The Balance Theory

What if your life looks good from the outside but still doesn't feel fully yours? This episode is for anyone who has achieved everything they were supposed to achieve and found themselves quietly asking: why do I still feel like something is missing?

Erika sits down with Saina Babaee, VP at Siemens, founder of her own fashion label, and mother of twins. Someone who followed the prescribed path with excellence and then had to find herself inside it. This is not a story about burning everything down. It is about what it actually looks like to stop living for everyone else and start building a life that is authentically yours.

If you have ever caught yourself thinking:

"I'm successful but I feel empty and I don't know why."
"I want to start my passion but I don't know where to begin."
"I have a good life. So why does something still feel off?"
"I keep waiting for the right time to build something on the side."
"I'm scared that wanting more makes me ungrateful for what I have."

Then this is the episode is for you.

In this conversation, Erika and Saina cover:

*Why feeling empty despite your success is not a failing but a signal worth listening to
*How to identify what you have been carrying since childhood that was never yours to carry
*How to break long-held patterns without dismantling your whole life
*Why you do not need to quit your job to start building your passion, and how having a 9-5 can actually make starting easier
*How to build something on the side while working full time using a structure that fits around your life
*What becoming a mother did to Saina's ambition and why it made her more driven, not less
*How to lead with heart in corporate without losing results
*How to navigate friendship grief and the loneliness of outgrowing people who no longer fit who you are becoming
*How to reconnect with the creative, feminine side of yourself that high performance has pushed aside

The version of you that has been waiting is not a different person. She is simply the one who finally has permission to exist.

SPONSORS:

💪 Superpower -Take control of your health with Superpower. Head over to Superpower.com and use code 'BALANCE' for $20 off your $199 Superpower membership.

🍯 ⁠HONEYLOVE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠- Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to honeylove.com/BALANCE !
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Ilai Sarai

TIMESTAMP

(0:00) Introduction

(07:35) From Engineer to Fashion

(14:34) What have you Been carrying thats not yours?

(18:01) Don't be who you are at work in your relationships

(20:37) How do you break year long patterns?

(25:13) Can you start something while you have a 9-5?

(28:06) People romanticise taking the leap

(31:06) How to get creative

(35:10) Reconciling engineering and fashion

(39:05) Leading with Corporate

(41:28) My definition of success has changed

(42:48) How did becoming a mum change how you show up?

(50:51) I'm currently struggling with this in my friendships.

(57:54) Do this if you want to start something

WHO AM I?

My name is Erika and I am an Australian living in Dubai. I have my own business as a strategic legal consultant and run this podcast to explore my passion + curiosity for all things health, wellness, self growth & mindset. A big focus of mine is how to sustainably navigate a busy schedule and live my best life in the process. Welcome to my Channel! 📸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with me on IG!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

RESOURCES

▶︎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25 Day Self Development Marathon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠21 Day Self Growth Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Goal Setting System E-Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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She has built the life. The career. The reputation for having it together. And somewhere along the way, doing it all herself stopped being a choice and became the only way she knew how to operate.

This episode is not about learning to be less independent. It is about what that independence has quietly been costing her and the one shift that changes everything about what she is able to receive.

Ghizlan Guenez, founder of F.Force, joins Erika for a second conversation that goes somewhere their first episode did not. If you have ever caught yourself thinking:

"It is just easier if I do it myself"

"I want more but something keeps stopping me"

"I know I want to be taken care of sometimes but admitting that feels wrong"

"I have been so focused on achieving that I do not recognise myself anymore"

"I feel like there is a block but I cannot work out if it is real or something I created"

Then this episode is for you. In this conversation, Erika and Ghizlan cover:

- Why the most independent, hardworking women are actually the ones who most want to be taken care of and why that is not a contradiction

- The real reason asking for help feels like jumping off a cliff and what is actually underneath it

- What your independence might be quietly costing you in love, abundance, and receiving

- Whether going through big life changes is about finding yourself again or removing the parts that are no longer you and why that distinction changes everything

- How to come home to who you already are versus discovering a version of yourself you have never met yet

- How your relationship with certainty and control changes after hard seasons

- The parts of yourself you leave behind when you are always in doing mode and how to find your way back

- Decision sequencing: how to move forward when you do not have the full picture yet

- Why most of the blocks you think you have do not actually exist and what you are really doing when you create them

- The one question that reframes every decision you will ever make about your future

- Why absolute advice does not work and how to take what is right for you and leave the rest

- Movement creates clarity: how to start trusting yourself to move in a direction even when you cannot see the full path

The woman who does it all is allowed to want more. And this conversation is her permission slip.

SPONSORS:

⚪ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HUEL ⁠- Limited Time Offer – Make healthy eating simple. Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code BALANCE at huel.com/BALANCE. New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show!

💧⁠⁠AQUATRU⁠ -⁠ Use the code 'ERIKA' at ⁠www.aquatru.com⁠ for a 20% off

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🎥 First conversation with Ghizlan

TIMESTAMP

(0:00) Introduction

(03:57) Journey of Evolution

(05:46) I had to unlearn this

(11:50) How does the 'independent woman' fair in a marriage?

(16:23) Having feminine outlets

(20:12) What did your marriage teach you?

(25:50) Domino effect of hard experiences

(27:40) How do you actually sit with your emotions?

