Low Energy Seasons: Burnout, Discipline & Letting Go

Mar 3

Episode 36 with Jill Griffin & Molly Bierman

In this reflective check-in episode, Jill Griffin and Molly Bierman explore what it means to move through a low-energy season without spiraling into self-criticism.

From winter burnout and sick kids to disrupted routines and decision fatigue, they unpack the tension between discipline and flexibility. When do you push yourself to show up, and when is it wiser to pull back? What happens when your systems fall apart, your schedule gets chaotic, and your batteries are running low?

They discuss:

Burnout in leadership and entrepreneurship
Decision fatigue and mental overload
The role of structure in emotional stability
Rebuilding routines after disruption
Reclaiming joy through connection and creativity
Letting go of perfection while maintaining self-discipline

This episode is a reminder that not every season is a high-performance season. Sometimes the work is simply noticing where you are and responding with awareness instead of pressure.

Jill Griffin (00:08)
welcome back everyone here we are
Molly Bierman (00:11)
Here we are.
Jill Griffin (00:11)
We're gonna do a check-in today because I feel like collectively we all need to just take a deep breath and check in.
Yeah, that feels good. Do you want to do that again? Do you want to do another one? Deep belly breath.
Molly Bierman (00:26)
Listen, I need all the breaths.
Jill Griffin (00:28)
mean, listen, it's the dead of winter. So I don't really care where you live in the United States. It sounds like there was iguanas falling out of the trees in Florida. So wherever you are on the East Coast, it's winter. Winter has arrived and I think everyone's sick of it.
Molly Bierman (00:46)
I was out to dinner last night with some women and honestly, thank God I was because it was a late dinner and as you listeners may or may not know, during the winter, I really feel as though a 7.30 event time is appropriate, okay? And so the dinner was at seven, I had been in the car most of the day working all the things and I've had a sick kid home for...
Jill Griffin (01:02)
1000%.
Molly Bierman (01:12)
going on four days. So today was day five and he finally decided he was well enough to return to school. It was a joint decision. And there's a couple things that came out of it. One, when I went to dinner last night at 7 p.m. I was just, in my head I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna make it to this dinner. But what transpired during the dinner was everyone was in a collective similar space. Winter feels like it's been dragging on forever.
Kids are sick, people are ornery, there's... multiple women at the table had gotten into weird altercations with strangers.
Jill Griffin (01:46)
Okay, we're all, our batteries are really running low here.
Molly Bierman (01:46)
Like.
I mean, bizarre altercations. One in an off-Broadway theater, another one in a children's basketball game. I mean, just random and not initiated by either of the two women sitting at the table, right? And what happened for us? This is a group of women that I don't get together all that frequently with and I am closer with a few than a few of the others.
Jill Griffin (01:58)
Yikes.
Molly Bierman (02:14)
But there was this collective lightness, laughter that still permeated through the evening, good night's sleep, waking up in the morning. We'll discard what happened this morning because it didn't continue for very long after I opened my eyes. But what happens is connection, right?
Laughter, think for me, I forget how much I really need that to release, you know, the weight. And it was so, so nice. It was really, really pleasant. And I was very grateful that I didn't bail. I didn't say, ⁓ I have an excuse or can't come or, you know, because it's easy to justify. Sick kid.
Jill Griffin (02:43)
yeah.
Molly Bierman (02:57)
wanting to go to bed early, feeling like not wanting to leave the house because I feel badly that I should be with my son, right? Whatever it is. But everybody was taken care of and it did the trick to help me reset.
Jill Griffin (03:08)
There's definitely a fine line between like I really shouldn't go because there's some days where it's like, okay, I really need to pull back. And there's this other side of that line of like I need to push myself and do it anyway, because I know on the other side of this, I'm going to feel better and glad that I did. ⁓
Molly Bierman (03:24)
Totally.
Jill Griffin (03:26)
Yeah, I will say that my, was sick all last week. So like in the Northeast where I live, we had, we got dumped on snow apocalypse. got dumped on with the snow and most snow we've had in a while. So I think we had like 16 inches, which is just disruptive, right? School was canceled on that Monday. You know, we have, and then it was like zero degrees essentially for like a week and a half. And so like, again, disruptive, like yeah, it's just,
Molly Bierman (03:52)
Still is, still is zero degrees.
