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How To Handle And Successfully Navigate Career Burnout With Luis Báez
“Excuses are the tools of idiots. And I’m way too smart to be fucking around with excuses.”
In this episode, Nick speaks with Luis Báez, who shares his journey from growing up in poverty to working at top companies like Google and Tesla, and how he experienced burnout in the corporate world. There’s a major emphasis on the importance of self-mastery, inclusion, and the power of asking for what you want in life.
What to listen for:
“I have a blank canvas. I have a permanent blank check in life. And I am not subject to any pressures or any biological clocks.”
“I nearly killed myself for my career to prove myself to people that at the end of the day didn’t even impress me.”
“You only ever get what you ask for in life, period. You want that date, go approach that person. You want that check, go ask for it. You want that job, go get it.”
About Luis Báez
Luis is a Revenue Enablement Strategist + Sales Coach dedicated to serving executives and sales leaders at businesses.
In 2017, after years of working in some of the biggest Silicon Valley startups (think LinkedIn, Google, Uber, Tesla, and more), Luis began to teach impassioned business owners how to scale their revenues and impact by creating and selling high-end offers. During that time, he was also invited to speak about leadership and personal branding at business schools across the country, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Bard.
Today, Luis is a published author through the internationally recognized Madecraft organization, which includes an incredibly popular LinkedIn Learning course on personalized sales that has been taken by over 20K people to date.
Resources:
Check out these other episodes about career burnout
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Click To View The Episode Transcript
Nick McGowan (00:02.229)
Hello and welcome to the Mindset Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show, I have Luis Baez. Luis, how you doing, man?
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:17.422)
I’m great, Nick. How are you, my friend? Thank you for having me.
Nick McGowan (00:20.277)
I’m good. I’m excited for us to have a conversation. We were shooting the breeze before we got things started. And I always love talking with people from the Northeast because I’ve lived in different parts of the country where I have to sometimes slow things down because other people are slow. So I feel like the people that listen to podcast episodes like one and a half, two times, come that back. This is probably going to be pretty quick because we’re both from the Northeast. So dude, why don’t you get us started?
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:25.358)
Yes.
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:42.574)
Mm -hmm.
Nick McGowan (00:47.541)
Tell us what you do for a living and what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s maybe a little odd or bizarre.
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:52.75)
Ooh, here we go. What do I do? I help people reach their highest potential in their businesses and as leaders through coaching and teaching and doing all the things that I love doing and that light me up. And the thing that people would never know about me is that I am banned from Tinder. I swear I’m a good guy, but I got banned.
Nick McGowan (01:10.869)
What?
Luis, what did you do?
Luis Báez (he/him) (01:14.99)
What did I do? my gosh, I was connecting with this guy. We were chatting it up. Things were going really well. He asked me what I do for a living and I told them and then he’s like, because at that point I was working for myself. He’s like, I’d love to learn more about your work. So I dropped a link because he wanted to see and apparently that’s a no no with their algorithm and I got banned. No self promotion.
Nick McGowan (01:36.053)
Damn.
Well, there’s a part of me that’s really thankful that that was the thing. It could have been a whole lot worse. You could have started this episode off really weird. But hey, it would have been things for us to talk about. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (01:43.47)
Yeah, yeah, I am not a creep. I’m not a creep. I’m a good guy.
But that’s always a shocker. It’s one of my like three truths in a lie. That’s always the one that no one ever expects as a truth.
Nick McGowan (02:00.053)
Damn. Well, do you feel any sort of way about that? Are you upset? Do you want to get back on Tinder or have you just moved to something else?
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:06.208)
No, not really. I spent months on Tinder and I didn’t find what I was looking for. So I don’t miss it one bit.
Nick McGowan (02:11.805)
Hmm. I, that’s a whole, whole other world of looking through that stuff. I, I went through a divorce number of years ago and my brother was like, so are you going to get on the apps? You going to do these different things? I’m like, nah, I don’t want to do that at all. And he was like, I’m on the apps. I’ve got 30 dates with these 30 different women over the next week. I’m like, how do you fucking sleep or breathe or what? He’s like, hello, man. Whatever teach their own.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:25.55)
Yeah. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:35.518)
Who has time? Who has time but also who has money? Dating is not cheap. Okay, you’re spending…
Nick McGowan (02:41.397)
Yeah, for real, I said that to him. I was like, that’s a hundred bucks a pop. Why don’t you just basically burn the hundred bucks for a bunch or just give it to me? And he was like, no, no, no, I’ll chance it out. I digress though. That’s an interesting thing to be banned from that. But again, I’m glad that you’re banned for just sharing a link instead of being uber creepy.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:46.286)
Exactly.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:02.446)
I listen. I’m not a nose picker or anything other weird, you know, stories that I could possibly be sharing right now. But yeah, I’m a good guy who got misunderstood.
Nick McGowan (03:13.621)
Good job with the nose picker thing. For those of you who have listened to this podcast since day one or even like first couple, you probably know what he’s talking about. If not, go back. Somebody talks about picking their nose. I really wonder if somebody’s now gonna be like, ooh, let me find that episode where someone’s talking about digging in their nose. man. So I’m really excited for us to be able to talk about burnout specifically, leadership burnout.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:24.686)
I’m sorry.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:30.126)
Let me find this person.
Nick McGowan (03:41.845)
I think there are a lot of people that go through the shoulds, and we talked a little bit about that before we even hit record, where people are like, all right, I should do this, I should go through school, I should get a job, I should have a career, I should have a family, should, should, should, you just should all over the place. And then there are those things where people get into a situation where they’re like, I feel like I’m doing some of the work that I’m here to do, but it doesn’t feel like it’s the right medium. And it seems to me like that’s typically a symptom.
Luis Báez (he/him) (04:05.77)
Mm. Mm.
Nick McGowan (04:11.093)
of you’re either burnout or you’re on your path toward burnout. And that’s one of the main things I want to get into. But before we get into all that, why don’t we take a little bit of a step back, tell us how you got to where you’re at and a little bit of your backstory of like, who makes you you today?
