Evoke Greatness Podcast

BOLD by Design with Leigh Burgess (Part 2)

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🎧 Episode 159: BOLD by Design with Leigh Burgess (Part 2)

In this continuation of our conversation with Leigh Burgess, founder of the Bold Women's Community and bestselling author of "Be BOLD Today," we dive deeper into redefining boldness, breaking free from perfectionism, and setting healthy boundaries. Leigh shares practical strategies for women to step into their authentic power while maintaining balance in both personal and professional life.

We explore:

  • How to redefine boldness in a way that feels authentic rather than aggressive
  • The five myths of bold, including the misconception that boldness must be "big and loud"
  • Breaking the cycle of perfectionism and its impact on productivity
  • The value of intentional calendar management and meeting effectiveness
  • Practical boundary-setting techniques for both work and personal life
  • The role of community in supporting bold moves and authentic leadership
  • Current challenges and opportunities in women's leadership

🔑 Key takeaways:

  1. True boldness is often found in quiet, personal moments rather than social media-worthy actions
  2. Productivity should be measured by alignment with your vision, not by how busy you are
  3. The "curse of the competent" - high performers often receive more responsibilities without additional resources
  4. Effective boundary setting begins with recognizing your own role in creating blurred boundaries
  5. Women still struggle with apologizing for ambition and downplaying accomplishments
  6. Setting boundaries is not a passive act - it requires intention and consistent reinforcement
  7. Believing in yourself is the foundation for any meaningful change or bold action

💡 Quotes to remember: "The boldest moments really for me, and a lot of the women, are quiet ones... how they're talking to themselves or how they're talking themselves out of something." - Leigh Burgess

"I used to be like, 'I'm in 12 hours of back-to-back meetings' and I thought that was something cool to say... but wow, what a cost." - Leigh Burgess

"You cannot do one thing that doesn't affect the other. A lot of women think, 'I'm doing this over here, but it's not going to affect my personal life'... they absolutely are linked." - Leigh Burgess

"I used to call that the curse of the competent, meaning, like, the better you do, the more you can do, the more you get." - Leigh Burgess

"We still need to get better at sharing our wins. Don't apologize for being ambitious." - Leigh Burgess

"You are the one that has to believe in you before anyone else... ultimately that is what should be driving your action, is your belief of what is possible." - Leigh Burgess

🌟 Featured Insights:

  • How to use the Vision Builder tool to clarify goals and identify first steps
  • Practical strategies for reclaiming your calendar and setting work boundaries
  • Why perfectionism often masquerades as productivity
  • The importance of celebrating wins without minimizing or apologizing
  • How to advocate for yourself when wor

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Evoke Greatness. We are officially entering year three of this podcast and I am filled with so much gratitude for each and every one of you who've joined me on this incredible journey of growth and self-discovery. I'm Sunny, your host and fellow traveler on this path of personal evolution. This podcast is a sanctuary for the curious, the ambitious and the introspective. It's for those of you who, like me, are captivated by the champion mindset and driven by an insatiable hunger for growth and knowledge. Whether you're just beginning your journey or you're well along your path, you're going to find stories here that resonate with your experiences and aspirations. Over the last two years, we've shared countless stories of triumph and challenge, of resilience and transformation. We've laughed, we've reflected and we've grown together. And as we've evolved, so too has this podcast. Remember, no matter what chapter you're on in your own story, you belong here. This community we've built together is a place of support, inspiration and shared growth. Where intention goes, energy flows, and the energy you bring to this space elevates us all. So, whether you're listening while commuting, working out or enjoying your morning coffee, perhaps from one of those motivational mugs I'm so fond of, know that you're a part of something special. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your curiosity, your openness and your commitment to personal growth. As we embark on year three, I invite you to lean in, to listen deeply and to let these stories resonate with your soul. I believe that a rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along in this journey to evoke greatness.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to part two of Bold by Design with my guest Leigh Burgess. In this episode, we talk about how to refine boldness in a way that feels authentic rather than aggressive. The five myths of bold, including the misconception that boldness must be big and loud, breaking the cycle of perfectionism and its impact on productivity, and practical boundary-setting techniques for both work and your personal life. If you haven't yet, go back and listen to part one from last week. Okay, let's go ahead and hop into part two. Concept of bold can be really intimidating, right? Sometimes people are conditioned to really play it small or to play safe, and so they kind of stay in this little box. How do you help redefine boldness?

