0 (2s):
Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like My First Million. Today, we'll be focusing on managing your time through the lens of energy to drop these value bombs. I brought Molly Fletcher into EOFire studios. Molly is a CEO and business author hailed as the female, Jerry Maguire. She built a successful career as one of the first female sports agents. Molly represented hundreds of sport's biggest names. And today she's a top motivational speaker and Fire Nation. We'll be talking about balancing your priorities as well as finding more meaningful work and the importance of fulfillment.

0 (47s):
Also what the heck is an energy audit and so much more. When we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're feeling like you wear many hats in your business, then you're not alone. Great news is just works. It makes it easier for you to start, run and grow your business. By relieving you of some of the administrative work. You don't love. Find out how Justworks can help your business by going to JustWorks.com. That's JustWorks.com for more info, Organifi specializes in creating delicious superfood blends, including my favorite Organifi green juice powered by herbs and mushrooms. That literally help you adapt to the stress in your life. And today, you can get 20% off your order, just visit organifi.com/fire. That's O R G A N I F I.com/fire and use code FIRE at checkout for 20% off your order.

0 (1m 34s):
Molly say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful. That most people disagree with. Love

1 (1m 44s):
The starting question, John, and what a treat to be on. Certainly I'm honored and humbled to be with you. So I, you know, I think one of the things is that I think people think that success and fulfillment that it's a choice of one or the other that, that we can either be really, really successful. And if we go and become really successful, then guess what, we're probably not going to be able to be fulfilled, whether it's personally, professionally, whereas if we chase fulfillment right then gosh, and when you print out, gotta, you know, make any money, make a really big impact. And, and, and so these it's this false choice at some level that, that there isn't both that you put your ladder up against the success wall or the fulfillment wall, and you run hard.

1 (2m 27s):
And I believe without question that you can have both and that it is important in life to pursue both. I think it's more important than ever. In fact, I think at some level COVID has taught all of us that, you know, there is a lot of things in life maybe that, that we've overlooked that we could have been enjoying and leaning into and that we haven't. And so success and fulfillment, aren't, aren't two separate bifurcated choices. We can have both. Well,

0 (2m 56s):
I love that sentiment and fire nature erection. We'll be spending the rest of the episode, proving that reality to you because we're talking about managing your time through the lens of energy ends. One thing I want to just jump into Molly is balanced because that is a controversial word these days. I mean, especially for entrepreneurs, which of course make up my audience Fire Nation. So how can the listeners today adjust their schedules when they have the goal of balancing their priorities?

1 (3m 27s):
That's a great question. You know, to me, balance is a by-product of clarity. And when we get really clear in life, on what matters most to us, what we truly value most mentally, physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, then we can then back into decisions of what we say yes to and no, to based on what we've previously gotten clear on. So for example, we have a, an energized leader program that we deliver all over the globe and, you know, sometimes I'll have participants say, you know, gosh, I mean, yeah, my kids, they matter to me a ton. I mean, being at my buddies, you know, my son's ball games that matters being at my daughter's volleyball games that matters right. Being home for dinner matters, being present with my family and my spouse, my partner, it matters.

1 (4m 9s):
And then they have this aha moment where they say, wow, but I play golf all weekend. I go hunting every weekend. I am on my cell phone. When I walk in the door, gosh, I got a gap. And so it, to me, it starts with clarity and then having at some level the discipline, right, to say, okay, if this is in fact what matters most to me, how do I ensure that my behaviors might energy, where I am putting my energy is aligning to that. So it starts with clarity and then it takes discipline. Obviously. I mean, it's hard to say no, it's no fun to say no, but the, but the, the message that I often have learned to tell myself in those moments is when I'm saying no to that seven 30 cocktail with a potential client, I'm saying yes, to having dinner with our three daughters, because I'm the only person that can be their mom.

1 (4m 60s):
Now, it doesn't mean that that's always perfect. And it doesn't mean I nail it every time. I certainly don't at all. But what I do try to do is that if I've got to give some time away on the back end of a day, potentially, then I'm going to, I'm going to somehow find a way to get it back on the front end or on another day that week.

