Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Energetic Advantage, the podcast where energy isn't. Woo, it's your edge. I'm your host, Jessica Cerato intuitive strategist, lifelong pattern decoder, lover of numbers, and energetic guide for visionary leaders around. Here we go, energy first, strategy second. Every episode will give you a perspective, a tool, or a timeline shift that helps you lead from your power.
Because the truth is your energy is your most undervalued asset. Until you learn how to use it, get ready. You're about to have the advantage. Let's begin.
Episode Intro: Before we dive in, I wanna set the tone for today's episode because this conversation is one of those that just lands. We're talking about leadership beyond the noise. We're talking about how to hold capacity and why presence is the key to success, not performance. We're actually talking what it means to [00:01:00] become the CEO of your life internally, not just on paper.
Trust me, this matters if you've ever felt successful. Well, at the same time, under-resourced. If you know you want more, but just not like this, this episode is for you. Today's conversation is about well-resourced leadership and why you can't outwork what you won't feel. This is exactly the kind of leadership 2026 is asking for, and I'm so excited to bring you this guest.
My guest today is Mandy Ballek. Mandy is an experienced designer for well-resourced leadership. The author of Chasing Enough and the Creator of the Well-Resourced Method. She's also the president of the Gathering, a 10,000 plus person community growing at 25% year over year, and the host of the Well podcast.
For over 15 years, Mandy has guided hundreds of leaders, thousands, I would say, to build capacity before they [00:02:00] need it. Integrating nervous system regulation, strategic design, and embodied leadership so that their impact doesn't come at the cost of their health, clarity or humanity. Mandy designs experiences where high performers stop surviving their leadership and start building leadership that actually lasts because we know that leadership that lasts does not come from doing more.
It comes from being resourced enough to show up fully. This conversation is powerful. It's grounded and grounding deeply human, and I'm so excited for you to hear it. So let's get into it.
Jessica Cerato: Okay. Not to jump right in, but I will because we have so much to talk about. First welcome. Thank you for being here. I'm so excited. Ugh.
Mandy Balak: So excited. It's been sitting on my calendar for a few months and I'm just so honored to be here. Congrats on the new show. It's amazing.
Jessica Cerato: Thank you. And I always say, people have asked me how do you choose or who are you inviting to be on the [00:03:00] podcast? And I hope is to no one's surprise that I close my eyes and allow people to pop into my head. And you were the first face that came I was like, obviously, season one is all about leadership.
And when I of. Leader and leadership, I think of you and for so many years you've been sharing about this, talking about this, embodying it,
Mandy Balak: Hmm.
Jessica Cerato: I also feel this year is where the world will really start to embrace it. So I'm so excited for people to hear from you. So let's start here. , When the world gets noisy, when we start to have a lot of inputs.
What are the first principles that you tend to return to as a leader?
Mandy Balak: Well a leader's job is to really clearly communicate vision, right? So it's all about clarity. And so I think it's finding the pause and the ways that when things are noisy, that we can [00:04:00] really press the pause button and tune back in. And I think that, to really be a well-resourced leader and a leader that is, leading from a grounded and clear place.
They need time. They need, pauses , of reflection. And to be really clear and aligned with one, what is the path that is in front of them? Where are we going? Why are we going there? And for me, the practices like I design my calendar like I would design an event or I design my life like I would design an event because you must be intentional with having those pauses in those places for reflection and for realignment.
And they have to be in your calendar first. Yeah, because the thing is, we think that time will arrive or the pause will come or the project will end and then things will calm down. And that never happens. Like every finish line is always a starting line, especially if you're [00:05:00] someone that's blazing trails and , doing big things, right?
And so we have to create those pauses and we have to create that time so that we can realign and we can lead from a grounded place and a clear place. And, , for leaders . That's anything from being able to clearly lay out where we're going and what the roadmap is to also on a day-to-day, clearly defining what expectations are or, , helping people to be successful in their roles as well.
Right? So, I think it's always gonna be noisy and as leaders, we have to know what is signal and what is noise, and how to turn down everything else and tune into what really matters.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. That's so interesting because it's funny, you've already, I think, answered my next question, but I'll still ask it anyway, is, , what do you think most people misunderstand about leadership? Because what I heard in your answer of what is leadership for me, I think a lot of people see leadership as loud, as [00:06:00] fast, as like always going first and if we're always going first. That also implies that we're always going many times because perhaps we fear others coming ahead of us or whatever that fear is. this, so what do you, I mean, what do you think it is where, where is that disconnect between really true embodied leadership and what people might misunderstand about it or think,
Mandy Balak: Yeah.
Jessica Cerato: think that it should be?
Mandy Balak: It is such a great question. I think there's lots of layers to this. But what resonated from what you shared is, I do hear that often or I've even felt that in the early days of leading is that, , my understanding of leadership was that it was loud or it was the one that was moving things forward.