Luis Báez (he/him) (04:23.106)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very long story short is I am someone who grew up in the South Bronx. My family and I are from Puerto Rico, grew up in the city. I grew up in poverty and I have since gone off to college, traveled the world, started my own business. I’ve been recruited to work at companies like LinkedIn, Google, Tesla, Uber. I have worked as a salesperson, a sales leader.
a global revenue enablement leader, I’ve run my own business, helping other businesses scale their own businesses, and I am at my core, right? I am someone that does not accept.
the status quo. I am an out gay man. There is no script for anything that I do in life. And so I write my own script. I have a blank canvas. I have a permanent blank check in life. And I am not, you know, subject to any pressures or any biological clocks or anything like that. And so I am someone that has very bravely grabbed the bulls by the horn, you know, grab the dragon’s tail and flew away with it. And and I’m really, really just so in awe at the way that like life has
Nick McGowan (05:20.405)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (05:34.4)
This just happened.
Nick McGowan (05:36.725)
What a beautiful way to put that. I think the whole point of this show is about your mindset and your mental health and self mastery is simply just discipline and how you go about that. And I think that right there what you just said is an interesting perspective that some people can think, well, this is how I am and the world tells me I shouldn’t be. And you can look that direction and go down the negative path where you could say, well, fuck, the world is open to me.
Luis Báez (he/him) (05:43.886)
No.
Nick McGowan (06:03.989)
I can do whatever I want. As you put it, you have a blank check to be able to write what you want, be able to do the things. Was it always like that for you? I mean, tell us about that story of coming out.
Luis Báez (he/him) (06:14.702)
Yeah, no, it wasn’t always that way for me. I grew up with a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression, not being honest and able to be safe being who I am. And even as an adult, even after my coming out experience, and I’ll get into that, I still am going through experiences where I’m not always welcomed in every space. I don’t always feel safe in environments when I arrive. Even traveling abroad, I have to be quite cautious about the way that I present in different environments.
Nick McGowan (06:43.317)
Mm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (06:44.608)
But I’m someone that came out early in life. I know many people don’t have that opportunity. I am also someone that continues to have the support of their family after coming out. Most people end up losing it all once they bravely share themselves with the world. So I want to hold space for the fact that not everyone can have a healthy coming out experience. But I came out after college. I told my mom and she was not at all surprised. She was, you know, she just kind of sat back. I was like, we’ve been ready for you to just let us know like which way you flew.
flow. Right. And so once we figured that out and clear that up for me, you know, the rest of it was just a matter of shedding skin and shedding expectations of me. And really embracing and not at first, but like embracing, you know, the opportunity to write my own script. Right. Like this is the way I grew up.
These were the cards that were handed to me. This is the situation that I was in. But now, after the work that I did, grinding, hustling, putting my head down, going to school, working part -time, saving, applying to college, doing all the things, right? You know, we reached a point where it was just like, okay, well now we have an opportunity at building a life that we love. And what does that look like?
and not knowing it all because I grew up in poverty, but I had an opportunity to learn some things growing up in New York City, shaking hands and rubbing shoulders with every creature from every walk of life. Right. I was on the Upper East Side hobnobbing in Chin Wagon. I was down on the Lower East Side, parting it up on the rooftops over to Bushwick warehouse parties, et cetera. Right. Like I, I had these amazing experiences that opened up my world.
And then I got a passport. The rest was history. I’ve gotten, I’ve had the opportunity to live abroad, study abroad, travel to several countries and spend significant time in really amazing places. And my world continues to expand. Every day I wake up and there’s something else that I want. There’s something else that I want to experience. There’s another person I want to be when I grow up, right? It’s the more that I learn and the more that I see and experience, like the more my mind just expands. But…
Luis Báez (he/him) (09:01.678)
I didn’t start there. I started by looking at planes through my gated window in the New York City public housing projects, you know, not being able to hang out outside because it wasn’t safe and just daydreaming as I watched planes go by and wondering where they were headed. Morocco, Japan, right? Now I’ve got to see some of these places.
Nick McGowan (09:07.317)
Hehehehe
Nick McGowan (09:19.221)
Mm.
Trenton. That’s beautiful that you have the support of your family and I really appreciate that you look at the privilege that that is because not everybody has that no matter what the thing is. Be it something that is sizable like that, you know, or if it’s something that you’re unsure of or trying to figure out that can be huge to be able to have even just
semi -support from the people that are close to you. But if they don’t have that, there are ways to be able to find that. As you know, there are resources, there are community, there are people. But I think the big thing you really pointed out was getting out of where you are and where you were and being able to explore and experience the world. Doesn’t that just open everything up for you that you wouldn’t really be able to experience just staying in the town that you grew up in?
Luis Báez (he/him) (10:17.55)
Yeah, I think it’s all critical. If anyone has an opportunity to just like, you know, spend some time outside of their comfort zone or their shell or their happy place, do it.
and do it, and embrace all the experiences and all the consequences and lessons that come with it. I move through earth pretty fearlessly. I know that I’m mortal. I know that I’m not invincible. But I feel like I’m perpetually 21, right? That level of curiosity and excitement and that high energy anytime I see another windmill to chase or another city to touch down on or a new dining experience, right? Like,
Nick McGowan (10:27.797)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (10:46.581)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (10:56.238)
All of that still gets me so excited. I am so grateful. That’s the experience and the reaction that I have.
Nick McGowan (11:04.469)
What a beautiful way to look at it. The world is absolutely open to us. And I find through not only the conversations that I have on this show, conversations I have with clients and conversations I have with myself and my own coaches about the things that hold us back. And there’s typically trauma that has affected or molded the way that we look at things. And there can be situations where people want what you have in that view and that experience, but are being held back because…
They had experiences that told them they shouldn’t look like that or they shouldn’t do that thing or that they couldn’t and they can’t. And for people that are going through that and really want to be able to experience life through the lens of this is all beautiful. There’s shit that happens no matter what. Not everything’s going to be sunshine and rainbows in a sense, but for the most part, it’s our perspective and the way that we look at it and the intake that we have and then the input or the output that comes out of that. What advice do you give to somebody that’s…
trying to work toward that, but understands I still have the ship behind me.
Luis Báez (he/him) (12:08.559)
You know, if, thank you for this question. For anyone that’s currently experiencing trauma or going through some sort of traumatic event or, you know, something’s happening to them, I want to acknowledge that in this moment, you don’t feel relief or don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I want you to trust that you will. I want you to trust that judgments will be made. Everything will be reckoned with.
And when you come through and you reach that light at the end, what I want you to just ask yourself is did that happen to me or did that happen for me? It was so painful. I cried so much. It hurt me physically, emotionally, spiritually, but it conditioned me. It prepared me. It made me wiser. It thickened my skin.
