Make Life Fun Again: Inviting High Performing Women Quiet Themselves & Thrive In The Grind

Jill Williams
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

I’ve heard it said that podcasts are brain candy feeding our craving to having a voice in our ear and sparing us from the discomfort of sitting in silence with ourselves. If that’s what a podcast is, then you’ve found its antithesis. You’ve found a podcast that does not feed your craving for noise. You’ve found a podcast that invites you to quiet yourself, pause to think, then get back to it awakened, aligned and activated so you thrive in the grind and make life fun again. For 10 to 15 minutes each week, I’ll give you space to be still. But you have to want to take it. I'm Jill Williams, the founder and lead constructive disruptor at MettlEdge where I host conversations that help high performing women make life fulfilling, free, fresh and fun again so they keep going strong and lead others to do the same! By fun I don't mean easy, I mean enjoyable.  Not less busy,  but energizing.  Not comfortable, but real. Not doing everything,  but doing the everything you were made to do. The woman I constructively disrupt are often the ones who are doing everything, being everything, helping everyone, and silently burning out because they aren’t used to being the ones asking for help. I see you. Stop running on fumes. I know that place.  Here’s what else I know. What actually builds you into an excellent and enduring leader isn't more hustle — it's six things driven women rarely give themselves permission to do. I call them the Six Surrenders of MettlEdge Mentality: let there be compassion, let there be strength, let there be limits, let there be tension, let there be leadership, and let there be disappointment. Surrender to these, and you lead with real mettle — with grit, resilience, fortitude, and strength of character. You lead with a distinct MettlEdge. So let’s do this. Take my invitation to quiet yourself, pause to think, then get back to it awakened, aligned and activated so you so you thrive in the grind, lead others to do the same, and in doing so, make life fun again!   Every episode of this podcast moves through three stages — Awaken, Align, Activate. Each stage ends with a question for you followed by a minute of silence. I don’t tell you what to think. I create space for you to think. Ten minutes. Brain challenge, not brain candy. Let’s go!

  1. 05/16/2025

    S3:E10 Backstory

    Send us a text Welcome back to the Serenity in Motion Podcast! Or rather, I should welcome myself back since I missed last week and missed posting yesterday!  I’ve had a lot going on, like everyone in April and May.  But this April and May have been especially fun. ·      Our oldest son got married. ·      We’ve been blessed with an amazing daughter in law! ·      Our niece just graduated from Ouachita Baptist – shout out to the Tigers! ·      Our youngest turned 18 this week – and as she said to us, we have no more kids—only adults (depends on your point of view)  ·      And she is graduating from high school next week This is the 10th episode of the Resting in the arms of the one who disarmed you series, a 10-episode series. So, this is also the last episode of this podcast series. Finally.  Last time, I shared with you the MettlEdge Mindset Model, a tool to help you show up with compassion and bring the rain to a weary world.  Building this model for me has been the result of years of study, practice and failure on my part to engage with others well and to offer myself with freedom and joy and compassion.  I’ll let you into my world here a bit.  I live with an ongoing flood of ideas. If you do too, you know it. This ongoing flood of ideas has created a considerable burden for me. As much as I love the way I’m wired, it can generate shame, dissatisfaction and guilt within me.  Let me tell you how. I am 52 as of this recording. I cannot tell you the amount of ideas I’ve had over the course of my lifetime that have been developed and implemented by others. Ideas I’ve kept to myself. Ideas I’ve been afraid to share, unable to flesh out, incapable of communicating with clarity to others, um…and so many that I just forgot. What’s the big deal. What makes this a maker of share and dissatisfaction and guilt within me you ask?  I’ll tell you.  It’s about being a good steward of the gifts God put in me. It’s about offering them.  It matters that I offer the gifts God put in me in a way that ultimately is pleasing to Him. He put them there on purpose. He put me here on purpose. I’ve been made to contribute, to connect with God’s creation, to play my part.  It matters if I’m stuck.  And if I’m not risking doing anything besides receiving a flood of ideas, even with good intentions of developing them, with desire to develop them, but I’m stuck and I’m aware of that…shame finds me. And I have a choice.  I can take action or take on shame and stay stuck, dissatisfied and piling on guilt. I’ll never forget the first day I struggled to get out of bed in the morning. I was in my 20s and shame showed up, suffocating me. I don’t know how if happened, I don’t remember if I made a phone call or received one. But somehow I ended up in bed on the phone with my dad. I get my gift of gab and mind to develop other people from him. He usually has a lot to say. But that morning, he only said, Jill, you only have one choice. Get up. The call ended. I don’t even remember saying goodbye. I only remember being stunned that he didn’t say more.  That’s it. You have one choice. Get up. So I did. And it helped.    I’ve learned that inaction breeds apathy. And apathy breeds contempt.    I do not want to live an apathetic, contemptuous life. I want to one day stand before God having lived well. Having pleased him, having actually lived free.    Focus for a moment. What are you thinking about right now? Let yourself sit with it for a moment.  Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E10 Backstory

