Speaker 1: 0:04

Are you ready to break free from hesitation, self-doubt and isolation? Do you want to lead with confidence, build powerful connections and live boldly? I'm Cory Baum and I'm here to share the most impactful strategies and mindsets that I've learned through coaching, leadership and real-world experience. Together, we'll forge unshakable confidence, master social dynamics and create a life rooted in purpose, brotherhood and bold action. Inside you'll get the tools and insights to become the strongest, most connected version of yourself. Let's dive in. What's up, man.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Lately I've been looking hard at where my energy is actually going and realizing that that it's not the big, like obvious sort of stuff that's that's leaving me drained. It's, it's all these little sort of leaks that I let run on autopilot. So, for me, one of the biggest ones that that came up was mindless scrolling, right? You know those moments when you're sitting in waiting rooms or at a stoplight and just like sitting there and instinctively pulling out my phone and just starting to scroll Facebook or Instagram. Right, and it doesn't feel like much, right, two minutes here or five minutes there, but it adds up and, more than that, it trains my brain to fill every single pause with noise instead of actually being present. So another leak for me is rumination, which is that like low-grade constant loop in my head of trying to say something the right way, right, especially before a conversation that I think I might be, that might be sensitive. I'll run through it over and over as if there's some like perfect sentence that'll magically make it smooth. But all that overthinking does is burn mental bandwidth that I could use for something else. And then there's this, the like people pleasing sort of piece. So recently I've had, I've had more opportunities, come my way right, collaborations, invites, coffees, and some of them I want to genuinely say yes to, but others not so much. But in the past I'd say yes anyways, not because I wanted to, but because I didn't want anyone to be disappointed.

Speaker 1: 2:37

And the problem is that every time that I do that, it's not just my time and energy that I'm giving away, it's a little piece of my self-respect too. And the crazy part is, for the longest time I thought I was doing everything right, right, when it, when it came to energy, I drank enough water, I I ate well, I got plenty of sleep, All right, I made space for recovery. But. But here's the moment that really hit me Right. It's it's eight o'clock at night and I'm in bed with my kids, I'm reading a story. We do this every night and I can barely keep my eyes open. Not because I've been running around all day, or you know, burning thousands of calories, not because I skipped a meal or I pulled an all-nighter the night before, but because, mentally, I had run a marathon that day.

Speaker 1: 3:34

From the rumination to the unspoken resentments, to the constant micro decisions of whether to say yes or to say no, micro decisions of whether to say yes or to say no, to the background noise of endless scrolling All of it had been slowly leaking my energy from the moment that I woke up that morning. And that's the thing that these energy leaks aren't always physical. Most of the time they're right. They hide in habits that you've normalized, choices that you make on autopilot and conversations that you replay hundreds of times a day. And unless you get brutally honest about where your energy is going, you can do all of the right things for your body and still feel completely drained. So today's episode is about one of the most overlooked parts of self-leadership, and that's protecting your energy. Because you can have the perfect morning routine, you can be dialed in with your nutrition and have a solid eight hours of sleep and still your nutrition and have a solid eight hours of sleep and still, in the end, be completely wiped out at the end of the day. Why? Because your energy isn't just burned by what you do, it's actually leaked by what you tolerate. The scrolling that numbs instead of restores that numbs instead of restores the conversations that you keep rehearsing in your head. The yes when you say you know, when you say that every part of you, the yes when you wanted to say really what you wanted to say is no, and it's those small, unspoken resentments that you carry around like this weight.

Speaker 1: 5:24

Most men don't realize the cost of these leaks until it's too late, until they're sitting at the dinner table, distracted, or putting their kids to bed, too exhausted to be present. It's not just about feeling tired. It's about what you're missing, because you've already spent yourself on the things that don't matter. Missing because you've already spent yourself on the things that don't matter. Here's the shift If you want to lead yourself and others with clarity and strength, you have to be intentional about where your energy goes, because when you protect your energy, you protect your focus, your relationships and your sense of self. So in this episode, we're going to break down how to spot the invisible energy leaks that are draining you every day. We're going to talk about why doing the right things physically won't always fix the problem, and we're going to talk about some simple but actionable ways to plug the biggest leaks, starting today.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Because the man who guards his energy, he guards his ability to lead, and the man who leaks it without noticing it is always running on empty. So leaks are, they're invisible until you track them. And most men try to fix their energy by adding more, more coffee, more supplements right, we all do this, more you know and taking more rest days or whatever. But you can't out-sleep or out-caffeinate a leaky system, right? If your energy is quietly dripping out of you all day, then you'll always feel depleted, no matter how much you try to top it off. So if you don't know where your energy is going, you can't control it, right? And what you can't control will control you. So here's something I want you to think about For a week track your day not just by time, but by how you actually feel in each activity.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Where do you feel sharp and alive and engaged? Where do you feel heavy or distracted or drained? Because your time is measured in hours, right, but your leadership is measured in energy. So one of the ones, right, if we were to talk about what are the three biggest drains that most men ignore and, as I talked about earlier, it's the mindless input, the scrolling, the checking, notifications, filling every pause with stimulation. It's not just time that you're losing, it's mental bandwidth. So the second is unfinished conversations, right, actually avoiding the talk that you know that you need to have, and what it does is it runs this loop in your head until you finally face it. So the third thing is misaligned, yes, right, which is agreeing to things that aren't aligned with your priorities. It's a hit to both your calendar and your self-respect. So these, these drains don't look urgent, right. They're the the easy to ignore sort of things, but over time, they're like a pinhole in your fuel tank that, before you know it, you're empty and you don't even realize that it was ever happening.

Speaker 1: 9:02

So something to take away from this is that small links can sink great ships. So what is it going to take to plug the leaks, right? So one of the first tools is to create white space in your day, to give yourself small, intentional pockets with no stimulation, no phone, no TV, no noise, just breathing room. The second tool is to close the loop right. If a conversation is weighing you down, then schedule it right. The mental relief is worth more than avoiding the discomfort. The third tool is the aligned yes filter.

Speaker 1: 9:47

So, before saying yes to anything, I want you to ask yourself does this align with who I'm becoming? And if not, then it's a no. And so the reason this matters is that plugging these energy leaks isn't about doing less for the sake of it. It's about protecting what matters most, so that you can show up with strength and focus. Every no to the wrong sort of thing is a yes to the right thing. So your leadership when your energy is scattered, it suffers, right. You get short with your kids, you lose patience in conversations, you react instead of responding. But when you're intentional with your energy, when you're more precise, more decisive and more resilient, you stop running on fumes and you start leading from overflow, right. So if you think about this, energy is the currency of leadership, right? And so spend it where it matters and invest it in who you're actually becoming. So I want you to picture this right.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Picture your day yesterday, from the time that you woke up to the time that you went to bed. Where did you feel your energy drop the fastest? Was it after that mid-morning meeting that dragged on without purpose? Or maybe it was the moment that you sat down to catch your breath? You opened up your phone just for a second and suddenly realized that 20 minutes had disappeared. Maybe it's right after lunch, when you're forcing yourself through work and that you're not even invested in. If you can see the pattern, you can start to change it.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Now. Think about the habits that you've stopped noticing because they've been there so long that they feel normal. Maybe it's checking your notifications every time you hear the the slightest little buzz, right? Maybe it's agreeing to help with something that you don't really want to do, because it feels easier than saying no. Maybe it's replaying a conversation in your head that you had days ago, wishing that you'd worded something differently, or whatever. It might be right, these things aren't small. The point is that they add up over time, that they have an impact.

Speaker 1: 12:29

And what about the thing that you've been avoiding? Right? You know the one, the, the message that you've been meaning to send, the talk that you've been putting off, the task that you keep pushing off until tomorrow. It sits in the back of your mind all day, draining the energy that you could be using somewhere else. What would it feel like to just handle it? And then there's this right how much of your energy is going to things that have nothing to do with your values or priorities? It's a tough one to admit, but if you've been in the habit of people-pleasing, you might be giving away hours every week to things that don't move you forward and wondering why you never have the bandwidth for what matters most. So here's the real question If you plugged just one week this leak, what would change? Would you have more patience with your kids, more clarity for your work, more presence in your relationships? One shift can make the whole system run differently. So here's the shift that I want you to see Protecting your energy isn't about doing less.

Speaker 1: 13:51

It's about choosing what's worth doing. The man who spends his days on autopilot, leaking energy into mindless habits and misaligned commitments, will always feel tired, no matter how much sleep he gets right, no matter how well he eats or how well how much he just tries to push through. But the man who takes ownership of where his energy goes, he moves with clarity, he has more patience and he's harder to shake. So here's your challenge for the week Find one reoccurring energy leak and plug it. Just one. Maybe you put your phone in another room after dinner. Maybe you finally have the conversation that you've been avoiding. Maybe you practice saying no to something you don't actually want to do, because when you start protecting your energy, when you're not just avoiding burnout, you're building the capacity to lead to love and to live life fully, and every time that you choose to protect it, you're telling yourself that my energy is valuable. I am valuable.

Speaker 1: 15:08

If this episode hit home, if you've been wondering why you feel drained even when you're doing all the right things, then this is the exact work that I do with Ben. Every day, we get clear on where your energy is going, we plug the leaks and we redirect that focus into the things that actually move you forward. If you want to see what that could look like for you, book a free discovery call with me at evolvemenprojectcom. No pressure, just a real conversation about where you are and where you want to be, and how to get there without running on empty. And if this episode gave you something to think about, share it with a friend who's been feeling the same way. Follow the show, leave a five-star review and let's keep this conversation going, one man at a time.

Speaker 1: 15:56

So here's what I want you to remember your energy is your most valuable resource. You can't replace it. Once it's gone, you can't buy more of it and no one else will protect it for you. It's not just about avoiding burnout. It's about showing up as the man you want to be for your kids, for your partner, for your mission. When you're intentional with your energy, you lead with more presence, more clarity and more strength. So this week, catch the leaks. Even one plugged leak can give you more focus, more patience and more capacity than you realize. Protect your energy and protect the life that you're building.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Thanks for listening to the Evolve Men podcast. Lead with purpose, guard your fuel and I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Evolve Men podcast. If today's episode challenged you, inspired you or gave you something to think about, don't stop here. Keep building, keep evolving. Head over to wwwevolvemenprojectcom, where you'll find free resources on confidence, leadership, relationships, communication and personal power Everything you need to start applying what you've learned here and take your growth to the next level. The tools are there. The next move is yours. Until the next time, men, stay strong, lead powerfully and live boldly.