Speaker 1:

in a way that feels authentic right Versus like aggressive.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, it's kind of like someone telling you you have to do TikTok and you're like I'm not dancing, no, not happening. Or you need to do more reels and you need to wear roller skates and all this other jazz. Like no, I think I just need to be me. But I think I first had to figure out who the heck me is right. So when I came out of the corporate setting I had been in there so long and the burnout and I needed to kind of do that reset so I could look in the mirror and go. This is what I'm about and that's the part that takes a little bit of time, like the visioning and understanding your values and the alignment and what you need right. Once you get that kind of honed in, then you really start to go. But I think just realizing that bold can be.

Speaker 2:

You know, in the book I talk about the five myths of bold and one of the myths is that it's big and loud and it's a social media moment and sure, we see a lot of those. But the boldest moments really for me and a lot of the women are quiet ones. You know, in a small group or even with themselves, how they're talking to themselves or how they're talking themselves out of something as well, and I think that's just really, really important for women to realize that it's personal. Your definition is different than mine. Although all of them and I've collected more than you know, 250, probably almost 300 now All of them have one thing in common, and that it's a choice For you to be bold.

Speaker 2:

You take the step. I can't make someone bold or give someone confidence or give them clarity. I can create the environment, I can give them tools and I can connect them with other people, but they do the work, and so I think that's the one thing. I think I just want people to realize that being bold isn't big and loud, and one of the other myths is that it's a solo act, and it isn't. I think we have communities, we have our relationships and we have the people that support us and cheer us on and also challenge us, and we need both of those.

Speaker 1:

I'd love to talk about the relationship between perfectionism versus productivity. Can you share some practical strategies for women who have been trapped in that like perfectionism or perfectionist cycle?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I used to not think I was a perfectionist, because I thought that would be very imperfect. Literally, that's what I used to think and I was just like, wow, that's like the definition of it.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, so since we talked, I think some things I continue to learn about myself. You know some people pleasing in there some perfectionism and in, as an entrepreneur, imposter syndrome. I never felt it in the corporate setting, but absolutely I felt it out here and it's something that you know. People say, oh, doesn't exist, and you've heard Oprah say she never even thought about it. Well, I mean, most of us have it.

Speaker 2:

So I think you know the difference between being a perfectionist and actually getting stuff done and being productive comes down to how you have set your priorities connected to what your vision is. So you could have a hundred things on your list a day easily and be very, very busy, but did you move the needle on what you set out in your vision? So if your vision is to help women see the power of possibility which great vision I would say it's very vague and it's not like. What does that mean? So you know, I want women to have the tools to create the first steps towards the best life and the life they're meant to live. Okay, that's better. So, really thinking about how did my day, how did I work towards that? And obviously as a business owner and someone who's growing the business and learning along the way. Like I, also have business goals and things I want to accomplish, and I think it's just really important for us not to think of our list, as you know to do, but in the sense of with regard to our, our values and our vision. How are we moving the needles on that? I think when I first started off, it was very, very intense in the sense of my schedule and what I was doing and getting my initial clients, which I honestly think is just the name of the game.

Speaker 2:

And you know, sometimes people give hustle. You know a bad rap, but I think it's all about how you define hustle. You know hustle at the cost of your health, absolutely. You know, throw that out. But you know, are you using your time effectively? I mean, we just had a really good conversation inside the collective around. You know the Eisenhower matrix, which we've all heard of. You know what's high priority, low priority. How are you spending your time? How are you using it and reclaiming our time? Because we may be doing things to kind of reset, like scroll, or we may be back to back. You know setting up our meetings and, again, we've all heard these things. This isn't rocket science, but what happens is we get in a habit of keeping those things going and not doing anything to break the cycle.