Right. And it was, , maybe more boastful or had all the answers. And what I've learned about leadership is. , I think the strongest leaders are often , the ones that say the least, and it's not about knowing all the right answers, but it's about asking the right [00:07:00] questions.
Really the role of a leader outside of, , being clear is helping bring out the best of others and helping people find their strengths and creating. Space and an environment that allows people , to thrive in the best ways that they can. Right. And , that's not just being a dictator and saying, here's everything we're doing.
It's also really taking a step back and it's slowing things down and it's. Asking good questions. So I think that, , , that's been a big misconception is that the leader knows all the answers. , decisive leadership is very important. Being able to make decisions and being able to, again, steer the ship when needed.
, But really. I mean, I consider myself a very collaborative leader , and love to empower , the emerging leaders on my team to also be at the table in making decisions and collaborating on what our next steps are and things like that, right? So, I think a leader sets the environment, creates the environment, asks great [00:08:00] questions, and then helps us decide and move in that direction.
Jessica Cerato: I'm not surprised at this, but I think there will be so many moments at this conversation where you are exactly speaking to the energy of the moment Just finished the February energetic forecast. And what was so clear to me is that confidence and truth are two very different frequencies. And sometimes when someone is very confident, right? When they just seem to know everything. Sometimes that confidence we allow it to override the truth. , These people who are so confident, you just believe what they say. Because they're confident,
Mandy Balak: That sounds like they seem to know what's up. I should follow them.
Jessica Cerato: totally. And really this month is about noticing and really accepting that confidence is a frequency and truth is a frequency.
And sometimes in the best leaders, confidence and truth come together to create this beautiful harmony. But [00:09:00] sometimes when there is a dissidence between those two, it's really important for us to. Discern that and not just take confidence as truth. And the best example I can get is, , if you think back to the leaders when you're listening, the leaders who you've admired the leaders who you really resonated with,
the leaders that I've respected the most are, always confident and they always tell the truth.
And sometimes that confident truth is. I'm not sure, like what you think? Just like you said, like asking the questions and I just totally had a huge laugh when I was like, , when you use ai, any type of ai, the one thing you will never hear it say is, I don't know. Right? And it's wow.
Mandy Balak: Yeah.
Jessica Cerato: But it sounds so confident sometimes in the way it replies to you that it's like, oh yeah.
And it's like, wait a minute. And it is so funny because February is also the energy of curiosity.
And so as leaders asking questions out of [00:10:00] genuine interest, not leading the witness, wanting to know. And sometimes when we ask those questions, we get answers that maybe we don't love to hear, but
it's what is needed.
Mandy Balak: Yeah. It's what is needed. Yeah, absolutely. I think in the spirit of ai the leaders that will win right now are tapping into their authentic intelligence, not the ai, artificial intelligence. Right? So,
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. So I think, , everyone has their own unique energetic advantage, right? and. , Energetic advantage is the unspoken, right? It's beyond the strategy, it's beyond the logic, it's that it factor or that edge that you have in your space. So I'm curious for you, actually, I'll ask this because I feel for you, it has changed differently.
You've had in this energetic advantage, you've always valued this energetic part of leadership, the unspoken communication. What is your energetic advantage and how do [00:11:00] you see, perhaps looking back it has changed or evolved or matured over time?
Mandy Balak: that's a good question. I think my energetic advantage right now , is capacity and creativity. And this is well-resourced leadership. So well-resourced leadership is for framework for building sustainable high impact leadership from burnout. And you'll like this because it's a math equation.
Jessica Cerato: it on.
Mandy Balak: I know you love your numbers. So, , this is the equation. It's like there's resources and then there's demands. Okay, so our core resources are things like our physical capacity which is, , are we sleeping? Are we eating correctly? Are we getting our movement in nervous system regulation?
Are we rested? There's emotional capacity. Which is our eq, our ability to be resilient tap into joy, feel connected to our purpose. There's our mental bandwidth. So , how much creative thinking space do [00:12:00] we have? How much are we learning and growing? There's time, , time for planning, time for recovery, time for yourself.
Time to think. There's relational capital. So support, how big is your team? And not only the people that are supporting you in your organization, but also your community. The level of trust in your relationships. Reciprocal relationships, professional network, mentorship, all these things.
And then financial resources. Those are sort of our top. Resources, right? So we have a bank of resources, and then we have a whole bunch of demands every day, and the demands and the pressure of leadership. Often leaders are trying to sustain demands of, , a level nine or a 10, but they're resources.
Are at like a five or a six or maybe less sometimes depending on the season. And so when resources are greater than our demands, then [00:13:00] we spiral into creativity, right? And we have capacity for cre spiraling into creativity. But if our demands are greater than our resources, then we spiral into reactivity.
so these are the two spectrums, right? We're either reacting to the day and the noise. This is the difference between signal and noise. It's like we're either getting up and, , reacting to the day and everything that's being thrown at us, or we are resourced and we are meeting those demands with an equal amount of capacity.