Jill Griffin (03:55)
it's just and then I got sick. And so I don't have a problem shutting things down when I'm sick, like really need to so I can like recover But there were just certain things like it was a payroll week, there was just stuff like I couldn't not do. So I was basically running at quarter capacity. I was basically last week.
Molly Bierman (04:13)
You were
struggling.
Jill Griffin (04:15)
The only things I could do last week were like...
what I could do. I mean, that was it. it was, I really took a lot off my plate. So then what happened is this week starts, I'm feeling better, throw in an additional project that now has a deadline of, of today that I had to get done because I'm traveling next week. And that took up, I mean, so I was, I was more stressed work wise than I typically am this week. And so how that translated is like,
Molly Bierman (04:38)
the bandwidth.
Jill Griffin (04:46)
like me just feeling tired, my routine, I'm like living off takeout, okay, which is not my style. I didn't meal prep this week, which...
that threw me into another spiral. And when I say spiral, it's very, I do things in a very routine way because that it takes out the decision fatigue. I make so many decisions in a day. I really need certain things to just be automatic and just run and be pre-planned so that I don't have to make those decisions throughout the day. My life just, I mean, I've been working out at five, six PM. That's like the fucking worst for me.
Molly Bierman (05:19)
If I were, so, fun fact, we'll give a fun fact today.
So, and I wasn't really gonna announce this on the pod until I've done it consistently for a few weeks. You already know, you already know. But I've been taking an adult hip hop class And I had made this commitment that I was going to, I wasn't just gonna drop in, I was gonna do it consistently. And I competed in dance when I was younger.
Jill Griffin (05:27)
⁓
Yes. ⁓
Molly Bierman (05:45)
anyone who knows me knows that that was like a huge part of my life and really, really like the thing that I probably grieved the most about my addiction was that I sacrificed so many moments and was not present for so many moments because the two were conflicted and essentially addiction won. right? And so I've popped in and out over the years. I've taught dance in my adult life. I've done, you know, some fun things.
But I don't live around like my girls that I danced with. And a lot of them actually, how we know Taylor who does our social is she's sister-in-law's with one of the girls I used to dance with. And that's how we met. So I decided I was gonna kind of be on the hunt for an adult class. And I had never really found one that I liked and not in the region. Typically like when you live in like more robust areas like.
If I was in DC, if I was in New York City, maybe even if I was in Connecticut, like, but in this area there, it's kind of hit or miss. And so I found one and, you know, the reason why I bring this up is because it's at 730, okay, at night. And when I was younger, I danced every night after school, right? Like we talk about this with kids and sports and, you know, them playing basketball after school and.
Jill Griffin (06:49)
No. Absolutely not.
Molly Bierman (06:59)
practice till 9.30, like that was the norm. I think about my mom carting us around in that timeframe being unhinged thinking about that. Like, and I've talked to you about it. I've talked to my girlfriend, Laura, about it. Like my girlfriend, Shane, about it. Like.
Jill Griffin (07:12)
I
think your exact quote was, I'm gonna have a driver for that.
to which okay well that's that's an option I guess that's
Molly Bierman (07:20)
I just felt like desperate times. Like,
what if I can't do this? What if I can't stay awake that late? But I'm prepping myself all that to say, so I've been doing this dance class on Thursday nights. And what happens for me is like my adrenaline, obviously, this is why I can't work out at night because I come home, I'm ready to be who knows what. I am, I am awake. I am eating a second dinner.
Jill Griffin (07:37)
then you stay out.
Molly Bierman (07:45)
when I return home.
Jill Griffin (07:46)
⁓ that
messes up my sleep too. I mean, this is like, you're getting old type shit, but yeah, get, My routine is so thrown off this week and now I'm traveling. So we're just, I basically at mid week, I was just like, we don't give a fuck anymore. We're just, we are in our survival mode and that's where we're going to, that's where we're going to live.
Molly Bierman (08:09)
I think that's fine.
Jill Griffin (08:11)
But I don't, I feel like that's also different because you're around people. I will say I did a hip adult hip hop class two years ago. We learned very quickly. That was not, that was not something that I feel. You know what it is? I'm too competitive. And so if I don't, I'm okay with not being good at something, but if it's week after week and I'm still not good at it, like I was so confused. That's just not my thing.
