RHYTHMS OF REST℠ Leadership Podcast

Episode 7: Why I Refuse to Let AI Write My Newsletter — Even When I'm Drowning

Kent Murawski — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:08:43 GMT

You have rules about AI. What nobody warned you about is that the hardest part isn't enforcing them with the tool — it's enforcing them with yourself. This episode is about the temptation to hand AI the things that were never supposed to leave your hands, and what it quietly costs you when you do.

What You'll Learn

Why "keeping AI in its lane" breaks down when you're tired, overwhelmed, and behind — and what that moment is actually telling you
How to use AI to reclaim 4–8 hours a week without giving up your voice, your thinking, or your integrity
The one thing AI will never be, no matter how advanced it gets
How your Tangible and Relational Rhythms reveal exactly where AI helps — and where it harms
Why overwhelm isn't a productivity problem — it's a signal worth listening to

Key Quote from the Episode "My integrity is worth more than a deadline." — Kent Murawski

Episode Highlights

Kent's real confession: the temptation to let AI write his newsletter — even when he knows better
Scott Galloway's gut-punch line: AI isn't taking your job — someone who understands it will
The two decisions about AI that hold up under real pressure, not just in theory
AI fatigue is real — and what human connection gives you that no tool ever will
Where Tangible and Relational Rhythms intersect, and why that line matters more than any productivity hack

Free Resource — Build a Claude Project That Actually Works Kent's free step-by-step guide to setting up a Claude Project that knows your context, runs on your instructions, and saves you 4+ hours a week. 👉 https://kentmurawski.kit.com/00d50c35bf

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

If you want to put any of this into practice, I've built a free step-by-step guide on how to set up a Claude Project that actually works—one that knows your context, runs on your instructions, and doesn't start from scratch every time: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18lp8bC-H9JoaaRrjjoVrEkC3x3kH3CFb/view?usp=sharing

Connect on Social Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentmurawski Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentmurawski X: https://x.com/kentmurawski LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentmurawski YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KentMurawski

podcast and social media edited and managed by Kole Murawski. Instagram: @Murawskifilms

Episode 6: Why You Feel Exhausted After a "Day Off" (And What Actually Replenishes You)

Kent Murawski — Sun, 10 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Ever finish a "day off" more drained than when you started? Most driven leaders confuse rest with inactivity — and it leaves them more depleted, not less. In this episode, I unpack why "doing nothing" backfires for high-capacity leaders and what actually replenishes you.

What You'll Learn: • Why your "day off" leaves you more tired — and what actually refills you • How to identify the keystone rhythms inside your Emotional and Spiritual life • A Heschel-inspired test to design rest that actually works • The hidden cost of letting fear and anxiety drive your day off • How to protect a weekly rhythm of rest without losing momentum

Key Quote: "Rest is active replenishment. It's doing the opposite of the thing that drains you all week."

Episode Highlights: • I break my own rule and open the laptop out of fear — then catch myself • Why propagating plants quieted my mind when strategy couldn't • The Heschel principle that reframes Sabbath for modern leaders: if you work with your mind, rest with your hands • Where Emotional rhythms (fun and hobbies) and Spiritual rhythms (a weekly day of rest) intersect • A 24–48 hour action step to schedule one replenishing activity this week • The reflection question every driven leader needs to sit with: What are you avoiding by staying productive?

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Episode 5: What to Do When You're Doing Everything Right and Still Drowning

Kent Murawski — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:45:00 GMT

You're doing everything right — and still feel like you're underwater. In this deeply personal episode, Kent opens up about his own season of sadness, anger, and overwhelm, and shares the three anchors that held him steady when his usual strategies stopped working.

What You'll Learn:

How to keep moving forward when your go-to rhythms aren't cutting it
Why your anchor routines matter most on the days you feel like skipping them
How treating your emotions like people — not problems — unlocks what they're actually trying to tell you
The 90-second rule that changes how you handle emotional overwhelm
When "pushing through" is the answer — and when it's making things worse

Key Quote from the Episode: "Sometimes the most spiritual, most productive, most courageous thing you can do is the next boring thing in front of you."

Episode Highlights:

Kent's raw confession about feeling sad, angry, and overwhelmed — and what happened the Wednesday it all hit
The "chop wood, carry water" principle: why transformation hides in the mundane
How Kent's patella tendon rupture stripped away nearly every rhythm — and which one carried him through
Why seasons have a beginning and an end, and if yours doesn't, it's not a season — it's a lifestyle
The difference between letting emotions rule you and letting them speak to you

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT. Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes.

👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools.

👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Connect on Social

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentmurawski

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentmurawski

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentmurawski

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KentMurawski

Episode 4: Looking Strong Won’t Make People Follow You (But Doing This Will)

Kent Murawski — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:30:00 GMT

A room full of entrepreneurs watched Kent cry. And it turned out to be one of the most important leadership moments of his life.

In this episode, Kent shares the raw story of what broke open in him during a mastermind Q&A in Austinwith Ryan Levesque — and why your vulnerability, not your wins, is the most powerful leadership tool you're not fully using.

