Let's Think About It Podcast

Episode 76: You’re Not Burned Out—Your Actions Are Misaligned

• Morice Mabry • Season 3 • Episode 76

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Episode Summary 

Momentum doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing what actually matters. In Episode 76, Coach Mo closes out the December Momentum Series by breaking down Aligned Action—the difference between movement that fuels you and busyness that drains you. This episode challenges high achievers and leaders to stop confusing effort with alignment and start measuring their actions by energy, not ego. You’ll hear why burnout is often the result of misaligned action, how energy leaks form when purpose gets ignored, and why pausing is not weakness but power. As you look toward 2026, this conversation pushes you to set goals that restore balance, protect energy, and reflect who you really are—not just what you produce. This is about choice, intention, and building momentum that lasts.

Key Takeaways

  • Aligned Action ≠ Hustle
    Movement with intention creates energy. Busyness without purpose creates burnout.
  • Energy Is the Measurement Tool
    If your actions feel draining, they’re likely out of alignment with your values and purpose.
  • Pause Creates Power of Choice
    No pause leads to default behavior. Default behavior leads to the same results.
  • Burnout Is Often an Energy Leak
    When actions don’t serve your purpose, your energy pays the price.
  • Small Aligned Actions Build Real Momentum
    Saying no, delegating without guilt, resting strategically, and having hard conversations all count.

#AlignedAction #LeadershipEnergy #BurnoutRecovery #LeadYourself #HighAchievers #EnergyProtection #PurposeDrivenLeadership #InnerArena #SWAGFramework #LetsThinkAboutItPodcast

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Luxe of Malays on my channel. When I achieve it, stop performing and start transforming. I'm coaching out. I'm like core energy leadership coach. I'm going to go to the heroine and create a swan. And when I'm here, explain your mindset. Challenge your limits. And turn touching into purpose. Subscribe now and join me on YouTube at Swan Coaching. So let's get your reps in. Welcome to another episode of the Let's Think About It podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo. And today we're going to finish up our momentum series in which we focused on the swag framework: self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grid. And we talked about self-awareness and what that means, like how we start to train and tame that punk ass inner critic and just creating awareness that fuels the momentum. And that's what December is. It's about creating momentum heading in 2026. So we focused on the S and self-awareness in the first week of December. And then last week, we focused on why power, like your true purpose and why you're even setting these goals. And we even broke down values and how to find these values, how to develop these values, because ultimately, when you can lead with values, it elevates your purpose, which carries to today in this week, which is aligned action. Aligned action. Here's the thing: why does aligned actions really matter? Because when we can develop our purpose and we know what our true values are and how they're driving us to want to be something great, to want to achieve certain goals, certain ambitions, certain endeavors, it fuels aligned actions. So aligned action, in my opinion, is really about movement with intentions. Okay. So think about it. If you understand the core root of your purpose, and we've established certain values, right? You internally know when certain actions are aligned with your purpose because of the energy that it creates. And that's what this is all about. In order to create momentum, there's a certain energy that we naturally have that propels us forward. And when we have that energy, actions typically follow. So this isn't about how you can hustle, how you can become more busy. It's about really figuring out which actions align with your purpose. You can feel that if I take this step and do this and that, it really aligns with my purpose. Right? So think of it like this things that I'm doing or have done in 2025, does it align with my purpose? And if it does, it's naturally fueling. It is. And if it doesn't, a lot of times you're experiencing certain burnouts because the actions that you think you're doing is just creating busyness because it's not in alignment with your purpose, with my purpose or my actions aligned with my purpose. You measure it through your energy and how you're feeling. Because if you're in alignment with your purpose and those actions, it feels good. It feels right, it's fueling. But then on the flip side of it, if you're busy just to be busy because you need to get certain results done, you actually do feel the burnout. You feel the exhaustion, you feel the energy leaks. And so, what does an energy leak mean? It means when you're doing actions, certain actions, and it's not in alignment with your purpose, and you start to feel over-exhausted and overwhelmed, your energy is leaking because the actions that you're taking is not in alignment with your worth and your purpose in that moment. The busyness, it may feel like good actions that you're taking, but it's still draining you. So in those moments, you may have forgotten what your true purpose is. The actions that you're taking may be off alignment because it's not really serving your purpose in that moment. And so because it's not serving that purpose in that moment, it feels draining. It feels like your energy is leaking. And thus, over time, burnout. But when you're in alignment, everything that you do is really fueling. You're operating in timelessness moments. Time isn't even a factor. All is good because your actions are aligned with your purpose. And that goes back to the example that I shared last time of me creating the coaching and career development unit, right? I talked about how passionate I was, my why this was important to me, right? So naturally, everything that I do, all actions that I take or have taken fuels my energy because my purpose drives my actions. So what were those actions? Relentlessly coaching people, relentlessly having positive energy, relentlessly mapping out my goals, my executions, implementation, restructuring my whys, all of that. And I was extremely, and I'm still in, extremely excited about the work that I'm doing around coaching and career development. And as we speak right now, this is a part of my aligned actions because when I'm able to share my truth, it aligns with my purpose. And today, right now, I'm sharing my truth. And because I have this opportunity to share my truth on this platform right now, my energy is up. I feel proud. I feel blessed. I feel grateful. I feel all of that. So that fuels, continues to fuel my self-awareness and my white power. And my white power fuels my aligned actions. It goes back and forth because I'm in a cycle. I'm in a swag cycle, right? Aligned actions also strengthens your self-awareness. It reinforces my white power through my lived proof and all that I do. And next week, I'm going to talk about grit. But my aligned action, it also builds my grit because all the effort of what I put into this, it feels like it's worth it. And so I continue to propel forward. That's part of grit. That's what I'm going to get into next week, though. But what does aligned actions look like for you as you're moving into 2026? Let's think about that, right? It's hard like really trying to put out there what 2026 is going to look like. And you probably had goals going into 2025 that you wanted to put out there and you didn't achieve certain goals. And so now you are feeling, you may be feeling very hesitant to set those goals again because you feel that you weren't very successful. Or you may be in a position where you are a high achiever. You have kicked ass in 2025. And there's no need to set goals for 2026 because you already crushed 2025, rightfully so. But at the end of the day, aren't we always here to try to elevate ourselves? So there's always room to set another level for ourselves for 2026. And it can be anything. It can be if you're a high achiever and you're carrying the weight of so many people, whether it's on your personal life, your work life, you show up to do all for everyone. There's an opportunity to set a goal where you teach the people around you to carry their own weight. What about that? So that you can get your balance back. How about that? But then this is where that punk ass inner critic comes in. This is the S in self-awareness because it's going to probably tell you you're good, you don't have time to do that. Just keep doing things the way that you're doing it, rightfully. But are you really elevating them? Yeah. On paper, you're hitting all of your goals and all of that. But what about the aspect of the burnout that you're feeling in achieving those goals? How about setting a goal to address the inner version of self? How about that? Because yeah, if you're a high achiever and you're kicking ass on paper, right? On paper, it looks good. Everybody outside, they see this version of you. But if you're truly cracking on the inside, meaning you're tired of being tired of carrying other people's weight, how about setting a goal to address that? What would be the purpose of doing something like that for you? What meaning will come from that? And then what are some actions? What are some aligned actions that you can take to start to build this momentum that rallies around your purpose and restoring balance for yourself? And what about that? What about if you indulged into this whole swag cycle thing that I'm talking about? What are the possibilities that it will stretch you in a way that rejuvenates you, helps you regain what your true purpose is? Reestablish like this inner value about self that continues to elevate you as the higher achiever that you are. We know you are on paper externally, but what's the real truth? What's the real truth? And what are those actions, those aligned actions you're taking to uncover the real truth about self? And it's easy for us to carry masks because we're showing up with expectations of what we think other people want to know and expect of us. But what about what we expect of ourselves? What do we truly want for ourselves in 2026? How do you reestablish your power of choice? How do you reestablish your power of choice for self within self, your true worth? Think about that. And what are those aligned actions that you need to take to rediscover your true worth of self? What does it take? What actions do you need to take to remove that mask? Having the courage and the confidence to show up as that version of you. Yeah, so that's the swag framework that I'm talking about. And getting into that cycle because you're a high achiever, a leader, a performer. And some at some point we all lose sight of our true purpose because we get distracted by the busyness. And that busyness ultimately is what creates the burnout, right? The busyness is just actions without an end game in mind. Yeah, it may be an in-game because you're thinking of ROI. I get that. But here's what I know through my experience. When my aligned actions truly align with my purpose, I'm not burning out. I'm just not. I'm fueled. And sometimes those aligned actions carry over into maybe health, spirituality, family, all across the board and all of these other different environments. And if something is off health-wise, let's talk about that a little bit. Something's off health-wise, what's your purpose in reestablishing certain health regimens? And what actions do you need to take that aligns with that? And then the other aspect of it is the inner critic, that punk ass inner critic, by the way, is gonna show up to remind you of this old image of self, to prove that you weren't successful in trying these previous health regimens to get you off of your purpose, to distract you, to create this worrisome feeling and doubt about if it's even worth setting a goal for your health. And then you're on the fence about it, and you just continue doing what you do. And you stay in that cycle, the cycle that you don't really necessarily want to be in, but it's easier to stay in it than to challenge yourself to try a different cycle of the swag. You don't know what the outcome is gonna be. So let's just keep doing what I'm doing until you're forced to change your habits when a health crisis comes along. And then at that point, you're forced to do it, and then you change and you say to yourself, damn, I should have done this sooner. It's crazy how all of this works. But the aligned action really is alignment with your energy because if you find purpose and ever you do, you find purpose, a true why, your energy naturally goes up. And when that energy goes up, aligned action follows to mirror that energy. It does. And now you're not leaking that energy that I was talking about. Because you have this aligned action, and that requires choice, it really does. And how do you how do you get choice? Self-awareness, pausing, getting a pause, just pause for the sake of reflecting, thinking, why, what's my purpose in this moment? Because without a pause, it equals a default behavior. That old cycle. Default behavior equals an old pattern. Old pattern equals the same old shit, same results. Aligned actions require power of choice. Alignment only happens when you pause long enough to choose. Power of choice. Just pause. Don't pause for the sake of pausing, pause to reflect because no pause equals a default behavior. That default behavior equals an old pattern. That old pattern equals the same old shit. It does. And if you want the same old shit for 2026 as 2025, keep doing what you're doing. Today is really about understanding aligned actions. And that's what I broke down. What does aligned actions look like for you? Start by saying no to things that don't align with your purpose without over-explaining. Try that. Maybe if you're a high achiever or a leader or something, try delegating without guilt. What about prioritizing the uncomfortable, but making it meaningful? How about protecting your recovery as part of your performance? Prioritizing rest, recovery, opposed to going nonstop. How about taking those hard, difficult conversations, taking them on head first instead of avoiding them? All of that is aligned actions in real life. Try that. So let's think about it. That's what this podcast is. Think about it. What's something in your life that you're avoiding right now? And for 2026, set a goal in creating an action that aligns with your purpose that would help you and prevent you from continuing to avoid. Oh, there it is. Start there. Something small. Something small like that. Or set a goal for 2026 to protect your energy, to prioritize rest. How about that? What would be the purpose of that? How would you remember that you're overworking in certain moments throughout the day, the week, the month? And then what aligned actions would you take to remind yourself to take a break, to rest. And then how would you propel yourself not to stop those actions and keep pressing forward? See what I just described there? That was the swag cycle. And that was around the goal of prioritizing rest for 2026. Aligned action. That's what it's about. It propels the Y power, reinforces self-awareness. And next week we're going to talk about grit and how that comes into play, how that reinforces the grit, that ability to keep pressing forward when you don't feel like it. But if you don't feel like it, it's probably because you're out of the cycle. But grit helps remind you to stay in the cycle. How about that? And we'll get into that next week. I appreciate you guys. I really do. I thank you for listening to me. I thank you for tapping into my episodes. But this isn't about me. This is about you. This is about how you're gonna create momentum right now in December 2025 to propel you forward or 2026. I appreciate you. And I'll catch you in the next round. That's another rep in the inner arena. You didn't just listen, you leveled up your swag. Self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grit. If this hit home, share it, subscribe to the Let's Think About It podcast, and log in with me on YouTube at Swag Coaching. Until next time, stay aware, lead with your why, act in alignment, and keep your grit strong.