Molly Bierman (08:34)
Did I
tell you what happens at the end of this class?
Jill Griffin (08:36)
you're performing somewhere. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. That's good for you. I would have opted out on that performance. There was also a performance in this one. I was like, yeah, I'm not doing that.
Molly Bierman (08:38)
Yeah.
These girls are
good. These girls are good. They're pushing me. They're good. And you know what? It's like the neuro pathways when we talk about Ria.
reinvigorating our neuro pathways, I guess is the best term I can come up with on this, you glorious gloomy morning.
Jill Griffin (09:00)
Are you
talking about neural plasticity where like our brain?
Molly Bierman (09:04)
No,
the neuropathways being able to retain information and actually utilize it. Yeah, because it is hard. Like that's the one part that I really struggle with because I have, know, when I'm in my grooves, you know, my natural grooves and my natural, you know, kind of day to day life, there's things that I'm doing routinely, obviously, in my work and with my kids and, you know,
Jill Griffin (09:11)
Go back, go back to, yeah.
Molly Bierman (09:30)
with exercise or whatever, but doing a routine is utilizing my brain in such a different way, right? And having to retain the information and do the footwork and retain at the same time. So all that to say, I feel like it's been really good for me. I feel like this is your permission to get out there and do something that 20 years later you still love to do.
Jill Griffin (09:38)
Yeah.
Well, I, you when you talk, when you mentioned that about like grieving, not being present, it's funny because my daughter is now being kind of recruited to play on the same travel basketball team that I played on growing up. And yeah, I'm still young for this, but here we are. And you know, I can remember, I remember getting into a fight with my parents because we got tryouts for basketball for this travel basketball team. And I...
Molly Bierman (10:03)
⁓
Jill Griffin (10:17)
fought and fought to sleep over my friend's house who was not an athlete and you we ended up getting drunk before the tryout so of course I didn't make the first team I made the set I made the B team because who knows maybe I would have made the B team anyway but I certainly did not show up as my best self hung over the next day and so one I'm like
Molly Bierman (10:22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
How old were you?
Jill Griffin (10:34)
maybe 13, 14. But, I trashed my ankle in high school, and so that's part of my story too, but I certainly consider myself an athlete now. Like, I'm.
Molly Bierman (10:36)
Okay.
Jill Griffin (10:47)
Going into a high rocks in May in New York, I'm gonna compete in that. I don't know if I'm doing solo or doubles yet. I've been doing the DECA strong and DECA fit competitions. I'm going out to Chicago in July. Like I train, I work out six days a week. I did an hour and a half workout this morning. I actually went to the gym this morning.
But like, I often have the thought of like, man, I wonder how this could have been really different if like I train like this. Like if I had found this and trained like this, because it's really, well, it's the same, it's the same alcoholism, okay? Like let me be very clear. This is the same alcoholism that works out like this. It's just like,
Molly Bierman (11:16)
Instead of yeah, it's the same thing
Totally.
Jill Griffin (11:28)
a sublimation, I think it's called. Is that the defense mechanism? think when you make it like a more appropriate thing, I'm pretty sure that's what it's called. I'm that that's really digging into the neural pathways, if that's the right term, we'll have to fact check But like I do, it keeps me grounded and sane I think that was part of why I was struggling last week is because I did not work out.
Molly Bierman (11:34)
Right, right.
Jill Griffin (11:54)
And I will tell you that the workouts like, yeah, it's for my body, whatever. My brain suffers if I do not work out.
Molly Bierman (12:02)
Yep, I agree. I worked out maybe once this week because kids sick up in the middle of the night just felt like I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. Although I went to dance on Monday night and I think I worked out one other day, but because I had to switch around because we had the ladies turn last night and I was like, I gotta go to dance. can't skip. I'm very committed. I'm planning my work travel around it. Like I am invested here. And it also helps when you prepay for something.
That's just another tip because.
Jill Griffin (12:31)
Yeah,
but people prepay for their gym and then they never go.
Molly Bierman (12:33)
Yeah, my gym sitting in in a respite hasn't been used in a while, but you know my gym outside of my house. I think that you know for me.
that also, I don't know, it just also gives that other level, that other layer of investment, I don't know. I don't know why it feels different than the gym. I also think that it's an accountability level when there's other people there that are there every week. So with the gym, it's, you don't really have much, it's not a class, not like you're seeing your friends at Pilates or whatever. You might just be going and doing free weights by yourself or doing cardio or whatever the case may be.
Jill Griffin (12:58)
Well, it's not a class. It's not. Yeah. You don't have a trainer. Yeah.
Molly Bierman (13:09)
This is like, okay, these girls are committed and men, right? They're committed and they're showing up every week and there's a group chat and there's like, it's real.
Jill Griffin (13:19)
I also think it depends on what stage you're in in life and also just how you are built because...
I actually don't have any external motivators. I'm just a psycho with it and wake up and do it. Nobody's, nope, there's no prize. There's no like, nobody's telling me I have to do these things, which brings me to my next point of I've had this conversation with somebody this week around self-discipline and also like people who are in leadership positions and or own businesses. Like if you need that validation from somebody else or you need somebody
telling you like what to prioritize or how to prioritize, you're not going to do well with leadership or entrepreneurship. Like I'm just thinking about our two, our last two weeks, okay? We've had to shuffle things around.
Molly Bierman (14:01)
Well, I think that's...
Mm-hmm.
Jill Griffin (14:07)
Like basically daily, which is like, it kind of happens like every day anyway, but I think it was just more extreme because of the sickness and kids and you know, our routines were just off. If you're somebody that's gonna get paralyzed by making those decisions or overwhelmed because you're like, you can't let things go or move things around, you're too rigid, like you're gonna struggle. With.
Molly Bierman (14:16)
Right.
Well, I think that
was a lot of what we talked about earlier in the week. know, Jill and I have been, had the opportunity and really, you know, great pleasure to kind of work with other individuals that are working towards building their business or restructuring their business and helping kind of identify blind spots and strengths and deficits, et cetera, and doing essentially like an audit, right? And working side by side, both from.
an entrepreneurship lens, also just like the human side of things, right? Like everything we talk about on this podcast. And so when we were talking with our client, a lot of what we were helping identify is that rigidity that I have struggled with, right? So I'll only speak for myself. Going from a place where it was pretty standard what I was gonna walk into.
Not necessarily like the chaos that was on the other side of the door when I was walking into the unit, but there was structure. Like rounds was at this time. There was group for the clients at this time. There was time to meet with this person. I met with this person every two weeks for supervision, right? So, and I've been able to utilize some of those skills to implement that in this line of work and what I'm doing now, but it's much more free flowing, right? Like...
Jill Griffin (15:30)
Yeah.
Molly Bierman (15:42)
I don't have the container of a brook at mortar, right? That alone causes less stability. And then I'm also having to discipline myself in what needs to take place on a daily basis.
Jill Griffin (15:55)
For you, I feel like it's actually deconditioning the discipline because I actually think that your condition to like checking all the boxes and there are some, there are more days than not that you have to be okay with stepping away without something done.
Molly Bierman (16:11)
And that has
been something I've struggled with for a long time. Like I used to work in this nonprofit probably 13 years ago, okay? Maybe more, 14 years ago. And I had a ⁓ colleague who told me one time, and I think I've mentioned this on the podcast, and I'll never forget it. He was somebody who was actually volunteering his time, but he was using the same like co-working space. And he was doing a little bit of work for us, but he also had a full-time job.
And I said, Brian, like, I just feel like I can never get through this list. And I'll never forget it. He said, Molly, there's always gonna be a list. You just need to learn to walk away and then pick it back up tomorrow. And for me...
Jill Griffin (16:48)
That is revolutionary for some people listening right now.
Molly Bierman (16:51)
I was baffled. I still am baffled, okay? This is 13 years later.
Jill Griffin (16:53)
I was gonna say,
yeah, we're still working on that.
Molly Bierman (16:59)
But that's like, no one diagnosed me, okay, on the show. But I know that there's like a tinge of like that, like compulsiveness. And I've really had to work at that because I've been like that since I was little. Like that has always, always, always been there.
Jill Griffin (17:15)
It's perfectionism.
