Elevate with Grace

The Smart Guide to Surging Ahead (& knowing when to Tilt)

• Elevate with Grace • Season 3 • Episode 5

Share episode

Episode Introduction
In this conversation Claire and Miranda bust the myth that success requires operating at peak performance 24/7.  Surge. Tilt. Succeed: This episode offers your Blueprint for Sustainable Energy as they introduce the powerful concepts of surging (those intentional high-energy periods where you harness momentum) and tilting (the conscious pauses and adjustments that keep you aligned, healthy and creative). Learn how to plan both phases so you can thrive in work and life without burning out or going into overdrive.

Key Takeaways

  • Strategic surging beats reactive busyness: Choose when to surge and channel your energy into the few projects that create the greatest impact.
  • Tilt to sustain your success: Micro-tilts (like a mindful lunch walk or device-free commute) and bigger tilts (like saying no to a project, booking in active planning breaks or real downtime) to replenish energy and spark creativity.
  • Watch for the three risks of unchecked surging: burnout, disconnection and overdrive.
  • Energy management is a form of time management: Track what energises or drains you and ditch or delegate “energy vampires.”
  • Communicate Surge or Tilt mode: Let teammates and also family (as this tip isn't just for work life) know when you’re in surge or tilt mode to avoid misunderstandings and to model healthy boundaries.
  • Active reflection is non-negotiable: Pausing to ask “What is this surge creating for my long-term goals?” helps you steer the wave, not just ride it, or show up as "busy, busy, busy".

Key Quotes

  • “Surges don’t happen forever and they shouldn’t, otherwise we have burnout" – Miranda
  • “Tilt is where our judgment, empathy and values come in; it’s choosing to move more meaningfully, not just fast.”  Claire
  • “Action doesn’t need to be grand—small, brave choices compound into the life that you want.” Maria Baltazzi, Take a Shot at Happiness 
  • “Imagination is not an indulgence. It’s embedded in every function of thinking, planning, remembering, and connecting.” Adam Zenman, The Shape of Things Unseen 

References & Resources

  • Books:
    • The Shape of Things Unseen – Adam Zenman
    • Take a Shot at Happiness – Maria Baltazzi
    • The Art of Happiness – The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler
  • Concepts & Articles:
    • “Ambitious Stagnation” – Harvard Business Review
    • “Upper Limit Problem” – from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (mentioned in discussion)

Your Action Challenge

Plan your next strategic surge before year-end:

  1. Identify the 2–3 projects that will create the biggest impact in the next three months.
  2. Schedule mini-tilts before, during and after that surge & protect them like any critical meeting or poject critical work.

Share how you’re harmonising surging and tilting with us on Instagram or LinkedIn, or email elevatewithgrace@gmail.com

Music by Claire's daughter Hannah.

Music created by Claire's daughter Hannah

Miranda:

Welcome to Elevate with Grace, a podcast for people who are short on time and long to take steps to create success on their own terms. If you are feeling overworked, undervalued, and stuck in the daily juggle, knowing you are meant for more, then this podcast is for you. We cut through the noise to bring you the most valuable, up-to-date insights, expert, wisdom, and practical strategies with bite-sized actionable tips. We help you take bold steps to creating real progress, real impact, and a career in life that truly work for you.

Claire:

A big hi to all you amazing humans. Thank you so much for choosing to listen in. I'm Claire. This is Elevate with Grace, and in today's episode, Miranda and I are exploring the idea of surging and tilting. If you are thinking, what on earth is surging and tilting, stay with us because this just might profoundly change how you think about energy focus and productivity. How you achieve sustainable success over the long term. We want to bust that myth that we have to operate at peak performance all the time. That somehow, if we're not constantly crushing goals, saying yes to everything being on, for everyone that we're falling behind or not living up to our potential. But what if the secret to having a life that you love and thrive in isn't about being in high performance mode, but it's about understanding when to surge and when to tilt. so today we're exploring what it means to tap into your personal natural rhythms. My effervescent and energetic, gorgeous friend Miranda is here with me as always, I'm eager to hear how things have been for you, my lovely lady, and also how you went with the action challenge from our last episode. Quick reminder, our action challenge was to reflect on where we can double down on our humanistic superpowers to give us that edge on how to work, live and lead smarter and not harder. Maybe it's pausing before you react or giving feedback with more clarity and care, or is it deeply listening to others without multitasking or maybe slowing down some of your decision making. are you ready to surge into this conversation?