Speaker 2:

So it comes to productivity and, like anyone listening, if there's something in their life that feels heavy or too much or something's got to give, most likely that's a space that you need to really dig into and do some introspection and look back and look ahead of like what could be different. You know, are you blocking your calendar but still giving it away to everybody else? Well, you're treating every. You know you're treating yourself in a way that you know potentially is also helping others figure out how they should treat you right. So if your time isn't important, they might not think that either. Based on you modeling that and I think, productivity sometimes, you know, I don't know if I bragged about it, but I used to be like I'm in 12 hours of back-to-back meetings and I thought that was something cool to say.

Speaker 2:

Maybe I don't know Like it sounds terrible now, but I used to say that all the time and it was real.

Speaker 2:

But wow, what a cost. I think you had an incredible grind too like of your meetings and travel and things that you were doing before and I don't know. At times I felt like, wow, I can do this, like I'm proud of myself for being almost like this tough and this resilient, and I'm making all the difference at my workplace. But it was, you know, in the background, it was at a cost of me getting to that place, of really big time burnout. So I think, when it comes to perfectionism and productivity is first realize the why of why you're doing something, and does it connect back to the overall vision of what you're trying to accomplish in your life, and that's personal and professional, because you cannot do one thing that doesn't affect the other. And I think a lot of women think, oh, I'm doing this over here but it's not going to affect my personal life, or I'm doing this in my personal life and it's not going to affect my professional life, and they absolutely are linked.

Speaker 1:

And when we get caught up in those type of schedules or those type of meetings or 12 hour days that are just filled with that type of stuff, we start to normalize it right, like it starts to become a normal thing for us. And so I felt the same way, like this is just life, this is just my day to day. I have calls from whatever 7am to sometimes 7pm, meetings, travel, all of these things. And I think that is even more so as I have recently stepped back into a corporate role and in leading a company as the CEO. We're just building the constructs of our team, and so I'm trying to be again really intentional about hey, when we have our one-to-ones, you know, or when we have these meetings, are we having? Like, what are these are? For the sake of what right? So let's not hold everyone together, everyone's time, because oftentimes it's super easy to throw a meeting on the calendar, expect all these people to show up, and it's something that maybe you could have gone back and forth with via email or with one person or a couple of people.

Speaker 1:

And so I heard something interesting about the value of people's time, and there is it's in the app store. There is an app and it's like salary calculator or something like that. Yeah, I'll put it in the show notes, but you can literally put this up and display it on meetings and you've got to do a little bit of pre-work. So let's say we have five executives and we're taking all five of those executives and we're having an hour-long meeting. Well, it calculates their hourly rate and so up on the clock it actually displays every minute that goes by how much it's actually costing you.

Speaker 1:

And I thought that was brilliant, because sometimes we just get used to throwing these meetings on the calendar, because that's what we've always done, and so I'm trying to work with my team on really being intentional about the value of our time, and not only our own, but the value of everyone else's time who's expected to show up to a lot of these meetings. So I think for us to get a little introspective and understand the true value of our time and the value of others' time like being considerate to that as well. I think you're much more constructive when you come together and you really want to make sure there's action happening or something meaningful occurring. You know, if you're going to utilize that expense of everybody's hour, then you have to use it really, really well, and I thought that was a really fascinating spin on how to think about meetings.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I used to always say like I wonder how much that meeting costs because of all the people that were in the room, right, and I love that you can now put that. You know, for the most part you can put a dollar sign on it. I think, then, also one of the things that I've definitely improved since, kind of my. I think also it connected to some adrenaline right, of just making it through that gauntlet of a day of 12 hours. But I think what I've done is really carved time, which takes time, right, it doesn't happen overnight. I used to do things like a calendar refresh where I cleared all meetings quarterly so that only the ones that really were adding value actually came back on to the calendar, because I was doing some things with my direct reports, thinking that again, part of the people pleaser in me, I want to give them an hour of my time so they know I value them. But did they need it? Did they want it? Did I need it? Did I want it, you know? So I think that was one thing I did. The majority of my career is always give my one-to-ones an hour, which that's definitely not necessary, I don't think, unless there's a real challenge, I think, in your organization, for you know your staff, but I think asking them was important and then, as well as doing the clear, the calendar quarterly of taking off the things that just became habit to have and they really, you know, were not helpful to moving the needle on our goals.

