. Here's the deal Avoidance drains your energy because you are constantly thinking about what it is that you're avoiding. So, in your unconscious awareness, that is just running in your brain all the time. So you're constantly thinking about it. When you name it, it gives it boundaries, because then you've defined what it is. You've called it into your awareness and you can actually do something about it.
Speaker 1:Number two switch your state Physically. Stand up, shake it out, go outside for five deep breaths. Your body often knows before your brain that something is off, so get your blood moving. In NLP we call this a pattern interrupt and it also changes your physical state. When your physical state changes, your mental state changes too. Number three re-anchor to your role. State changes too. Number three re-anchor to your role so you can ask yourself who needs me to show up ready in this moment, in this moment, not throughout the rest of the day, through the rest of the week, through the rest of the quarter, through the rest of the year In this moment, is it your team? Is it a client? Is it yourself? This recenters your focus from scattered tasks focused on everything to intentional, purposeful present and on what is most important right now.
Speaker 1:Number four reclaim one decision. You know burnout or overwhelm often comes from decision fatigue. It is that. You know the million things that we focus on that we need to decide. So take one thing off your plate, choose a decision that you have been deferring. What are you avoiding deciding? Make the decision, take the action, because your action brings you energy, it helps to restore it. Number five celebrate a win. I know this sounds trite, but for your mental well-being, this is so incredibly important.
Speaker 1:Take a moment to acknowledge one thing that went well today, even if it was just showing up, especially if that's all you did, if you were in that space. Right, recognition isn't fluff, it is fuel. It reminds your brain what progress looks like and it helps you to feel like you're leading from purpose, not pressure. Now, this may sound like life hacks, but it's not. These are leadership strategies, because I will tell you, the leaders that I coach aren't lazy. They're just tired of chasing everything and getting nothing meaningful in return. The people I coach, they're high capacity, high responsibility, high achieving humans, but they've been operating for too long without an off switch and it's depleting them. But here's what I remind them, and maybe you need to hear it today too.
Speaker 1:So know that sustainable momentum, which is entirely different than just plain momentum. Sustainable momentum serves you and it comes from small, clear moves. You don't have to do more, you just have to reset more often. So these micro recalibrations, they help to give you endurance and, most importantly, they put you back in the driver's seat of how you lead work and you feel so.
Speaker 1:Your next clear move? Well, consider this before rushing into the next task or trying to push through. Take just five minutes, choose one of the micro moves that we talked about today and then ask yourself what is one move that would help me feel more focused and in control right now? Just stop and ask yourself that question, let it guide you to your next move, and then make it One intentional step. Shifts your momentum faster than overthinking ever could. And if your organization is serious about keeping the people they can't afford to lose, then let's talk about how the readiness reset programming can help their leaders reset and be ready for what's next. You can visit my website at wwwdebbypetersonspeakscom to learn more and remember when you gain clarity, your whole organization does too. Take care, be good to yourself and bye-bye for now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast with Debbie Peterson.
Speaker 3:If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Speaker 2:To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit DebbiePetersonSpeakscom.