Miranda:

I am so ready to surge into this conversation, my inspiring and insightful friend. I love this month's episode so much because it's given me a name for something that I have lived with without understanding for over 15 years. And uh, this learning will forever ingrain in me much better planning for future years for myself and my team. There is so much surging in life, but I did not realize how important tilting was before researching for this episode. So a huge thank you, Claire, for bringing this to my attention and to the attention of our listeners. This is so important. Working in lots of product and client pitches. There's just always been periods of surge that cannot be avoided. And I remember getting back from some of those huge trips. We'd worked hard on the pitch for months. We'd flown overseas, we'd performed our butts off, and then you get back and it just feels impossible to even complete an Excel document. You can either take a proactive tilt after those key periods of surge or your body or your brain will take one for you, and either getting sick or just being unable to put those words or docs together with the same efficiency. This action challenge. I could not have come at a better time, it's the sort of case where I've put something out into the universe and the universe has given me some really big meaty challenges to have to endure as part of this. So my humanistic leadership skills have been tested. I am proud to say I am very comfortable with how I've performed, but man, it has been tough. increased workload being let down in an area and having to fix that and deal with that. Some generational challenges. A resignation from a hugely valuable team member who I've personally just had so much joy in working with it's absolutely meant on a daily basis, human skills, first values led leading with purpose, leaning into those hard things, hiding in my car for a minute to kind of collect my thoughts and collect myself, booking that meeting room out for that hour just to recenter, refocus. And, actually putting some conversations off that I wasn't emotionally ready to have in that moment. Particularly when I'd felt let down or there was real generational challenges. I had to go back to my toolkit and then tackle that in a couple of days when I was emotionally ready to have that conversation. It's been an interesting month but I'm definitely glad that we had all the tools at the ready and it was very much top of mind as I found myself falling into that month. The other thing I feel is this month's really pushed me to my limits and those boundary moments. I feel like this is where I continue to have to relearn. Brene Brown who introduced this idea of the fact that there is one thing that you're just always going to have to relearn. It doesn't seem to be a natural state that you can never just do well. And for me, that's asking for help or asking again when I don't get it the first time. And giving myself grace that I just can't do it all in a moment. And it's okay that some things are going to have to fail or wait because there is a limit to this human. If I've asked for help and I can't deliver it all, then, it's going to have to fall down. What about you, Claire? What's been your biggest insight from the last action challenge?

Claire:

I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds like it's been a huge month for you, and I'm sorry to hear that you've lost one of your most valued, joyful team members. That's

Miranda:

Thank you.

Claire:

a

Miranda:

Sucks.

Claire:

to have happen because when we've got people that we love to work with, it's always really tricky when they move on to other things. So that's tricky. I liked how you were saying things about just. Giving yourself a moment in your car, being very thoughtful about boundaries and trying to push for saying no, asking for help and pointing out that it isn't natural for us to do that sometimes. For me, I have been really focused on communication and reflecting on communication since our last podcast. It came up a lot around the complexities, challenges and opportunities in this work and life 2.0 how we can communicate better. What's too much, what's not enough, what's the most effective communication channel in a specific situation to get better, two way buy-in from others. I saw a post from Glassdoor, maybe Adam Grant posted it about the number of conversations that are involving burnout and mental health in the workplace at the moment. And if we think about the. So much going on in the global economy, that 24 hour news cycle that we talk about, about the pressures of ai. And it's really tricky for a lot of us to get these balances right and make sure that we are not exhausting ourselves and that we are really keeping a hold of our energy levels and our joy in life. So. I'm starting to feel that communication and thinking about how we do that in this current always on world with different ways to communicate is key. to that. So I've been experimenting with a few different things, but it's not something I've had enough time with yet to share what's been working and what doesn't. I'm going to need to keep digging down into that. And how it can help us all thrive better in our working lives. That's mostly been my focus and probably around that not multitasking when. Listening. Really trying to, when you've got a million things going on

Miranda:

Mm-hmm.

Claire:

feel my brain wandering off into those million things when someone's wanting to talk to me about, something trying to refocus. If I've signaled that I'm giving time for that person to talk to me and they've started talking, then I'm really focused on finishing that conversation and actually realizing that your brain can go off on different directions in a lot of cases, and it's quite hard to train it, to stay focused on the person and the situation that you're in. Like you said, Miranda, I love how we've discovered this harmonic concept of surging and tilting as a way to create optimal personal performance over the long term for ourselves. I think there's some great terms. I love them surging and tilting. First we're going to talk about what it means to surge, then talk about what it means to tilt, and then how to harmonize them both together because that's really the key here is that harmony, that yin and yang on how we get them to work. So our whole of lives over time letting us thrive and succeed on our own terms. Surging is those moments where the wind is at your back, where you've got energy, where opportunities are opening up and you're feeling a sense of excitement and momentum. But via beware, surging without direction can scatter us and surging relentlessly will break us. And I know from personal experience that the road back from breaking point is long and painful. And so that's not what we're after. I've had seasons where I've said yes to, everything worked at a relentless pace and on paper it looked like I was thriving, but inside it felt chaotic. And when left unchecked and push comes to shove, those situations can turn into a pressure cooker situation that ultimately explodes. And it's a lot of cleanup that has to happen after that when we get to that point and so now the question I ask myself is, how do I harness my energy with clarity? How do I focus on what matters most and not get swept away in that busyness and boundaries I think are key to that as we've spoken about. Surging is when your creative ideas are flowing, when opportunities are presenting themselves, when you're feeling a sense of momentum and possibility. When you wake up in the morning and you feel empowered, you've got a sense of self-empowerment that you can take on the world and when we feel like this, one thing we need to be aware of is that we risk saying yes to everything, and that's when we can lose ourselves and the momentum. I've had periods where I'm jumping on every wave telling myself that was being productive, but actually it wasn't moving me to towards my bigger goals. I was just relentlessly busy. And we need to be aware of whether we're surging strategically, which is what we're talking about today, or we're surging reactively. do you think about that Miranda?