Speaker 2:

Communication can happen in so many ways now, whether it's, you know, via messaging or Slack or email updates or all these wonderful project management tools. I've just discovered Loop, which is part of Microsoft, and you know just that's something we all have. We don't have to buy another thing, and so I think, just figuring out the tools that we can use to like check in on progress and track things, but then making the meetings truly about, is there a problem? Do we need insight? Is there something that's created, a change or something we need to know about? I think, truly using them as action oriented items, versus like updates and go around the table type of moments. I'm really hoping that you know that that's changing, and I think it has, but it's slow in the going, I think. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Well, you've created several unique frameworks around personal development. We talked about the bold framework a bit earlier. Can you think of something that could be an actionable takeaway for someone to actually like you know a favorite exercise of yours to start and create action? Like, maybe it's just baby steps, Maybe it's somebody really getting to that concise way of thinking to say, hey, this is the first step. But what would be your guidance on a couple of takeaways for someone to really actually take this idea or this thing that they wanted to do and put it into action?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I'm happy to share this with you. It's like you can put it in the show notes or whatever. So I have something called the Vision Builder and basically it really sets forth kind of what is your vision? It asks some key questions around, kind of why, the why of what you want to do and how you want to do it and how you'll feel, and then it's like what is the first step and then what has been holding you back? It's kind of a simple kind of walkthrough of what we've been talking to, with a little bit more meat around the questioning for you of taking that vision and then taking action. Right. So we all may have like an idea of what we want to achieve in our career.

Speaker 2:

And to be happy doesn't mean you have to leave the career you're in. It just might be a tuning or tweaking or a boundary setting that you need to set up or a conversation you need to have. You know, yesterday in the collective someone was talking about they had more goals this year than they did last year and they didn't even know they were getting all these additional goals and I said, well, I used to call that the curse of the competent, meaning like the better you do, the more you can do, the more you get. But you need to kind of have that timeout moment and that sometimes awkward tense, whatever, however you like played it up conversation with your, with your boss around. Like you know, I'm really honored that you've given me seven goals versus three. But I need your help in prioritizing because, as you know, these are a lot of things that I have to do and my time is just not able to touch on all of them. But we could start and we could break them down by quarter.

Speaker 2:

What do you think? Here's what I'm doing and easier said than done, of course, depending on who you're working with. But advocating for yourself is one of the things I learned early on in my life that no one else is going to do, and the more you do it, the better you get at it, and so I think that's just really important for people to realize. To start, you have to really know what your vision is for yourself, for your health, for your wellness, your mindset and your career, because they're all interconnected in some form or fashion. So that's a great exercise to start off and it asks just a few prompts, there's some fillables and then I ultimately, I have a bold lib like a mad lib that it flows into.

Speaker 1:

I'd love to be able to share that with the listeners. You also talk about the importance. It's a perfect segue, because you talk about the importance of setting boundaries, and I think that was a perfect example of kind of this pushback to say, okay, I love that you've created all these goals for me. However, you know, I have to be able to so honored.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so honored. I love that, Right. I'm so honored that you created seven instead of three, that you over doubled it. However, in best use of my time, right, we can only work on so many things effectively and efficiently at once. What are some some productive ways for women to be able to navigate those boundaries? And you talked a little bit about it, but maybe that's at work, maybe it's at home, but how does one really start to institute? Maybe people have not. They've had a blurred sense of boundary prior to that. How would you urge people to really set it a little stronger?