I have had to do a lot of capacity work in the last five years in completely evolving how I lead, because for a decade I was leading on empty and I was trying to sustain demands of a nine or a 10 for a very long time with. The resources of a four or five, and I was wondering why I was constantly burnt out and why I was constantly exhausted and I was wondering why a spot A [00:14:00] wouldn't solve everything or a vacation when spa saw anything, I had to build each layer of those resources back up. it's a math equation. And so when we are in this cycle. We have two choices, right? So if they're not matting, we have to either lower the demands or increase the resources.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Mandy Balak: The math has to math and it has to equal.
Jessica Cerato: my gosh, I love this so much. Not surprising, and it's so fascinating. That this morning I was having a conversation about exactly this, and I had this interesting moment. So I'm just curious to get your thoughts on this. It's where you went with the, like, why does the spa day not cut it?
Oh, I take a vacation. , I just took a week off and I came back and I'm not feeling any different, and for me, I think it's because. Some people view the opposite of overwhelm as like [00:15:00] calm.
Right? And for me, I feel that the true energetic opposite of overwhelm is actually capacity.
Mandy Balak: Mm-hmm.
Jessica Cerato: Ah, this is so cool because it overwhelm is like too much input with no container.
But capacity is like that feeling of I got it. And. It's room for more. It's so
leaders. Yeah. And even, , I would actually ask you this because I think this math is so precise that you've defined, because when you share that math equation, it also it reminds me that even the smallest tweaks matter because when the demands are so close, are pushing up against your resources and capacity, you have a really full cup and one more drop of water.
The unexpected meeting, the unexpected sick employee, the unexpected something.
That's
Mandy Balak: thing on your plate. Yeah. And you and boom. Yeah.
Jessica Cerato: So the, [00:16:00] so what I'm
hearing you
Mandy Balak: to know how to let the air out.
Jessica Cerato: out Yes. So that the capacity, it's like that beautiful feeling of having your pants like just a little bit big so you can breathe a little
Mandy Balak: Yes. Exactly.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. I love that. And so. Oh,
Mandy Balak: So take any of the resources, right? It's , let's choose support capa like relational capacity. So relational capacity. , Maybe someone listening to this doesn't have a team and they're like, yeah, so I'm wearing all the hats and I'm doing all the things myself.
Which is very common. And so we have to say, okay, well what support could be available? One, could I ask somebody for help? And generally we hold back asking for help. 'cause we feel like We should be able to do it all of ourselves. Or we're a burden for asking or we don't wanna inconvenience someone, right?
So if we overcame that belief, what could be possible? What capacity could we create for ourselves there? Or if we said, where else could I get support? Maybe it's investing in a home [00:17:00] team. And you get a cleaner that comes once a month or you outsource your groceries and you don't have to go to the grocery store or you have a meal delivery service, you've now increased your capacity there on the relational capital and you've gotten yourself some support.
Right? So that's how we've. impacted the number, right? Same with time. It's oh, I don't, I feel like I don't have time. Okay, well, what are the things , that are taking up some of your time? How could we be either more effective? How could we delegate something? Could we release one of those things?
Is it really important? How can we calendar block going forward? So you make sure you have some deep work time or put a monthly date night in the calendar. Like all those things are like ways to resource that. Thing. Right. So,
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. And this is my favorite math because it's math, but it's not linear. just explained, that it's beyond just the this or the that. It's more about the energetic nuance, if you can solve it in many different ways. Okay. I love this, I wanna. Switch gears a [00:18:00] little bit to a concept that I just really am so curious to hear your thoughts on because I think many people will want to explore it this specifically because of the energy with the energy of the one.
It is all about identity and who we are. And that of course ties back to childhood. So you say that our inner child runs our business. Until we learn to be the CEO of our life,
Mandy Balak: Mm-hmm.
Jessica Cerato: what, what does that look like? What does mean? Share with us about this concept.
Mandy Balak: lessons earned the hard way over here. And this
Jessica Cerato: Thank you for doing the hard work for all of us,
Mandy Balak: this is this is what I really speak about in my book, chasing Enough, which is coming out this year. We'll chat about that more later. But this isn't just specific to your business, is I feel like it shows up in our lives, right? The things that we haven't looked at, , maybe the unhealed.
Parts of ourselves, or the [00:19:00] child that really longed for something, whether it be belonging or connection or being seen or being validated or, , feeling like they had a seat at the table. Like all of us had some sort of childhood experience, whether it was significant , big T trauma or something really small that happened on the playground, right?
Like,, there's some sort of imprint and memory of that that is impacting us into our adolescence and into our lives if we don't come back to it. And for me it was very significant around , the, am I enough, like the chasing enough piece. And I remember the dinner table.