0 (5m 16s):
There's a couple things I want to double down on here. Fire Nation. I mean, number one, ask yourself the question. Do you have the discipline to align your energy with your goals? Because if the answer is no, then you better keep listening because that's what we'll be talking about here today. And then when you say yes to something Fire Nation, like say that mall has said yes to those drinks, she's actually not just saying no to having dinner with her daughters. She's saying no to everything else she otherwise could potentially be doing during that time. So one, yes, isn't just one. Yes. It's actually a potential hundred to thousands and millions of knows of other opportunities that could exist. So be very, very careful with your yeses because man, that is again, just blocking yourself off from any potential future things that could have been in that place.

0 (6m 3s):
So, Hey, I'm saying you want to attack the world. You want to take action. You want to, you know, make the most of opportunities, need to say yes to a lot of great things, but just be intentional, be disciplined and be thoughtful about these things. And I want to talk about another word that your really into Mali, which is fulfillment. So how important is fulfillment in our lives and how can we find more in meaningful work that we're doing and even more so with these fewer distractions

1 (6m 31s):
And we live in a world don't we generally where there's just an enormous amount of distractions, right? I mean they're everywhere. And, and, and what we hear from our clients right, is that the demand on them is exceeding their capacity. And over time that's not sustainable. I mean, it's just not sustainable. And so what, what I believe is there's a really big difference between fulfillment and achievement. And I saw this firsthand as a sports agent for 20 years, is that man, does it feel good to host a trophy over your oyster trophy over your head when you win a golf tournament? Right? It's, it's pretty fun to go into the hall of fame, right? That's special, get Cy. Young's all star games, win championships, win national championships. It's amazing. But at the end of the day, it's fleeting, right?

1 (7m 12s):
And so fulfillment to me is things that bring us joy over a long period of time in generally fulfillment is about others, right? I mean, achievement can be about ourselves, potentially even our teams, but fulfillment is something that is deeper than that, right? It's, it's not as fleeting. You know, if you ask anyone in the world, I mean, when they've gotten to that spot, right. Of, of number one in the world in tennis or golf, it's incredible. And it feels great, but they still feel the sense of, huh, man. I thought it would feel different. I thought it would feel maybe better. And I thought, gosh, I, I thought this would just feel like this pinnacle, this place that I've worked so hard for so long to get, and now I'm here and huh, it's not as, as, as rewarding as I thought it would be.

1 (7m 59s):
And you know, so, so, so what do we do about that? Right? Like I am all for getting after it in life. Right. I am all for going for it. I'm all for goals. I'm all for hitting those marks. But I think we've got to know why we do it. And often it means we have to align the things that we do, where we put our energy. And in turn our time with our purpose, with our real why with, with what it is that we believed we are called to do every single day and then ensure that that we're making decisions and filtering our lives through that purpose statement. I always, I always find it interesting in life, right? Like businesses companies, they all have mission statements, right? I mean, they all have values and core purpose and you know, they have things that they then make decisions against.

1 (8m 43s):
It makes sense. I mean, it's, it's almost as if it's this thing that you put on your website, it's on your wall when you walk into an office, I mean, it's, it's everywhere, but why don't people? I mean, companies use these mission statements in core values as a guiding light of what to say yes to and what to say no to what companies to acquire, what, to take a pass on, who to hire, who to take a pass on big decisions. Why don't we, as people also have these kinds of purpose statements that then become a filter by which we help that, that helps us say yes, I'm going to lean into that opportunity. That challenge that and know, and, and that to me is what ensures that we have our ladder leaning up against the wall.

