Episode 134: The Truth About Sacrifice: What It Really Takes to Build a Life You Love

We didn’t get to Episode 134 by accident. And we definitely didn’t get here by staying comfortable.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re meant for more—more impact, more freedom, more fulfillment—this episode is for you. Because the truth is, building a life you love doesn’t come without cost.

It takes choosing the hard thing on purpose.
It takes showing up when it’s inconvenient.
It takes sacrifice—but not the kind that drains you. The kind that shapes you.

In this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to build a life and business that lights you up. We’re not sugarcoating anything. This is for those of us who are in it for the long haul, who know we’re here to lead, and who are done waiting for permission.

We’re not here to glorify burnout. We’re here to call forward your strength.

Because every late night, every hard decision, every “not yet” is part of a bigger purpose—and we want to remind you that you’re not the only one walking that road.

You’re not behind. You’re becoming.

In this episode, we cover:

• The difference between purposeful sacrifice and self-sabotage
• What we’ve given up—and what we’ve gained—in our own journeys
• How to discern what’s worth sacrificing and what’s not
• Why choosing your future over your comfort is the ultimate power move

This episode is a rally cry for the brave—the ones building what doesn’t exist yet.
Listen now, and share it with someone who needs to hear this today.

You’re not meant to settle.
You’re meant to rise.

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Read the full transcript of this episode below:

 

Thank Hey there, I’m Lynn, and I’m Amanda. Welcome to The Pursuit of Badasserie, the podcast. Today we’re talking about sacrifice, and it might surprise you what we have to say today.

Yes, sacrifice. So we have many conversations about, you know, doing all the things, and you know, I don’t want to, I’m too busy with my life to be able to do this, or have all this, and it kind of goes along the busy line in some aspects, and whatever.

At the end of the day, when you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something. Sacrifice is part of the game in life, in my opinion, but also being an entrepreneur.

You have to sacrifice things. There’s a saying, in order to get where you want, or you’re not going get there, or it’s going to take you longer.

And there’s this saying around like, you know, I’m going to put in the effort today, I’m not going to do all the party and do all this.

I’m building the business today, so that way I can have the work. And I feel like my life is kind of like the epitome of that because I had kids so young and I did so many things and like I put in so much work in the beginning that I’m able to really enjoy things differently now, but it’s the same with business like sacrifice is part of the game.

I can hear some of my family and even friends in the background in my head as they’re talking that I shouldn’t have to sacrifice to get what I want.

And I do understand that feeling of why should I have to give up in order to have a good life?

And I hear this a lot around like the mompreneur space of I don’t want to sacrifice time with my kids in order to grow my business and vice versa.

Absolutely. It’s your choice how much and to what extent you do any kind of sacrifice because sacrifice doesn’t mean that you’re literally giving up absolutely everything.

And reasons It can be selective sacrifice. You’re choosing one little thing. doesn’t have to be all or nothing. And ultimately, there is sacrifice, regardless of what it’s for or how you’re looking at it.

You’re sacrificing something for the other. If you want to be with your kids 24-7, you’re sacrificing the growth of your business.

If you want your business to grow, you’re going to have to have a late night or, you know, an early morning, sacrifice something.

Something has to give. And I know that’s not a popular or fun opinion. You’re not listening to our podcast to hear, you know, sunshine blowing up your butt here.

We’re not doing that on this podcast. There’s always sacrifice. As Lynn said, if you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else, even if they’re both good things.

Yes, I want to grow my business. Yes, I want to go to a visa. Can’t do them on the same day.

Maybe you can, depending on how you built your business. We can. But the idea that there’s still something you’re going to have to give.

You can’t take a client call while you’re at the club in a visa, okay? Probably not. Maybe if it’s meeting with somebody.

The point is, even if they’re two good things, even if it’s two things you want, you might have to say no to something.

It’s part of life. You have to say no. You can’t do everything all the time. Even for the people who say they can do everything.

Yes, sure, you can do everything, but you can’t do everything at the same time. Yeah, well, it’s interesting because, yes, and what I will also say about that is that sacrifice isn’t black or white either.

And so I’ll give you an example. Amanda and I, while she’s here, we’re traveling around. And so we just took a trip to KL.

We’re like, we’re going to get a bunch of work done because we’re going to be together. However, we also are going to sightsee and then she’s going to go off with her son and do things.

I’m going to connect with my friends there and do different things. And we sacrifice actually some of our business time for the luxury of her being a parent.

And doing certain things like even after they were home, just because her son was like, tired, right done. And so needed mommy maybe a little bit more.

So we sacrifice some things. But we also like sacrifice like I sacrifice not going out a couple of nights that way we could have that.

And it’s not again, it’s not, it’s not that we weren’t having fun. we weren’t doing all the things. It’s just like, it’s almost like this harmony, because we’re aware of the sacrifices that need to be made in order to be able to move the needle.

And because we’re in a big push at this time, we have to sacrifice things. I talk a lot about like my pecking order, when I’m super stressed or super spread thin, it’s like, I know the things that I have to do.