Speaker 2:

I think what's important is you realize that you most likely play a role in it in some shape or form. And so when I say ownership in the bold framework, it truly is about what do you own in this feeling of overwhelm, or it's got to give or something's too much. Did you give away your calendar? I'll use me as an example. Did you set up that meeting? Did you override your assistant who protected your time for you? I mean, I've done it all, like I had things in place that you know were, you know fail-safes of like yeah, that couldn't happen. So I think, first, starting off of you know what do I own in it? Did I do it 10 times? And now they think that's the way that it's always done? Or, you know, have you set the precedent? So start there, just with a little bit of introspection. And then I think, thinking like what can I do to start healing it back to where I want it to be?

Speaker 2:

It's the same thing as an example of a habit you have, like, let's say, you're staying up really late now. Like you had a really solid bedtime of 10 and now it went to 11, now it's 12 and now you're up to a one and you're working later. So you've kind of, you know, flexed your day. Now you're up to a one and you're working later. So you've kind of, you know, flexed your day. Well, you can't usually go from I'm going to bed at 1am, I'm going back to 10. It's kind of like, you know, step by step working back toward that goal.

Speaker 2:

Same thing when it comes to boundaries at work. You know, with regard to, maybe, access to you, or you know, instead of monthly team meeting, maybe you just do an office hour, so the sense of that. Or instead of weekly one-to-ones, like me, you do a clearing of the calendar and you set them back for once a month, for example. You know, like, you allow access to you all weekend long on your cell I've done that. Or you've given your cell phone to everybody and I've done that. And so, like, what can you do to move that back? But still, you know, be there for them or create opportunities for them to have a support. But you need that space for yourself and your family. And you know, renewal, and I think, again, thinking about the first step, to kind of put that boundary in place or to actually move back from your extension back to where you want it to be Looking at the landscape of women's leadership today.

Speaker 1:

what gives you hope and what do you think still needs attention?

Speaker 2:

I think what gives me hope is that, you know, when I see the community that I'm in and the communities coming together, I do have hope that we truly do want one another to succeed and we're open to sharing and putting ourselves out there about our experiences. So I have a lot of hope around authenticity and, you know, being able to be yourself and show up as you are. So there's a lot of hope there. I think I lost that for a while in the corporate setting, where I felt like I needed to look a certain way, do a certain thing, say a certain thing, and you know, I would say predominantly aligned with who I am. But I think a lot of the times it wouldn't be maybe how I would do it or how I would show up. Lot of the times it wouldn't be maybe how I would do it or how I would show up. You know, did I really need to have a suit on with high heels and do the job, or could I have, you know, been in, you know, something a little lighter? You know I'm not talking about yoga pants and a hoodie, although I do do some really good work in my yoga pants and a hoodie at home when I'm getting creative, you know, like that's just a simple example that I think a lot of people could relate to. I think things that still need work is I still find and I don't know if you feel this too when a woman is ambitious or puts her bold goal out there, they can get criticized or feel like they have to apologize for their accomplishments or oh, I'm just doing this. I would just want you to see this because and there you know, there's some asterisks around their win or their accomplishment. We need to get better at sharing our wins and, as women, we need to support women and encourage them to do that. And don't apologize for being ambitious. I just think I get kind of fired up about that when I see it out there or when I find myself doing it, like I did it yesterday. I was like you know, this is my press page, but I only did this because I'm like what? Like I work really hard to make that happen, and the reason that I do press is I want to spread the message as far and wide as I can about possibility. So there's intention in it, it isn't just a boasting or bragging Like there's intention in the action, and so I just want women to feel that they can do that.

Speaker 2:

I would love for just even the listeners today, men or women, to just reach out to someone who they see is really rocking it. Because most likely, if you see someone and I've heard people say to me, you're really killing it, you're really rocking it there's like some moments of tears in the background. There's like moments of like am I doing the right thing? So even just like coming up to them and going, you are just really doing a lot of things. So well, right now I'm so excited, inspired by you, just checking in like are you taking care of yourself? You know, it's a different way of saying you're killing it right or you're rocking it, and it's kind of that human part of it. I think just being able to do that, I think it would be something that I think could be an improvement.