1 (9m 24s):
You know, one of the things I always try to encourage people to ask themselves is what are you chasing? Or what are you chasing? I had, I had coffee with a friend of mine recently and she said, Molly, you know, I just, I got this promotion. It's unbelievable. She said was a big job. I'm so excited. I said, wow, that school is, as soon as you get a raise, she goes, nah, you know, they're kind of hit me up with that eight months in because of the fiscal year and all this. And I was like, okay, cool. You good with that? And she was like, ah, it's kind of frustrating. But, and I said, well, how you doing? And she said, I'm exhausted. I said, really? What do you mean? And she saw him just, I mean, I've gained weight, I'm tired. I, my relationship with my daughters kind of jammed up my, my husband and I aren't aligned.

1 (10m 4s):
And, and, and I said, well, so what are you chasing? And literally she looks across the table at me and she says, what are you talking about? I go, that's what I mean, like, I mean, is it the money? I mean, you want to have another house, you want a fancy car? Like what, what is this all for? It sounds like your, your relationship, your husband is kind of jammed up and your daughter and you weren't kind of locked in. I said, what, what's it all for? She goes, what the hell kind of question is that we're friends and she's, I said, well, I'm just, I love you. And I'm just asking you, what are you chasing? And, you know, still to this day, right? She said, mom, I'm trying to get clear on that. I'm working on that. I got, I got it. And to me, what I believe at the core we are all chasing is to ensure that we're aligning our energy with our purpose.

1 (10m 48s):
And generally that purpose is something that fills up other people. It's often not about us. It's about the people that we wake up and serve lead, solve for support each and every day, aligning

0 (11m 0s):
Our energy with our purpose. I love that phrase and Fire Nation. Think about that. You know, give it some thoughts because it's going to be interesting to see what you come back with when you think about those words. And I also love the phrase, Molly, when you said, what brings you joy over a long period of time? Like that's is more like what fulfillment can be, what brings you joy over a long period of time? And you know, it's kind of a little side note, cause you a little bit inspired me with your story with your friends is I'm watching obviously the Olympics right now, and I'm watching some of the peacock and NBC highlights and they have this show called golden, which is like following these gymnast, you know, these 14, 16, 19, 21 year old gymnast as they're on their way to hopefully Olympic glory.

0 (11m 48s):
And one thing that I'm noticing, you know, now like as a 41 year old, like looking back and thinking, thinking like, what was I thinking? Like when I was a teenager, I mean, I was thinking a lot of different things that I'm thinking now, but every single one of them is like, man, my body hurts. I'm in pain. I feel sick. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I'm just doing this every day. My parents are going into massive debts. I'm getting yelled at my confidence is shattered. All these things. I'm just like, oh, like these are the lives that they're living. And every one of them at the end says, but it'll all be worth it when I win the gold. And the problem with that is, you know, multifold, most of them are not going to win the golden. We just saw actually the, the, the us gymnast did not win the gold as they were hoping to do.

0 (12m 31s):
And the other thing is even if they do, when they do going forward, does that make that whole journey of pain of misery, of despair, that they're just very being very verbal about? Does that make a worth it? Because I love this Dale Carnegie quote. And I'm curious if you resonate with it to Molly, which is success and happiness, and it gets you to also say fulfillment. So success, happiness and fulfillment is the gradual realization of a worthy ideal. It's not getting to the finish line. It's not getting to the mountain top. It is gradually realizing throughout the journey, not just any ideal, but a worthy ideal for you. Does that speak to you?

0 (13m 11s):
Molly?

1 (13m 11s):
It does resonate with me because I had Dominique Dawes on my podcast and it was amazing. I mean, here's a woman that, you know, three time Olympic gold medalist, one of the first African-American women to win a gold. And, and, and I said, you know, what are you most grateful for? And this answer was interesting to me. I mean, she said the pain, I said really? And she said, yeah, I mean, the pain of all of it was show painful. All of the physical, mental, emotional, really all the pain that it took to do what she did. She said what I'm so grateful for it, what a mental shift that is. I mean, that's incredibly powerful, but, but yes, I mean, I, I had the opportunity to have a front row seat to peak performers for 20 years.