Everything else is sacrifice at that time. And it doesn’t mean that I don’t love them. It doesn’t mean, you know, and emails, if I’m looking at business, emails are the first things to be sacrificed in my life.

Oh, I just saw my email box. And I used to be the one who would have zero emails in their email box.

I do not understand. And that there’s always a trail. However, it’s the same thing. There’s always something that’s going to give.

And there’s, it’s part of, we talk a lot about prioritization, and that’s part of prioritization. What’s your priority? What are you willing to sacrifice for something else?

There’s always something you’ll sacrifice for something else. There’s always something. Even if it’s a Schindler’s List scenario, there’s, there’s, even if it’s the Sophie’s Choice, like there’s, there’s something, even if it’s important, there’s something you’ll sacrifice for something else.

And sometimes it’s, people you love. It’s your best friend that you’re, I can’t come out for your, your birthday.

I have to do this. Like there’s, there’s all sorts of things that you don’t want to give up, but that’s what sacrifice is.

And you have to prioritize the greater eventuality that you’re going for. You, you have to, there’s, there’s no other way around it.

Why? Because if you don’t do the sacrifice of today for the results or reward tomorrow, then you’re, that tomorrow becomes further and further out or non-existent and non-existent period.

Yeah, I mean, there’s so much around this that I think, yeah, I know this one is going to be triggering for some people because of exactly what you said, but it’s facts.

It’s facts. If you want to hit those numbers, if you want to do things, it doesn’t mean that you’re sacrificing your momhood for your business.

And that’s not the thing. And I think there’s a rewiring or a mindset shift that needs to happen around it.

Um, you know, obviously, like, yes, my kids are older, my kids are in their late 20s. And that’s so weird, right?

Yes, my kids are 27, 28 and 28 at this point. Um, but with that being said, like, I didn’t sacrifice being a mom, I was a mom, I was there.

I mean, most of the time, actually, their whole life, my biological kids, but even my stepdaughter, who I raised since she was nine, weren’t around other family.

So I sacrificed being You know, common things, which was actually a pleasure to put them in environments that were, were good for them.

But in business, I had to sacrifice like some of my own personal time to be able to make sure that I’m being the best mom I could be in my capacity, but also running businesses and doing all my own things because it’s not like we had a unit of, you know, that’s a bit of a mindset and like pushing through.

I had to get creative with my time to be able to do all the things and make sure that I, and we’re not saying don’t enjoy the now because especially I preach about like being in the present moment and that that’s definitely a thing, but it is like, let’s see eating, for example, you want to fit into that dress or those pair of pants, but yet they don’t fit you so good right now.

So are you going to sacrifice eating that tasty? So, are you going to sacrifice, maybe sleeping in an hour and going to the gym?

Or, you know, are you going to sacrifice that afternoon sugar first? She loves caramel. And I ordered one the other day and I was like, I think I could do it.

God, was so sweet. I’m not a sweet person. She loves them. I love, I love that you love them.

Anyway, digressing here. But like, that is, there’s a cause and effect. There’s a cause and effect. And even when you sacrifice something bad, something good can happen, right?

So it’s not all like bad or good or good and good and whatever. Just know that there’s cause and effect.

And if you want to hit that, those numbers, those whatever, you’re sacrificing something. You have to put in the work today to be able to get tomorrow.

It’s kind of like the saying about like planting the seeds that that tree isn’t going to come overnight. Like you’re, you’re caring for it.

You’re, you’re. You’re nurturing it, you’re watering it, you’re doing all the things and spending a lot of time, but then when it’s a big oak tree, then you don’t have to do as much maintenance and you have the freedom to be able to enjoy it if it’s not an oak tree, it’s an apple tree, the fruits of your labor, right?

Yeah, I actually heard a quote, I’m going to butcher it, but it’s something to the effect of, you know, the seed you plant today, it’s not the fruit you eat tomorrow, it’s a long game, there’s lots of things, you know, and one thing I, this is probably off-character for me a bit in some ways, in that sacrifice is actually a privilege in a lot of ways.

If you reframe your mindset, there is good in the ability to sacrifice. The fact that I have the choice to sacrifice certain things is a privilege.

Not everybody gets the ability, the pleasure, the advantage of being able to choose the kinds of choices that we’ve created and the kinds of choices that you have to create.

That’s a privilege to get to sacrifice for a big dream. Not everybody has that. You can reframe yourself, not to the point where you’re sacrificing into this like victim mentality or martyr, like we don’t want to sacrifice to that point where, we’ve spoken about that on previous podcast episodes.

Listen to those. We don’t want to sit in the victim, we don’t want to sit in the martyr. And if that’s you, unfriend us.

Or start trolling us and then get our readership up. Go ahead, troll me. But there is a privilege in that sacrifice, not to the point where you’re becoming a martyr, but there’s a privilege in that.

There’s things that I get the choice to sacrifice that, you know, Amanda from 20 years ago would never have even dreamed.

So that’s a privilege. And if you can reframe your, your idea of sacrifice in that way, it will make it a lot less hard when you have to make the hard sacrifices, because there’s always going to be hard sacrifices.

