E163 When's the Last Time You Optimized For Joy? with Nicole Tormey

What if the most important thing you could optimize isn't your business, but your joy?In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Wigner sits down with human performance coach Nicole Tormey, who helps some of the most driven teams in business perform at the highest level by doing something radical: less. Nicole shares why she takes a full month off every year and what she tells her clients before she goes, the story of flying to Bali with no plan and spending seven uncomfortable days learning to stop performing her own vacation, and the weekly check-in her teams refuse to give up. Together, Steph and Nicole get to the question every high achiever eventually faces: when you ask "what is enough," are you really asking "am I enough?" And underneath it all, the thing we forget while chasing every goal: a life you actually enjoy is the whole point.In this episode: The energy audit question Nicole asks before letting anyone add a new habit Why feeling "behind on your optimization" is the warning sign, not the motivation Exactly what Nicole tells clients before taking her month off every year The morning question that reconnected her to what she actually wants Steph's day-by-day calendar boundaries for winning back white space The difference between asking "what is enough" and "am I enough" Joy isn't the reward for hitting the goal. It's the reason the goal was worth hitting.Chapters: 01:05 Nicole's Path to Human Performance 02:43 Pouring Into a Team, Not Just a Business 03:55 The Friday Nervous System Check-In 06:17 The One Call the Team Refused to Cut 07:28 Stop Adding: The Energy Audit 10:13 When Is Enough Enough? 11:43 The Real Question: Are YOU Enough? 12:47 Judgment and Curiosity Can't Share Space 14:31 Self-Worth and the Addiction to Performing 17:58 Permission to Not Have It Figured Out 19:49 The Non-Negotiable Month Off 21:13 Nicole's Bali Reset 24:38 Creating White Space 25:39 Steph's Calendar Boundaries 26:15 Joy Unattached to an Outcome Connect with Nicole:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicole_tormey