B. Light Podcast

I want to ask you something.

When is the last time you genuinely rested — not because you’d earned it, not because you’d finally finished everything on your list, not because you were so depleted you had no other choice — but because you had built it in?

For most of us, that question lands differently than we’d like it to.

We’ve been conditioned to treat rest as a prize. Something that waits at the end of the hard thing. And so we keep pushing, keep producing, keep promising ourselves that rest is coming — just as soon as this season slows down.

But the season never slows down. It just changes shape.

This episode is the one I most wanted to make this season. We talk about why reactive rest can’t restore you, what it actually means when you need a vacation from your own life, and what changes when you stop treating rest as something you earn and start treating it as something you build in.

You can’t heal in the same rhythm that exhausted you.

If this episode is stirring something — the Rhythm Reset was made for exactly this moment. Come rebuild your rhythm with us.

Links

Join the Rhythm Reset: http://brieannalightfootsmith.com/reset

Take the free R.E.S.T. Assessment: http://restwell.space

There’s a woman I keep meeting.

She shows up in my workshops, in my DMs, in conversations with friends over dinner. She’s the one everyone calls first. The one who delivers, every time, without complaint. The one who holds things together so well that nobody ever thinks to ask if she’s okay — because she always seems to be.

She is not okay.

Not in a crisis way. But in a quietly depleted, slightly resentful, can’t remember the last time I did something just for me kind of way.

This episode is for her. It’s also for me, because I have been her and if I’m honest there are still moments when I slip back into that version of myself without even noticing.

We talk about where the pattern comes from, what it’s actually costing you, and the reframe that changed things for me: overfunctioning is not generosity. It’s a coping strategy.

You can be someone people count on without counting yourself out.

Being dependable shouldn’t require self-abandonment.

Links

Take the free R.E.S.T. Assessment: http://restwell.space

Grab Your Freedom & Flow Planner: brieannalightfootsmith.com/flow

Get more support by joining me at the Rhythm Reset: http://brieannalightfootsmith.com/reset

I used to have a complicated relationship with my to-do list.

It was long. It was color-coded. It was completely disconnected from my actual capacity. And checking things off of it felt productive right up until the moment I realized I was exhausted and couldn’t name a single thing I’d accomplished that actually mattered to me.

Sound familiar?

Here’s what I’ve come to understand: most of us aren’t failing at productivity. We’re succeeding at the wrong thing. We’ve optimized for output when what we needed was alignment — doing what actually matters in the season we’re actually in, with the capacity we actually have.

In this episode we’re dismantling the myth that more productivity is the answer and replacing it with something more honest. We talk about why most planning systems eventually break down, what it means to audit your commitments with real intention, and what it looks like when your calendar starts telling the truth.

Busy is not the same as building. And you don’t need to become more productive. You need to become more intentional.

Links mentioned in this episode.

Grab Your Freedom & Flow Planner — built for alignment, not just efficiency: http://brieannalightfootsmith.com/flow

Take the free R.E.S.T. Assessment: http://restwell.space

In this episode, I’m introducing the concept that sits at the center of everything I do: the difference between discipline and rhythm. Discipline can help you push through. Rhythm is what helps you sustain your life and work consistently.

Unfortunately, a lot of high-capacity women are living in a cycle of push, produce, crash, recover, repeat and normalizing it as just being busy.

We’re changing that today.

This episode is the foundation for everything this season. If you’ve been running on empty and wondering why more effort isn’t fixing it — grab your notebook to jot down your takeaways.

As you continue to build, the goal isn’t to become a more disciplined version of yourself. It’s to become a more supported one.

Links

Take the free R.E.S.T. Assessment: http://restwell.space

Grab your Freedom & Flow Planner: http://brieannalightfootsmith.com/flow

If you’ve been here before — welcome back. If you’re new — I’m so glad you found your way in.

This is the B. Light Podcast, and this season, we’re doing something different.

I’m Brieanna Lightfoot Smith — leadership and wellbeing strategist, speaker, entrepreneur, wife, and mom of four. For the last few years, I’ve been quietly doing the work of building a life that doesn’t require me to override myself to sustain it. This season is a reflection of that work.

