Achievement Model

Unleash your inner genius with the power of rest and recovery. In this bonus episode, join Shannon Vivar and Heidi Hope as they discuss the truth behind the achievement model and ways to supercharge your energy levels. Don’t miss out on this energy-boosting conversation from the Vitality Exchange at WellStylist Lab. Our featured guest, Heidi Hope (Guerard), has mentored thousands of women around the world as they uncovered their greater purpose and infuse it into every area of their life and work. She currently creates out of St. Augustine, Florida while hosting international workshops and public speaking to inspire and uplift creatives.

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Welcome to Vitality Exchange Boosts and Conversations. The interview series behind the Investing in Vitality podcast. On today’s bonus episode, I’m sharing a clip from my conversation with Heidi Hope, a multi-passionate entrepreneur, educator, and inspire coaches high achieving women as they uncover their unique genius and ignite their passion for life. We discuss how our American culture is ruled by the achievement model. The myth that rest and recovery are not productive. full conversation with Heidi Hope can be found in the Vitality Exchange Group within the WellStylist Lab community platform.

Burnout is just a symptom of misalignment. Like burnout is, you know, if you can find that alignment within yourself. Which flow state comes out of which your genius zone comes out of which you have to take time to figure out what that is for yourself and practice being in that state of joy and practice the positive thinking and the giving yourself rest and all those things are important.

Right. But like, when it comes right down to it, if you’re constantly working and it isn’t in alignment with who you are with that, you know, wholeness of who you are, burnout’s inevitable. And if you’re feeling burnt out, you can know that it’s a symptom of that misalignment.  So you could be performing any job and you probably could be working 50 hours a week if you have that alignment and integrity in what you’re doing.

Yeah. Or it doesn’t feel like work. Yeah, exactly. And that’s, that’s actually what, I was always told, you have to do, what makes you feel joy. Mm-hmm. As a career. and I always worried that if I did my hobby as a, as a career, that I would burn out my hobby. Yeah.

And then it wouldn’t be a hobby. And then I realized that my career was my hobby and then I didn’t have any hobbies, by the way. Yeah. Um, yeah. So it’s just an interesting thing when you start to do that introspection and really start to carve out like, where is my cup full? Yes. And where is it empty?

In my coaching work now, I work with a lot of high achieving women, and I think that that’s kind of how our schools are structured. The achievement model in general is very action oriented, and nobody really teaches you how to balance, how to rest, how to take care of your, you know, self-care is always like an afterthought for people, but it really is such an integral part of showing up and performing your best.

Yeah, and I do think it. It has to do with, uh, seeking that problem out to find the solution. Yeah. Like that all always on the hunt for the solution. Yeah. For a problem. Yeah. And we’ve compartmentalized so many aspects of our life. Yeah. That, you know, at the end of the day, all you see is problems. Yeah. A sea of problems that need to be fixed.

Yeah. Instead of being a little bit more aware and in tune with your, with yourself. Yeah. And intuition has been, you know, is not always seen in the best light. It’s quiet. That’s why it’s so quiet. Every, the world is so loud and you have to like really be still to hear that voice. and people don’t teach us how to listen to our, you know, that’s not like something taught in school how to listen to your intuition.

Uh, yeah. No, no. They’re like, stop listening to the little voice in your head. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Yep. Yeah, so I actually used to be an art teacher and it’s funny ’cause I feel like the arts are like one place that you’re allowed to do that and it’s, it is such a small part of the day. I do believe, like we’re all meant to like expand into our own genius. The fact is, we’re never gonna stop wanting expansion.

We’re here, we’re here to create and to, and to expand into the fullness of who we are and our potential. So once we reach our next level, there’s gonna be a new level of growth for us. But the want of growth is not wrong, but it’s finding joy in the journey of growth that we’re neglecting.

I feel like growth is one way to think about it. Yeah. I actually think that if everybody could bring their true essence to who they are mm-hmm. To the world mm-hmm. And not feel fear or shame mm-hmm. Or anxiety mm-hmm. About showing people who they really, truly are. Mm-hmm. and that fear of judgment.

Mm-hmm. I, I had a conversation with. Someone who’s fantastic, who, who said that was one of the things that she had to work through mm-hmm. Was that fear of judgment. Yeah. Uh, for trying new things and being adventurous and being a risk taker. And I said, that’s a beautiful thing. Mm-hmm. About you. Yeah. And, you know, to think about preventing yourself from doing and trying new things because you’re afraid Yeah.

That other people are gonna think that that’s bad or that you’re a failure if you don’t be successful in this or that. Or weird. I was always like, or weird as an artist, like, you kind of confront that a little bit as an artist or a creator where you’re like, oh, am I, is this like a little too weird?

Because this is a little too, even this conversation about mental health and wellness is like, there was a time where I thought, oh, no one’s gonna take me seriously as a business person if I’m talking about. Meditation and, you know, spirituality and like, you know, this, you’re like, woowoo, where should crystals?

Yeah, that’s too wooo. Yeah, exactly. Which by the way, there’s size behind crystals too. There is, and I have crystals now, but the old me was like, well, I talk about energy a lot now too, and I feel energy more than I’ve ever felt it. And like that was just a conversation that seemed so not, I just thought people wouldn’t take me seriously.