Miranda:

I just want to say again, how grateful I am that you continue to share what was a really difficult journey with us and the listeners around reaching that breaking point and having to recover, because I feel it every time this is hard for you to talk about, but. I'm so grateful that you do, because, this is one of the things we want to get outta this podcast, is this idea of elevating with grace and taking the right steps to create that success on your own terms. And that that doesn't have to be at the cost of your health your wellbeing. It's actually, it's all in its inclusive package. I am loving the idea of thinking about strategic surging because for me, I never understood that it was reactive or that you could proactively surge. It just felt like the situation or the moment demanded that surge and you had to bring it. And hopefully you bring it with a sense of momentum, self-empowerment, that you were excited by it, that you had the wind behind you. And I think in many cases you do, because it's usually exciting. For me it was like big tenders or big pitches, great projects, hard timelines. I had to turn around something recently that was like. Three months that would normally take us nine. And there is something about coming together and making that happen that's exciting. So it does show up on the calendar, but gosh, it's exciting to think that we could actually plan for it. That we could be more strategic about it and that we protect that energy before we go into those surge periods as well. That's kind of an exciting thing to think about is like, okay, I can see a surge is coming up I know October's hard, it's business planning month, Christmas, so let's make sure that we are planning these mini tilts in between so that we're not running on empty, so that we are building up that energy store for these key surge periods. Because naming something, being able to give it a space creates a power inside ourselves that we actually now get to own this thing and not be controlled by it. So I'm excited by that. And I think sometimes, if you don't have that strategic surging, what starts as this shared goal can turn a little ugly and tired, particularly if you haven't communicated with your team members what we are going to do and got their buy-in before. Again, the idea of that power within versus being, forced into something that's not necessarily on your journey. So I think it's incredibly important that we make sure that we are going in the right direction. And so often I think people are always busy. We are always thinking busy, busy, busy. And HBR has labeled this recently, the ambitious stagnation. Because we keep busy so we don't have to think too hard, we don't have to plan too hard, or it's just this natural default. I'm not performing at my best if I'm not busy. But that idea of actually working towards that greater goal or that greater purpose is so important. It's why we're having these conversations. It's because we want people to get something out of all that hard work, all that busy, as opposed to just getting to the end of the year and needing a two week rest. and getting back into it Let's get off that hamster wheel and really start working smarter, not harder.

Claire:

Ambitious stagnation. I love that term. I love my HBR reading. I hadn't come across that. There's another book, it's talks about the upper limit problem and that's in that busyness wave cycle, that ambitious stagnation, the reactive surging. Yeah, I think it's great that we've got some names to attach to these things so we're able to reflect better on. What we're doing here in terms of using our energy getting results. And at the same time making sure that we're balancing that with periods of tilting and pulling back so we can maintain those rhythms over the longer term. we've touched on it a little bit and talking about terms and making sure that we are naming things quite clearly. There's really three key risks that we need to be hyper aware of when we are in a strategic surging phase and their burnout, disconnection and overdrive. Burnout happens when you feel like you should maintain this pace indefinitely. Disconnection is where you're so buried in stuff that you lose touch with people around you or your values or your sense of self and building these concepts into our teams and into our families and communities so that we are working together as a group and supporting each other through our individual surging and tilting and then work together to achieve things is really important. Disconnection or feeling a sense of disconnection can mean that we're maybe not in a strategic surge situation. And then also overdrive, and I've been guilty of this as well in the past, and have to maintain a watch on this one. It's where you become addicted to being in surge mode and feeling like you can't function without operating at high intensity energy levels. That you basically can't just sit and chill a little bit on the weekend or when you need to or take that step back where you're just constantly feeling like you need to be operating in an overdrive situation all the time. It's different to burn out, but it can be related, but wanting to feel, you're always achieving, always moving. It's important to be aware of that because it can be addictive to want to be in this state for long periods of time. We need to have self-awareness and personal management strategies when we're in surge mode, so we don't hit burnout, go into overdrive or lose connection with our loved ones and our teammates. And so I've got uh, three frameworks to share to help us operate in a strategic and not a reactive surge mode. The first one is the energy audit in action. We talk a lot about energy levels. It's not just about time management, it's about our emotional energy management as well. When we're in surge, our first question isn't, what can I do? It's what should I do? And you talked about this in our intro and the. Tools and techniques that you've been using over the last month. So we can try this rule of thumb that 80% of our satisfaction and impact comes from 20% of our emotional investment. If we try to approach our week and our month and be noticing and noting down across the month the activities that energize us, because that's where usually we're doing our best work and we're creating our highest impact. once we sort of get a sense of what those tasks are that give us energy, we can plan out those activities so we're investing our emotional energy in them and we can ditch or delegate the work that drains us.

