Be the CEO of Your Life and Business Podcast

Laura Catina

Welcome to the Be the CEO of Your Life & Business Podcast with your host, Laura Catina. This podcast was created for those juggling pursuing their career, family life, and everything that comes with it! Building a career, running a business, and running your life can sometimes seem near impossible.  In the Be the CEO of Your Life & Business Podcast, I will share my experience building my career as a female attorney, raising a family, and maintaining wellness. 

  1. 6d ago

    Episode 274: The September Reset: Why Your New Year Starts Now

    I don’t love the idea of New Year’s resolutions. By the time the ball drops, the holidays have wrung me out and the last thing I want is a list of rules for the “new me.” But September always hits differently. The kids go back. The schedule resets. The house gets quiet again at 8:15 for the first time since June. It turns out I'm not alone in that — “September is the new January” is everywhere in working-mom content right now, and there's a real reason for it: this reset actually matches our calendar. Here's what I want to be careful of, though. Scroll for five minutes and you'll also see the other September trend — the “Great Lock-In.” Extreme discipline, optimize everything. That's not a reset. That's just a different flavor of the 50/50 standard I told you was a lie last week, dressed up for fall. So this episode is the practical follow-through on everything we talked about with seasons. I'll walk through how I use the season framework to plan the next twelve weeks, why a reset and a lock-in are not the same thing, and the three things going on my list this fall — with everything else deliberately staying off it. In this episode: →   Why September, not January, is the real reset for working moms — and why the calendar backs that up →   The difference between a “lock-in” and a reset, and why one of them burns you out by Halloween →   How I use the season framework from last week to plan the next twelve weeks →   The three things going on my list this fall — and what I'm deliberately leaving off →   A permission slip to plan this season without doing it perfectly If this one's useful, send it to a working mom who's about to scroll her way into a lock-in she doesn't actually want.

  2. Aug 9

    Episode 273: Back in My Old Chair: What I Wish I’d Known About Balance

    Last Thursday I had a real estate closing at my old office — and I ended up sitting in a chair I sat in for eleven years, at the firm I left in 2019. I hadn't been in that chair since December of that year. My kids were born during those years. So were the nanny disasters, the 4 a.m. workouts, and the stretch I can only describe as drowning with a career and three little kids. Sitting there again, all I wanted was five minutes with the woman who used to sit there. That, plus a conversation with Kim on our Legacy League mastermind call, put the same topic in front of me twice in one week. And August — the deep breath before September's tidal wave — is exactly the right time for it. So I'll say it plainly: work-life balance is a lie. The 50/50 split — fully present at home, fully focused at work, everything humming — is a fictitious ideal. Chasing it made me feel like I was failing at everything, at a time when I was actually doing the work and doing it well. What's real is seasons. Some pull you toward home: the winter everyone is sick, the childcare that collapses overnight, the spring calendar that swallows you whole. Some pull you toward work: a federal trial in Manhattan, a jury trial in February, an acquisition that turns your firm upside down. I've lived all of them. Both kinds are normal. Neither one is failure. In this episode I share the childcare crisis that upended our entire routine, the trip to Aruba my husband surprised me with for my 40th that I couldn't fully enjoy because I was worried about the office, and exactly what I'd tell my younger self — the one taking care of her partner, her clients, her kids, her house and her husband, and nobody else. In this episode: Why the 50/50 model sets working moms up to feel like they're failingThe Grant Cardone line that changed how I think about all of it: "There's no work life and home life. It's just life."Real examples of home-heavy and work-heavy seasons across nearly two decades of practiceThe one thing I dropped for years that can't get dropped in any seasonHow to walk into September without an impossible standard If this one hits home, share it with a working mom who's holding herself to a standard nobody can meet. Check out my favorite supplements and workouts that keep me on track all year long: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  3. Aug 2

    Episode 272: Separation Season - Using AI to Achieve Your Goals

    In this episode, I’m talking about “separation season” — that stretch of late summer when you can slow down just enough to get intentional, sharpen your goals, and put yourself ahead before fall begins. I share how I’m using this time to focus on planning, improving my business systems, and staying consistent with personal goals instead of letting August slip by. A big part of that strategy is AI. I walk through the ways I’m using tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and NotebookLM to support both my professional and personal life — from organizing work, comparing documents, and tracking email to building meal plans, adjusting macros, and staying on top of fitness goals. I also explain how AI has become a true companion in my workflow, not a replacement, and how it can help you stay accountable, efficient, and focused. If you’re looking for a way to make the most of the rest of summer and head into fall with more clarity and momentum, this episode is for you. Check out the supplements and workouts that keep me on track all year long here: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  4. Jul 26

    Episode 271: The Boundary You Haven’t Set is the Reason You Can’t Rest

    During the week after I told you about walking out of the office at four o'clock, I received a late night text from a client. And for about four seconds, I almost responded and let the whole “I need to rest” conversation from last week evaporate. That's what this episode is about. Last week we talked about giving yourself permission to rest. This week I want to talk about what allows you to rest: permission doesn't hold without a boundary behind it. You can decide, in your journal, in your car, in your own head, that rest matters. But the first time someone calls at 7 a.m., or your kid needs a ride during your one quiet hour, or a client emails “just circling back” for the third time on a Saturday — that decision gets tested. And if there's no boundary attached to it, it loses. In this episode, I'm walking through why boundaries feel like conflict for so many of us, what a boundary actually sounds like when you say it out loud, and how to hold it the first time someone pushes back — because someone always pushes back. A boundary is not a wall. It's the thing that makes the rest you fought for last week actually stick. In this episode: • Why the rest from Episode 270 doesn't survive contact with your calendar without this next step • The real reason boundaries feel like conflict when you've built your identity on being the one who handles it • How to set a boundary in one sentence — without a paragraph of justification attached • The exact language I use with clients, my team, and my own kids • What to do in the first ten seconds after someone pushes back — because they will Check out my favorite supplements and workouts that help keep me on track all year round here: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  5. Jul 19

