Leadership Tips | Fill Your Cup

Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything “right”…
 but still running on empty?

As a manager, it’s easy to think the answer is to do more.
 More routines. More habits. More discipline.

But what if that’s not the problem?

A lot of leaders are already overwhelmed.
 Their schedules are full. Their energy is low.
 And their default solution is to keep adding.

More meetings. More expectations. More pressure.

This is where leadership development gets missed.
 Because energy isn’t built by adding more…
 it’s often built by removing what’s draining you.

In this episode, we’re flipping that mindset.

Instead of asking what you should add,
 we’re asking what you need to take away
 so you can show up better for your team.

By the time you finish listening, you’ll learn

•  How to increase your energy as a manager without adding more to your schedule 
•  Why removing things can be more powerful than building new habits 
•  3 simple ways to refill your cup so you can lead your team more effectively 

This podcast for managers is here to help you:

• Grow your leadership development
 • Navigate team management with confidence
 • Learn how to handle conflict at work
 • Apply real, practical leadership tips

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Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

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Transcript

Desiree (00:01.122)
Hey friend, this is your weekly leadership tip from Desiree. One small idea to carry with you into your life and leadership this week. And the tip this week is to fill your cup. We had Tom Webb, the SMSU women's basketball coach come in and speak to the intentional leader accelerator. It's a group of leaders from around Southwest Minnesota and South Dakota. And he came in with so much energy. And believe it or not, the message that he shared with the group was

how important energy is, how important it is as a leader to be able to fill your cup so you can then go and pour that onto others. He talked about how hard it was if you aren't doing those things for yourself, which I hear time and time again from leaders and team members and parents and coaches and all of these individuals, how hard it is to take time for yourself when the things that you want for yourself get put on the back burner.

or the priority of you is just pushed down under all the other priorities that are put on our schedule and piled high every day. But I loved that he talked about how important it is. And I've been taking it to heart. It's a message that I live by anyway, but I've been taking it to heart, especially since I heard Tom talk about it. And I just wanted to share with you three ways that I've gone about increasing my energy this week.

And when I sat down to make this list, what I thought was interesting that it wasn't anything I was adding to my plate. There wasn't anything specifically that I added. Like a lot of people would say, add a workout, add water, add vegetables if we're talking health. It would be add meditation, add more sleep. It wasn't any of those things for me this week. What it was was decreasing.

Desiree (02:13.198)
What I thought was interesting was I assumed in my list that it would have been add more sleep, add meditation, add a walk, or maybe add more vegetables, add more water, add, you know, whatever it is that you think would make you more healthy or more energetic. But it wasn't any of those things for me. It was actually subtracting something. The three things that I added were to take a break from reading personal development. I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts, read a lot of books.

And I just really found myself needing a break. So instead of picking up personal development and constantly trying to be in a headspace to learn new things, I picked up a fiction book, something that was totally irrelevant to anything else and just put me in a good mood and got me excited about reading again. Made me want to go to bed earlier because I got to to pick up my book and enter this world. And it wasn't about increasing anything. It was simply about decreasing my

guilt over not constantly being there to soak up information and content, but just allowing myself to do something with absolutely no reward at the end of it outside of just happiness. So one of my tips to you would be pick up a fiction book. Even if you're not someone who likes to read, even if you're not feeling overwhelmed by content, pick up a fiction book. There is something about being able to slip away into another world for a little bit that really shifts your perspective.

The second thing that I did was I subtracted some meetings from my calendar. I moved some meetings that I knew I wouldn't be able to show up for at 100 percent. I don't know if I was sick or, you know, travel and sick kids just got me down. I don't know where it was, but my energy was lacking last week and I could feel it. So instead of trying to push through meetings that I knew I couldn't show up for in my best, I moved a couple of them. And some people would say, don't move any meetings, don't.

Don't shift anything, don't not show up for people. But in my opinion, you can show up better for people when you know that you're gonna show up as your best. And moving a meeting was one way that I could do that. I decreased the number of meetings on my calendar. And if you have the luxury of doing that, that would be a recommendation I have. The third thing that I did was as much time as I spent with my kids or the Easter holiday, as much time as I...

Desiree (04:50.466)
The last thing that I had on my list was that I asked for help to get an hour to myself. You might see a pattern here, but I just feel like I'm constantly, my mind is constantly moving. There's, you know, the type of exhaustion where your body actually physically needs more sleep. But there's another type of exhaustion where you just have things literally running through your head 24 seven. If you've got kids work, your schedule, whatever that might look like appointments.

And there is an exhaustion that comes with having those things run through your mind 24 hours a day and never feeling like you get to come down from it. And I was definitely feeling that way this weekend. So I asked my husband, said, can you go to this event one hour early with the kids? I want to sit home and I want to puzzle. And yes, that is a verb. I want to puzzle. And I simply asked for an hour to myself where I didn't need to do anything. No one was looking for anything from me.

The house was going to stay in the way that it was. And I just wanted that hour to myself. That might be a luxury to you or you might feel like it's hard to ask for help in that way. But if you can find one hour to do something for you, that is going to help you to fill your cup. Now, later this week, we are going to jump into.

Desiree (06:17.204)
Later this week, we are going to dive even deeper into habits and tips and tricks that can help you to fill your cup. Things that I have done, things that I have heard in success stories from other people that I have worked with in things like energy and habits and health, etc. So make sure that you hit follow, hit subscribe, make sure you don't miss that episode. We're going to dive even deeper. But just remember that you get to fill your cup because you are worth the time, you are worth the energy. And that's what makes life fun.

It's what makes us grateful is finding the time to breathe and to do something for ourselves every once in a while. So it is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Make sure you fill your cup. And I can't wait to see you back here next week for another tip on life and leadership. Thanks for being here.