Leah: Welcome to episode 100 of the Balancing Busy Podcast. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I get to say that and to think it took me so long to start this podcast. If you have been here since the beginning of this podcast, then you know that the Balancing Busy Podcast finally happened because I put it as the number one thing on my 40 before 40 list.

[00:00:31] Leah: So I had seen the idea out there on the internet. But I thought it was so fun and I made this list of 40 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. And the number one thing was start my podcast. I had been thinking about starting a podcast for years. I love to talk. Shocking. And so I felt like podcasting was my thing.

[00:00:58] Leah: My format, because I don’t always have to worry about that I look good, right? I can just turn on the, the audio and, and get in front of the mic and start talking, even if it’s a really bad hair day or it’s ugly Monday and I haven’t even gotten dressed for the day or whatever it might be. And so. I knew I’d been wanting to do it for so long, and there were just those things that held me back.

[00:01:23] Leah: The technology part. I don’t know why, but the idea of getting a podcast on Apple Podcasts sounded so daunting and so scary. That I had just put it off, put it off, put it off. The idea of figuring out how to edit and all these different components, which I’m going to be honest, I don’t do my own editing anyways.

[00:01:40] Leah: The only episode I ever edited was the trailer episode. That’s it. I did it in GarageBand. It was about two minutes long and, and then I outsourced the rest, but this had been one of those things that had been on my heart I’d wanted to do and I waited. I waited years to actually start it. And. I finally did because of that 40 before 40 list and today we are on episode 100.

[00:02:06] Leah: I love hosting this podcast. And so I want to take this episode and here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to share with you. So three of the biggest lessons that I have learned after a hundred episodes, I am going to tell you how grateful I am for you. So just buckle up. You’ve got to listen. I want to tell you how much I adore you and how grateful I am.

[00:02:26] Leah: And I have a surprise for you, something special. So let’s jump into this episode. Okay. First and foremost, thank you. Thank you to my listeners. There’s not really a podcast if you’re not listening. When you have sent me DMs, when I read your reviews and I hear how an episode has impacted you and has helped you, I can’t even put into words what it means.

[00:03:25] Leah: Like, it lights me up, it makes my day, not even my day, it makes my month, okay? It just does. I remember the first time that I read a review that said, I’m, I don’t even work, I’m a stay at home mom. I’m just going to be totally honest. I didn’t imagine that when I designed this podcast, when I thought about this podcast, you know, I’ve been a working mom for 15 years and that’s what I was thinking of like, Oh, I’m going to help working moms balance the busy.

[00:03:51] Leah: So the first time I read a review that was like, I don’t even work. And I find this podcast so valuable. I was like, seriously, like, I just wanted to go find her and hug her and ask her a million questions about why it’s just, it’s meant so much hearing from you and just Seeing the download numbers, seeing that you’re listening, seeing new countries showing up, like, oh my gosh, there’s people all over the world listening to this podcast?

[00:04:18] Leah: That’s crazy! So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have talked about Everything from the obvious topics of, you know, time management, overwhelm and balance, to helping our kids navigate technology, making time for date night, and reaching a million dollars in your business. Uh, that was actually just last week’s episode.

[00:04:39] Leah: We’ve had incredible experts and just all around amazing humans on the show who I love and admire. And that has been so incredible to get to have those connections through the podcast. And then of course, there’s the people who help me with the podcast, my producer, Jesse, and so many others behind the scenes, even just the kids, mom’s got to record an episode and being great about it.

[00:05:07] Leah: I’m just so grateful for everybody who helps me make this podcast happen. My amazing girlfriends who Marco Polo me and say, I listened to this episode. And can I just tell you guys all a secret? I try to pretend in my head that no one I know in real life ever listens. Maybe that sounds horrible, but it makes me so nervous to think about, like, you know, my family and my, my personal friends listening.

