Let's Think About It Podcast

Episode 69: The Fulfillment Trap - Why High Achievers Still Feel Empty

• Morice Mabry • Season 3 • Episode 69

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Episode Summary

Most high achievers don’t burn out because they lack success — they burn out because success stopped feeling fulfilling. In this powerful episode, Coach Mo and Coach A-Mo break down why so many leaders reach every milestone yet still feel empty inside. They unpack how chasing titles, status, and validation keeps leaders in a “reward cycle” that numbs purpose and fuels ego.

Through real talk, poetry, and personal stories, the two explore how self-awareness becomes the ignition for rediscovering your why power — the energy that fuels aligned action, clarity, and long-term fulfillment. If you’ve checked every box and still feel like something’s missing, this conversation is your reminder: fulfillment isn’t found in what you finish, but in who you become while finishing it.

Key Takeaways

  • Fulfillment ≠ Achievement: External success without internal alignment leads to emotional emptiness.
  • Put Ego on the Shelf: True growth begins when you stop chasing validation and start hearing your inner voice.
  • Rediscover Your Why: Self-awareness is the first rep toward reconnecting with your purpose and motivation.
  • The Locker Room Reset: Every leader needs a space to refine, reflect, and reignite their values as they evolve.
  • Purpose Over Performance: You can’t buy peace on Amazon — it’s built through reflection, discipline, and inner work.

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#LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #PurposeDrivenLeadership #InnerArena #SWAGFramework #SelfAwareness #WhyPower #Fulfillment #EgoVsPurpose #EnergyLeadership


SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Let's Think A Bove It podcast, where we embark on a journey of thoughtfulness and personal growth. I'm your host, Coach Mo, and I'm here to guide you through thought-promoting discussions that will inspire you to unlock your full potential. In each episode, we'll explore a wide range of topics from self-discovery and mindfulness to goal setting and achieving success. Together, we'll challenge conventional thinking and ID into the realm of possibility. Whether you're looking to find clarity in your personal or professional life, or seeking strategies to overcome obstacles, this podcast is your go-to source for entire conversations and practical advice to find a comfortable spot. And let's embark on this journey of self-improvement together. Remember, the power of transformation lies within you, and together we'll uncover the tools and insights you need to make it happen. So let's dive in. Welcome to another episode of the Let's Think About It Podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo, and I'm here with my co-host, Algie Mosley.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for that intro, Coach Mo. Is hey, I can fully say right now, Coach Mo, I'm Coach Amo. Coach Amo, I like that. Coach Amo on that format. I've got my format together. It's called Be It Full Work. Just created my website. I'm still tweakering with it a little bit, but it's almost there. But the job and the purpose is still real. So I'm gonna be known as Coach Amo.

SPEAKER_00:

I like that rhyme. And we're joining these our forces to create this awareness and helping people get out of their own way.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Coach Mo and Coach Amo doing some Mo.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, and now you know what found and now everybody begins to grow.

SPEAKER_00:

And this brings me to a topic that I want to explore because we're showing up with this energy right now. And this energy comes from understanding our purpose, our why, and the enjoyment that we have around uplifting people, helping people get out of their own way, our passion toward being coaches. The topic that I want to explore is the lack of fulfillment that high achievers, leaders, all people across different industries, work, life, personal, just let's explore lack of fulfillment and why that exists for people because we show up, we have this energy, we have this excitement.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