I am no longer vulnerable. No one can fuck with me. I’m unfuckable with. Right? That is the result of pushing through that. So I want to acknowledge that trauma is this experience. It’s like you’re going through it. Someone’s hurting you. In that moment, resolution and relief doesn’t seem possible. Trust that it is. And when you arrive, again, stop and ask yourself, did it happen to me or for me? That is that shift in perspective that has helped me, right? In the ways that I’ve worked through things and reflecting on past traumas is, you know, recognizing that there was a lesson, there was conditioning and there was preparation and there’s no longer trauma today, right? No longer am I being disrespected or am I made to feel unsafe, right? It’s all in the past.
Nick McGowan (13:55.445)
Hmm.
Nick McGowan (14:04.245)
That’s a really good point. It can be really difficult in the moment to be able to experience that and step back outside of the situation. But even if, like you’re saying, if somebody’s going through a traumatic experience right now, it will change and you will be able to experience things differently. Oftentimes, I feel like we are re -experiencing trauma that had happened to us in the past. And really, like what you’re saying, it can either happen to or for us, even if it’s simultaneously both.
because if something happened to us, we can still choose what we do with that information and what happens from it. Something I’ve been digging into recently is the fragmented pieces of ourselves. How we can say, a piece of me feels like this, and that’s really a piece. Like there are reactions that will happen and it’s like, well that’s the seven year old that’s really scared and unsure of what’s gonna happen, or that’s a 13 or 14 year old that says, nope, I can now speak for myself and fuck all of you.
and that just monster comes out. I’ve experienced those things, but for us to be able to see and understand, even if trauma happened before, it’s not currently happening. And if something’s currently happening right now, there’s still light at the end of the tunnel and it’s what we’d be able to choose with it. I think this ties in pretty well with the burnout as well, because people will get into a career. You’ve said you’ve hopped around from different places. And from the outset to hear Uber and Tesla and LinkedIn,
There’s a lot of like ooze and ahs that can come from that. I’ve worked with people that have worked with those companies and for the most part, it’s not ooze and ahs. It’s a, there’s a lot of BS, especially if you’re closer to some people at the top of some of those companies, like the ones that start with T and then with A. That person can be difficult to deal with and work through certain things and, and think headed about stuff. Yeah, I know. I had somebody who was like his second hand.
Luis Báez (he/him) (15:51.63)
Yes, I’ve met the wizard I can attest.
Nick McGowan (15:58.869)
for some of the projects and I was like, so how was working with that? And he just went, I was like, all right, cool. You can tell me after the meeting. But there are lots of things that come with the expectations that come from that. And once we get into a career, especially in corporate, you feel like there’s a ladder that needs to be followed and gone through. And that can really fuck with us because if you’re not making those promotions or hitting those milestones,
Luis Báez (he/him) (16:03.438)
Haha
Nick McGowan (16:28.213)
or not being included in different projects. I think that simultaneously kind of works within your life as well, because then you’re saying, well, my family’s not including me in this, or I’m not included in that. So talk just a little bit of how you not only got to where you’re at with burnout and being able to help people, but your own experience of going through that to then say, hold up, there’s something fucking wrong here.
Luis Báez (he/him) (16:49.198)
Yeah. Gosh, I love this question. And you’re absolutely right. Working at the happiest places on Earth weren’t always the happiest experiences. And speaking of burnout, I can give you a very clear example of the most horrible burnout experience that I had. I was working at Google.
And to your point, not always like happy and green or whatever. One of the biggest challenges that I had working there, aside from the actual work itself, was socially. It was quite difficult to understand and read people’s intentions. Are you trying to be a homie or are you just trying to get referred into the company? Right. And so there are pros and cons to stepping into those sort of opportunities. But then beyond that, the demand of the job, I was doing enterprise sales. I was managing a book of business of over
Nick McGowan (17:28.981)
Hehehehe.
Luis Báez (he/him) (17:40.128)
over 100 million. And it was my first time ever doing that. And I had a cohort of people around me, analysts and account managers and all these folks that were supporting the business. But it was high pressure, high stakes.
And I was constantly moving around. If I got a call from a Fortune 500 CMO to be at a meeting tomorrow, I’m packing right now. I’m heading to the airport. I’m touching down. I’m settling in. I’m trying to get some beauty rest and be at the office at 8 a to shake hands and hobnob. Right. Do that at the pace of jumping on a plane every day, every day, every day, every day.
So fast forward to me feeling completely tired. I felt quite sick. I thought I’d come down with the flu. Like my symptoms were awful. I wasn’t sleeping. I was feverish, all these things. I go to my doctor. The doctor kind of checks me and he goes, I need you to about face and go to an emergency room right now.
You are completely dehydrated. Like you are critically, like you are in danger. I need you to go there now. Fast forward to me laying in the emergency room with an IV in each arm and going, how the fuck did I get here? And why, why is this my story? Right? This isn’t successful.
Nick McGowan (18:41.333)
Mm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (18:59.022)
This doesn’t look like what this is supposed to look like. This isn’t happy. This isn’t rainbows and fucking unicorns. I nearly killed myself for my career to prove myself to people that at the end of the day didn’t even impress me. And so that is my story of burnout at the happiest place to work on earth.
Nick McGowan (19:24.053)
I think everybody has different experiences where they’re happy and they’re really enjoying the thing they’re doing. Even in a bad situation, you can find some friends at companies or whatever, where they’re gonna be like what you’re saying in a really good spot. You can say from the outside, I work for Google and I have a hundred million plus book of business and I do these things and I travel all the time and all that, but it really does not only wear on you.
Luis Báez (he/him) (19:32.366)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (19:39.15)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (19:49.333)
but I’m glad that you got to a point and were still alive when you got to this point of going, what the fuck is happening right now? Hold on, time out, let’s make some changes with things. Did you get questions from people when you made a shift and stepped away from that that were along the lines of like, are you fucking kidding me? What are you thinking?
Luis Báez (he/him) (20:10.51)
I appreciate this question. There was a moment of, you know, after my burnout experience, coming out of the hospital, you know, getting the IVs out, getting home and resting and going, why did no one tell me this was happening?
Right? Why did no one like look out for me and, and, and help me prevent this from happening? But the thing is I was working at Google. I’m first generation, right? Everyone’s so happy and they think that I’m happy because I’m doing really well in my career. They see me hopping on planes. They see me hanging out at boxes and suites with clients and all these things. And they go, he’s got a great life. I have no reason to suspect that there’s anything wrong going on with him.