It can’t all be sunshines and rainbows. Can’t even in Hawaii. It’s not that way. Yeah, and own it. So I think that’s, that’s the other aspect for those that are sacrificed.

Same becomes this, I think that goes into the victim and the martyrism. It’s like, oh, it just, I had to do this because, and I had to, you know, put my kids in a, you know, get a babysitter for three hours or whatever.

And I’m not mom shaming. That is not what I’m doing. Again, I’m a mom. Like, I remember having to be creative, like, do the things, just own it and say, yeah, I had to build my business because I know it’s really big.

I feel so bad for you. And like the moms nowadays, because it’s like vicious. I didn’t give a back then, but it’s vicious.

Still, it’s like, I think it also thinks of accessibility because of internet, but just own it. Because if you have that, then guilt, if you have, which mom guilt is a thing, like, I still get it sometimes that my kids are old.

But, but if you own it and like get out of like the victim or like the woe is me or the martyrism kind of mentality, then you’re actually able to use that time to be able to build what you need to build, to be able to keep.

I more, just show them differently. Oh my gosh. Yes. Getting out of that woe is me. You’ll save so much time just letting go of that one dialogue.

Oh my gosh. 100%. I do have to give a quick shout out to my kids because, you know, my kids saw.

And for a lot of their lives, I was the only physical parent, the only mental parent there. Loved my ex.

He’s a great man. He was a great dad, but he did other things. So he, whatever, that’s not this podcast.

Long story short, we’ve had conversations since they were, like, when they’re older about, like, they saw the sacrifices that I made in order to be able to give them the best life, to be able to provide for them, to be able to show them, like, and yes, they didn’t like it in the moment.

They didn’t like a lot of things in the moment, but I don’t know what world we live in. I know this isn’t a mom podcast, but what the F, like, the kids aren’t supposed to like everything.

Like, we’re not supposed to like everything. And, you know, some of the things I hated most when I was younger.

I appreciate the most. Oh my gosh, thank goodness my parents didn’t give me that, but they see they see it and they honor that I still put them first that when it needed to when they needed to be first and that I still need space and we can have both with that and but it’s there are sacrifices and there is that communication and understanding, and really owning what we choose to be able to make the best out of what we have, or what we curate to be able to get where we need to or where we deserve to be or where we want to be.

Absolutely. It’s, we’re going have some haters on this one. That’s okay, I’m alright, bring the haters, bring it. Sacrifice is a necessary part of life, of your business, of entrepreneurship.

It is a necessary part and if you keep fighting it, it’s going to be a long fight. Yeah, so are you going out and partying or are you staying in and like doing all the things?

There are so many people talking about this and I do have to make a comment because I know there are going to be some people talking

You’re going to be, but men don’t like second think the sacrifices that they make, you know, it’s not so for some men, like, obviously, the whole patriarchal matriarchal thing and the feminine and the masculine and whatever, I understand the differences and the kind of the nuances that everybody’s more or less born with, but in that kind of aspect, but men also feel men also understand, like, I remember actually having this conversation, because my ex took a job in Afghanistan, and it was a sacrifice for him, although it was in his comfort zone, he really enjoyed it, and it was, like, him doing what he needed to do, he still felt that sacrifice, he didn’t get to be around the kids when they were doing all the things, and even though it was more, it’s more of a male thing to do than a female thing to do, they still make sacrifices, but a lot of men don’t second-guess themselves, they know that they’re doing what’s right for the greater good.

Okay, so Are you doing the best that you can do in the situations and doing what’s right for the greater good and making sure that you’re moving that needle forward or not?

And you have to own your, you don’t have to do , but we would suggest you to own your decisions.

And you know what? Being a leader means you have to make the decisions. That’s part of being an entrepreneur.

That’s part of being a leader in a company. It’s a lot of sacrifice and it’s a lot of making the tough decisions so that your team doesn’t have to.

And your team is your family too. Yeah, absolutely. The people around you. So embrace the sacrifice. It is inevitable and it will get you further faster if you go ahead and embrace it now that there will be sacrifices, good and bad, that you have to make in order to get where you want to go.

If you’re going to get there in any kind of efficient manner and not be having those regrets on your deathbed.

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we can keep it going, but I think you got a point. Yeah. Sacrifice is part of, part of, part of it.

And so… so… But what sacrifices do you need to make? And it’s not always, you know, black and white.

And it’s not always whole, right? So maybe it’s I need to sacrifice 50% of this to gain 50% here.

So just kind of keeping that in mind, because those people who are surpassing you in business and in life, it’s because they may be on a conscious level, but definitely not subconscious level.

making, they understand that, and they’re making those sacrifices. Yeah. So please share this with anybody who you think needs a little swift kick in the hiney.

Because we are all about those kicking people into their best self. Absolutely. We told you that 2025 is going to be a bit more real and raw, as we’re stepping up our game, as we’re around each other more.

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The badasserie it can be, the most badasserie. Until next time, everybody. Get after it!