    Episode 270: Rest is Not a Reward: Why Slowing Down Can Be the Most Productive Thing You Can Do

    A few weeks ago, I walked out of my office the day before the Fourth of July weekend and told my team to shut it down at four o’clock. And I felt guilty about it. Guilty. For leaving early on a holiday weekend after one of the most stressful stretches I’ve had in years. That guilt is exactly what this episode is about. So many high-achieving women — women who are building businesses, raising families, managing teams, holding everything together — have been conditioned to believe that rest is something you earn. That you get to stop after you’ve done enough. But that’s not how recovery works. And it’s not how sustainable success works either. In this episode, I’m getting honest about my own complicated relationship with rest, why I think the permission problem is at the root of burnout for most high-achieving women, and the practical steps I’ve been taking to actually recover — not just pause between sprints. Rest is not a reward. It is a strategy. And it might be the most important and most underused tool you have. In this episode: • Why high-achieving women are so bad at giving themselves permission to rest — and the identity piece underneath it • What real, restorative rest actually looks like (it’s not just sleep) • Why a weekend is not sufficient recovery for months of sustained high effort • The permission problem: why we’re physically present in rest but mentally still in the grind • Three practical tools to start recovering intentionally — without a week off or a spa retreat Check out the supplements and workouts that keep me on track through every season here: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  6. Jul 12

    Episode 269: Be the CEO of Your Health: How to Take Control of Your Wellness in Every Season

    You’ve heard me talk about being the CEO of your life and your business. But this week, I want to add a third title to that list: CEO of your health. Nobody else is going to take charge of your wellness for you. Not your doctor, not the algorithm, not the supplement ad that keeps showing up in your feed. That responsibility belongs to you — and the good news is, there are more tools available right now to help you do it than ever before. In this episode, I’m getting into all three pillars of what it means to truly own your health: your fitness, your nutrition, and your mental wellness. I’m sharing how I use AI to get granular with my macros, how I researched my way to a solution for endometriosis that my doctor didn’t offer me, how I used ChatGPT to vet a supplement I was about to buy off Instagram, and what my current mental wellness routine actually looks like — including the two-minute tapping meditations that are getting me through the day. This is a follow-up to last week’s episode on at-home fitness, and it goes deeper into the mindset behind all of it: setting the intention that you — and only you — are the one in the driver’s seat when it comes to your health. In this episode: • What it actually means to be the CEO of your health — and why it starts with intention • How I use ChatGPT to track and adjust my macros in real time • The endometriosis story: how I researched my own solution and went gluten-free 13 years ago • Why you can’t base your health decisions on what you see on Instagram • How I used AI deep research to vet a supplement before buying it • The three pillars of health: fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness • My current mental wellness routine: tapping meditations, deep breathing, and keeping it bite-sized Check out my favorite supplements and workouts that keep me on track here: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  7. Jul 5

    Episode 268: My Workout Evolution: How I Stopped Fighting My Season of Life and Moved Anyway

    If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll get back to working out once things slow down — this episode is for you. I started working out at 16. I was a gym person for years — the kind who would work a 10-hour day and head straight to the gym for two hours. Then I had kids. Then I couldn’t run anymore. Then perimenopause hit and nothing I was doing was working. Every single one of those transitions felt like failure in the moment. None of them were. In this episode, I’m sharing the full story of my fitness journey — from gym obsession to at-home workouts to 21 Day Fix to running two half marathons to Pilates, strength training, and now Progressive Overload. More importantly, I’m talking about the mindset shift that made all of it possible: letting go of what fitness “has to” look like and meeting yourself where you actually are. If you’re a working mom trying to figure out how to fit movement into your life, this one is for you. You don’t have to go to the gym. You just have to start. In this episode: • Why at-home workouts were a game-changer — and why I resisted them for so long • How 21 Day Fix changed my life after having three kids under three • What happened to my fitness routine when perimenopause hit — and how I adapted • Why letting go of what used to work is not failure — it’s evolution • How to find even 20–30 minutes in your day and make it count Check out my favorite supplements and workouts here: https://linktr.ee/lauracatina

  8. Jun 28

    Episode 267: Next Version of You: Identity, Emotional Fitness and Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be

    There’s a particular kind of discomfort that high-achieving women know well — the feeling that you’ve outgrown who you’ve been, but you haven’t quite stepped into who you’re becoming. You’re not burned out exactly. You’re not failing. But something feels off, like you’re wearing a version of yourself that no longer quite fits. That’s an identity shift — and it’s one of the most disorienting, undertalked experiences in a woman’s professional and personal life. In this episode, we’re going deep on two of the big conversations in personal development right now: the identity shifts that happen at major career and life transitions, and the emotional fitness work required to move through them without burning out or shutting down. This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about evolving — and learning to hold space for the version of you that’s still becoming. In this episode: • What an identity shift actually looks and feels like — and why high achievers often miss it • Why emotional fitness is the skill that determines how gracefully you navigate change • The difference between burnout and an identity crisis — and why it matters • Practical tools for building emotional strength without adding to your already full plate • How to stop white-knuckling the woman you were and make room for who you’re becoming

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4.7
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Be the CEO of Your Life & Business Podcast with your host, Laura Catina. This podcast was created for those juggling pursuing their career, family life, and everything that comes with it! Building a career, running a business, and running your life can sometimes seem near impossible.  In the Be the CEO of Your Life & Business Podcast, I will share my experience building my career as a female attorney, raising a family, and maintaining wellness. 

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