[00:05:33] Leah: And yet when they send me a Marco Polo and say, I was listening to this episode and it was so good. And I’m like, you were what? It’s just, it’s amazing. Okay. Can I talk about some of my takeaways? I was trying to think about what have been some of my biggest takeaways after 100 episodes. I guess 99 today’s a hundred.

[00:05:52] Leah: Uh, technically we’re a little bit over because we do, we’ve done some bonus ones. Here’s what they are. Number one, Number one takeaway. The first thing that I thought of, we need community over and over again, I started realizing and recognizing this common thread after guest expert, after guest expert, after guest expert was speaking about completely different topics, whether.

[00:06:24] Leah: We were talking about menopause with Dr. Taniqua Miller, who is this incredible Harvard trained doctor who specializes, and that’s so hard to find, a doctor who actually specializes and understands. Perimenopause and menopause, and she talked about in episode 50, how just us talking about our symptoms, about these things, lessens our symptoms.

[00:06:49] Leah: It was crazy. Then, with, uh, Kendra Cole, who is the founder of the app Crypto, um, Mom, and she, you know, is this expert on cryptocurrency, talked about in her episode in 61 about, How when we as women talk about our finances, we talk about investment, we talk about things like even crypto, we grow together, we become more confident, we become stronger in our financial capabilities.

[00:07:24] Leah: And then Dr. Cheryl Ziegler, we were talking about burnout. She’s this amazing. Psychologist who specializes in helping women and kids, um, working through burnout. And again, she talked about how critical. Community is, we need each other. So that thread going through over and over and over, we need each other.

[00:07:50] Leah: We are better together and we can find that community in so many different ways. You and I together right now, this is a community you and I are talking and I’m getting to share, and when you DM me or email me back after one of my, Uh, emails telling you about the latest podcast episode and you tell me what you thought and we get to connect.

[00:08:11] Leah: That is creating a community. When you reach out to your girlfriend and say, I loved this episode, you need to go listen to it. And then you chat together, or I loved this book, or I loved this whatever else. And you’re having that conversation together. When you just get a few girlfriends together and say, Hey, I’m trying to do this big thing.

[00:08:28] Leah: Will you guys do it with me? Will you keep me accountable? Will you help me? That’s community. And we all are in different experiences. We’re in different places. So many of my friends don’t live anywhere near me. And yet I can feel connected to them. I can feel close to them. So no matter. our situation, we can create community.

[00:08:51] Leah: I definitely think, you know, those in person connections, oh, they’re so important. But these virtual ones that we’re creating, they’re really powerful too. And I’m so grateful for that. Number two, burnout is one of the biggest struggles of our time. And it’s not just for women, it’s for all of us and it’s for our kids.

[00:09:14] Leah: That came up over and over again, talking to Heidi Hope in one of the early episodes. Hers was episode 18. And we talked about like, are we hardwired for burnout? Are there some of us who are just, you know, if you’re like that natural, uh, Overachiever, you’re, um, that A type personality. Are you just hardwired for burnout?

[00:09:36] Leah: Is that just how it is? And and that it doesn’t have to be that way. And her and I each really shared in that episode when we burned out, like we both are, I guess, recovering workaholics, recovering, uh, experiencing deep, deep burnout. And we both talked about how we overcame it and how we made the shift.

[00:09:59] Leah: And so, you know, that episode, again, uh, Dr. Ziegler’s episode about burnout in our kids, which was episode 42. And, uh, Dr. Taniqua Miller, she was also one of those people who is recovering from burnout. She burned out in her practice and changed everything and has this incredible quit. Acronym method in episode 49, that became her burnout cure.

[00:10:27] Leah: But just realizing that this is something we need to be so aware of. We need to know the signs. We need to look for the signs. And when they start showing up, we need to immediately put the brakes on and make adjustments to protect our relationships, our health, and our happiness.

[00:10:47] Leah: And number three, and this one has been more of a personal lesson. It’s not what I necessarily learned through interviews or, you know, Recording the podcast episodes, but rather being a podcaster and having this podcast, the reminder that consistency is the key to success and that to reach success, to have the highest chance for success.