In this episode, I’m sharing what shifted for me, what this season is going to be about, and what you can expect from the conversations ahead. We’re talking about rhythm, rest, leadership, burnout, identity, and the systems that help high-capacity women build lives they can actually sustain.

Because success should not require self-abandonment.

We’re building differently now. And I’m really glad you’re here for it.

Links —————————

Take my free Rest Assessment: http://restwell.space

Grab a Freedom and Flow Planner: http://brieannalightfootsmith.com/flow

Connect with me on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/brieanna-lightfoot-smith

Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)

The Lord will work out His plans for my life for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me for you made me. Psalm 138:8 (NLT)

For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Romans 11:29 (NLT)

I’ve been a writer since I was 6 years old.

My first book was The Cloud Factory — inspired by an industrial plant that is about 7 minutes down the street from where I currently live. I beat out the whole school in 5th grade for a fiction writing competition - my prize was a purple bear with a pink heart that had candy in it.

In college, I would do open mic nights and I also had the opportunity to write for an Argentinian magazine called El Sol De San Telmo during my semester abroad. It was fantastic.

I’ve written poems, plays and songs, anything that allowed me to use writing as my creative outlet.

Despite this track record with writing, after college I convinced myself that it wasn’t a feasible career path or that if I chose to write I’d find myself having some sort of pay my dues, Devil Wears Prada moment.

Part of me wonders if writing for almost 15 years had me believe that while it was a wonderful way to express myself it would never be fruitful financially.

After graduation I started a business, which led to my first and only corporate job and working in the field of digital marketing. This gave me a way to channel my writing skills in a way that felt close enough to the work I’d set out to do as a kid.

Sure, I wasn’t writing thought pieces or tales that stuck with people guiding them through hard moments but I was still being a creative.

Something happened in those earlier days of my career that I didn’t expect.

I got the nudge to write a book for young black girls who were struggling to navigate through life with confidence. That book led to two others around the same topic and eventually I’d go on to write a devotional about my first pregnancy with our oldest son Jaden.

As exciting as it was to have published each of these books, I had to pay for the publication.

I have no regrets. I know I’ve earned back my investment at least 3-fold with the Black Girl’s Guide series. The devotional is…a story for another day.

But having to pay to publish my work started creating a storyline that recurred again and again. “People won’t pay me for my writing so I need to find other ways to bring income in.”

In the summer of 2024 however something switched.

I realized I’d never make a living as a writer and a speaker (both dreams deferred) if I didn’t consistently show up as someone who felt like her ideas were worth paying for - if I didn’t make the effort to be paid to write and speak then I couldn’t be frustrated about the lack of offers I felt I was getting.

Inspired by Matt Higgins’ book Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential, I closed down my coaching and consulting company.

I didn’t immediately jump into what was next. Instead, I spent nearly a year excavating the beliefs that were underneath so many of the action I’d been taking. Beliefs around money, beliefs about worth and security. I even excavated the foundations of my faith. At one point I realized I overworked myself because I wanted to “earn my keep” rather than rest in the finished work God already started in me.

During this career gap, I also chose to explore what topics I actually wanted to spend time writing about, thought pieces and devotionals like this that didn’t just address fruit problems but the root problems underneath them.

Finally, after all my excavating and exploring I extracted the stories I’d lived. Ones like me passing out in my car while pregnant.

As I looked across numerous experiences one thing became clear to me —I wanted to write and speak to the high-achieving, high-capacity women who were tired, burned out and worn out from overworking. I wanted to encourage the nurturers who spent so much time being accessible and available that they were constantly operating at an emotional deficit. I felt a need to connect with the builders who were so committed to seeing their vision come to pass that they never sat down to enjoy the progress they’re already making. The healers, the watchers and dreamers - these women, women like you, were and are my assignment and once that was clear I found myself asking another question.

“What do these women need?”

Through surveys, live conversations and simple observation that answer was also clear - they, you, we need R - E - S - T.

Rest from the emotionally, physically and mentally draining labor of everything we have carried in the past and are still carrying.

This process has taken 15 months and seeing where I’ve landed has filled me with an immense sense of gratitude that God did not allow me to rush the process.

I see how every no I’ve encountered, was preparing me for a greater yes. Everything I thought was sent to deter me was actually putting me in alignment with my God given assignment.