I guess. Not acceptable. Yeah, Not acceptable in polite company. No.

I was reading something about self-awareness.

Yeah. Like only like 10 per 10% of people are self-aware. Yeah. Wow. We’re so distracted. Yeah. Yeah. we’re so in externally focused. This is just like our society. But again, it’s all based off fear, shame. Yeah. All these negative emotions to Education systems. Mm-hmm. Built that way. Yep. The corporate structure’s built that way. It’s how we’re taught to work. It’s how we’re taught to live, live to succeed. Perform. And I actually believe everybody in the world has that in them. Absolutely. That and that’s part of, that’s what genius Zone is really. It’s, there’s just that, it is that most like authentic to you. Nobody’s genius zones are exactly the same. Mm-hmm. It’s finding that intersection of your passion and your talent and your, in what you’re inspired to do and what you’re curious about.

And it’s not just one thing. It of course evolves the way that we evolved. It’s constantly changing and expanding. It’s what we’re meant to experience and we shut it down. Like we just shut that side of ourselves down. You’re right, there’s a lot of should, there’s a lot of like external pressure of what we’re supposed to look like, how we’re supposed to act, what we’re supposed to think, and how we’re supposed to perform.

Oh, and here’s the solution. Here’s the pill or Yeah. No, you need to do is yoga. Yeah. Or Oh, you, you should journal. Yeah. Or you should. There’s a lot of, you should, because it worked for me. Yeah. So I wanna share, of course I wanna share. Yep. What’s worked for me with other people. Um, I, I think that a healthy way is to experiment, to, to be curious.

Yeah. To. Know, seek out new things. Yep. And try ’em on, make you feel good. Try ’em on. Yeah. Like things that are fun, that make you feel good, that you know, you’re, you are meant to feel good. Yeah. So if you know the five mile run makes you stressed out, that is not what made that I do not run. I’m not a runner.

I take a lot of walks in nature though. That feels good. Yeah. Yeah. It’s that and getting out in nature. A lot of people, the built environment, we just don’t even get out. I was, uh, reading some research on grounding. We just had an Earthing mini retreat. , a few people in the community had just, hosted and was looking at the actual science behind it.

There is science behind getting out and putting your bare feet mm-hmm. On the ground mm-hmm. And spending time in nature. Yeah. We’ve cut ourselves off from that. Yep. And it’s making us sick. It is. I totally agree with you. and these are things that feel in our culture, frivolous or selfish to take time to do those types of things.

You know, we only allow ourselves to do ’em on vacation. I can remember going on vacation with my husband when our kids were young and business was doing great and watching a sunset, and I was just like, I just wish I felt this way all the time. And he’s like, but you have it now. Like, you’re, like, it’s you, you’re feeling it in the present moment.

But I was already thinking about how I don’t get to feel that all the time. And it’s like, no, I actually am starting to build my life so that I feel that that awe and that wonder and that joy on a daily basis, you have to make time for that though

What do you tell your clients? Mm-hmm. Getting started. do you start with the mind?

Do you start with the diet, I start with rest. I think we’re chronically neglecting rest. So like giving yourself permission to just be not productive. That’s, like I say, they think rest is so not productive. Um, but I, I do try to explain how productive rest really, truly is for you.

You know, it does, the science does prove that it’s necessary for peak performance. So you are gonna show up in life better if you give yourself that time to rest. Now that could be sleep, that could be meditation, um, that could be doing a pastime that you love. That could be spending time outside in nature.

And building that into your day in the beginning in little increments.   So it could mean, if you work in a corporate environment, going for a walk at lunch for five or 10 minutes, not eating at your desk, not eating at your desk, listening to an inspirational podcast, um, learning something new. These things, even if they’re a little bit active, um, as long as they’re filling your cup, , if it’s giving you energy, I call that rest, you know?

 And so that could be something a little bit active for you too. but make sure when you’re done with it, you feel better, you feel more energy instead of less energy, because everything else in your day is probably pretty draining. so just incorporating those little pockets of rest is number one, because you do have to rebuild the energy within yourself.

you know, diet plays a little bit of a role, I think in feeling better. Um, exercise feels a little bit of a role in feeling better, but ultimately, It’s tapping into those things that just make you feel more energy. And for everybody it’s different. there’s no one size fits all.

There’s no one diet that’s gonna work. It starts within. Well, and if you give your body the ability to rest and recover Yeah. It will then become self-healing. Definitely. Our bodies are so intelligent, but we just keep looking for the answer outside. Mm-hmm. it’s all inside.  

Thank you for listening. Check out the Vitality Exchange for more resources, interaction, and online masterclasses. Heidi and I talk about all sorts of good topics from her personal experience with burnout after her photography business hit her million dollar sales goal to flow cycle, and her journey toward recovery.

You can also visit our website@www.heidihope.com or follow her on Instagram @ Heidi_Hope, or on Facebook @ HeidiHopeCreative  Next week be on the lookout for investing in Vitality episode three, healing Ability.