[00:11:16] Leah: It’s usually going to be wrapped in simplicity. So success has its best chance when it’s wrapped in the simplest package possible. Just realizing that for the majority of these episodes, I’ve been ahead. I have. I’ve reached out to guests in a batching format where I sit down, I time block and I say, okay, I’m researching, I’m finding guests, I’ve been taking notes of people I want to have on the podcast and then I reach out to them all at the same time.

[00:11:47] Leah: Then that means they all schedule their episode recording around the same time. I have my calendar set up for certain days and so I get tons of them done at a time. And then. I don’t necessarily need to record any episodes for like a couple months or longer at a time. There was one point where I think I didn’t need to record an episode for like almost, I don’t know what it was, like five months, because I had so many in the queue that had been recorded.

[00:12:13] Leah: And that really made it more enjoyable. When You get to where, oh my gosh, I have this thing that needs to be done tomorrow. There’s a deadline. It’s impending. It creates a lot of stress and anxiety and, you know, there’s this belief in this idea often where we say, oh, I work better under pressure. But really, that’s just some bad habits around, Time management and procrastination and we’re forced to work well under pressure, but it comes with a toll.

[00:12:44] Leah: It comes with stress and the more that I had things Batched that I had things planned that I blocked out that time and researched and and had things just in the queue They were ready ahead of time the more I love this podcast I really love getting to host the Balancing Busy podcast when things are in balance, okay?

[00:13:09] Leah: And just like everybody else, sometimes I get out of balance. And there’s been a few times where all of a sudden I’m like, oh my gosh, we don’t have an episode for next week. What happened? And maybe I have episodes for the following weeks, but that’s a solo episode and I haven’t gotten it recorded yet.

[00:13:23] Leah: It’s not as fun. Um, I don’t enjoy it as much. And so just remembering that lesson and realizing that as long as I’m ahead, there’s a lot more joy in the process than when I’m behind. And so that lesson, that reminder has been very prevalent over these 100 episodes. I have said many, many times to my podcast producer, are we three ahead?

[00:13:51] Leah: Are we three ahead? Because I need us to be three ahead. I want to have, my ultimate goal is to have three episodes completely ready. And I mean, they’re edited, all the graphics are done, the show notes are done, the newsletter is done, it’s scheduled. Like, they are ready. And that way I always know I’m three weeks ahead.

[00:14:09] Leah: And it just gives me this buffer, this safety that if, you know, something crazy shows up in my life, like a house fire did last February. Well, a year ago February. I’m okay because I had the podcast scheduled. I mean, talk about this is, this is what I’m talking about, right? Like those episodes were done.

[00:14:32] Leah: And then on a crazy Friday night, flames are erupting out my son’s bedroom window. So thank goodness we’re all safe. If you’re like, what are you talking about? I didn’t even know this. You can go to my Instagram stories. I have a highlight reel that talks about our year of that whole experience. But that is one of those crazy, insane, you could never anticipate moments where I was so grateful that we were ahead on the podcast.

[00:15:01] Leah: So those are really my biggest lessons. And you know, that third one about being ahead, it applies to everything. When I’ve meal planned. And I have groceries deliver and drop on Monday, and I know the whole week of exactly who’s cooking what and when and how it’s all working. I enjoy cooking. I enjoy that whole process.

[00:15:23] Leah: But when I come into the kitchen at 5 p. m. and the kids have an activity at 6 and I don’t have a plan for dinner and they need to be fed fast, guess what? I hate it. It’s horrible. I feel stressed and I feel, you know, frustrated and mostly with myself and all with myself. And that all shifts by just a little bit of preparation, right?

[00:15:44] Leah: Like preparation is power. And that lesson has just been proven. with the podcast, but it’s the same with meal planning. It’s the same with our workouts. When we know what we’re going to do for our workouts, when we’ve got the workout clothes laid out, we know the time we’re going to do it. Everything’s ready.