And that was the way that this was all beautifully crafted. My self -concept was tied so intrinsically to that title of being that enterprise executive, right? My entire identity was tied to the corporation, right? And even like, you know, the perks and the benefits, gosh, I couldn’t get away from them, right? Yes, I was on a plane every day. I was tired. I was exhausted. But when it was time for me to go on vacation, it was five stars, first class all the way with not having to pay anything out of pocket because I racked up all the points.
And somehow in my mind, I negotiated that that was a perk, not realizing that really I’d fallen into a bit of a trap, right? And my own mindset, my own imposter syndrome, my own fear and limited sort of ways of thinking were part of the reasons that I got, you know, found myself in that position.
Nick McGowan (21:45.949)
And it can happen no matter what, even if your intentions are good. I like how you just pointed out that there were things that were really justifications. I was like, well, this works. And I think people can justify things within either a work environment, their relationships. The amount of times people have talked about relationships that weren’t right for them and they didn’t see the things until afterward because they were like, I couldn’t see it because I was so close to it.
That’s one piece of it, but there’s also justifications and things that we look past because we’re unsure what to do. I think a big point from all of this is actually being able to step back for a second, even just take a beat and go, how do I feel about this? Does this sit with me? Is this right with me? And understanding how we as people and our energetics work with things. I’d mentioned before we hit record that we were talking about the Enneagram. I’m a four, so I feel all the things, but I’ve been swayed by their people.
Luis Báez (he/him) (22:41.742)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick McGowan (22:45.621)
some family members and close friends that are the thinker types or the controllers and primarily eights. And then they’re like, you need to think, think, think, think, put a plan together and do all this stuff. And I realized that that’s not how I operate. But we as people need to figure that out for ourselves and take stuff from like this. Part of the reason for the podcast is use our experiences. Don’t get to the point where you’re like, I’m doing all these things and you have IVs in your arms going what in the fuck? How did I get here? Learn from us.
As you’ve learned through that and started to work through that and took that step back and said what am I doing? What led you into now doing the work that you’re doing to be able to help these people that are going through those things?
Luis Báez (he/him) (23:27.726)
That’s a great question. For me, I am at my core, I’m a teacher. There was a point in my life where I wanted to be a public school teacher, but then I also had to negotiate with the fact that I grew up in poverty, I wanted money, I wanted to travel the world, and I can’t do that on a public school salary. But there was always this part of me that wanted to teach.
and to encourage and to see light bulbs go off over people’s heads and help them reach that next level of self -realization and self -actualization. That’s the kind of work that I truly feel is aligned and my happy place. And so for me, it was always, as I took a step back from corporate, it was always very critical of me to just teach what I’ve learned.
and help someone else avoid the pitfalls that I went through, help someone else get their foot in the door, negotiate a bigger contract, close with that Fortune 100 deal, a customer, whatever that might be. That kind of work is what drives me now. And so when I connect with business leaders, whether they are owning their own business or they work within the corporation or business and they’re helping to build a team, I’m always looking at like, okay, where’s the light bulb opportunity? Right? And,
how do we ensure that things are done ethically, right, and inclusively? That’s the other bit of influence that I look at is like, let’s not only, you know, I work in revenue enablements, I’m helping people implement coaching, training, and you know, sort of playbooks around how to engage customers, right? But I also, you know, really enjoy, you know,
Nick McGowan (24:49.013)
Hmm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (25:06.35)
the whistle while we work, the, you know, like, let’s problem solve, let’s coach through this, let’s, you know, make sure that we’re pushing through those mental blocks, let’s commit to the action plans, right? Those are the things that I really enjoy when I step into an organization, light bulbs, light bulb moments.
Nick McGowan (25:25.301)
Yeah, those are huge. And especially from somebody who loves to be able to teach to be able to see that you’re I know that’s a selfless selfish thing in a sense where you’re like, because that fuels you and fires you up. Really, I appreciate that you also brought up the inclusion, which tells me about diversity as well, because there are certain certain people in different companies that can really give some great advice on some things like I’ve always enjoyed.
even from like kind of a base level pulling people in from different departments that may not have anything to do with the department that you’re working on right in that moment. Say, how do you see this? But then also being able to pull people in from different races, cultures, religions, all of that. And that can be difficult to like really navigate that at times, especially within corporate, because there are certain structures and all of that. But being able to make sure that everybody’s voice is heard and be able to help them feel understood can be huge and save them from burnout.
Or at least let them know like hey, you’re about to start making fires inside So stop making some changes with it Luis it’s been great to talk with you about this I’m sure we could go on and on and on about this and and dive into other pieces But what’s that piece of advice you give to somebody on their path towards self mastery?
Luis Báez (he/him) (26:29.646)
Yeah. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (26:46.062)
Gosh, you know, there are two things that I wanna share. One is you only ever get what you ask for in life, period. You want that date, go approach that person. You want that check, go ask for it. You want that job, go get it, right? You want that house, go bid. You only ever get what you ask for. You cannot be passive in your mindset and your approach.
To hold myself accountable, I borrow a saying from actually one of my like arch nemesis from college. He said this to me one time, I couldn’t stand him, but gosh, I gotta give him credit because he stayed with me forever. Excuses are the tools of idiots. And I’m way too smart to be fucking around with excuses.
Luis Báez (he/him) (27:33.486)
That is how I pick myself up and snap myself the fuck out of a situation. I am not an idiot. I am not making excuses for this not happening for me.
Nick McGowan (27:33.653)
That’s good.
Nick McGowan (27:45.525)
That’s powerful. That’s really powerful. And we as people can also understand that we are all unique. So you as a listener, you’re not an idiot. You may just be different from those other people, but how you act and how you relate, it’s up to you to be able to do that. And it’s your responsibility to bring your uniqueness to the world. And Luis, I appreciate you bringing your uniqueness to this episode and the podcast. It’s been great talking with you. Before I let you go,
Luis Báez (he/him) (27:46.318)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (28:14.997)
Where can people find you and where can they connect with you?
Luis Báez (he/him) (28:17.422)
Gosh, you can hang out with me on LinkedIn. I actually, all the realness that I just served up, all these lessons on like how to show up and how to do the damn thing, I teach all of that for free. Learn from Luis .com.
Nick McGowan (28:30.741)
Man, again, it’s been a pleasure having you on the show. I appreciate your time.
Luis Báez (he/him) (28:34.51)
Thank you, Nick.
https://youtu.be/gVjpWMh23SE
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By Nick McGowan“Excuses are the tools of idiots. And I’m way too smart to be fucking around with excuses.”