Miranda:

I love that you highlighted emotional energy. We spoke about this in an earlier episode, I think it was this season. And it's just that continues to be that currency that we just don't consider enough for ourselves and our teams, yet it really does make such a difference. And then with sort of overlay that with surging and I think if we're, looking at a never ending list, right? They're constantly saying like, eat the frog and get those hardest tasks out of the day. But if. They're those energy vampires. Then, maybe you'd want to do something that's sort of uplifting first thing in the day. Slot an energy vampire in before lunch. Then you've got an opportunity to refuel and reset and Then we've got this energy vampire and energy uplifter, and then you've got your big rocks, little rocks and sand so if we can add all of those together and sort of work out what a week looks like, that could be kind of cool. And if I think you're finding your day is emotionally draining because there's way too many energy vampires, or you're weak or your month, then to your point, like that ditch or delegate is really important, right? It's having that thinking pattern of going, Hey, I've got a lot of high contribution tasks or big rocks that are actually sucking my energy so I only need to stagger them out, or I need to reconsider my role, or I need to reconsider what I'm doing here or what my purpose is. To make sure that you going in the right direction. I'm loving that you bring in first framework of surge in, with so many of the other frameworks we've spoken about over the episodes.

Claire:

I love what you said then, Miranda, about planning your day strategically to do your energizing tasks first, but then also stagger out your draining tasks. things that we have to do whenever we're riding these fantastic waves of surges, we can't just avoid some of the hard stuff. There's hard stuff every day. There's difficult conversations we have to have with our staff or difficult conversations that we have to have at home or things crop up that are hard and so that stacking your day with being thoughtful around emotionally energizing tasks and emotional draining tasks. and that leads into the second framework of, of being thoughtful around grouping your tasks into surge projects or maintenance mode. We've gotta pay bills, we've gotta get things sorted out. Health appointments, making sure that we're staying healthy, getting our tax returns done, whatever it might be. And grouping your tasks into your surge projects and the maintenance mode. Your surge projects, it's deserving your pick energy, your creativity, and full attention. And. That might be different for me than it is for you, right? So I know that you're a five amr. We all know that I'm not a five AMR except for my boxing classes'cause I enjoy them. So you might be a person that is really energetic in the morning, 5:00 AM but there's also night hours as well. Knowing when those times are, and that's when you should be using to do your surge project because those things are going to move the needle significantly in your life. Then at those other times of the day where it's not your highest energy points, that's your maintenance mode for getting things done that doesn't require that surge energy. Your admin, the routine check-ins, the keeping things, moving tasks. What is important is if we are going into a surge phase, we need to know what that surge project is that we're working on so that we can distinguish between what surge tasks and what's admin tasks to us to get that project achieved. There's some clarifying questions that we could ask ourselves as we're entering into our surge project. If I could only accomplish three things in the next three months, what would create the most meaningful impact? What work feels aligned with where I want to be in a year's time? would I regret not doing if this surge energy disappeared tomorrow?

Miranda:

They are hard questions to answer. I think they're great. In terms of those three things in the next three months, it does remind me a little bit of the one thing and trying to remain focused and ensuring that we're constantly thinking about the bigger goal and the bigger picture, which is excellent. And to your point, this surge mode of like key projects, but in that day, as we've said you can't maintain that energy for 12 hours or 18 hours or whatever it is. You're a hundred percent right. I am using my morning for these key surge projects because, after lunch, I need an admin task, or I need to book in a meeting. And I do find a lot of people in my team and, and people I've worked with when you are in that surge mode and it is really important, you've got a big project. The hardest thing is that internal box ticking and that admin because, the reality is the business still needs a certain amount of things ticked off. I feel like that's what we need a framework for how do we try and reset expectations around us and maybe move out some of those admin tasks? When we are in that key pivotal surge mode.