It was like the, who is gonna be in the hot seat tonight in my family? When we went to my grandparents' house, and it was like we had to compete for attention and it didn't matter like what kind of grades I got or what was going well at school. I would present it at dinner and it would be critiqued.
And it would be judged. And it was like always in comparison to my grandparents', friends', kids. So it was never enough. Like it was [00:20:00] never enough. Oh, well they're going to grad school and becoming a doctor. It was like, okay, so. I'm never enough here. For me, I carried that forward until it was really illuminated to me, which wasn't until like, decades later when I was.
Really late twenties, early thirties that I found this in, therapy. But I built the foundation of my life around that. And so I found myself in a chasing state for decades. Like I was constantly trying to prove, I was constantly comparing. And I was. Constantly trying to achieve and it was like needing the next finish line and the next achievement and the next milestone and the next thing.
Because to me, that felt like I would finally be worthy enough or I would finally arrive somewhere and I would get the recognition and the praise and the add A girl that I was hoping for as a kid, but that never arrived.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah,
Mandy Balak: It never arrived, and I've achieved enough [00:21:00] now to realize that it's not enough.
Enough is not a destination, it is a practice. And once I realized that this was actually a part of myself that was just left. And needing to be cared for as a kid. Once I was able to do some work around that, I realized that that actually was just an experience that happened to me as a kid, but it wasn't the truth at all.
And by seeing that pattern, I was able to recognize the other places in my life that it was running rampage and the cost that it was having on my relationships, on my wellbeing, on all of those resources I was talking to you about. Because really, that Chase was depleting me.
Jessica Cerato: Hmm.
Mandy Balak: , While my ambition is one of my superpowers, it also can be one of my shadows because that constant need and pursuit for more was burning me out and my team out.
So what I mean by your inner child will run your life [00:22:00] until, , , you tap into that CEO energy, which is just being the chief energy officer of your life. There's a differentiator there, , and for me, once I made a choice that. Enough was a practice and a decision I could make every day.
I could actually tap into my, intuition. I could come from a more grounded more intentional space where really it was a different energy. That was the energy of fear. This was the energy of love. And I think that was a really important turning point for me, and it was the turning point of my work as well.
Recognizing that the business that I built was from a place of fear and proving. And I needed to dismantle it because the foundation was not strong and I had to rebuild from a stronger foundation, a one built from my actual truth, a one built from my core values, from my essence, and from my own decisions, not from a place [00:23:00] of what everyone else wanted for me.
Jessica Cerato: Oh my gosh, that's so beautiful. And right away I just feel this is gonna be a really big aha moment for everybody because it was interesting no matter what you are chasing. So in your case, it was enough, but. All of us at sometimes of our lives are chasing something. And now I just want everyone to imagine doing your everyday life while at the same time chasing your dog that's running all over the place, chasing, oh my gosh, you're toddlers like whatever.
Like I want you to put a real life object or something. So you have the feeling in your body of. Oh my gosh. Imagine doing everything you're doing while at the same time you are chasing something.
So physical exertion, mental exertion that you never catch.
Yeah. And so how, how do you think someone can [00:24:00] tell what part of themselves or what part of their inner child is. in charge or like what are some other indicators that it might be, Hey, like you might wanna pause , and check in on this.
Mandy Balak: Yeah, for me, I think it's an energetic check for me all the time. And those pauses I shared, like I have a lot of integration time and, and planning time and reflection, and I do a lot of writing and a lot of journaling and I'm constantly checking in. This is something that needs to be looked at all the time.
Because, our patterns are not flaws. They're just a part of ourselves and. This isn't about fixing these parts, it's just about acknowledging that they're there and moving through them quicker. And that's really what growth is. Growth is not repeating the pattern, it's making a healthier choice for yourself.
So, as an example , social media can be a very triggering place. And , you might scroll and you might see people, , let's just say the example of seeing [00:25:00] someone professionally. And it looks like they're achieving something that you wanted to achieve, whether it be starting a podcast or starting a business, or maybe you see someone speaking on stage or like they just look so polished.
Right? And then there's a part of you that might be like. I should be doing that, or , why not me? Or maybe like I should do a live tomorrow and prove, or start my podcast tomorrow. Okay. I'm gonna do it. So we have to check in because there's a couple things.
One that trigger is a teacher for you.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Mandy Balak: And so we can pause and be like, wait a second, why am I feeling that way? And then we calibrated. okay, that next step we were gonna take. Is it coming from a place of proving or is it coming from a place of, oh, I'm so grateful that they showed me that's possible and now I'm inspired to go do that.
They inspired me. Or is it like, I gotta go prove that I can do that too. Right. So there's discernment there in being able to understand. [00:26:00] What's the energy that's driving me and what's the energy that's moving me right now? And sometimes , even if I get an invite to an event and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna go to that.