Speaker 1:

Those are the things that oftentimes, after somebody has had a treacherous week or month or months, and someone says that it fills their cup up, it reinstills them with hope and their vision and like I can do this. Okay, I've got this. And oftentimes those things come like right on the edge of you feeling like what in the world am I doing? Yeah, can I do this anymore? Yeah, can I do this? Am I? Am I? Am I? Fill in the blank? Right? Am I good enough? Am I whatever? Like, we all battle those thoughts and we battle the valleys, and sometimes it's alone, and so I love that, to be able to vocalize that and share what you're seeing of greatness in someone else, because that may be really, really a time that they desperately need to hear it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because it's not easy. You know, if you see someone really rocking it, there's a lot behind it and probably some things that they've given up or things that they've gone through. And, like you said, the majority of the time they're doing it alone or they're doing it, you know, without a lot of people knowing. And that's why I say a lot of bold moments happen in the quiet spaces and on that continuum, because it's in those moments that you dig in and you have resilience and you have grit and you believe in yourself and you say I will figure it out. I don't have the answer today, but I'm going to keep trying and I'm going to figure it out. So I think those things are happening daily and we just don't see it, or maybe we don't take the time to kind of go to the next level of what we see.

Speaker 1:

As we wrap up, I always love to ask this question. I think your insight probably even a couple of years ago, and then fast forward to today, probably are very different. But if it were your last day on earth and of all you've been able to learn, you could only impart one piece of wisdom with the world. What would that be?

Speaker 2:

So I remember I paused on this the first time you asked me. So I think, for me, the one thing I would say is just to believe in yourself, and what I mean by that and we've heard it before and it sounds like a simple thing, but you are the one that has to believe in you before anyone else. You know, I can't believe in you for you to take the step or to take the job, or to go back to school or to get that degree or to say no, I'm not going to do that. You just have to believe in you because, ultimately, that is what should be driving your action, is your belief of what is possible. Mine would be believe in yourself. I think last time it might have been give yourself a break.

Speaker 1:

I'll have to listen back to that to see where this is going, and it's different in the different seasons that we're in, and that's the beauty of it. There's been several years of lived experience and lots of you believing in yourself to be able to move, this kind of vision that you've had for emboldening others with the world, and so I love that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because ultimately, you're accountable for you and that's the only person you can truly be accountable for. You can't do it for somebody else. So why not use that really to help you move forward through your belief of what's possible and do the work? I mean, it isn't, it's not a passive thing to be bold. Yeah, you got to show up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you got to show up. Well, Lee, I will put everything in the show notes, but would love for you to share. Where can people find you? Pick up a copy of the book, learn more about all the offering that you have.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, best place is the website leighburgesscom. There's a space for the book and the offerings and the things that I do, and you can keep in touch through our newsletter from there as well. So, yeah, check us out at the website, and the book is everywhere. Books are sold.

Speaker 1:

Very good. Well, thank you so much for just fully showing up, willing to share your wisdom and insights with the listeners. I think people are going to take a lot out of this, more so because of the last couple of years and all you've been doing to impact other women around you throughout the community. So I appreciate you.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you very much for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for listening and for being here on this journey with me. I hope you'll stick around If you liked this episode. It would mean the world for me if you would rate and review the podcast or share it with someone you know may need to hear this message. I love to hear from you all and want you to know that you can leave me a voicemail directly. If you go to my website, evokegreatnesscom, and go to the contact me tab, you'll just hit the big old orange button and record your message. I love the feedback and comments that I've been getting, so please keep them coming. I'll leave you with the wise words of author Robin Sharma Greatness comes by doing a few small and smart things each and every day. It comes from taking little steps consistently. It comes from making a few small chips against everything in your professional and personal life that is ordinary, so that a day eventually arrives when all that's left is the extraordinary.

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