In this episode, Nick speaks with Luis Báez, who shares his journey from growing up in poverty to working at top companies like Google and Tesla, and how he experienced burnout in the corporate world. There’s a major emphasis on the importance of self-mastery, inclusion, and the power of asking for what you want in life.
What to listen for:
“I have a blank canvas. I have a permanent blank check in life. And I am not subject to any pressures or any biological clocks.”
“I nearly killed myself for my career to prove myself to people that at the end of the day didn’t even impress me.”
“You only ever get what you ask for in life, period. You want that date, go approach that person. You want that check, go ask for it. You want that job, go get it.”
About Luis Báez
Luis is a Revenue Enablement Strategist + Sales Coach dedicated to serving executives and sales leaders at businesses.
In 2017, after years of working in some of the biggest Silicon Valley startups (think LinkedIn, Google, Uber, Tesla, and more), Luis began to teach impassioned business owners how to scale their revenues and impact by creating and selling high-end offers. During that time, he was also invited to speak about leadership and personal branding at business schools across the country, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Bard.
Today, Luis is a published author through the internationally recognized Madecraft organization, which includes an incredibly popular LinkedIn Learning course on personalized sales that has been taken by over 20K people to date.
Resources:
Check out these other episodes about career burnout
Resources:
Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? Send Nick an email or schedule a time to discuss your podcast today!
Thank you for listening!
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Click To View The Episode Transcript
Nick McGowan (00:02.229)
Hello and welcome to the Mindset Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show, I have Luis Baez. Luis, how you doing, man?
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:17.422)
I’m great, Nick. How are you, my friend? Thank you for having me.
Nick McGowan (00:20.277)
I’m good. I’m excited for us to have a conversation. We were shooting the breeze before we got things started. And I always love talking with people from the Northeast because I’ve lived in different parts of the country where I have to sometimes slow things down because other people are slow. So I feel like the people that listen to podcast episodes like one and a half, two times, come that back. This is probably going to be pretty quick because we’re both from the Northeast. So dude, why don’t you get us started?
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:25.358)
Yes.
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:42.574)
Mm -hmm.
Nick McGowan (00:47.541)
Tell us what you do for a living and what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s maybe a little odd or bizarre.
Luis Báez (he/him) (00:52.75)
Ooh, here we go. What do I do? I help people reach their highest potential in their businesses and as leaders through coaching and teaching and doing all the things that I love doing and that light me up. And the thing that people would never know about me is that I am banned from Tinder. I swear I’m a good guy, but I got banned.
Nick McGowan (01:10.869)
What?
Luis, what did you do?
Luis Báez (he/him) (01:14.99)
What did I do? my gosh, I was connecting with this guy. We were chatting it up. Things were going really well. He asked me what I do for a living and I told them and then he’s like, because at that point I was working for myself. He’s like, I’d love to learn more about your work. So I dropped a link because he wanted to see and apparently that’s a no no with their algorithm and I got banned. No self promotion.
Nick McGowan (01:36.053)
Damn.
Well, there’s a part of me that’s really thankful that that was the thing. It could have been a whole lot worse. You could have started this episode off really weird. But hey, it would have been things for us to talk about. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (01:43.47)
Yeah, yeah, I am not a creep. I’m not a creep. I’m a good guy.
But that’s always a shocker. It’s one of my like three truths in a lie. That’s always the one that no one ever expects as a truth.
Nick McGowan (02:00.053)
Damn. Well, do you feel any sort of way about that? Are you upset? Do you want to get back on Tinder or have you just moved to something else?
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:06.208)
No, not really. I spent months on Tinder and I didn’t find what I was looking for. So I don’t miss it one bit.
Nick McGowan (02:11.805)
Hmm. I, that’s a whole, whole other world of looking through that stuff. I, I went through a divorce number of years ago and my brother was like, so are you going to get on the apps? You going to do these different things? I’m like, nah, I don’t want to do that at all. And he was like, I’m on the apps. I’ve got 30 dates with these 30 different women over the next week. I’m like, how do you fucking sleep or breathe or what? He’s like, hello, man. Whatever teach their own.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:25.55)
Yeah. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:35.518)
Who has time? Who has time but also who has money? Dating is not cheap. Okay, you’re spending…
Nick McGowan (02:41.397)
Yeah, for real, I said that to him. I was like, that’s a hundred bucks a pop. Why don’t you just basically burn the hundred bucks for a bunch or just give it to me? And he was like, no, no, no, I’ll chance it out. I digress though. That’s an interesting thing to be banned from that. But again, I’m glad that you’re banned for just sharing a link instead of being uber creepy.
Luis Báez (he/him) (02:46.286)
Exactly.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:02.446)
I listen. I’m not a nose picker or anything other weird, you know, stories that I could possibly be sharing right now. But yeah, I’m a good guy who got misunderstood.
Nick McGowan (03:13.621)
Good job with the nose picker thing. For those of you who have listened to this podcast since day one or even like first couple, you probably know what he’s talking about. If not, go back. Somebody talks about picking their nose. I really wonder if somebody’s now gonna be like, ooh, let me find that episode where someone’s talking about digging in their nose. man. So I’m really excited for us to be able to talk about burnout specifically, leadership burnout.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:24.686)
I’m sorry.
Luis Báez (he/him) (03:30.126)
Let me find this person.
Nick McGowan (03:41.845)
I think there are a lot of people that go through the shoulds, and we talked a little bit about that before we even hit record, where people are like, all right, I should do this, I should go through school, I should get a job, I should have a career, I should have a family, should, should, should, you just should all over the place. And then there are those things where people get into a situation where they’re like, I feel like I’m doing some of the work that I’m here to do, but it doesn’t feel like it’s the right medium. And it seems to me like that’s typically a symptom.
Luis Báez (he/him) (04:05.77)
Mm. Mm.
Nick McGowan (04:11.093)
of you’re either burnout or you’re on your path toward burnout. And that’s one of the main things I want to get into. But before we get into all that, why don’t we take a little bit of a step back, tell us how you got to where you’re at and a little bit of your backstory of like, who makes you you today?