At the beginning of the year I was charged to create a “True North Statement” as a part of Jo Franco’s Self-Made Year program and through prayer, brainstorming and some assist from Chat this is where I landed:

By the end of 2026 I will be a leading voice on rest, rhythm and sustainable leadership. I build influence and income through writing, teaching and designing frameworks that challenge burnout and help high-capacity leaders lead from a place of overflow and not exhaustion.

This isn’t just a declaration of faith however, it’s a roadmap and a way to level set. Looking at this statement helps me to decide quickly if an opportunity is a no or a yes and the opportunities have already started coming in.

I have a speaking engagement this weekend where I’m discussing The Power of R.E.S.T.™.

I have two more speaking engagements next month, along with my first vendor event since my planner was released.

I sent a pitch out to a major publication this week and not only did the editor like my pitch but they want to PAY ME!

What I’ve realized through all of this is that in all my working over the years there was still a key missing ingredient of belief.

Belief dictates behavior and while I could say all day long “I’m a writer and a speaker” I kept taking on roles that didn’t align with that identity.

Website designs that I was proud of but took me away from where I said I wanted to be…brand strategy sessions with people who’d heard about the work I’d done with Brands by Brie.

A sister on here said “Faith without works may be dead but works without faith is burnout waiting to happen.”

I’m reminded of what Joshua 1:3 says:

“I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses.”

This shows me our dreams aren’t going to just show up on a platter and while we don’t need to overwork, we still have a responsibility to go after them.

Proverbs 14:23 puts it like this:

“There is profit in hard work, but mere talk leads to poverty.”

We can say all day what we’re going to do but until we start moving in that direction, we can’t be upset that we’re not seeing progress.

I encourage you to dust off that dream you’ve been sitting on. Have FAITH for what’s ahead. Start showing up as the person you’ve told yourself you are and be okay with the dead weight you may have to lose in the process.

The answer to my question - “What do you do with a dream deferred?”

Keep believing and go after it.

Even if it seems like it’s taking long, it will surely come and will not delay….that’s Bible friend.

And if you need some extra verses you can come back to in this season I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a list of them and putting them on cute printable sheets!

These are the type of goodies my paid subscribers get but I’m feeling SUPER excited about all my good news so this week you’re getting free access.

Please know that I’m praying for you and I’m root…

The South often gets a bad rap about how we handle winter weather but what I think is important for other regions of the nation to understand is where northerners and midwesterners (Hey Mizzou crew) are accustomed to navigating snow and ice storms - for us down in the South these happen on an annual or maybe bi-annual basis.

As a result, we don’t spend a ton of funds investing in snow plows and salt to cover the roads and many times our spending on winter infrastructure is not the best.

Where we are proactive with weather, or least they have been this week, is in cancelling events and other obligations when we hear word something is coming.

I had three events I planned on attending this week that were postponed or changed to virtual and I’m still getting real-time updates on things that aren’t even happening until Sunday morning!

This type of widespread response can create a sort of anxiety and consequently many folks stay in, not because of the likelihood of danger, but because of the potential threat of it.

My dad was one of the brave few who ventured out into the “wild” earlier this week to get his registration sticker updated. As someone who was raised in the state of Denver, he’s not one to become overly anxious about snow or ice and he’s the absolute last person you’d expect to get a ticket for being out of compliance.

After he returned home from his errand, we spoke on the phone and he said “it’s not the highways that are bad, it’s the side roads.” I couldn’t shake that implication.

Many times in our lives we talk ourselves out of taking certain risks because of how hard or bad others have said they’ll be. Often times though, the very people giving the report are either sharing second hand information or information that’s heavily informed by what they’ve experienced previously.

As a result, we hear their reports and decide to “barricade ourselves in,” completely disregarding how smooth the road ahead of us can be if we’d only make the effort to get out onto it.

I think of the launch of my Freedom and Flow planners last month and how at one point I’d convinced myself that I simply didn’t know enough to branch out into this new business.

But then, I remembered that:

* This wasn’t my first business

* My husband runs an e-commerce company

* I’d already validated the idea in different circles

* I told myself I was going to have a planner out into the world by January

So I pressed ahead, and the feedback was better than I could have anticipated!

My goal for the week was 10 sales and we doubled it!

