Ep 191 - Being vs Doing: Why how you show up matters just as much as your strategy

At the beginning of a new year, it’s easy to feel pressure to have everything planned, mapped, and moving already.
But what if how you are being matters just as much — if not more — than what you’re doing?
In this solo episode of Get Jasched, Jess Jasch explores the tension between strategy and embodiment, and why relying solely on plans, frameworks, and lists can leave us feeling disconnected from the very outcomes we’re trying to create.

You’ll hear reflections on:
- The difference between being and doing in leadership and personal growth
- Why strategy alone doesn’t shape our lived experience
- How embodied leadership changes the way we approach goals and performance
- Using your “word for the year” (or any intention) as a way of showing up — not just planning
- Why sustainable success requires both structure and self-leadership

This episode is for leaders, business owners, and high performers who want to move beyond hustle and into intentional, grounded, embodied leadership — without abandoning strategy altogether.
🎧 Tune in for a reminder that it’s not either/or. It’s both/and.

#EmbodiedLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #WellbeingAtWork #SelfLeadership #IntentionalLiving #GetJasched

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Get Jasched.I am your host, Jess Jasch, andtoday's episode, this week's episode feelslook, it feels very timely personally, but I also know from conversations I've had with other people that it might feel timely for you as well.And, you know, with, with timelines and episode topics and everything, obviously it's a bit of a luck of the draw because everyone is going through something different or everyone, even if you're not going through it, right?Like, that's not always the case, but everyone is experiencing different facets and ac- aspects of their lives and their work and how they're feeling.Uh, and it is still relativewell, it is still quite close to the beginning of the year.I was gonna say relatively close, l- let's be real.It is quite close.I always, I always get antsy around the end of January because I love the new year feeling as a portal and I know there are a variety of different sort of official new years that aren't just the Gregorian calendar New Year.Uh, but for me personally, in addition to those other new years, the, the actual calendar New Year has always felt like a bit of a portal.So I love sitting in that energy, in that mode of, ooh, what are we creating for the year ahead?Also, what are we reflecting on and what are we leaving behind or what are we taking with us, what worked and la la la, and what's your word for the year and blah, blah, blah?Um, not blah, blah, blah, but you know, you get the gist.So, I love that.It's a b- it really is a bit of a portal for me personally and, you know, this year I woke up on New Year's Day feeling that energy shift.So for me, when it gets to the end of January, I personally and even professionally wanna feel like I am rolling.That I am not just starting out in the year, I am rolling, I am making in-roads, I am making it happen.Uh, and, and I say all of that because, partly because I almost said we're relatively at the beginning of the year.Weit's for perspective.Because we are at the beginning of the year.There is no denying that.There is no level of delulu even for myself that says otherwise.We are l- still literally at the beginning of the year, even at the end of January.And sometimes, and here's where I get to my point, you know that I always get to a point no matter how much I meander, but sometimes we can put this pressure on ourselves to have everything in place and actually orderly and set up already.So if you are in connection with me in any way, you might notice that I typically actually talk about this a lot by the time we hit October-November because as part of my process, I love kind of starting to prepare for the new year at that point.Obviously still wrapping up the year and not trying to overload myself, but literally prepare myself.It's the opposite of overloaded, so I don't feel overloaded.It's so I feel prepared so I can rest better over the holiday period.Uh, that again, that's my process, that's what works for me and I like planning and I like looking forward to things.So while that is one aspect of what I do personally and what I promote with you, with others, with clients and, and highly encourage exploring or looking into or stepping into, we can still fall under the trap of our January, by the end of January feeling like we aren't moving enough, we aren't doingenough, we aren't, you know, X, Y, Z enough.And this actually came out of a conversation with, um, another business peer during the week where I waswe were, we were talking about how, how we're feeling in the year and, and how that is all feeling and what it kind of means and what we are learning and noticing from it.And for me, I am moving house, so there's been a bit of disruption in terms of my usual plan-setting and visioning that I would normally do on this side of new year's.Not, not the stuff I do before new year's but on this side of the new year.Normally I would sit down with my butcher's paper and my whiteboard and, uh, very manually plan out and explore what could be the framework for the year ahead at least.And I just haven't had a chance to do that yet.Uh, but you know, that in itselfwas a learning because in this conversation, I was reflecting back on my word for the year and realizing and recognizing that even though I hadn't done the things I felt like I had to do and go through the process all very, um, logically and logistically almost, I was already being, just being that word and what I wanted to create for the year, and that is being in the energy, but alsohow I was behaving.So it's really important to really consider sometimes the processes and the