Luis Báez (he/him) (04:23.106)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very long story short is I am someone who grew up in the South Bronx. My family and I are from Puerto Rico, grew up in the city. I grew up in poverty and I have since gone off to college, traveled the world, started my own business. I’ve been recruited to work at companies like LinkedIn, Google, Tesla, Uber. I have worked as a salesperson, a sales leader.
a global revenue enablement leader, I’ve run my own business, helping other businesses scale their own businesses, and I am at my core, right? I am someone that does not accept.
the status quo. I am an out gay man. There is no script for anything that I do in life. And so I write my own script. I have a blank canvas. I have a permanent blank check in life. And I am not, you know, subject to any pressures or any biological clocks or anything like that. And so I am someone that has very bravely grabbed the bulls by the horn, you know, grab the dragon’s tail and flew away with it. And and I’m really, really just so in awe at the way that like life has
Nick McGowan (05:20.405)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (05:34.4)
This just happened.
Nick McGowan (05:36.725)
What a beautiful way to put that. I think the whole point of this show is about your mindset and your mental health and self mastery is simply just discipline and how you go about that. And I think that right there what you just said is an interesting perspective that some people can think, well, this is how I am and the world tells me I shouldn’t be. And you can look that direction and go down the negative path where you could say, well, fuck, the world is open to me.
Luis Báez (he/him) (05:43.886)
No.
Nick McGowan (06:03.989)
I can do whatever I want. As you put it, you have a blank check to be able to write what you want, be able to do the things. Was it always like that for you? I mean, tell us about that story of coming out.
Luis Báez (he/him) (06:14.702)
Yeah, no, it wasn’t always that way for me. I grew up with a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression, not being honest and able to be safe being who I am. And even as an adult, even after my coming out experience, and I’ll get into that, I still am going through experiences where I’m not always welcomed in every space. I don’t always feel safe in environments when I arrive. Even traveling abroad, I have to be quite cautious about the way that I present in different environments.
Nick McGowan (06:43.317)
Mm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (06:44.608)
But I’m someone that came out early in life. I know many people don’t have that opportunity. I am also someone that continues to have the support of their family after coming out. Most people end up losing it all once they bravely share themselves with the world. So I want to hold space for the fact that not everyone can have a healthy coming out experience. But I came out after college. I told my mom and she was not at all surprised. She was, you know, she just kind of sat back. I was like, we’ve been ready for you to just let us know like which way you flew.
flow. Right. And so once we figured that out and clear that up for me, you know, the rest of it was just a matter of shedding skin and shedding expectations of me. And really embracing and not at first, but like embracing, you know, the opportunity to write my own script. Right. Like this is the way I grew up.
These were the cards that were handed to me. This is the situation that I was in. But now, after the work that I did, grinding, hustling, putting my head down, going to school, working part -time, saving, applying to college, doing all the things, right? You know, we reached a point where it was just like, okay, well now we have an opportunity at building a life that we love. And what does that look like?
and not knowing it all because I grew up in poverty, but I had an opportunity to learn some things growing up in New York City, shaking hands and rubbing shoulders with every creature from every walk of life. Right. I was on the Upper East Side hobnobbing in Chin Wagon. I was down on the Lower East Side, parting it up on the rooftops over to Bushwick warehouse parties, et cetera. Right. Like I, I had these amazing experiences that opened up my world.
And then I got a passport. The rest was history. I’ve gotten, I’ve had the opportunity to live abroad, study abroad, travel to several countries and spend significant time in really amazing places. And my world continues to expand. Every day I wake up and there’s something else that I want. There’s something else that I want to experience. There’s another person I want to be when I grow up, right? It’s the more that I learn and the more that I see and experience, like the more my mind just expands. But…
Luis Báez (he/him) (09:01.678)
I didn’t start there. I started by looking at planes through my gated window in the New York City public housing projects, you know, not being able to hang out outside because it wasn’t safe and just daydreaming as I watched planes go by and wondering where they were headed. Morocco, Japan, right? Now I’ve got to see some of these places.
Nick McGowan (09:07.317)
Hehehehe
Nick McGowan (09:19.221)
Mm.
Trenton. That’s beautiful that you have the support of your family and I really appreciate that you look at the privilege that that is because not everybody has that no matter what the thing is. Be it something that is sizable like that, you know, or if it’s something that you’re unsure of or trying to figure out that can be huge to be able to have even just
semi -support from the people that are close to you. But if they don’t have that, there are ways to be able to find that. As you know, there are resources, there are community, there are people. But I think the big thing you really pointed out was getting out of where you are and where you were and being able to explore and experience the world. Doesn’t that just open everything up for you that you wouldn’t really be able to experience just staying in the town that you grew up in?
Luis Báez (he/him) (10:17.55)
Yeah, I think it’s all critical. If anyone has an opportunity to just like, you know, spend some time outside of their comfort zone or their shell or their happy place, do it.
and do it, and embrace all the experiences and all the consequences and lessons that come with it. I move through earth pretty fearlessly. I know that I’m mortal. I know that I’m not invincible. But I feel like I’m perpetually 21, right? That level of curiosity and excitement and that high energy anytime I see another windmill to chase or another city to touch down on or a new dining experience, right? Like,
Nick McGowan (10:27.797)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (10:46.581)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (10:56.238)
All of that still gets me so excited. I am so grateful. That’s the experience and the reaction that I have.
Nick McGowan (11:04.469)
What a beautiful way to look at it. The world is absolutely open to us. And I find through not only the conversations that I have on this show, conversations I have with clients and conversations I have with myself and my own coaches about the things that hold us back. And there’s typically trauma that has affected or molded the way that we look at things. And there can be situations where people want what you have in that view and that experience, but are being held back because…
They had experiences that told them they shouldn’t look like that or they shouldn’t do that thing or that they couldn’t and they can’t. And for people that are going through that and really want to be able to experience life through the lens of this is all beautiful. There’s shit that happens no matter what. Not everything’s going to be sunshine and rainbows in a sense, but for the most part, it’s our perspective and the way that we look at it and the intake that we have and then the input or the output that comes out of that. What advice do you give to somebody that’s…
trying to work toward that, but understands I still have the ship behind me.
Luis Báez (he/him) (12:08.559)
You know, if, thank you for this question. For anyone that’s currently experiencing trauma or going through some sort of traumatic event or, you know, something’s happening to them, I want to acknowledge that in this moment, you don’t feel relief or don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I want you to trust that you will. I want you to trust that judgments will be made. Everything will be reckoned with.
And when you come through and you reach that light at the end, what I want you to just ask yourself is did that happen to me or did that happen for me? It was so painful. I cried so much. It hurt me physically, emotionally, spiritually, but it conditioned me. It prepared me. It made me wiser. It thickened my skin.