I’m reminded of a Bible verse that says:

Those who watch the wind blow will never sow, and those who observe the clouds will never reap.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (CEB)

In other words, if you’re waiting on the perfect conditions to make a move, you’re always going to be waiting.

You have no idea who is on the other side of you taking the risk, of starting the org, applying for the job or accepting the position.

But you don’t need to know to move forward, you only need to be decisive.

Don’t let the “weather warnings” keep you frozen in place.

Go out and do something different. Don’t allow what you believe about what will happen keep you from moving forward, behave as if you’ve already received everything you’re pursuing.

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing you will receive a reward from your father in Heaven.

Colossians 3:23

My daughter is in the phase of life where everything is meant to be opened.Cabinets. Drawers. Bags. Possibilities 😂. If it can be grabbed, she’s going exploring.

Last week, her grandfather sent us a big batch of snacks which he tends to do every few months or so and as a family of 6, our pockets and our pantry are extremely appreciative!

One of the snacks he’d purchased was Stellar Pretzel Braids - a huge Lightfoot Smith hit. I’d already taken the liberty to open up a bag and put some pretzels in a ziplock so homegirl could have easy access.

She politely looked at the bag, grabbed it and then put it down and went back into the kitchen.

Less than 3 minutes passed before she came back not just with 1 but with 2 unopened bags of the pretzels, despite the fact that I’d opened one for her already.

As I looked at her I couldn’t help but chuckle because I immediately was able to see how often I approach my relationship with God, my prayer requests and even my level of expectation, the same way my daughter was approaching me.

Let’s break it down, shall we?

Let’s say I’ve asked God to allow me to be financially wealthy.

He says “Bet.” Then, presents me with a business idea or He presents me with an opportunity to work at a very prestigious organization that is well equipped to leverage my unique talents and gifts.

I either build the business or take the job but then notice the business idea is taking a while to get off the ground or feel like the corporate job isn’t providing me with what I deem is the necessary recognition.

So I go back to God and ask Him - “God please help me to be financially wealthy! I don’t want to continue to be in these same situations.”

I operate as if He is suddenly going to put it on someone’s heart to write me a check for $1M and of course I’d give Him all the glory.

But the truth is, when I asked Him the first time, He already set that plan in motion.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says this “But remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich. He keeps the agreement he promised to your ancestors. So it is today.”

Notice it says He gives you the power, not the riches.

Why is this?

Because God shows throughout scripture that He values work ethic.

Need receipts?

* Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”.

* Ephesians 6:7-8: “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people”.

* Proverbs 6:6-11: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”.

* Proverbs 14:23: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty”.

* Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom”.

* 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”.

* Genesis 2:15: God placed man in Eden “to work it and take care of it.”

* Proverbs 16:3: “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans”.

Unfortunately, we can often operate like entitled children, wanting God to give to us what He has already provided!

He takes our gifts (think of them like El’s pretzels), puts them on the inside of us and entrusts us to utilize them. But just like she did we often look at the gifts, consider them for a while then “drop the bag” and go look for something else that feels more exciting.

I want you to hear me when I say this.

Both you and I have an opportunity to treat work as worship.

Not worship the work and assume that the higher paying role, the increased visibility or the sudden windfall is going to be the thing to make the difference.

If you do get a $1M check tomorrow you still must work to steward it. In the same way that if God answers your prayers to get married, have kids, move to another home you’ll have to nurture your relationship with your spouse, raise your children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4) and you’ll still have to clean your home, tend your garden and make repairs on your home as needed.

It’s so tempting to believe our happiness resides somewhere else, somewhere beyond the place we can reach. But developing this mindset negates our personal responsibility.

No matter what season of life you are in there is work to be done and there’s only so much you can do to avoid it. So instead, of constantly changing direction or getting caught up in shiny object syndrome I want to encourage you to do the last thing God said.

This season isn’t about collecting more information it is allowing all the information you’ve gathered over time to turn into insight and allowing that insight to turn into action.

James 1:22-25 (NLT) says it like this:

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

Your doing is where the change you’ve been seeking actually lives.

So ask yourself - “What have I missed because I thought it would be packaged differently?”

And if you’re in need of some accountability, drop it in the comments and we can chat more about what you’re seeing!

I’m telling on myself in the comments. So meet me there or beat me there.

Talk to you next week!