Molly Bierman (17:16)
No, but it's not that. I'll tell you because I didn't have, there is, but I didn't have that in school. In certain areas, I could care less. I'm like, nah, I'm not really gonna finish this. And that happened even before usage. Like I was never one, I'd wait till the last minute, there was procrastination. Anyway, I just feel like...
Jill Griffin (17:18)
There's a little bit of that. ⁓
Well,
you know what's helped me? This is my.
Molly Bierman (17:35)
And maybe it's my
system works better under pressure. That's another thing to look at.
Jill Griffin (17:39)
That's a little ADHD probably there. anyway, listen, when I throw these things around.
Molly Bierman (17:46)
All I can hear is
Jill Griffin (17:47)
I mean, listen, we all have traits of stuff that's in that DSM-5. That's the reality. And we talk about the patterns that show up in business and show up in life and like...
Molly Bierman (17:53)
Yes, of course, sure.
Jill Griffin (17:58)
We do have to look at these patterns and how they affect us. My pro tip and what I do, I use the reminders app on my phone and this would probably overwhelm most people, but I have five separate lists that, yeah, I have five that main ones, right? A personal, one for each business.
Molly Bierman (18:11)
I have about 10.
Okay.
Jill Griffin (18:17)
And then I also have a future goals one that like, just need to park this somewhere, but this also isn't a priority. This is something that we can do like when we have time. This is like a, this is like, ⁓ what do I name them? Okay. The first one is focus. That one is stuff that I move from the other list. These are my tasks for the day.
Molly Bierman (18:25)
What do you name them? What do you name them? Let's run it through real quick. What are your lists named? Yeah.
Okay, I like that.
Jill Griffin (18:40)
Every day,
every day, I look at my collective list and I say, what's realistic for me to get done with my calendar and what's on my list today? Because checking things off is important, but every day is not a day I get to check things off. If I have a client heavy day, I can't do some of the admin stuff. Cause some of this stuff is just tedious, stupid stuff that, you know.
Molly Bierman (18:53)
Yep. Okay.
Yeah, of course.
Jill Griffin (19:00)
Today's focus are all of the things I can't forget to pack because I'm leaving tonight for a nine day trip, 10 including today, because we're leaving early because of snow. I'm not packed. So just the anxiety for the listeners.
Molly Bierman (19:13)
Do want to just throw
out an item that you, let's just give a fun ⁓ item that's going with you.
Jill Griffin (19:18)
There's not, there's not, ooh, I could check one off. I did the gym this morning. My mouth guard, my mouth guard. Yeah. if I forget that, not only am I spiraling, my husband is gonna be like, here we go. We're gonna have a tough week. Tough week for all of us.
Molly Bierman (19:22)
You taking the gym with you? You're a mouth guard. Necessary. Necessary.
Protecting those teeth. Okay. All right, so focus.
Jill Griffin (19:35)
Yeah. Okay. The next one, the
next one is Inspire Recovery. That is my Inspire Recovery list. Great. I moved some things back from the focus list back into these buckets yesterday, because I was like, this is an after vacation problem now. I actually did that yesterday.
Molly Bierman (19:52)
I kind of like this. Okay. I think I need to restructure my list. Keep going.
Jill Griffin (19:55)
that my next one is Waterview. The next one is a combined no permission necessary and pivot because they tend to have less tasks associated with it, but it's a combined. So two businesses in one. Then I have a personal one. I will tell you, there are things on this list. They've been there for a while. They've been there for quite a while, but we're chipping away at it.
Molly Bierman (19:57)
Okay, obviously.
Okay, okay, okay.
Jill Griffin (20:18)
Ideas future goals. One of those top of the list would be organized papers and filing cabinet. That might stay there until I die, to be honest with you. I mean, that is a bold future goal for me.
Molly Bierman (20:30)
Till 2027.
Jill Griffin (20:37)
And then I also have just, I also just have reminders of weekly and monthly tasks that I need to make sure I complete, but I don't actively check those off. Those are just reminders for me.
Molly Bierman (20:37)
⁓ my gosh.
Is there a kid list somewhere or no? You're just, you're just good in that department.
Jill Griffin (20:52)
That's under personal, but honestly, the kids stuff typically typically goes on the focus one because it's something like I got to get done today. That would be the camp forms that are sitting right here that I need to make sure because if I don't get in that camp registration that early, I need to make sure they have a spot or else we're all going to have some consequences. We're all my children might be doing some guest appearances this summer if that's the case.