  2. 05/02/2025

    S3:E9 A PRACTICAL TOOL

    Send us a text Disclaimer: MettlEdge is a professional coaching company. While I have a personal belief system, when I coach I do not lead my clients to embrace my belief system. My job is to challenge them to align with their own personal values and beliefs.In my podcast episodes, especially this series, I openly share my faith in Jesus and my shared thoughts will often align with my beliefs.  I share my personal thoughts for the purpose of igniting yours. Agree or disagree with me, but think. Feel free to skip over this series if it is too aligned with my own personal faith for you to find benefit for yourself. Welcome to episode 9 of my current podcast series Resting in the Arms of the One Who Disarmed You. In episode 8 I broke open a discussion on shaping a strong sense of self, one anchored in the designer rather than in your design.  I talked about how when we are anchored in our designer, we are free to share our uniqueness with the world and do two beautiful things. 1. Put God on display 2. Find our flow This is the payoff. God gets the glory. We find our sweet spot.   As I said last week, for us, the idea of being unique, different, special can sometimes be more fascinating than the idea of putting God on display.  The feeling we get when we thrive in our flow can be more fulfilling to us than the purpose we have been given to flourish as imagers of God. As a result, instead of anchoring our identity in our designer, we anchor it in our distinct design. And we get entangled in putting ourselves on display to God’s watching world. Rather than finding our flow, we find ourselves trapped in a vortex of performance, focused on proving our worth because our sense of self is dependent on our design.   Think about your unique design for a moment. If you are a high-performing woman, especially one who has been shaped by college sports, you are likely driven by an inner motor. You have a clear, laser-sharp sense of direction—like you know exactly what you want and pursue it with focus and intent.  And you are deeply committed to discipline and consistency. If this is you, you innately operate with what I call 3-D Leadership and this podcast episode is all about elevating your leadership to 4-D. 4-D leadership is a maturing leadership, the kind of leadership practiced by maturing people. 3-D Driven, direct, and disciplined people may achieve success—and even find their own flow for a time—but if they fail to level up their compassion, care about how they impact others, figure out how to be themselves and relate well with others, their intensity becomes a leadership liability. Without the courage to add a new dimension, a mature disposition grounded in compassion, - that’s the 4th D – Disposition. Without the courage to care, they risk either overpowering those around them or shrinking back to avoid doing so. Compassion brings a non-threatening, don’t worry presence that ushers in a low-pressure front and washes over weariness and fatigue like a balm, like the sound of the rain. This week’s episode moves from the conceptional conversation around shaping our strong sense of self to a very practical tool to help us do it in our mundane, everyday life. It’s a tool to help you show up with compassion and bring the rain to a weary world.  Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E9 A PRACTICAL TOOL

  3. 04/28/2025

    S3:E8 MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT

    Send us a text Our origin gives us our identity. We are God’s creation, not our own. We belong to God. Our identity is anchored in him. Yet just because we are all children of God, we are not all the same. Each of us is created with a unique, God-given design. We are all originals. This is fascinating.  What is even more fascinating is that when we train up our minds to fan our distinctiveness into flame, when we take the time to train up our innate ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, we find our God-given sweet spot. And when we share that sweet spot with others, we put God on display to his watching world.  This is the payoff. God gets the glory. We find our sweet spot, our flow.   The thing is, for us, the idea of being unique, different, special can sometimes be more fascinating than the idea of putting God on display.  The feeling we get when we thrive in our flow can be more fulfilling to us than the purpose we have been given to flourish as imagers of God.  As a result, instead of anchoring our identity in our designer, we anchor it in our distinct design. And we get entangled in putting ourselves on display to God’s watching world.  Rather than finding our flow, we find ourselves trapped in a vortex of performance, focused on proving our worth because our sense of self is dependent on our design. What do you know about your unique design? If you are a high-performing woman, especially one who has been shaped by college sports, you are likely driven by an inner motor. You have a clear, laser-sharp sense of direction—like you know exactly what you want and pursue it with focus and intent. And you are deeply committed to discipline and consistency.  If this is you, you innately operate with what I call 3-D Leadership. Drive-Direction-Discipline. Your drive, direction, and discipline likely got you where you are today. But they can also the very things that burn you out.  As you lean into your innate drive, your clear sense of direction, and your deep commitment to discipline, you may be leaning into a sense of self anchored in your distinct 3-D capabilities, unwittingly putting yourself on display to God’s watching world, even if you are not fully aware that this is your true focus.  Rather than finding your flow, you find yourself trapped in a performance to prove our worth because your inner sense of self is defined by your outward behavior. How do you know if this is the case for you? When your ability to maintain a certain standard of behavior shifts, does your sense of self suffer? Do you wonder who you are if you cannot get the right things done in the right way? Does it seem that your powerful motor is sometimes driven by panic more than by pleasure? To share our sweet spot with others requires us to do what I talk about a lot in these podcasts, it requires us to individuate and relate.  This is the definition of maturity, of growth. To individuate and relate is to be your unique self around others. It is to grow in front of people. It’s to learn to just be with people, and not have to be something for them. That’s vulnerable.  If you want a way to put in the work to learn how to relate, to be with people without having to be something for them, that is what the 6-month MettlEdge SELECT Membership is all about.  The tool you get in your first cohort session is my Bring the RAIN Tool.  This tool gives you a practical way to unhook your identity from what you do so you show up fearless and free with others, serving them rather than performing for them.  Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E8 MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT

  4. 04/18/2025

    S3:E7 CONVINCED?

    Send us a text I was talking with a friend close to ten years ago and we came to the realization that our cognitive and emotional default rarely, if ever, seems to be the peace we have in Christ. This may be quite obvious to you, but for us, we were stopped by the realization. Naturally, we seem much like the snickers bar commercial before the snickers. That is, irritable, defensive, anxious. Think about it. If we aren’t these, it’s generally because we have taken some sort of action upon our inner selves to draw in the peace we have in Christ - to fan into flame. It’s on us to take this action. And we have been equipped to do so by the power of the Sprit in us who has given us a spirit of self-control. Yet, by default, our inner peace today is often crowded by a personal desire to not be inconvenienced. To not be disrupted. To not stop to take such time. Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E7 CONVINCED?

  5. 03/29/2025

    S3:E6 BIBLICAL OR NOT?

    Send us a text In the previous episode, I ended on the topic that we know that distancing ourselves from our feelings helps us process through them.  And we can use this truth and others to train up our emotional intelligence, giving us an emotional maturity that willfully enters in before emotions hijack. We can use such training to choose to shift our emotional states or stay in them. If we know we have this choice, we’ll probably be more liable to welcome in our emotions and be more capable to appropriately respond to the messages they bring rather than stuffing them for fear of their potential power over us.We have choice. We can choose calm, as the psalmist did. We can.But to do so, we must desire to welcome and train our emotions to align with Christ, just as we work to align our logical minds with Him. To fully train our minds, we must train both the emotional and the logical parts of our brain, as our emotional and cognitive processes work together to guide our decisions and actions.Remember, our emotions assign value to the choices we make. Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E6 BIBLICAL OR NOT?

  6. 03/14/2025

    S3:E5 Training Up The Mind

    Send us a text If our emotions assign value and we aren’t feeling, we are not generating value propositions upon which we have choice. We must first, then, be aware we are feeling anything at all – this opens us up to choose based on the message being sent by the emotion. Emotions are messengers. I learned this from from Mike Davis. He is known as the Emotional Success Coach and I found him in my search to align my Christian faith with the practice of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. NLP helps us learn the language of our minds and it was a taught to me in my coach certification training. I wasn’t sure whether to embrace NLP or run very far away as a Jesus follower. It can be used in what appear to be some pretty non-Christian ways. But it reveals our design. And God put that design in us. When I began looking for evidence of it’s use in the scriptures, it was there to be found. Of course, the name NLP is just another way to describe many ways we have modeled observable truth of our design for our uses. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Therapy(EMDR) are two others that take the observable truth about or design and put it to work to serve our growth. Therefore, I have come to conclude we are to use it. In fact, I have become compelled to share it, in light of our faith toward our joyful obedience to God.This is another part to why I study and research and share about this today.Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E5 Training Up The Mind

  7. 02/27/2025

    S3:E3 THE THINGS WE WANT WHEN THINGS CHANGE

    Send us a text Welcome to episode three of this 10-part Serenity in Motion podcast series called Resting In The Arms Of The One Who Disarmed YouThis series is all about how we lead based on how we show up. Because how we show up sets up how and where we lead others, and ourselves.It’s about showing up in a way that invites connection, optimizes performance and ushers in confidence and rest.I want to say this at the start again this week, when working with MettlEdge in any of our coaching memberships, you get a neutral, unbiased, confidential and welcoming space to gain clarity, make decisions, move forward, and thrive. We are a group of professionally trained and credentialed coaches.On this podcast, however, I will sometimes dive into my own values and beliefs, presenting faith content for thought. This happens to be one of those series…feel free to listen in, or tune in another time.If you’re tuning in…let’s get into itCopyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E3 THE THINGS WE WANT WHEN THINGS CHANGE

  8. 02/20/2025

    S3:E2 THE THINGS WE LOSE AND THE THINGS WE GAIN FROM CHANGE

    Send us a text Welcome to episode two of this 10-part Serenity in Motion podcast series called Resting In The Arms Of The One Who Disarmed YouThis series is all about how we lead based on how we show up. Because how we show up sets up how and where we lead others, and ourselves.It’s about showing up in a way that invites connection, optimizes performance and ushers in confidence and rest.As I said last week, it’s BOLD to show up that way. It’s bold to show up embodying the rest we are designed to have in Christ.In this week’s episode I’m going to talk about the things we lose and the things we gain from change. I’m going to do something I haven’t done on any of the other Serenity in Motion podcasts, I’m going to walk through a passage from scripture where Jesus addresses rest, but in a way we might not immediately recognize.Again, when working with MettlEdge in any of our coaching memberships, you get a neutral, unbiased, confidential and welcoming space to gain clarity, make decisions, move forward, and thrive. We are a group of professionally trained and credentialed coaches.On this podcast, however, I will sometimes dive into my own values and beliefs, presenting faith content for thought. This happens to be one of those series…the first in fact.Feel free to listen in, or tune in another time.The scripture I’m discussing today is Luke 11:14-23:Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching

    S3:E2 THE THINGS WE LOSE AND THE THINGS WE GAIN FROM CHANGE
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I’ve heard it said that podcasts are brain candy feeding our craving to having a voice in our ear and sparing us from the discomfort of sitting in silence with ourselves. If that’s what a podcast is, then you’ve found its antithesis. You’ve found a podcast that does not feed your craving for noise. You’ve found a podcast that invites you to quiet yourself, pause to think, then get back to it awakened, aligned and activated so you thrive in the grind and make life fun again. For 10 to 15 minutes each week, I’ll give you space to be still. But you have to want to take it. I'm Jill Williams, the founder and lead constructive disruptor at MettlEdge where I host conversations that help high performing women make life fulfilling, free, fresh and fun again so they keep going strong and lead others to do the same! By fun I don't mean easy, I mean enjoyable.  Not less busy,  but energizing.  Not comfortable, but real. Not doing everything,  but doing the everything you were made to do. The woman I constructively disrupt are often the ones who are doing everything, being everything, helping everyone, and silently burning out because they aren’t used to being the ones asking for help. I see you. Stop running on fumes. I know that place.  Here’s what else I know. What actually builds you into an excellent and enduring leader isn't more hustle — it's six things driven women rarely give themselves permission to do. I call them the Six Surrenders of MettlEdge Mentality: let there be compassion, let there be strength, let there be limits, let there be tension, let there be leadership, and let there be disappointment. Surrender to these, and you lead with real mettle — with grit, resilience, fortitude, and strength of character. You lead with a distinct MettlEdge. So let’s do this. Take my invitation to quiet yourself, pause to think, then get back to it awakened, aligned and activated so you so you thrive in the grind, lead others to do the same, and in doing so, make life fun again!   Every episode of this podcast moves through three stages — Awaken, Align, Activate. Each stage ends with a question for you followed by a minute of silence. I don’t tell you what to think. I create space for you to think. Ten minutes. Brain challenge, not brain candy. Let’s go!

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