Claire:

I think it comes back to my favorite topic of the moment. Communicating. we need to communicate our rhythms with those that are closest to us. I'm pretty good now when it gets to a Saturday and I am cooked. I just need to move slowly for the next few hours. uh, Communicating your rhythms with those that are close to you. It's really important that we don't just go full throttle silently. Our team, our boss, our family and our friends need to be aware of where we're going. So for example, today I had to say no to a couple of things this weekend, even though I really want to see this person, or I really want to do a couple of things because I actually just needed to. Not, just to be a little bit and get some of that admin stuff, the washing particularly, so much washing. So we want to be saying to people, I'm in a high energy phase right now and I'm wanting to channel that into X project. just so you know,, Y and Z might get a little less attention for the next few weeks washing, for example. And I really appreciate your support to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. The benefits of communicating that others don't interpret focus as neglect. It

Miranda:

Mm-hmm.

Claire:

opportunity to let people know that you can't add more on your plate, and it gives other people permission to honor their rhythms too. So they can let you know what they've got on And as you've mentioned actually earlier in the episode, Miranda, it really can shift your team culture positively when you are opening up that sort of level of communication and really being able to articulate what you're doing, if you've let people know that, I think then they're not feeling deserted and that can help them to work around that and work out ways to out to you as and when they need it with that information in mind. So that's the third framework is about communicating your rhythms.

Miranda:

Communication continues to just be gold, doesn't it? If we could communicate better, I think the world would just be a better place. You're completely right and it is something I've always enjoyed when I received the feedback from my team where do they want to put their focus and ensure that we're aligning? I find us also really challenging when you've got multiple departments that are actually looking to achieve their objectives and they need something from you but it's like number six on your priority list and number one on theirs. It's trying to find that alignment through communication to make sure that as a business, you are prioritizing the right things and that you are allowed to surge and get the kind of key objectives done that you need to sort of solve bigger problems, but communicating that in a really fair and kind way not just maybe to the department, but also maybe the company head because you are certainly going to get in the way of them hitting their goal or their objectives. I continue to try to improve on that and I think I've gotten pretty good. We always need to improve the way that we communicate and just because of all the different personalities, the different ways we receive information, it's never going to be a perfect hundred. hmm.

Claire:

beat ourselves up about it. I think I'm constantly feeling like I'm myself a hard time if my communication isn't up to scratch. But I love that, in terms of nailing communication not think that we're striving for perfection in that sense. We're just trying to tweak and get better and be thoughtful about where we're at in any particular moment. And to keep looking at ways to balance and getting the best outcomes for ourselves and for those around us. I think that's a really good point. One final thing before we talk about tilting is to say how important it's to build in regular reflection time and to pause long enough in those surge phases to get clear on what this surge is trying to create for you and for your long-term goals. We're not just riding the wave, we're steering it. And our future selves will thank us for that because we're creating a positive cycle for the next surge. Surging with reflection built into it is really a key part of this as well.

Miranda:

Agree And I find that that's going to be the hard bit, right? Like actually stopping and taking that time to reflect when you're in those high energy moments can be really tough. The idea of being strategic about surging is being able to plan better and ensuring that we know when tilt breaks are going to become critical, or we can look forward to them as our light at the end of the tunnel to make sure that we keep the energy going for ourselves, but also for our teams when we're surging together and help build that momentum. And I think the loyalty as well. So your team just doesn't feel like you're just going to keep, cracking that whip, that they know that they're in this together and that there's something coming at the end where they're going to get a break. And I think it's also a trust building for your how to manage this time and your team's energy that's where, if we're not reflecting, if we're not planning a tilt, then the crash could come fast. If we're not using that intentional recovery.

Claire:

Yeah, because our energy will wane. It we can't beat ourselves up because we are lazy or we are failing. a car runs outta fuel. Just like we are going to run outta fuel and we still need a natural rhythm of pulling back from some of that stuff. And you talked about micro tilting earlier. There's different levels of tilting and for me, tilting is about the conscious adjustments that we are doing to keep us aligned. It's me noticing my energy dropping over the course of a week knowing that it's been a big week, like you mentioned sitting in the car, giving yourself five minutes, choosing to take a slow lunch walk actually to remind ourselves not to power through our lunch break and to go out, have a walk device free take some deep breaths or. Put my phone down on my train, commute and just look out the window, listen to an audio book, something like that. so there's those micro tilts and those small tilts, but at other times it's been rebalancing bigger things like saying no to a particular project at the moment because it's not with my plans for the year ahead and even bigger still, where I've had to completely deconstruct and rebuild what success means to me in a season of life where family or my health needs to come first. And so we've got those different levels of tilts that we need to build in harmoniously into our surge phases. to be able to do that, we have to invest in unlearning our lifelong learned behaviors that we have to keep pushing hard to get ahead. And, social media gives us that indication. Generally our external environments. Hustle push. It's always out there that's, what's needed. And we have to give ourselves permission to know that. We should be tilting and we need to internalize those beliefs that we're not failing or falling behind. If we have a Saturday to just potter around the house that's necessary for us to have sustainable progress and success. There's some key signs to keep our eyes out for it's about learning to know yourself and what it feels like when your energy levels are draining and what some of the signals might be. But they might be things like you're feeling tired even after you've had a good night's sleep, or you're actually not even sleeping well at all. You're waking up in the night with those racing thoughts. It's those times when everything feels harder than it should be. Tasks are taking longer than they usually would. Or this is a key one for me where I'm noticing I'm becoming increasingly irritable with people over nothing or avoiding those things that normally I just smash it out and they're easy to do.