[00:16:03] Leah: It’s so much easier when we have a plan for our business and we carve out the time and it’s scheduled and we know exactly what we’re going to be working on for that big launch or whatever. that big goal that we have, it’s so much easier. Preparation is power. I don’t care if we’re talking about date night, or we’re talking about investing, or we’re talking about working out, or meal planning, or me doing my podcast.

[00:16:26] Leah: Preparation is power.

[00:16:28] Leah: So those are my three big lessons after 100 episodes. Now I want to give you my gift, uh, my surprise. Some of you have gotten to hear about this in past. I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about it on the podcast. Have I? One of you could tell me, I know I’ve talked about it to my insiders on my newsletter, but I have a balance necklace.

[00:16:53] Leah: I’m actually wearing it. I wear it. Uh, most days, and this necklace reminds me that balance is not something that just happens. It’s something that I choose and that I create. And when I put this necklace on at the beginning of the day, it is this reminder to me to choose and create balance. And I would love to gift you this balance necklace.

[00:17:23] Leah: And the way that I’m getting to do that, I have a bunch of them. I just restocked because I completely ran out, but I have a bunch of them. They’re actually, most of them are up in there. I’ve got more and. Uh, if you’re just listening, you can’t see the video, but I’m pointing to this cute little bowl that I have back on that shelf and it’s full of them.

[00:17:43] Leah: I want to send you a balance necklace and all I would ask from you is to leave a review. A hundred episodes later, I would love to get more reviews on the podcast. Like I said, they legitimately make my entire month. They make me so happy. I’m so grateful every time I get to hear from you and they’re so powerful because it helps others find this podcast and find someone who’s like them.

[00:18:10] Leah: You know, getting to hear. I’m a homeschooling mom, and this is helping me, or I’m a stay at home mom, and this is helping me, or I’m a working outside the home mom, or I’m not a mom, and this is helping me, who, you have your own unique situation, but there are others like you, and when you share your story, it helps them see themselves, and know if this is a great place for them to be.

[00:18:35] Leah: To land, to give this podcast a try. So if you will leave a review for this podcast, and then down in the show notes, there is a link, you just pop in your information. We have a really simple form. Just pop in your info so that I can then send you snail mail. Who gets fun snail mail anymore? Send you snail mail and inside is going to be the balance necklace.

[00:19:02] Leah: So that is my very special surprise and my way to say thank you so much for being a listener and part of my community. It means the world. I’m so, so grateful. So one hundred episodes later, what would I say? First, do that thing that’s on your heart. Stop waiting, stop questioning, just take the first step.

[00:19:31] Leah: It took me years longer than I meant to start this podcast, but I’m so, so glad that I did. Second, preparation is your secret power. Utilize it. If you need more energy, if you need to feel more productive, if you need to create better habits, utilize the power of preparation. And it really is just as simple as blocking out a little bit of time and saying, this is my prep time.

[00:20:02] Leah: I’m going to work on, insert, whatever that thing is that’s been kind of bothering you and been frustrating. And you feel like you’re always just a little bit behind on. You know, if it’s meal planning, I take 10 minutes on Sunday night and just rough plan out the whole plan for the week for what we’re going to eat for dinner and who’s cooking when, and it’s done.

[00:20:26] Leah: And yet that 10 minutes makes my entire week better. If it’s. Your podcast to sit down for a chunk of time and research out and plan out what are the next episodes going to be? Who do you want to have on the podcast? What would it look like? Preparation has some really, really powerful benefits. It reduces our stress, our anxiety. It helps us feel more confident, greater self esteem, more powerful, more capable, more in control. So do that thing that scares you and give yourself the gift of taking a little bit time to prepare so that you’re ready come what may.

[00:21:08] Leah: There you go. This is episode 100. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being part of the Balancing Busy podcast. I can’t wait to bring you so many more incredible interviews. I hope incredible solo episodes that give you insights and just real talk between two busy women trying to balance and do it with more bliss.

[00:21:37] Leah: I’ll see you next week. 

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