I am no longer vulnerable. No one can fuck with me. I’m unfuckable with. Right? That is the result of pushing through that. So I want to acknowledge that trauma is this experience. It’s like you’re going through it. Someone’s hurting you. In that moment, resolution and relief doesn’t seem possible. Trust that it is. And when you arrive, again, stop and ask yourself, did it happen to me or for me? That is that shift in perspective that has helped me, right? In the ways that I’ve worked through things and reflecting on past traumas is, you know, recognizing that there was a lesson, there was conditioning and there was preparation and there’s no longer trauma today, right? No longer am I being disrespected or am I made to feel unsafe, right? It’s all in the past.
Nick McGowan (13:55.445)
Hmm.
Nick McGowan (14:04.245)
That’s a really good point. It can be really difficult in the moment to be able to experience that and step back outside of the situation. But even if, like you’re saying, if somebody’s going through a traumatic experience right now, it will change and you will be able to experience things differently. Oftentimes, I feel like we are re -experiencing trauma that had happened to us in the past. And really, like what you’re saying, it can either happen to or for us, even if it’s simultaneously both.
because if something happened to us, we can still choose what we do with that information and what happens from it. Something I’ve been digging into recently is the fragmented pieces of ourselves. How we can say, a piece of me feels like this, and that’s really a piece. Like there are reactions that will happen and it’s like, well that’s the seven year old that’s really scared and unsure of what’s gonna happen, or that’s a 13 or 14 year old that says, nope, I can now speak for myself and fuck all of you.
and that just monster comes out. I’ve experienced those things, but for us to be able to see and understand, even if trauma happened before, it’s not currently happening. And if something’s currently happening right now, there’s still light at the end of the tunnel and it’s what we’d be able to choose with it. I think this ties in pretty well with the burnout as well, because people will get into a career. You’ve said you’ve hopped around from different places. And from the outset to hear Uber and Tesla and LinkedIn,
There’s a lot of like ooze and ahs that can come from that. I’ve worked with people that have worked with those companies and for the most part, it’s not ooze and ahs. It’s a, there’s a lot of BS, especially if you’re closer to some people at the top of some of those companies, like the ones that start with T and then with A. That person can be difficult to deal with and work through certain things and, and think headed about stuff. Yeah, I know. I had somebody who was like his second hand.
Luis Báez (he/him) (15:51.63)
Yes, I’ve met the wizard I can attest.
Nick McGowan (15:58.869)
for some of the projects and I was like, so how was working with that? And he just went, I was like, all right, cool. You can tell me after the meeting. But there are lots of things that come with the expectations that come from that. And once we get into a career, especially in corporate, you feel like there’s a ladder that needs to be followed and gone through. And that can really fuck with us because if you’re not making those promotions or hitting those milestones,
Luis Báez (he/him) (16:03.438)
Haha
Nick McGowan (16:28.213)
or not being included in different projects. I think that simultaneously kind of works within your life as well, because then you’re saying, well, my family’s not including me in this, or I’m not included in that. So talk just a little bit of how you not only got to where you’re at with burnout and being able to help people, but your own experience of going through that to then say, hold up, there’s something fucking wrong here.
Luis Báez (he/him) (16:49.198)
Yeah. Gosh, I love this question. And you’re absolutely right. Working at the happiest places on Earth weren’t always the happiest experiences. And speaking of burnout, I can give you a very clear example of the most horrible burnout experience that I had. I was working at Google.
And to your point, not always like happy and green or whatever. One of the biggest challenges that I had working there, aside from the actual work itself, was socially. It was quite difficult to understand and read people’s intentions. Are you trying to be a homie or are you just trying to get referred into the company? Right. And so there are pros and cons to stepping into those sort of opportunities. But then beyond that, the demand of the job, I was doing enterprise sales. I was managing a book of business of over
Nick McGowan (17:28.981)
Hehehehe.
Luis Báez (he/him) (17:40.128)
over 100 million. And it was my first time ever doing that. And I had a cohort of people around me, analysts and account managers and all these folks that were supporting the business. But it was high pressure, high stakes.
And I was constantly moving around. If I got a call from a Fortune 500 CMO to be at a meeting tomorrow, I’m packing right now. I’m heading to the airport. I’m touching down. I’m settling in. I’m trying to get some beauty rest and be at the office at 8 a to shake hands and hobnob. Right. Do that at the pace of jumping on a plane every day, every day, every day, every day.
So fast forward to me feeling completely tired. I felt quite sick. I thought I’d come down with the flu. Like my symptoms were awful. I wasn’t sleeping. I was feverish, all these things. I go to my doctor. The doctor kind of checks me and he goes, I need you to about face and go to an emergency room right now.
You are completely dehydrated. Like you are critically, like you are in danger. I need you to go there now. Fast forward to me laying in the emergency room with an IV in each arm and going, how the fuck did I get here? And why, why is this my story? Right? This isn’t successful.
Nick McGowan (18:41.333)
Mm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (18:59.022)
This doesn’t look like what this is supposed to look like. This isn’t happy. This isn’t rainbows and fucking unicorns. I nearly killed myself for my career to prove myself to people that at the end of the day didn’t even impress me. And so that is my story of burnout at the happiest place to work on earth.
Nick McGowan (19:24.053)
I think everybody has different experiences where they’re happy and they’re really enjoying the thing they’re doing. Even in a bad situation, you can find some friends at companies or whatever, where they’re gonna be like what you’re saying in a really good spot. You can say from the outside, I work for Google and I have a hundred million plus book of business and I do these things and I travel all the time and all that, but it really does not only wear on you.
Luis Báez (he/him) (19:32.366)
Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (19:39.15)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (19:49.333)
but I’m glad that you got to a point and were still alive when you got to this point of going, what the fuck is happening right now? Hold on, time out, let’s make some changes with things. Did you get questions from people when you made a shift and stepped away from that that were along the lines of like, are you fucking kidding me? What are you thinking?
Luis Báez (he/him) (20:10.51)
I appreciate this question. There was a moment of, you know, after my burnout experience, coming out of the hospital, you know, getting the IVs out, getting home and resting and going, why did no one tell me this was happening?
Right? Why did no one like look out for me and, and, and help me prevent this from happening? But the thing is I was working at Google. I’m first generation, right? Everyone’s so happy and they think that I’m happy because I’m doing really well in my career. They see me hopping on planes. They see me hanging out at boxes and suites with clients and all these things. And they go, he’s got a great life. I have no reason to suspect that there’s anything wrong going on with him.