(30:40) Decision Sequencing

(33:34) How do you get clear with manifesting when you don't know what's next?

(37:67) Most harmful advice online right now

(42:46) You don't need permission...

(43:51) What's your next big dream?

WHO AM I?

My name is Erika and I am an Australian living in Dubai. I have my own business as a strategic legal consultant and run this podcast to explore my passion + curiosity for all things health, wellness, self growth & mindset. A big focus of mine is how to sustainably navigate a busy schedule and live my best life in the process. Welcome to my Channel! 📸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with me on IG!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

RESOURCES

▶︎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25 Day Self Development Marathon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠21 Day Self Growth Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Goal Setting System E-Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

LET’S BE FRIENDS

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If your brain won't stop, if you lie awake at night, spiral through the same thoughts, and feel like you can never fully switch off, this is going to change the way you think about that completely.

Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X and one of the most compelling minds on human happiness, doesn't just talk about training the brain. He's been doing it for decades. In this 11-minute clip he shares the three unconventional techniques he's developed to become the architect of his own mind, including the 30-minute Saturday practice that drains every thought until his brain has literally nothing left to say.

This isn't meditation as you know it. There's no breathing, no mantras, no trying to clear your mind. You do the opposite, you listen to every single thought until there are no more left. And what's on the other side of that, Mo says, is the closest thing to paradise he's ever felt.

If you've tried meditation and it hasn't worked, start here.

🎙️ From The Balance Theory Podcast - Full episode with Mo Gawdat available now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzLFPwVep00&list=PLfGbYDi4CkLa9s6XV2Rn2HbDi_khC9HOT

SPONSORS:

💵 CASH APP: Download Cash App Today #CashAppPod #CashAppPartner

Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement, for the Sutton debit flex card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-sutton and for the Bancorp debit flex card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-bancorp. Savings and Offers provided by Cash App, a Block Inc. brand. Offers may not be affiliated with third party merchants.

Parents and legal guardians can open a managed account for kids 6-12.

Cash App will pass through a portion of the interest paid on your savings balance held in an account for the benefit of Cash App customers at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. To earn interest on your Cash App savings balance, you need to have sponsor approval. Exceptions may apply. Savings yield rate is subject to change. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.

WHO AM I?

My name is Erika and I am an Australian living in Dubai. I have my own business as a strategic legal consultant and run this podcast to explore my passion + curiosity for all things health, wellness, self growth & mindset. A big focus of mine is how to sustainably navigate a busy schedule and live my best life in the process. Welcome to my Channel! 📸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with me on IG!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

RESOURCES

▶︎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25 Day Self Development Marathon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠21 Day Self Growth Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Goal Setting System E-Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

LET’S BE FRIENDS

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If you ever find yourself holding back in conversations, softening your opinions, or leaving an interaction feeling like you didn't quite show up as yourself, this is for you.

Most people don't realise they're doing it. But the desire to be liked is quietly running the show in almost every conversation you have. It's shaping what you say, how you say it, and how much of yourself you actually let people see.

In this 5-minute clip, communication expert Shereen Mitwali introduces the rule of thirds: the framework that will immediately change the way you show up. Once you understand it, the anxiety of not being liked loses its grip. You stop shrinking. You stop performing. And you start communicating from a place of confidence instead of approval-seeking.

This is the shift that makes you a better communicator without changing a single thing about who you are.

🎙️ From The Balance Theory Podcast - Full episode with Shereen Mitwali available now: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2PPygsJqlqvMH7Io6iYbDH?si=698cbb1619004744

WHO AM I?

My name is Erika and I am an Australian living in Dubai. I have my own business as a strategic legal consultant and run this podcast to explore my passion + curiosity for all things health, wellness, self growth & mindset. A big focus of mine is how to sustainably navigate a busy schedule and live my best life in the process. Welcome to my Channel! 📸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with me on IG!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

RESOURCES

▶︎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25 Day Self Development Marathon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠21 Day Self Growth Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Goal Setting System E-Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

LET’S BE FRIENDS

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If you've tried vision boards, affirmations, and positive thinking and nothing has changed, this clip is why. Regan Hillyer, one of the world's leading manifestation experts, breaks down the real reason your reality isn't shifting: you're unconsciously copy pasting your past into your future and calling it life.

In this insight clip (from our full podcast with Regan), she explains why wishful thinking alone will never work, what's actually happening at a quantum level when you try to manifest, and the simple 20-second practice (SNEAK PEEK: manifestation alarms) that conditions your energy to match the reality you want before it shows up.

This isn't spiritual bypassing. This is the practical mechanics of how to actually change your life.

🎙️ From The Balance Theory Podcast: Full episode with Regan Hillyer available now - watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP8O0ocW80M&list=PLfGbYDi4CkLa9s6XV2Rn2HbDi_khC9HOT&index=9

WHO AM I?

My name is Erika and I am an Australian living in Dubai. I have my own business as a strategic legal consultant and run this podcast to explore my passion + curiosity for all things health, wellness, self growth & mindset. A big focus of mine is how to sustainably navigate a busy schedule and live my best life in the process. Welcome to my Channel! 📸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with me on IG!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

RESOURCES

▶︎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25 Day Self Development Marathon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠21 Day Self Growth Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

▶︎ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Goal Setting System E-Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

LET’S BE FRIENDS

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🧡 This description may contain affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in this video and support the channel at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices