Designing Your Life With Purpose: Tools and Strategies with Nicole Greene

Nicole Greene is a Business and Lifestyle Strategist for badass women founders and executives who are committed to high performance in multiple non-negotiable roles (think executive, founder, mom, caretaker). Her actionable strategies and systems help these women step out of survival mode and achieve success, in life and business.

Nicole’s passion for this work comes from her own experience making herself small (and eventually burning out) across a highly successful career, from defense intelligence to artisan chocolates, CPG and Health Tech, during which she founded three companies and built several others from Seed to Series B.

Nicole describes herself as a recovering workaholic and forever high performer. She’s a classically-trained pastry chef, perpetual learner and dedicated mentor, as well as a mom of two boys (and an Australian Cattle Dog), living in Miami, FL. Nicole has a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Miami.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

• (02:14) "I’m on a mission to help women step out of survival mode and step into their lives."

• (05:11) Michael and Nicole discuss survival mode:

  • Overwhelmed version: Feeling like you’re sprinting on a treadmill and can’t stop. Hyperfocused on the tactical and urgent.
  • Underwhelmed version: Going through the motions, unfulfilled, uninspired, and lacking fulfillment.

• (10:22) Nicole explains how people often default to societal definitions of success and lose sight of their own fulfillment. She encourages defining success on your own terms and aligning your decisions accordingly.

• (13:15) Nicole introduces her Satisfaction Self-Assessment, a tool to evaluate life satisfaction across 13 areas, identify gaps, and prioritize intentional changes.

• (16:47) Michael emphasizes the importance of carving out dedicated time for intentional thinking and long-term planning. Both discuss the concept of decision-making frameworks to prioritize important tasks over urgent ones.

• (23:04) Michael and Nicole dive into agency and ownership. Nicole shares that once you realize you’re making choices, it becomes empowering—you can start making different decisions.

• (26:36) Nicole shares her personal experience of making herself small in pursuit of societal success, overachieving, and sacrificing other parts of her identity. Rediscovering nature and balance helped her regain agency.

• (32:19) Nicole stresses the importance of transition rituals and setting boundaries to create clarity and focus during the day.

• (39:00) Michael introduces his concept of "soul-led, head-planned" decision-making, where the heart or soul leads with passion, and the head creates the actionable plan.

• (43:18) Nicole highlights the importance of managing time, energy, and attention. She shares her dream calendar system, designed to align your priorities and boundaries with your daily schedule.

• (51:05) Michael shares his ADHD diagnosis and how understanding his brain led him to create systems to stay organized and intentional, using tools like Notion to stay on track and avoid being overwhelmed by defaults.

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BOOKS AND RESOURCES

• "Know what you're going for... define your version of success." - quote from Nicole
• "The things that felt automatic... once I realized I was choosing them, I knew I could choose something else." - another quote from Nicole
• The Good Inside - a book Nicole recommends
• The Opposable Mind - another book Nicole recommends
• Connect with Nicole on her website and LinkedIn.