structures help us clear our heads.Absol- well, generally, not even sometimes.I am a massive advocate for this, not just because that's what I help clients do, because it's what I take myself through too, but, you know, generally, that is what helps us clear our heads.It gives us some sense of orderliness, not to be rigid, but to give ourselves some kind of framework so then we can kind of navigate as the year goes on because changes will come in.That framework's never gonna look exactly the same at the end of the year as it did at the beginning of the year.So, you know, that gives us a sense of orderliness, but if we get so caught up in the listicals or the things we have to do for ourselves or for our business or for our work or for our goals or our intentions or our resolutions, if we get so caught up in the lists, and this is where it's very left/right brain, right?If we get so caught up in the lists, so caught up in the, "Well, you just gotta do this, you just gotta do this, you just gotta do this," where it's- notice how it's just doing, doing, doing?And not actually being, being, being, we're missing out on a whole lot.And I'm not saying w- you don't have to do, but what I am saying is sometimes if you haven't had a chance to do those things that for me, personally, make me feel really good and excited and I love a bit of a plan, but I also am in relationship with that plan where I know it's not necessarily gonna be exact, but it gives me framework, it gives me stability, it gives me structure that feels really good where I can then play and flow in that, if I haven't had a chance to do that, have I been beinghow I want to show up in this year?Or have I been being in my behavior what relationship I wanna have with this year, whether it's personally or professionally?So that's usually where, you know, your, your word for the year, if you practice that, comes in.It's like, well, have I been being in that word even if life circumstances literally haven't given me an opportunity to do the things that can support that in the meantime?Have I been being?Because what you will find is when you, again, we're not dismissing the doing, we're not saying never do it, because that is an important aspect of it, but if you are, if y- you will find if you are being in and around and before and after your opportunity to do the doing part, to do the strategy part, to do the planning part, you will find thatgenerally speaking, and let's say professionally speaking, okay, let's go with that, professionally speaking, that is how you will start experiencing the year, let's go with y- the year, before you even have a chance to do the doing.You can give yourself the opportunity to be in that energy that you want for the year before you get to the point of actually doing the strategy part.And what that means is, it's a reflection on us, it's a reminder for us that not all of the process or strategy is actual literal strategy.A lot of it's how am I being?And that could be how am I being in relationship to other people in relation to my work or my business or whatever it is for you?Uh, how am I approaching conversations with almost this new expectation of whatever that word is for you, you know, of this word and what that word means to me.Am I being more in what I feel like that energy of that word is?Regardless, reg- it's almost regardless.It's not even before or after you've had a chance to do the- the manual strategy, but it's like regardless of that.That is such a key part, and I keep saying the word because it's just an anchor point.If you don't practice a word for the year, that's okay.That's not actually the main point.Uh, it's more the anchor point to get this point across, is are you being more of what you actually want to create for yourself at any time in the year?Or are you relying only on strategy without actually doing on the inside?Or doing in your behavior in the sense of behavior that runs from the inside outward- outwardly, not in the sense of your behavior like your habits and you're following your list or you're following your, you know, literally, and you being on the inside in a way that reflects outwardly.Maybe that's in relation to- to other people or to conversations you have, or to sales conversations you have, or to negotiations you have, or to conversations at home you have about what you need, you know?It's- it's so many different layers.It's so many different facets and aspects of this, but it's really thisI've ha- I- I feel so clear about it because I've had this opportunity to see it play out for me this year already, which feels really good, and I'm not saying, "Oh, my year is gonna be magical, and it's magically fixed, and la, la, la."Uh, no.It's- I'm not that level of delulu, but it is really just this nice reflection that I wanted to bring into this conversation of, yes, strategy and lists or plans or frameworks are so important.They are something that I take myself through, but I also help clients with and I love doing because it gives us structure.Not rigidity, but structure, and that makes a huge difference.So yes, that is important, and the embody- it's, um, it's literally the embodied leadership part of the work I do actually.It's the embodied part which is, yeah, but how am I being in relationship to all of this?Not just relying on the hack, quote, hack, you know, not just relying on that external thing to fix how I feel about it, but also letting my- letting myself lead myself from that place.So how are you letting yourself lead yourself from that place?How are you letting yourself and your inner behavior lead yourself to that place?How are you allowing yourself to experience that place?Rather than seeing it as this wayward, off-in-the-distance goal, if it is a word that you want to sort of experience or build or develop more of, whatever that is, instead of seeing it as wayward and off in the distance, how are you practicing that now