And I'm like, wait, is it a part of me that just wants to be seen at that event? Or is it a part of me that actually wants to go to that? And I do check in all the time and I'm like, what if I didn't, what would I get back? And sometimes the cost is like not worth it. And I'm realizing that it's actually a little bit more eco driven, which is the inner child part
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Mandy Balak: than it is heart driven, which is no, I generally wanna go catch up with my friends and see them and connection would feel so good.
Or is it like I just know that that's a good room to be seen in. That's your ego. So hopefully those examples like sort of contextualize that a little bit.
Jessica Cerato: They totally do, and I think you've also just named another one of your energetic advantages are. You need to look at the two axises of [00:27:00] metrics, which are what? What it is you wanna do and also why and how it's gonna feel. And so many leaders, I feel we get so focused on the quantitative measures.
The what? Because they're just easier to measure and they don't require us to go inside and actually do the work of Wow. Like where is this coming from? Why
Mandy Balak: that's lead, that's leadership. Jess, right there. There's two tracks to leadership, what you're doing and how you're doing it. Both matter equally. So what you're doing is your strategy, your plan, the mission, how you're doing it is the energy behind it. Your character, your essence, who you're being in the process.
And when there's an overemphasis on the what you're doing, we can completely ignore who are being and the process part. And that again, creates this cycle of. Depletion. We can be, we can end up aimless, right? We're like, we [00:28:00] put a stake in the ground and we're just gonna climb the mountain.
But then we get to the top of the mountain, we're like, shit, I climbed the wrong mountain. And I dragged my team up here and now they're all exhausted and we don't know how we're gonna get down. Versus the check-in and the acknowledgement around the two of what are you doing? how are you doing it?
That's really ensuring that alignment is moving us
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm. I love this because. Per usual, like we're feeling the same energy and sometimes we come at it from different directions. So if you're listening to this episode, I want you to maybe re-listen or go back to episode three where I talk about the metrics that matter and layer in what Mandy has just said about who you are as a leader and what you choose to track.
And I just love how that. I'm laughing. Should I have recorded this before that? Because this, what you just said really created the foundation of metrics do matter
and here's, and here's, [00:29:00] why I love this. , You brought in social media a bit here and this Relationship with our phones has been so top of mind energetically for me and. I'll share a little bit of why and how it came to me after I ask you this question. But, , I see that you have an event coming up called Unplugged. The Future is Human, and I saw that and right away I just got this ping of.
Yeah. Yes. So can you tell us a little bit about that event and what made you feel, because I know you're very intentional about what you choose to do and don't do. So tell us a little bit more about this event and why you chose to put your energy here now.
Mandy Balak: A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, a lot of my work is around capacity and it's around burnout and it's [00:30:00] sustainable leadership. And , how we can achieve big things in our life and, , be high impact without killing ourselves and without it taking everything. So the reality is We need more presence and we need more time, and we need more connection. Where we're tuning back into ourselves and we're tuning into what we're here to do, which is like connect with others. And right now our distraction and our energy is constantly being leaked by all the devices, all the pings, all the pongs of the notifications, the noise. news streams, all of it. We are always on and we have normalized that that is okay with being always on since the fricking blackberry gotten all of our hands. And then, , it's only gotten worse and worse every year. And technology's amazing. And I love my, built my entire career on social media.
, it's a very powerful place and so many wonderful things. But now. Our smartphones have everything on it. We can do an entire day's work from our [00:31:00] phone. And there's so much distraction in that and so much so that, I see, and I have experienced in myself too. we'll be exhausted.
We'll be running on empty and then we'll try and refill ourselves back up on the weekend. But it doesn't happen 'cause we're sitting on the couch with our phone and simultaneously like streaming Netflix or whatever. And then we wonder why we are not rested. Well, we gotta plug the drain. And I started a protocol, I don't know, a couple years ago, where it's.
Having intentional time like phone jail,
Jessica Cerato: Yeah,
Mandy Balak: to call it phone jail, where. You actually take your phone and you put it in a box and you don't use your phone and, and my husband and I like to do that during dinner and on date nights. And I started doing it on the weekends and realizing that a weekend would feel like a vacation when I would do this.
And it was just so insane, like the amount of creativity that I was getting back and, and I recognized that I was sort of outsourcing my creativity [00:32:00] and, . Reaching for this thing and it became just like this pattern I was trying to get rid of, which was like this constant chase and reaching for more and more and more and more.
I've noticed many of us just pick it up and we're filling space. And it's getting in the way of our ability to be present. It's getting in the way of our ability to connect with each other. It's getting in the way of our ability to fill our own creative, well, to listen to our own stream of consciousness, like our own thoughts, our own downloads, which have all the wisdom of what to do next in our lives.
We're like outsourcing it to this device. And It's killing us. Really like it, it really is. And so I've always created events and, and been intentional with the ways that we connect. , Whether it was my brunch series that I used to have that was bringing women together to share stories or.
, Conferences and, all of that. experience design is a really important part of that, so that when you [00:33:00] intentionally design an experience, that's where transformation can happen. And so in wanting leaders to feel more present, more alive, more grounded, more well resourced, I really wanted to create a space where.
We could create that level of vacation almost in small little pieces. And hopefully that can be a nice pause in the push of everything. So the event series my friend Mark Groves and I, who Mark Groves is. author, he is a creator. Everyone listening may know him as create the Love.
He's got a really impactful podcast and , for the last couple decades he's been helping people build better relationships. That was the foundation of his work, and now his work is shifting to also transition into this conversation around what is our relationship with our smartphones and our devices, and how is that impacting our ability to be connected to ourselves and humanity?
So together, him and [00:34:00] I sat down and we decided to create this event series. There will be six or seven events this year. The first one will be in la We've got one in Vancouver, in Calgary, New York and and in Banff somewhere else I'm forgetting in there. Oh, in Austin right now, those are the ones that are planned.
And I hope that it can be a reminder for people of the importance in. Taking intentional time offline as not an escape from the work, but as an important part of the work, Athletes work rest into their day, and that's like a part of their protocol for being the best version of themselves, right?
But leaders and people in business, they feel guilty when they're taking a break from work or taking a break from all the things. It's flipped like it's a part of the work. Right. So protocols of time, away from your device are so important to tune in. My phone stays in the kitchen at night.
It, it's not my alarm [00:35:00] clock. 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes before bed. There's no phone. , when I'm trying to work and focus my phone can't be in the room either, because the reality is that thing is constantly and you're in demand. If it's sitting on the table, you're not gonna connect with someone.
Right. So yeah, it's powerful.
Jessica Cerato: this is so good because I'll share with you and for those people listening who listened to my forecast, this was such a powerful visualization I saw and I shared about back in December, where in January and February, so these first two months that we're in, I saw a lot of people in like waiting rooms or areas where they were.
Together physically, and the intention was like, I wanna connect. And even though there was someone literally on either side of them, I saw everyone reach down out of discomfort, out of awkwardness, out of whatever to pick up their phone. And try to find connection [00:36:00] there, like looking down and the message I got was like, look up to connect.
And I love how you also say look up to your creativity. It's not just about connecting with other people. But , it's so funny. And then I just had a real life experience happen. We were chatting before, so we took the family to Disneyland and. There are a lot of times when you're waiting in line, right?
You think about waiting in
line at Disneyland, and I just had the most visceral reaction we were in waiting in line for the mummy rollercoaster, and there was thousands of people in line, and I looked around and it was silent.
No one was talking. They were like, I'm gonna get emotional. They were
like down on their phones and I looked at my family and I just said wow.
Like so many times when we're home. And we have TaeKwonDo, soccer, guitar. What, like all the things, right? I think everyone can relate to having all of the things [00:37:00] where you are busy with something and we crave for a time that we can truly connect and then we're given the gift of 20 minutes where you cannot do anything but wait for this freaking rollercoaster and we are not choosing it.
Mandy Balak: Feeling it. We feel
Jessica Cerato: We're filling it. And I think that's, I just love what I got from yours is if you don't choose it, it will be filled.
Mandy Balak: yeah.
Jessica Cerato: And if we don't intentionally fill it with something that we want, we are I mean you just said it so beautifully. It's like we are tapping out of like our creative life force. So,
Mandy Balak: i'd encourage everyone to think about how much consumption.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Mandy Balak: , If we're gonna give a lot out, we have to fill a lot back up. Right. And so I know, , I'm a high functioning human being. I'm very ambitious. I got a lot going on all the time. [00:38:00] But , if I'm putting a lot out, I need that equal time of filling back up.
So where are we listening to audio books at 1.5 x.
How many
Jessica Cerato: actually I have 2.0 if I'm honest, or
Mandy Balak: I'll Okay. You so okay, so this is what we've normalized, right? We need to learn more faster. And how much of that are we actually integrating, ? And then we're like, okay, so I'm on a walk and I'm podcasting, and then like I'm on the treadmill podcasting, I'm in the car, I'm listening to an audio book, plus I'm texting like we are overstimulated.
There's constant noise on, and then I'm scrolling social media and I'm listening to this. Look at all these inputs of all of the things. No wonder we can't think straight. No wonder we've got brain fog. No wonder we're having trouble sleeping. There's so much coming at us. Right? So I think it, it's important to just check that and say maybe you don't need to read 80 books this [00:39:00] year.
Maybe you could read. For, and actually implement them , go for a walk every once in a while without your headphones in.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Mandy Balak: Listen to a drive with nothing. Listen to yourself every once in a while.
Jessica Cerato: , When I was feeling into this, I'm so curious about this. What this pattern that we're talking about, I'm curious how this amplifies our inner child patterns that you were talking about. Like urgency, like validation seeking and so, , I'm not trying to talk you out of this, but I'm just saying it's not as easy as putting your phone down because I think we intuitively are subconsciously know that it's not gonna be this euphoric feeling right away.