1 (13m 52s):
And what I saw over and over again is that if you don't know why you do what you do, then it makes it difficult to wake up and grind it every single day. And, and, and to me, the why, which is often tied to the fulfillment that you are in fact, chasing is integral to the ability to withstand the speed bumps, the challenges, the hiccups that will inevitably come with anything that we all try to do in life. That's hard and you know, hard things are okay, and we can do hard things. We need to know how to do hard things, but knowing why we're doing them is key to the can to the ability to continue to pursue

0 (14m 33s):
It. Distractions, energy audits so much more coming up for our nation. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, did you know that two main factors in low energy are chronic stress and a lack of nutrition? We've all heard that the foods we put in our body are important, not just for our health, but also our energy, but not all plants are created equally. So how do we ensure we're getting the proper nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that we need for a healthy lifestyle? We do it with Organifi. Organifi specializes in creating delicious superfood blends, powered by adaptogens. What are adaptogens. These are herbs and mushrooms that literally help you adapt to the stress in your life. They balance hormones, promoting state of calmness and help get you back to homeostasis faster than usual.

0 (15m 15s):
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0 (15m 57s):
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0 (16m 42s):
That's JustWorks.com for more info. All right, Molly, we're back. And we talked about this a little bit in the first part of the interview, which was distractions. I want to dive deeper into it now because they are literally not figuratively, literally everywhere. I mean, everyone and everything is screaming at the top of their lungs for your attention. So why is it so important to eliminate distractions in our work and personal life?

1 (17m 8s):
Absolutely. I mean, they're coming at everybody from every direction. It's constant. It's, it's, it's 24 7, right? I mean, I think that, and, and there's a couple of ways to think about it. I think there are, you know, external distractions, things like multitasking and I am a multi-tasking sort of recovery addict, you know? I mean, I used to think, oh man, I got this right. Like I can, I can go to the grocery store and knock out a conference call and just kind of chime in when I can. I can, you know, I can send an email and talk on the phone at the same time. I can listen to my daughter, tell me about her school day while I respond to it. And the truth is we can't, human beings are not wired for that. And I challenged one of my coaches once I said this whole multitasking thing, right.

1 (17m 48s):
Like, nah, I don't know. I don't it. Right. Like I get a lot done. I grind it. I get it out. I mean, I, I, I can do this. And she goes, okay, cool. She said, Molly, do me a favor. I said, okay, cool. She said, take out a three by five card. She said, do me a favor. She said, you have young children. I said, yeah. Should you drive him to school? I said, yeah. She said, okay, cool. Just, just do me a favor verbally recite to me the directions to your, to your children's school. Just probably just walk me through it just verbally. Right. You come out of the driveway, you take her. I said, okay, cool. And he goes, and then simultaneously, what I want you to do is on a three by five card. I want you to write the alphabet. So write the alphabet and then look at me and tell me how to get to your kid's school. You do this every day, several times a day. I said, right. He goes, all right, go. I got to D and, and like to the first turn, that was it.

1 (18m 33s):
And I was like, this is unbelievable. I mean, these are two incredibly rudimentary thinking PR things. Right. And I can't even do it. And so it was proof to me that this doesn't work. And what I have found moving forward in life is that when I have a day by which I'm very intentional about not multitasking, by the end of the day, my energy is higher. I feel better. I have more energy when I have a day where I haven't been as intentional and as disciplined about multitasking, I'm more drained. I'm more exhausted. And by the way, generally the data is staggering. You end up having to go back and do it twice because you didn't do it right the first time.

1 (19m 14s):
So there's an external distractions like multitasking. I can't encourage people enough to, to try to stay focused and do deep work. And I had Cal Newport on my podcast who talks about that, wrote a book called deep work and the power of it and the importance of it. And then we have internal distractions, right? Like our private voice. I mean, we all have that sort of, that guy or gal on our shoulder. That's like, ah, I don't know. Maybe you're not really ready for that. Right? Like maybe you're not good enough, smart enough, fit enough. You know, sharp enough. Maybe, maybe you shouldn't be doing that. And that private voice, if it's not a voice of, of, of an amazing coach, you don't think of the best coach you've ever had the most encouraging person in your life.