Molly Bierman (20:57)
Focus.
NPN is cancelled actually, if that doesn't happen.
the doctor's office call me.
Jill Griffin (21:19)
How do you do yours?
Molly Bierman (21:21)
Well, I have a couple. have house projects, because I feel like there's always something that I'm feeling like needs to get done. you know, whether that's, you know, I don't know, all sorts of stuff, right? Like, I feel like we need to build out a little bit more of a closet for our son. You know what's been in here forever since this is how this is house projects. ⁓ yeah, yeah. I always have a running grocery.
Jill Griffin (21:38)
But what list is that on? Home? House pro- Yes. Molly's husband probably
is very aware of what's on that home projects list and reminded.
Molly Bierman (21:50)
He's not, this isn't a shared
list. This is just my list. The groceries.
Jill Griffin (21:54)
You verbally
share that list, I'm sure, Sam.
Molly Bierman (21:58)
The grocery list is shared. So that way at any given time people can throw things on there so we always know what we need in the house.
Jill Griffin (22:05)
Yeah,
that's, yeah, that's separate. That's a separate list.
Molly Bierman (22:07)
No,
no, no, no, what Jill really means by that? That's Alan.
Jill Griffin (22:11)
No, I actually am the one that makes the grocery list. Alan typically completes the shopping for the list.
Molly Bierman (22:16)
But it's a good thing to
have because you can share it with one another, okay? Then I have a basic to-do list and then I have my work list, but they're separated out a little bit. And I think because they're separated out so granually, I think that's why less things get done. So I think I'm gonna restructure after speaking with you about this because I have a leadership tab, I have contractors and referent tab, I have a my list to-do list, right? So I think that that needs to be cleaned up. I agree.
Jill Griffin (22:19)
Yep.
Now it needs to be more overarching. And then like,
I have to, it's kind of like a brain dump. Like when I think in my head, I got to get this done, but I know I'm not going to get to it today. I have to put it on the list so it stays there.
Molly Bierman (22:54)
Yes.
Jill Griffin (22:55)
And make sure that you write it in a way that you're going to remember when you look at the list the next day or the next week because, sometimes I look at my list and I'm like, I really, really wonder what past Jill meant by this task that she put on here because it's out of sight, out of mind. But what happens is this, this allows me to power through the stuff that's important that I need to do in the day. Because again, that decision fatigue is real. Like if, if you don't take those barriers away, you're going to get
Molly Bierman (23:00)
that you know what it is.
Jill Griffin (23:24)
stuck in the deciding what to do, how to use my time, and then you're not going to use your time well at all.
Yeah.
Molly Bierman (23:29)
that's a little cheat sheet into our lives today. and I'll leave you with this, that the doctor had to remind me that your children actually need annual visits to the doctor even after their babies. So we're thriving.
Jill Griffin (23:41)
Um,
I just want to say that as adults, you're supposed to have annual visits to the doctor. So if you don't, if it's, it's 2026 people, if you're listening to this, you know what my permission slip is going to be for all of you is to find, find a primary care doctor. And if I've heard some egregious things in the past month, that people who haven't seen a primary care doctor in years, we're in our, I'm in my forties.
Molly Bierman (23:47)
That's true. That's true. I don't think...
Make your annual doctor's appointment.
Jill Griffin (24:09)
Please schedule the primary care doctor visit. Okay, that's your permission slip today. We ended on a, we really did a whole, ooh.
Molly Bierman (24:16)
or the dentist with a little asterisk because some people slack
on the dentist. So we'll put the dentist in there too.
Jill Griffin (24:22)
Get your preventative visits out of the way. Get them scheduled.
Molly Bierman (24:25)
And if you feel like you've been wanting Invisalign
like I have for a long time, let's just do it, you know?
Jill Griffin (24:32)
That's been on your
future goals list for a while.
Molly Bierman (24:35)
It says it on my phone. Call the dentist.
Jill Griffin (24:37)
I
Molly Bierman (24:38)
Guys, love and light out there, okay? It's real.
Jill Griffin (24:40)
Follow us on no permission necessary. Please follow along on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, anywhere and send in any comments, reviews, things you want to hear us talk about. We'd love to see it. Peace out.