And that was the way that this was all beautifully crafted. My self -concept was tied so intrinsically to that title of being that enterprise executive, right? My entire identity was tied to the corporation, right? And even like, you know, the perks and the benefits, gosh, I couldn’t get away from them, right? Yes, I was on a plane every day. I was tired. I was exhausted. But when it was time for me to go on vacation, it was five stars, first class all the way with not having to pay anything out of pocket because I racked up all the points.
And somehow in my mind, I negotiated that that was a perk, not realizing that really I’d fallen into a bit of a trap, right? And my own mindset, my own imposter syndrome, my own fear and limited sort of ways of thinking were part of the reasons that I got, you know, found myself in that position.
Nick McGowan (21:45.949)
And it can happen no matter what, even if your intentions are good. I like how you just pointed out that there were things that were really justifications. I was like, well, this works. And I think people can justify things within either a work environment, their relationships. The amount of times people have talked about relationships that weren’t right for them and they didn’t see the things until afterward because they were like, I couldn’t see it because I was so close to it.
That’s one piece of it, but there’s also justifications and things that we look past because we’re unsure what to do. I think a big point from all of this is actually being able to step back for a second, even just take a beat and go, how do I feel about this? Does this sit with me? Is this right with me? And understanding how we as people and our energetics work with things. I’d mentioned before we hit record that we were talking about the Enneagram. I’m a four, so I feel all the things, but I’ve been swayed by their people.
Luis Báez (he/him) (22:41.742)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick McGowan (22:45.621)
some family members and close friends that are the thinker types or the controllers and primarily eights. And then they’re like, you need to think, think, think, think, put a plan together and do all this stuff. And I realized that that’s not how I operate. But we as people need to figure that out for ourselves and take stuff from like this. Part of the reason for the podcast is use our experiences. Don’t get to the point where you’re like, I’m doing all these things and you have IVs in your arms going what in the fuck? How did I get here? Learn from us.
As you’ve learned through that and started to work through that and took that step back and said what am I doing? What led you into now doing the work that you’re doing to be able to help these people that are going through those things?
Luis Báez (he/him) (23:27.726)
That’s a great question. For me, I am at my core, I’m a teacher. There was a point in my life where I wanted to be a public school teacher, but then I also had to negotiate with the fact that I grew up in poverty, I wanted money, I wanted to travel the world, and I can’t do that on a public school salary. But there was always this part of me that wanted to teach.
and to encourage and to see light bulbs go off over people’s heads and help them reach that next level of self -realization and self -actualization. That’s the kind of work that I truly feel is aligned and my happy place. And so for me, it was always, as I took a step back from corporate, it was always very critical of me to just teach what I’ve learned.
and help someone else avoid the pitfalls that I went through, help someone else get their foot in the door, negotiate a bigger contract, close with that Fortune 100 deal, a customer, whatever that might be. That kind of work is what drives me now. And so when I connect with business leaders, whether they are owning their own business or they work within the corporation or business and they’re helping to build a team, I’m always looking at like, okay, where’s the light bulb opportunity? Right? And,
how do we ensure that things are done ethically, right, and inclusively? That’s the other bit of influence that I look at is like, let’s not only, you know, I work in revenue enablements, I’m helping people implement coaching, training, and you know, sort of playbooks around how to engage customers, right? But I also, you know, really enjoy, you know,
Nick McGowan (24:49.013)
Hmm.
Luis Báez (he/him) (25:06.35)
the whistle while we work, the, you know, like, let’s problem solve, let’s coach through this, let’s, you know, make sure that we’re pushing through those mental blocks, let’s commit to the action plans, right? Those are the things that I really enjoy when I step into an organization, light bulbs, light bulb moments.
Nick McGowan (25:25.301)
Yeah, those are huge. And especially from somebody who loves to be able to teach to be able to see that you’re I know that’s a selfless selfish thing in a sense where you’re like, because that fuels you and fires you up. Really, I appreciate that you also brought up the inclusion, which tells me about diversity as well, because there are certain certain people in different companies that can really give some great advice on some things like I’ve always enjoyed.
even from like kind of a base level pulling people in from different departments that may not have anything to do with the department that you’re working on right in that moment. Say, how do you see this? But then also being able to pull people in from different races, cultures, religions, all of that. And that can be difficult to like really navigate that at times, especially within corporate, because there are certain structures and all of that. But being able to make sure that everybody’s voice is heard and be able to help them feel understood can be huge and save them from burnout.
Or at least let them know like hey, you’re about to start making fires inside So stop making some changes with it Luis it’s been great to talk with you about this I’m sure we could go on and on and on about this and and dive into other pieces But what’s that piece of advice you give to somebody on their path towards self mastery?
Luis Báez (he/him) (26:29.646)
Yeah. Yeah.
Luis Báez (he/him) (26:46.062)
Gosh, you know, there are two things that I wanna share. One is you only ever get what you ask for in life, period. You want that date, go approach that person. You want that check, go ask for it. You want that job, go get it, right? You want that house, go bid. You only ever get what you ask for. You cannot be passive in your mindset and your approach.
To hold myself accountable, I borrow a saying from actually one of my like arch nemesis from college. He said this to me one time, I couldn’t stand him, but gosh, I gotta give him credit because he stayed with me forever. Excuses are the tools of idiots. And I’m way too smart to be fucking around with excuses.
Luis Báez (he/him) (27:33.486)
That is how I pick myself up and snap myself the fuck out of a situation. I am not an idiot. I am not making excuses for this not happening for me.
Nick McGowan (27:33.653)
That’s good.
Nick McGowan (27:45.525)
That’s powerful. That’s really powerful. And we as people can also understand that we are all unique. So you as a listener, you’re not an idiot. You may just be different from those other people, but how you act and how you relate, it’s up to you to be able to do that. And it’s your responsibility to bring your uniqueness to the world. And Luis, I appreciate you bringing your uniqueness to this episode and the podcast. It’s been great talking with you. Before I let you go,
Luis Báez (he/him) (27:46.318)
Yeah.
Nick McGowan (28:14.997)
Where can people find you and where can they connect with you?
Luis Báez (he/him) (28:17.422)
Gosh, you can hang out with me on LinkedIn. I actually, all the realness that I just served up, all these lessons on like how to show up and how to do the damn thing, I teach all of that for free. Learn from Luis .com.
Nick McGowan (28:30.741)
Man, again, it’s been a pleasure having you on the show. I appreciate your time.
Luis Báez (he/him) (28:34.51)
Thank you, Nick.
https://youtu.be/gVjpWMh23SE