Miranda:

We can relate to quite a few of those. And I think the other one is that those racing thoughts in the middle of the night, I get to sleep pretty early, but I am up at three just planning out my day and dealing with the things I didn't get to deal with the day before. Meditation has been my little savior in those spaces. The most important thing. I think all of us, can take from this podcast is permission to tilt. This is not something we have been trained in. If you've got ambition and you've got focus and whatever else you are using every minute. I remember being trained back at like uni time using net time. So time in the car was time to learn a podcast or through a audio book. You wanted to, try and maximize food time by filling it in with something else that you could be learning or doing. I admit I'm at next level crazy on this, but I do feel like this is something that society has absolutely ingrained in us and there's very little permission out there in that whole 5:00 AM club or how to do great leadership in that space. And so that unlearning that I'm keeping on trying to channel is about, this is the way to succeed, is to actually build in those tilts. I love that you've given us some cues in terms of what to look out for, because I don't think there's many people that would say they can't tick those boxes today. Maybe we just all need a bit more of a tilt I like also that you spoke about the different levels of tilting because I feel like it's not a passive thing, Yep. You might actively decide to watch a TV show between eight and nine, but you can't passively. Give away your time and go, okay, well I've had, I've had some downtime, now I need to get back into high energy. I'd like us to think about tilting as, a new lens or a strategic move where we make space for new great ideas to arrive new acquisitions of skills. So AI learning can't happen until you've had downtime and time to give your body time to release some of that good stress and be able to take on some new things. Slow, thoughtful planning, a lovely slow walk outside in nature. For me it's bike riding or creating, so it's an active tilt, but it is absolutely important. I think from an imagination point of view, you can't get into your subconscious, into your creative soul when you are in high stress. it doesn't kind of work. There's a nice quote from the Shape of Things unseen. It's a book by Adam Zenman. Imagination is not an indulgence. It's embedded in every function of thinking, planning, remembering, and connecting. And to be able to tap into that, you need to tilt without space to reflect or daydream or look out the window on the train or in the car, we lose access to that full problem solving potential. That is for most of us, our superpower, particularly when we're getting into those middle management roles. Found it also interesting, Claire, where you were talking about the things that just have to happen in life. So I think it was in your key point too. Which was around the fact that there is going to be hard times, there is going to be hard conversations, et cetera. And I have never really listened properly to the Dalai Lama. I've loved his quotes. I've always felt inspired, but I've never really read his book. I read The Art of Happiness and I was like, whoa, this is pretty dark. He kind of just tells you to accept sorrow, accept hardness, but it's about the way that we interpret it. It's about us having that positivity. We can't always control the elder circumstances, but we can always control our response and tilting that response. So if you are finding, maybe you haven't had a big surge, but you've had a lot of trauma with the news cycles and the things that are going on that this can be our response and this can be the way that we look after ourselves and our families to work through this. Taking a mindful pause or resetting our energy, often creates that clarity that we need for that next effective surge or just that next effective project.

Claire:

I'm going to add The shape of things unseen to my Good Reads list. Thank you for that book recommendation. And I love that quote from the Dalai Lama. One of the concepts of Buddhism that really helps with anxiety and stress is exactly what you said. We can't remove suffering. We can't remove our negative thoughts or our negative emotions. We have to accept that's part of, our existence. So we are not trying to look for a way to never be stressed angry or upset or have any of these negative feelings. It's about sitting with them and letting them be there. And trying not to push them away, but just having that acceptance level. So I really think that's great that you've brought that into this conversation because I think in today's world many people are trying to look for the social media life that just doesn't exist. We all have things that we have to handle every day. And so that's really great that we're talking about that as part of this tilting and surging episodes. I think it really fits in nicely. you know, Some really practical examples of tilting could be overcoming your FOMO and declining or delegating optional meetings to focus on deep work. Stepping back from being the go-to problem solver and letting your team or family One of my favorite things that I say to the managers who have younger kids no one ever died if they had cereal for dinner. It's all good. set yourself some email boundaries, like responding to non-urgent emails within 48 hours. They don't have to be attended to immediately. In a personal context, as I mentioned before, it might be saying no to weekend social commitments. Again, getting over that FOMO and getting into the jomo, the joy of missing out so you can have unscheduled time at home to use maintenance mode during busy family periods and give your self permission to let the household run on good enough mode rather than a well oiled machine. I That's actually one that I've had to work on over time where. I like a clean, neat space to relax in or read a book or when I get home. And I used to take the approach that I needed the whole house to be clean and organized, and tidy, but now I've managed to basically say, right, i'm going to just have one room that I'm going to make all gorgeous and nice so I can sit and have some clean space time. Proactively using your commute time to read a fiction novel or listening to a mindfulness podcast. Fiction is creative rest. So reading fiction novels is one of my favorite go-tos and having a no screen weekend day, or even half a day off screens on the weekend is so fabulous for our brains to defrag and to give us some space. So crucial thing is that we're framing these as intentional choices, and that we're also doing things that still make us feel comfortable. I can't sit in a. Pigsty of a room, but I don't have to have the whole house. It's about being intentional and about knowing yourself and what you need to find ways to tilt. And as you said, Miranda, I really liked your example of active tilting. So for many of us that