1 (19m 58s):
That's the voice we have to have inside of ourselves too. And, and that in turn can be a significant distraction. If, if the voice inside of us is not lifting us up and taking us where we want to go, we have to say, okay, what is the voice? What is that private voice? And that story that I'm telling myself, that isn't taking me where I want to go. And then what would be a better one? So I would just challenge your listeners to say, what are the 2, 3, 5, 10 stories that potentially you're telling yourself that aren't taking you, where you're going to go and what then rewrite it. What then would be a story that you could tell yourself that would allow you to go we're in fact, you want to go deep

0 (20m 36s):
Thinkers here, Fire Nation. This is probably going to be one of you have to go back a few times and be like, let me just hit pause. Let me just think. Let me just take another 25 steps on this Walker or this jog than Amman. And just think about some of these words that Molly was sharing, because this is your life. And there's a phrase that you have Molly, which is energy audits. What is an energy audit and how the heck could we conduct one?

1 (21m 3s):
You know, we talked about the beginning, how important it is to get clear, have that clarity around where our energy is going. And so what I would challenge your listeners to do right, is pull back and say, what are the things in your life that give you energy, right? Like you see them on your calendar and you just get pumped. You know, you, you, you see that morning walk with your spouse or your dog, or you see the workout or you see the meeting or the one-on-one and you, you know, you get excited, you see that and you get psyched, write those down. And then what are the things that drain you? Like you see them on your calendar and you're like, you gotta be joking me, right? Like, why am I in this meeting? Why did I say yes to this? Why am I going to this cocktail party? Why am I having dinner with these people?

1 (21m 44s):
Why did I say yes to this? And you just it's like, you see it. And the blood rushes out of your body, you just, you don't want to do it. And then, you know, there's things in our lives, right? That are naturally sort of energy neutral, right? They don't really get us going and they don't really drain us. They're just sort of there, right? Maybe walking around the house, picking up chores, emptying the dishwasher. I mean, there's certain things in our lives that cleaning out your inbox, that they're not getting you going. They're not draining. You write them all down. Just write down the energizers. We call them green. Is that the things that give you energy, write down the things that drain your energy. And then what I would challenge people to do is go out 30 days and be intentional about protecting the things in your life that give you energy, whatever those things are, make sure that you protect that time.

1 (22m 28s):
I had a conversation with a leader yesterday and we said, look, let's go out 30 days. What are the things that give you energy protect that, you know, we know in life as human beings, we aren't wired for one zoom call after another all day long. It's just not sustainable over a long period of time, protect that maybe you have to manage up, manage down as leaders. How can you grab 15 minute breaks in between just to step outside, to, you know, play your favorite song, to meditate, to pray something, but we aren't wired for eight hours a day. Boom, boom, boom. Back to back to back, we've got to, we've got to create mini breaks, micro breaks, and then we've got to create big breaks and then look at all the things that drain you and say, you know, could I give this away?

1 (23m 8s):
Could I have said no to this? Could I have said, you know, could I have delegated this? Could I have made this last time? Right? I mean, we all have things in our lives that we potentially have to do per se for our jobs or our lives, but we don't love them, but how do we, how can we get more efficient with them and how can we potentially manage our energy better around those things? So what I can't encourage people enough to do is look at your life and your calendar through the lens of energy, and then adjust your calendar in such a way that you manage it to ensure that you have the energy in your life for the things that matter most. I'll give you a quick example. Matt couture is a PGA tour player, mine, and, and, and, you know, we would sit down every, at the beginning of every season at the end of sort of in December, we would sit down and we would look out at the following year and we'd say, all right, look what, you know, when when's the us open masters, when you know, what are the big tournaments that we know he needs to be in and that we want to be in.