and actually allowing yourself to build that experience from now?And this sounds, I know this sounds very, a little more esoteric, but we have to really acknowledge that our lived experience and how we feel plays a role in how we then would assess the quality of our year or our experience by the end of that, by the end of the year or by the end of that season or whatever you're marking or measuring at this point.We have to acknowledge that how we feel plays a role in our energy levels and our stamina to actually follow through on what the structure and the plan is.It's not one or the other.It is truly both, and it's not because it's this airy-fairy esoteric, un- intangible thing, but it's this really important aspect of, what is my experience and how am I being in relationship to whatever it is that I wanna create or experience?It's really, it's really holding your sideof things, and it's not saying, "Well, that's going to magically fix everything either," but it- it is really a- a key.So I'll- I'll give you an example.I didn't really want to use any word examples, uh, because I wanted it to be your own, but maybe this will help, but my word for- for 2026 is reciprocity.And, you know, that came about from- like, I had a lot of great experiences last year with clients and things like that, but it really came about from this sense of feeling like I was just having to push constantly, very vigilantly for the whole year just to- to get things happening and flowing or whatever it was, and there's no fault on that or anything like that for anyone.But it was just this recognition of, "Oh, yeah.That's actually not the energy I want to be in."I want to create this sense of ensuring there is reciprocity in all of my interactions, so it's with clients, it's- I can't carry everything for clients, I show up as the service provider and- and provide.But I wanna know that they are showing up for themselves, you know?So there's this equal sort of reciprocal exchange of any interactions, and it doesn't have to be about clients either.It's just about also being so mindful of what am I putting out energetically, thoughtfully, mentally, emotionally, without dismissing my own experience or my own emotions or anything like that, but just being really, really aware of wanting to be more mindful of what I am putting out in whatever way, uh, I generally am, but this is just,you know, extra mindfulness and also being more in relationship with their reciprocal relationships in that way.Again, with people and businesses and clients or with just the work I do and really wanting to make sure that the energy I spend is the energy I wanna receive.That's really truly what it is.So for me because I haven't yet, it's gonna happen real soon.Don't worry because this is the antsy feeling of but I want to work on the- the strategy and the structure and the framework, but because I haven't yet been able to do that, un- almost unconsciously, until I reflected on it and went, "Oh, I have been doing that," is I have been still in that energy of reciprocity in the conversations I have of like, you know, with business friends and peers where they might be sharing something and I wanna share something great that I think they're doing because I think it's great,I think it might be of value, or I might wanna do an introduction, you know, it goes both ways and again, it's not a foreign concept to me, but I want to be more intentional with it.So without realizing I- the way I've been behaving has been in more of that expectation almost, internal expectation of myself of reciprocity and as a result I've actually been experiencing more of that without the same push push push effort of, "Well I have to do this strategy and if I don't do this strategy nothing's gonna work," et cetera, et cetera, right?So that is just my own example but I- again I feel like it's- it's just a- it's just a piece of the puzzle but again at the same time it's a piece of the puzzle that helps each of us to feel a little more whole and a little more like we are actually in this.So that's the conversation I have for you today.That's what I really wanted to bring in and just prompt this thought process or, or feeling process for you around this, because whether you are putting pressure on yourself or you've already had the chance to do all your strategy, either way is good, either way is fine, you know.But remembering that there's so many different ways, uh, so many different ways that it can work.So many different ways to make ourselves feel like we are in that, and it's never one single way.If we were focusing only on the being but without strategy or framework, that doesn't really give us a target to at leastor goalpost to at least work towards either, you know?So, just y- use this for perspective for yourself.At this point in the year or whenever you listen to this, it's just a really good reminder of both/and, and it's okay if life circumstances or, you know, whatever have not allowed us to do the thing that might still be helpful.There are still other ways we can do it until we get to that, you know?And then we talk about, like, how do you prioritize things, you know, because at, at some point it becomes like a, okay, this is something that needs to happen.But just to give you perspective and something to percolate on and ponder and consider and think about.And, you know, these, these kinds of strategy, uh, embodiment immersion sessions are something I do work with clients on, uh, because it's something I take myself through.So, if that is something you are interested in, please reach out to me directly and we can discuss what that looks like, how that works depending on where you are in the world, any of that.But in the meantime, use this just as a reminder that it's, it'sOne thing, it's not gonna be the be-all or the end-all, but it does get to be a helpful support structure for you in any case.All right.Well, until next time.