So I would like to dive into how people or the why behind people experiencing the lack of fulfillment, and what does that really mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think you spelled it out in your swag, right? And it's that second one. I think a lot of people they've lost their why, right? Uh, and they're disconnected, right? They have a sense of, is this all there is? I'm feeling numb after getting rewarded at the rewards, right? Like I there's gotta be something more. And to me, it's just uh it's a lack of why. They're misaligned with motivation, right? They're lacking emotional rest, right? Neglecting the human connection, some of them go and be dormant, lost within themselves, and they're trying to find, I believe, purpose, which I think that's is their why.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, man, but I think it's a little deeper than that, because through our environment, culture, our family, our economic status, all of these things contribute to our psyche, that's right, our way of thinking, our belief systems, right? And what I mean by it being deeper than that, we're taught to chase titles, we're taught to chase external things, cars, money, nice clothes, whatever, everything external. That's what we're naturally taught to do, right? Particularly even high achievers. I gotta get this next position, I gotta get this next title, I gotta achieve this next goal. And what happens when they achieve each of these milestones? They still feel empty, they'll feel empty because we're not taught the white power in Slack to understand how to find your purpose. That's correct. Your why correct in your journey, how were you taught to learn your why? Because you understand your why now, but on the up and come up, how did you learn to detect what your why is?

SPEAKER_01:

Trial by fire, Mo. Trial by fire. I knew I loved helping people, I knew that was my passion because that's what I naturally did, no matter what job I had. So I can remember working this job for nine years, and I was really good at that job, but it wasn't fulfilling me. It was like I was still, I needed something more, and my current environment was not giving me that more. And I realized at that time, I read a really good book that really opened my eyes to it, but at that time I had no why, you know, but I knew there was a why out there somewhere, and I needed to find it. And I remember Jim, my boss, my two-week notice, and he says, Where are you gonna go? What are you gonna do? And I said, I'm uncertain at the same time in my mind, I'm gonna move to California. And he said, What are you gonna do there? And I said, Well, I'm gonna go to college. He said, College, right? That's not for you, maybe your brother. But I knew I was missing something. I loaded up my vehicle and I drove all the way here to California and I checked in at SAC City, chasing my why, trying to figure out.

SPEAKER_00:

But how do you know you were chasing your why though?

SPEAKER_01:

I felt it deep inside, it was just like intuitively, I knew there had to be more, and I don't know how to explain it other than it was a state of knowing without knowing, and it was like God was telling me you have to move, right? And I really at the time I said I'm gonna go to school, so I spoke that out without understanding this was gonna become my reality. But I was chasing my Y Mo. I knew I was a good guy, but education became my journey, right? I started reading more, I started listening to Les Brown, motivation, right? And started becoming more positive, right? That was feeding my soul, it was giving me who I was, right? And all of a sudden I started finding myself surrounded by like-minded people doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_00:

But you just taught us something, and you may not even realize that in this moment of what you're just sharing. It's not the reading, attending, Les Brown, motivational, speaking, finding books. It's not that what you taught us. What you taught us in this moment is self-awareness. I just had this feeling that I wanted more, and that there's more out there, and when you can discover that for yourself, that's self-awareness. That is that's that's self-awareness, and that self-awareness gives you the hunger to seek more, to seek understanding, and that's how you take the initial steps to discovering your purpose. Because as you continue to navigate this place that we call life, in which we're all here temporarily, when you have that yearning for more, that's the signal to discover your purpose and to align with that purpose, whatever it is, it's like the spirit inside you that's not feeling that has no fulfillment and this yearning for more, and that discovery process and trying to locate what that yearning is, right? And then you discover it's right, yes, and you have this fulfillment, joy ish, abundant, natural feeling that you just carry in all that you do because you have purpose.

SPEAKER_01:

That's correct. And you know what I realize, Mo, and even the way you just expressed it, I can't purchase that on Amazon. You can't. You can't, it's not something you can buy, it's something you have to be. It's something you have to self-discover. That's correct. Which that self-awareness key that you just brought up, that is very critical. The self-awareness is very critical before you can discover your why, right? Yep, yep. Go ahead. I want to say that so your just your self-discovery of discovering your why, to me and my poem Vision became your eagle eye, right? It doesn't matter door number one or door number two, as long as my travels are not without you. It's almost like this eagle that took flight that once thought it was a chicken hanging out on the barnyard that found its swag. And I'm gonna carry it over since we started off in the beginning of this process. In that awareness, I realized the journey I had to not rely on certain things that I knew for certain. And I actually had to put self on the shelf, which brought me to a poem I wrote, Mo, along this topic. It goes like this, and correct me if I'm wrong, or here we go. Imagine this. We climbed the ladders others built, touching stars that never filled our sky. Trophies gleamed, but the heart stood still, whispering, You forgot your why. We learned to run toward what glitters loud, yet felt unseen inside the crowd. For every diamond gained, a moment lost, a trade too high, too steep the cost. We have to stop chasing for all the diamonds and wealth and learn how to put self on the shelf. Not to forget, but to remember again where the soul began behind the driven man. For purpose brees where silence dwells, and peace is found when ego melts, and peace for purpose breathes where silence dwells, and peace is found when eagle melts. Fulfillment isn't what we hold, it's what remains when we simply learn to let go. Fly, eagle, fly.

SPEAKER_00:

What really stood out in what you said, and what we all become victim of is that ego. And when we are able to put that on the shelf, that allows us to open to self-discover our why, our purpose.

SPEAKER_01:

That's correct.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I took from it.

SPEAKER_01:

And that is correct, Mo. That is 100% correct. But it is only to me, it only is then when a person can really truly understand the true value of who they are. Right when they have the faith to fly.

SPEAKER_00:

But can you here's a question for you. Can you discover the true value of who you are when your ego is highly present?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. You can find out who you are when your ego is highly present. How just simple that, Mo, is that when the ego's presence is there, there's nothing else but air. Why don't you take me on that journey?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's hard to find the true worth of self when that ego is present. Because the ego relies on the judgment of self. Ego is the formation of what happened yesterday. That's what ego is.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought she I I thought she meant eagle, like an eagle. No, e G.

SPEAKER_02:

But you talk about E G O.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, now I know Coach Mo. No, I thought you meant ego, yeah. Well, the ego is present. Yeah, that's a you here. But when ego is present, I mean that right now, when ego's present, you're flawed. So to me, ego stands for edging God out. Right? Yeah. So ego is a is a me, myself, and I. Right. And when you're locked into me, myself, and I, and you've always been me, myself, and I, and you're that chicken and you didn't fly high, right? So you you're just captivated with the same thing that what is that thing? There's a statement, Moe. Come on, help me out. Doing the same thing over and over again, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh yes, I know what you're saying. I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01:

You just get it's called a cycle, you just wrapped in your own little world.

SPEAKER_00:

And that brings us back to the topic of today, this lack of fulfillment. You're in that cycle of not understanding what your true value and worth is, and what that purpose is, because you're chasing these external, extreme value type objects and things, right? And then you're truly not fulfilled until you can discover that purpose plays a high, a big part into that, right? Huge, and and just what I was alluding to the ego relies on past experiences and even good experiences, and it will try to protect you in whatever way so that you can continue to move towards these external things, and that's the driver of the ego because it thinks if you get this, it will make you feel good, and as you move toward fulfilling those goals and getting those things, you also realize internally that it doesn't actually make you feel good. There's a little bit of emptiness that's there, so I have to go after this other external thing, that's right, and then you continue to keep going and going, but you're truly not becoming fulfilled because you haven't under established your why power.

SPEAKER_01:

And you know what I hear when I hear you say that, Mo? What you hear? As funny as this might seem. I see Ice Age. I see Ice Age, the little movie. I see that rodent chasing that nut. He missed movie Ice Age one, he missed Ice Age two, and then in Ice Age three, right? He finally got to nut heaven, right? And there are nuts everywhere, right? And he was like, oh, and he was losing his mind, right? But everybody else was being still. They knew there was enough nuts to last him throughout eternity, right? He was still hungry, trying to get all these nuts. What am I gonna do? I'll be able to survive forever. And he's trying to, and then he's seeing this great big nut, right? And he runs for that great big nut. And this guy, this the guy stops out and he says, Stop! Let go of your base desires. Don't be a rodent in all your life.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, pre-chone, brother. I'm waiting on Ice Age for man, that's real talk though, bro. That's real talk because we're in this chase cycle, particularly um when you're a high achiever, and that's what we teach in the inner arena. Leadership conditioning, when we work in the mindset, and this is just a snapshot. This conversation is a snapshot of the conditioning that we do for your mindset, you know what I mean? Because life is patterns. Every you talked about this, the habit, silly rabbit habit, silly rabbit habits that that most of us have. So talk, and there's a lot of habits that we would like to lose, and the swag framework, self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grit inside the inner arena, that's what we train on. That's the leadership conditioning, that's the mindset conditioning that we really work on. Because in order to change a habit, you got to get the mental reps in. And we're not thinking about mental reps, we're thinking about being comfortable. That's correct, or that new Mercedes, and being comfortable is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's comfort. That's comfort. And where's your locker room? Not you per se, because you're in the locker room with me, but where's your locker room? If you're a high achiever, where's your locker room? And if this is resonating with you and you're experiencing lack of fulfillment, how do you create that awareness to regain your white power or to gain new Y power? How do you establish that awareness?

SPEAKER_01:

You know what I did, Mo. After going through the arena, I created myself a mantra. After going through the arena, what I realized after coming out of the arena, I found like fulfillment is not found in what I finish, but who I become while finishing it. See, after going through the locker room, I found value in what I do, and I found the realism of duism, and maybe we can talk about that one day. But yeah, that locker room revealed so much in me.

SPEAKER_00:

It's ongoing, though. It's not a one-time event, it's a space where we continue to establish our fulfillment. Because here's what I know with white power, why power is tied to your values, your core values that are most important to you. And with values, they're ever changing, they're always changing, whether it's work versus your personal life, right? That's correct, and they change as you grow and you grow your self-awareness, they naturally change. So in the locker room, we're always refining, we're always getting better, we're always seeking to understand.

SPEAKER_01:

That's correct. In the world of called life, right? You go through the locker room to get refined, to get retuned, to get motivated, to understand your why, right? And when you come out of the locker room, you're fine-tuned. You know what the locker room reminds me of as I get a vision sometimes, Mo. Uh, coming out of the locker room is Ray Lewis coming out. Absolutely, man. My heart fire, right? I'm ready for this game. That's what that's coming out of the locker room. That's the image I see. And that's how I feel when I understand what I have to offer is real. Right. Absolutely. And to help people not understand not getting chasing those shiny things, the bling blings, and understanding the value is really in you. And when you understand the values in you, then you're able to be it forward. Right. That's right. Coming out the locker room like Ray Lewis because you know who you are. That's right. You're built more than you are more than Mustafa, yet not ska. That's the Lion King for those that don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Coach Amo, there he is. There he is. For more information about the locker room, the inner arena, just go to inner arena leadership.com. And you can also download the free swag cheat sheet at interarena leadership.com forward slash swag underscore cheat sheet. There it is, my brother. Any lasting words before we sign out?

SPEAKER_01:

Mo, just my lasting words is I appreciate people joining us and hearing what we got to say as we uh talk a little bit about that punk ass critic, which we all house, trying to be a better ourselves. Once you make yourself a better you, the world becomes better, right? Those are my lasting words, Mo. Just thank everybody for joining in and we'll catch you on the next episode. And we'll try to get it out before lying or ice age four.

SPEAKER_00:

I appreciate you, my brother. There it is. Likewise. Thank you for joining me in this episode of Let's Think About It. Your time and attention are greatly appreciated. If you found value in today's discussion, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Remember, the journey of self-improvement is ongoing, and I'm here to support you every step of the way. Connect with me on social media for updates and insights. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at Coach Mo Coaching or LinkedIn at Maurice Mabrie. Or visit my website at MauriceMabry.com for exclusive content. Until next time, keep reflecting, keep growing, and most importantly, keep believing in yourself. Remember, the most effective way to do it is to do it. Together, we're making incredible strides toward a better and more empowered you. So thank you, and I'll see you in our next episode.