139 - Elizabeth Kraus Asks Herself 3 Questions Every Day

Elizabeth Kraus has spent the last 15 years trying to figure out how to integrate her passion, specifically fitness, into her life without sacrificing her ability to be a badass businesswoman. Elizabeth’s day job is as the founder of Mergelane, a VC fund that invests in and supports women-led businesses. Elizabeth has curated the life she wants to lead without sacrificing her quality of work, workouts or relationships. She attributes much of her success in this area to a philosophy called Conscious Leadership which we talk about today. At the peak of her work-play experiment, Elizabeth skied 94 days in one season and was insanely productive at work. There were some parts of her life that suffered and it should be noted that she had the flexibility to craft a lifestyle that was geared almost exclusively around her needs. But for the most part, she proved that it’s possible. And she figured out how to make it happen. Today she shares her path and learnings with you.  Here’s my challenge as you listen to today’s episode: This about this question. Are you living the best life for you? If not, what do you wish you could include that you don’t? Today we talk about: How to include fitness/sports into your life without giving up the other important things Body image: how different sports may affect our body image for different reasons Enneagram Test: What type are you? Specifically Type 1 - the Reformer - Check out your type today. The pursuit of perfection Fitting fitness into an overflowing life Hiking meetings (and other sports that allow for social interaction like skiing!) Conscious Leadership: The foundation for changing the way you think Cutting out the junk miles: First figure out what the junk miles are! Natural sleep and awake rhythm: everything changes when you figure yours out and change your schedule around it Mergelane: Being a woman in the primarily men's dominated world of investing Decision to forgo motherhood: This is a big topic In addition, after we recorded, Elizabeth posted this article that shares more details on how Conscious Leadership helped her save 5 hours a day. This is worth the read. We all need 5 extra hours every day to bring only our best selves to the world.  I appreciate Elizabeth for so many reasons. She’s an open book. We talk about some really difficult topics and she shares with one goal: To help others. Elizabeth is smart, hard-working, driven, caring, compassionate. As she mentions with the Enneagram test, she’s also a perfectionist who must balance her pursuit of perfection with the natural messiness of life. I headed over to the enneagram website to see what type I am. I’m still trying to figure it out! You’ll have to check it out and let me know yours. In the end, we’re all seeking a life that allows us to live to our fullest. Elizabeth has cracked the code in a sense; I hope you got something from this episode that will help you run your world in a bigger and better way