Miranda:

Hmm.

Claire:

at warp speed, you can't just go and sit on your bum. it has to be an active or doing active creative work and, and, That counts.

Miranda:

Couldn't agree more. And I really, it's fascinating'cause I think when you said the No Screens weekend or that halftime, a lot of people would assume that watching TV is a tilt, but actually we are receiving so many messages, whether it's advertising or whether it's. News et cetera, and our poor cortisol levels just never get a chance to calm down. So having that time just to decompress and to breathe is so important. In whichever way you find it I don't believe that the busyness of the world that we live in is helping us in terms of managing our energy levels. And thank you also for giving me permission to read again. I do audio books because I do absolutely love reading. But it's just one of those things where it's like you feel so guilty taking that time just to sit and read a book. From a business lens, just remembering to practice tilting and schedule it. And here's the other thing, guarding it like I would busy work. Obviously when you're busy and what your objectives are and you've got lots of things going on, you can protect that time. But I think that is where it's very easy to let people correct on that boundary when it's sort of just your tilt time or your focus time. Taking your initiative there and giving yourself that space because this is your opportunity to get clarity on what moves the needle. So if you're not giving yourself that time, you're not getting that clarity, you're not helping with that future planning, you're going to continue to roll into that busy, not active. Planning out the next three months, when you actually sit down, you write it, you put it on a plan, it's like, oh no, I got this. And then just that getting ready for that next surge, because like ying and yang they've gotta work together, right? And you've gotta be able to again, feel like you can control what that future looks like for you. So just some other thoughts in terms of being able to enjoy our tilt time and maximize it.

Claire:

As you said, I, in this world of AI and tech acceleration, great point that not necessarily a TV show it can be, a fun, activity to do, but not necessarily is it a tilt activity. And just to be aware of I guess the stimulation of that and to be offsetting that with. A novel or doing some other creative activities. And Tilt is where our judgment, empathy, and values come in. It's that piece of life and leadership that's not just about moving fast, but it's about choosing to move more meaningfully. I think the one last thing, which we have spoken about a little bit, but just to really call it out, is that emotional labor of holding space for other people can take its toll. So managing team dynamics, family dynamics, building a thriving culture at work, a beautiful home life. It's leadership work that's actually. Effectively invisible. It's essential, and it does take a lot of energy. being that safe person that everyone comes to vent to or the mental load of remembering personal details about your teammates and your people, or noticing when someone's struggling and checking in managing the energy and mood of the room or a meeting having to use surge energy to really have effective meetings. And that invisible work impacts their energy differently than visible tasks. You can't delegate sensing that team dynamic and you can't batch process being emotionally available. But you do have to be thoughtful, as you said around actually today I am feeling a bit drained. I can't talk to someone while I have my lunch or I shouldn't be working through my lunch. I should be stepping away. Replenishing my energies and then having that conversation and it really is a very active, mindful and takes a lot of self-awareness for us to be doing those things.

Miranda:

No. Absolutely, and I'm really glad you called out the invisible labor of leadership because I think. Some days that feels heavy. And to your point, I potentially surge or tilt is a really difficult time to be able to give that energy back there's a lot of time in between. There's a lot of time in the year where we can look at it at the consistent performance. And can we put those times in where we put real energy around that invisible labor or how else can we schedule it in? So if, like, let's go back to our energy calendar you've got your best energy first thing in the day. You book it in, first thing in the day. If you think. I used to love a lunchtime walk with somebody if they needed a chat. It's like, let's get outside. Let's go for a walk, let's talk about it, it's just a different conversation. It's a different dynamic. There's different energy to it. Maybe knowing when you're in surge, when you're in your day consistent performance mode and the types of conversations and how you need to schedule them could help in that space. I've kind of related surging to the Mario Superstar. Do you remember the Mario Game? And you'd like click on the Star and you'd get like this incredible power for like 20 seconds and you'd be able to Click on the Superstar. You get this beautiful surge. You are basically invincible for about 20 seconds. You can run through the baddies, you can jump over the big heights. It is a superpower, but then after that, everything feels like it runs slow for about 10 seconds. It's like Mario's catching back up to his energy and you've, you are trying to get back into that slower, normal mode. And then there's just the normal day-to-day mode. So I think if we can think of it like that, surges don't happen forever and they shouldn't otherwise, we have burnout, we have overdrive. And I'm loving the overdrive. It's just a mind consciousness because. I feel like that is where we want to be. And actually consistent performance is probably the safer place to play unless you really need a surge, right? So again, owning that power and owning that time and how you schedule it. I've got another quote just to round us out here and another book. So we've got take a Shot at Happiness by Maria Baltazzi who reframed this"Action doesn't need to be grand, small, brave choices compound into the life that you want". That couldn't be more perfect for elevate with grace. It's taking those small brave choices as opposed to always needing to be on with that superstar. The superstar's rare, what's our reentry strategy? Is this some little microsurges that we can do to help, Take, get some little wins and then go back to that consistent performance. So it doesn't always feel like we've gotta be this constant busy schedule. We've gotta constantly be performing and giving, 150%, let's aim for a hundred percent as much as we can throughout the year. It's also important just to think about, when we're not actively creating that we are problem solving in quiet ways that we're rewarding ourselves for. All the days, not just the surge days. cause that's the other thing, like you said, at the start of the episode, when you're in surge mode, you feel like you're winning. You feel like things are great, I've got all this energy. When you're in tilt mode, you're feeling lazy and you're probably beating yourself up because you're not doing enough work. And, and just all the other days you're like, why can't I be like that person that got the 150% done? hopefully this episode's brought some awareness that, it's a balance and that surging and tilting have to be in balance. And actually there's a whole lot of other times in the year where it's just smart to be acting and performing at a really comfortable level.

Claire:

I think you've articulated the yin and yang of strategic surging and tilting so beautifully there. Miranda. I think it's the perfect step off point for our episode.

Miranda:

I.

Claire:

Love Mario in our house, so it's so great that you've got a Mario analogy in there too. That's fantastic. I think that it's been a absolutely wonderful conversation. I've really enjoyed this conversation. We've explored that surging is harnessing that momentum and how to supercharge with the Mario Star, your impact during peak periods. Tilting is rebalancing with intention and with self-awareness of your natural rhythms and giving yourself permission to tilt and how surging and tilting is a yin and yang harmonious balancing act and really mastering that balance in my mind is future ready leadership personified and what we need to thrive in our work and life. I hope you've enjoyed this episode too to our listeners, and thank you so much, Miranda. Your insights are great and I always love that I come away with a few more books to add to my Good reads list when we chat at.

Miranda:

Likewise, Claire. Thank you. And what a great topic to explore. I think my key takeaway for this absolutely is surge when it serves you. And then knowing where to soften, when to support, when to step back and empower other team members maybe to take on that surge mode. as always, at the end of our episode, we want to make sure that our listeners have a wonderful action challenge and ourselves. We take it on with you. So this month is to reflect and plan out your next key surge period. So even if we just look to the end of the year, for most of us. It gets pretty hectic. So, we're coming up to December. There's going to be at least one surge. You're going to need to pop in before the end of the year so what worked and what didn't the last time you're in surge mode. And then can you calendar in some small tilts so that you've got sustainable momentum, you've got great energy as you lead into that sort of key surge mode. See how you go with that action challenge should be a lot of fun. Next month we are going to carry this on with hopefully some inspiration in the tilt phase, but also just in the maintaining energy on an every other day except for your surge mode phase, which is around the creative cure and why cultivating creative expression is going to fuel success. So I cannot wait for this one. I am incredibly passionate about finding and cultivating your creative superpower, whatever that may be. And we are not going to be limited to one. There is a lot of different ways to create. So yeah, can't wait to join you for that one, Claire.

Claire:

love the challenge for us to dive into perfect time of year. As you said, this time of year tends to head straight chop, chop all the way into Christmas. And so I really like that. This seems like a great time to be thinking and reflecting on our surging and tilting so much goodness in these episodes. Thank you to our beautiful listeners for tuning in. I know that creativity and creative pursuits are a massive passion of yours, Miranda, so I'm really looking forward to next episode. In the meantime, we've put all the curated content we've mentioned today in the episode notes, so you can check it out. And dip into the stuff that resonates with you to take small actionable steps for your own success journey. For more inspiration, check out our socials on Instagram and LinkedIn. We'd love, love, love to hear from you and how you're going. So please drop us an email at Elevate with grace@gmail.com. Please, like and subscribe to our podcast or send it to a friend. We get some value out of this to help us get to more people. We'd really appreciate it. Can't wait to chat again soon. Take care, Miranda. Take care everyone.

Miranda:

Thank you listeners and huge thank you, Claire. Appreciate you. It's been another great fun episode.