1 (24m 4s):
And that we know that we, maybe the golf courses that we play well at, when are those? And so we would back into his schedule based on when he needed to make sure he performed at his best. And, and that, and what that meant is that we would say no to some tournaments, right? We would, we would go two weeks on one week off, then we're, then we're, then we're set up rested, ready for the masters. So may we, we though in life, as business people, often we just, we get meeting invites and we just click accept. And then we sort of figure it out later. Like, what is that meeting? I don't know, but so-and-so sent it to him. I trust him. I like him. So I'm just going to accept it. And then we get to that actual day, that moment, that meeting, and we think, why am I here? I don't need to be here.

1 (24m 45s):
So what I found is executives and people in general, we just accept all these meetings. And then maybe we get to that four o'clock big one-on-one pitch with a, with a, with a prospect. And we're drained because we've gone back to back all day. We haven't positioned ourselves for what is our own masters, right? What is our us open, where we need to, in fact, ensure we P we ensure we peak. And so what I saw the best athletes in the world do is they manage their life through the lens of energy, not time. And then I got into the business world sort of quote, unquote, more of the business world 10 years ago. And I thought, well, this is so interesting. Like business people manage their lives through the lens of their calendar. Only, not necessarily through the lens of energy.

1 (25m 28s):
And so how can we take some of that mindset that athletes have the best athletes have and shift that, lift that up and apply it to business people so that they too can perform at their best in the moments that matter most.

0 (25m 38s):
And to continue the theme we've been talking about with the Olympics and gymnast, I mean, somebody who obviously did not do quite an effective energy audits was Simone Biles. I mean, she was there ready to perform, but then boom, she just lost it mentally and energy wise and all that thing. And she had to step back. And this is something that, you know, think of the tens of tens of thousands of hours that she's literally prepared for that exact moment that then everything just kind of went poof. So these energy audits, very interesting something to think about for obvious reasons and Molly you've dropped a ton of value bombs. How can Fire Nation connect more with you learn more about energy audits, what you do, and any call to action you may have for our listeners.

0 (26m 23s):
And then we'll say goodbye, treat

1 (26m 24s):
To be on. It's a pleasure to be on if, you know, if folks want, I mean, obviously MollyFletcher.com, but, but, you know, check out, we have a monthly game changer leadership huddles, which is sort of a one to many coaching program and they can go to training. MollyFletcher.com and they can use the code. We made a code special for you and your listeners FIRE to get $10 off the monthly subscription. It's a really powerful community. So for people that wake up everyday and want to get a little bit better, we lean into a new topic. I have incredible gas that joined me almost every other month. Again, it's just training. MollyFletcher.com. It's our, our game-changer leadership huddles. It's a powerful community. And it's a, it's a game-changing way to, to, to continue to improve your life.

1 (27m 8s):
And it's 57 minutes a month. That's it?

0 (27m 10s):
Listen, Fire Nation is full of game changers. So I think you're going to fit right in Fire Nation because you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with Molly and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to EOFire.com and type Molly in the search bar. The notes page will pop up with everything. We talked about links to everything that Molly mentioned, including your call to action training dot MollyFletcher.com. Use promo code FIRE for that $10 discounts. And Molly, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge value with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Sounds awesome. And thank you.

0 (27m 51s):
Hey, Fire Nation today's value on condos brought to you by Molly and Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals, which is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal step by step in a hundred days. So visit the FreedomJournal .com use promo code PODCAST - free $15 discount. And thank you for listening to my podcasts and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side. If you're feeling like you wear many hats in your business, then you're not alone. Great news is just works. It makes it easier for you to start, run and grow your business. By relieving you of some of the administrative work you don't love. Find out how just works can help your business by going to JustWorks.com.

0 (28m 31s):
That's JustWorks.com for more info. Organifi specializes in creating delicious superfood blends, including my favorite Organifi green juice powered by herbs and mushrooms. That literally help you adapt to the stress in your life. And today you can get 20% off your order, just visit organifi.com/fire. That's O R G a N I F I.com/fire and use code FIRE at checkout for 20% off.