Because I have a, I have a question. Yeah. Okay. So I have a question for you in, because you've done, you've had these unplugged spaces for yourself, and I'm sure you've thought of this unplugged space that you were [00:40:00] creating. In unplugged spaces, what part of us tends to surface first?
Mandy Balak: Yeah, I mean, in my experience, it is do I belong here? Am I seen here? Do I have enough to say? And so there's a part of me that is. So socially awkward, and it's probably why I create events 'cause I always need to have a role at an event.
Jessica Cerato: I am so
like you. like
why am I here? Tell me
Mandy Balak: But it, I think it is that like how do I start a conversation with someone? What if they don't like me? ? And those things surface, and I think that discomfort is really important to not fill space and to actually let yourself be uncomfortable and let yourself have a sloppy conversation, whatever, , the worst can that can happen is, I mean, that everyone's feeling that way is the reality, ?
And I've learned, because I love, like a practice. I'm like, I always come with a question what's one question that I almost have teed up? And it [00:41:00] helps me have that opening line with someone where it's not like we're talking about the weather, but , one that I love is what's something you're excited about right now?
And it gets people talking it, and it starts to, , open ourselves up. And I think that. Many of us can be afraid of rejection or , not being invited or we didn't have a seat at the table or whatever. And the only way to really overcome that is again, not choosing the pattern. And making a new choice in the moment.
And if we break through and make a new choice, and then we have a positive experience, you know, , a new connection happens. We found a new level of intimacy or a new level of confidence that like, that builds resiliency, that builds confidence. And this is how we really start to transform our lives by leaning in to what feels like the uncomfortable thing.
Jessica Cerato: Thanks. I love this. I'm going to show you something, and I know if you're listening, you're gonna need me to explain what I'm gonna show Mandy in just a second. I'm gonna show you something, but [00:42:00] before I show you this, I just want to let everyone a little peek inside my life, which is I don't keep anything like tangible things.
I don't keep, I keep it clean and clear, sorry to my children. When artwork comes home, it's recycle. I laugh. Like one of their teachers once asked wow. Like, where do you keep all of this amazing art? And I was like the recycle container. Anyway, I'm not a keeper of things, but I wanna show you something that you gave me once and I've kept, mm-hmm.
Okay.
Mandy Balak: for this. What is that?
Jessica Cerato: It is a postcard. Now on the postcard, the front says, I love who you are, who you have been, and who you are becoming. But it is not this part of the postcard, which is why I kept it. So I don't know if you remember doing this, but you sent me a postcard that had a note on it. This is not this postcard.
Sorry I threw that [00:43:00] out. But you sent me a second blank postcard that says. A letter to future you or pay it forward.
curious, because this is such a big learning lesson for all of us, what made you include the second blank postcard? Because your intention had to be so large with this
I've kept it, and I'll tell you why I've kept it in its original form.
In just a second, but what, what were you hoping would happen or why did you include this? Like, where, where did this, 'cause this is who you are, right? So
Mandy Balak: I love feeding intentions. Like I think that that for me, like I love thinking about what becomes possible when we are intentional. And I do, I invite that with all of my clients I do a one year from today practice with a lot of my clients. In fact, I just led [00:44:00] a workshop with nine women the other night and I brought those postcards, so I love that.
But I had them all write a postcard there and I took it from them and I'll, mail it to them in a year from now. And I said, just plant yourself a seed for your future, you, and. It could be anything like asking near future you a question, checking in Hey, did you do this? Or How was this thing?
But it's that seed that we plant. And I find that so often we think about those things, but we don't actually speak it or put it out in the world. And I guess it's similar to creating a vision board, right? it's a physical manifestation of something that is on your heart that wants to be lived or wants to be created or come alive.
I really believe in the power of putting those things down on paper and setting the intention.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Mandy Balak: there's always this like small little sense of accountability to that, and it feels brave and it feels bold and it's [00:45:00] like making a declaration. So yeah, that's my intention behind it.
I do a capsule for myself every year. I write a letter to myself at the beginning of the year and I open it on January 1st, and I completely forget what I write in it. But it's cool to see the things that actually happened.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah, and , all for me, I feel that this blank postcard or doing, I'll tell you what I do with it now. It's a weekly practice for me. It assumes I'm gonna get emotional 'cause this is like so strong in my field that.
Mandy Balak: Hmm
Jessica Cerato: It assumes that a future version of you exists that will know what to do with this, and that is faith and trust in your becoming, like from your being.
And so every Saturday morning and my calendar, I have half an hour blocked off and it says postcard. And what I do is I pick a timeframe. I tap into my future [00:46:00] self, who I feel will need it most where I am. And I gotta be honest, some Saturdays I can tap five years out, 10 years out, and some Saturdays I'm literally writing a postcard to myself like at the end of the day because that's who needs it most, right?
And it's been such a beautiful, reflection for me, and it's the reason why I kept this one blank is because it's really holding the space and their permission to like continually rewrite. And again, it's just the trust in the future version of yourself who also trusts yourself in that moment and. I just think even laughing at our conversation, there are a lot of things I could do in that half an hour.
Right. But this is such an intentional practice and I just want to reflect back to you that, [00:47:00] I mean, I don't even remember, this is like years ago, right? And your through line for me, energetically has stayed constant, even though perhaps what you are doing has changed who you are. has been there.
And I just think that's a beautiful and reassuring thing as a leader. So if anyone's listening, it's like you can do different things.
Jessica Cerato: But staying true to who you are and the intention behind things matter. And I'm also super glad that you still do this because it was, yeah, it's just such a beautiful, it was such a beautiful gift,
Mandy Balak: That's so thank you so much for sharing that. And that's so powerful. I love that. And it's back to the definition of leadership, right? It's a leader has clear vision. And if we're aligned with ourself that's the most important first step. So, yeah. Clarity. Yeah.
Jessica Cerato: Well, I will say there is one other thing that I will keep. And it is your book once it comes out.
Mandy Balak: It's coming.
Jessica Cerato: I'll, [00:48:00] okay, so tell us about the book. Tell us about the concepts, a little bit of the process and, and when kidding, when we can expect it. Tell us all the things.
Mandy Balak: The book is called Chasing Enough and it's the High Achievers Guide to Sustainable Success. It talks about many of my stories of becoming and unbecoming of the lessons learned as a leader. There's a through line of a lot of my childhood experiences and how those childhood experiences showed up in my work and were really holding me back from being and feeling and showing up the way that.
I wanted to , in my personal relationships, in my business and experiencing , the life and , the level , of fulfillment and aliveness that I really desire. And started writing the book in 2021 actually. So, it's been 17 manuscripts at this time. I've had three or four editors and it, , it's all meant to be.
And, , you write the book you need yourself. And the writing process itself has been one of the most [00:49:00] healing journeys for me because I've had to become the woman that wrote the book, I've had to become the well-resourced leader. I wasn't the well-resourced leader in that.
I wrote about how to become her. I wrote about it was the other way around, right? So we had to do the deep work and it's been really beautiful. I was going to self-publish last year, but I did get a publishing offer from page two. So I'm partnering with them, and so it's in their hands as, as far as helping me , move through the timeline this year.
So pre-sales will be available this spring and I'll have the audiobook version that I'm building to for all my 1.5 Xers. Yeah and I see you, I am you. And then I'll have a physical copy and, , it'll be ready for the fall of 2026 of this year and I'll be launching it on stage at the gathering festival in Banff in October.
So I'm really excited for that. And, , this has also been another practice of having to release the timelines and [00:50:00] surrendering to the process because. I had many publishing timelines and things in my mind of when it was going to happen, but every delay led to a really new, powerful lesson. That ended its way up in the book, and is really important and, and much of the things that we talked about today are, , really the through line , of the book.
So if this resonates with you, , if you're someone that really wants to, achieve and do big things in your life without it costing you everything. If you wanna have more energy and vitality and feel more fulfilled every day , and really learn how to create harmony in your work and your life this is the book for you and you'll love it.
And so I appreciate the opportunity to share and we'll put all the links below
Jessica Cerato: show
notes. Yeah, we'll put everything in the show notes, get on the wait list so you don't miss
it.
So when it comes. And also just get on the list to connect with Mandy even,
Mandy Balak: I'll put together a little gift for you. Yeah. I'll put together a little gift for your community maybe just around that leadership equation [00:51:00] and one of the first places to start is looking at where that equation lands, right? Like, where are your resources and your capacity and where your demands.
Just building awareness on where we might be off can help you make , some good first choices. And so I find that that's a great place to start. So I'll put that together and send you a link.
Jessica Cerato: Yay. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Ah, thank you so much for your time and energy here. It's
Mandy Balak: I appreciate you. Oh, Jess, you're amazing. And Jess is my favorite annual call because I do my energetic, like the energy of the year reading. I should book that now. 'cause
Jessica Cerato: Yes, you should.
Mandy Balak: I gotta get a new calendar. She like lock her in 'cause she's booked up. But I'll just put a small plug for your, energy's I love it. It's my birthday present to myself every year. It's so great and I just appreciate you so much. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Jessica Cerato: you. Alright, well hopefully this podcast inspires you to, again, look at where you are objectively and then choose [00:52:00] intentionally. Mandy, we're just so grateful that you came and shared all of your beautiful wisdom with us. So thank you and we'll see you next time.
Mandy Balak: See you next time.
Outro: Thanks for being here inside The Energetic Advantage. If today's episode open something for you, share it, tag it, or send to the person who popped into your mind. And remember, energy first strategy second. Your advantage has always been in you. Now it's time to lead with it. See you next time.