What You'll Learn

Why driven leaders stay successful on the outside but invisible on the inside — and how to close that gap
The difference between transparency and true vulnerability (most leaders confuse the two)
How to share vulnerably as a leader without undermining confidence or oversharing
Why your emotional and relational rhythms determine whether people follow your title — or actually follow you
A simple 24–48 hour action step to practice real vulnerability this week

Key Quote from the Episode "It's your vulnerability, your humility, and your weakness — that's going to speak to the people you lead."

Episode Highlights

Kent gets emotional in front of 15 entrepreneurs and unpacks exactly why — it's not what you'd expect
Ryan Levesque's table exercise: what your 4-year-old self would shout — and what it reveals about your ambition
The "scars not wounds" principle — how to know what's appropriate to share and when
Why Kent's heart grew callous over years of leadership and how one moment cracked it back open
The cost of leading without vulnerability: shallow relationships, transactional teams, and a life spent performing

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Episode 3: You Have a Plan for Everything—Except Your Life

Kent Murawski — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 09:45:00 GMT

You have a business plan, a financial plan, a marketing plan — but do you have a plan for your actual life? In this episode, Kent unpacks why the beliefs running beneath your behavior may be the real reason you feel stuck — and how to replace them without starting over.

What You'll Learn:

How to identify the faulty belief driving your hustle-and-grind cycle
The doom loop: why anxiety reinforces the very patterns you're trying to escape
How to use neuroplasticity to rewire limiting beliefs into ones you actually believe
Why defining your "enough number" stops the endless striving
How pain becomes the foundation for purpose — not just suffering

Key Quote: "If you want to change what you do, you have to change your belief."

Episode Highlights:

James, a 28-year-old business owner, kept skipping his personal values to work on company values — revealing a toxic belief underneath
The difference between hustle as a tactic and hustle as a lifestyle (and why one will destroy you)
Viktor Frankl's three sources of purpose and how Kent's breakdown at 27 became the doorway to the Rhythms of REST framework
Shalom isn't just peace — it means wholeness, and wholeness is a direction, not a destination
The four rhythms (Relational, Emotional, Spiritual, Tangible) and why all four chambers have to beat together

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Episode 2: How to Do Your Best Work in Less Time — Without Grinding Harder

Kent Murawski — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:00 GMT

What if the reason you're falling behind isn't effort—it's a broken definition of productivity?

In this episode, Kent Murawski dismantles the desk-grinding myth and gives you three practical frameworks to protect your creative energy, work from your Zone of Genius, and finally produce the results that actually matter—without the burnout.

What You'll Learn

How to redefine productivity around outcomes, not hours logged
Why your best ideas will never come from your desk—and where they actually live
How to identify and protect your peak creative window every single day
The three-zone energy framework that restructures your entire workday
A 4-step strengths-based prescription for leaders who manage teams

Key Quote from the Episode "Sitting at your desk for 10 hours straight is not an idea factory. It's an idea graveyard."

Episode Highlights

Why "measurable results" is the only productivity definition worth keeping—and the follow-up question most leaders never ask
The neuroscience of the default mode network: why walking, showering, and low-demand tasks unlock your most creative breakthroughs
How Friedrich Nietzsche walked 8 hours a day through the Swiss Alps and produced his most influential work in a single decade
Kent's full weekly schedule—blocked by day and by hour—for sustainable creative output and actual momentum
The 4-step team prescription for strengths-based leadership that builds loyalty and drives real results

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Episode 1: You've Been Resting Wrong — And It's Why You're Still Burned Out

Kent Murawski — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:00:00 GMT

You've been told to rest. You've tried. And somehow, you're still exhausted.

That's not a discipline problem — it's a definition problem. In this episode, Kent Murawski dismantles the most pervasive myth about rest and replaces it with a framework that actually works for leaders wired to move.

What You'll Learn

Why "just rest" is the worst advice you can give a driven leader
The ancient Hebrew definition of rest that reframes everything
How one founder reduced his work hours by nearly 400% with a single weekly practice
Why one type of rest can't fix all four types of depletion
How to identify which rhythm needs your attention most right now

Key Quote "Depletion doesn't get fixed by doing nothing. It gets fixed by doing things that replenish you."

Episode Highlights

Rest is active, not passive — it's doing what replenishes you, not what drains you
The Hebrew word shâbath (root of "Sabbath") means to cease, stop, and celebrate — a radically different frame
After a painful leadership conflict, Kent retreated to his garage and refinished furniture for months — working with his hands was what healed emotional depletion
Brandon went from 12–15 hrs/day, 7 days/week to 2–4 hrs/day, 6 days/week after one consistent day of rest
Relational, Emotional, Spiritual, and Tangible depletion each require a completely different kind of restoration

Take the RHYTHMS OF REST ASSESSMENT Discover where you are on the burnout scale — from thriving to critical. Takes less than 5 minutes. 👉 kentmurawski.com/restassessment

Subscribe to the Newsletter Bi-weekly insights to help you lead from rest, not burnout. No fluff — just practical tools. 👉 kentmurawski.com/newsletter

Episode 0: You Don't Need Balance. You Need This.

Kent Murawski — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:00:56 GMT

You've been sold a lie. Work-life balance doesn't work — not for driven leaders whose calendars are color-coded and still overflowing. Not for someone crushing it professionally while running on fumes personally.

What if the problem isn't how hard you're working, but the framework you've been handed?

This intro episode is where it all begins. I'm Kent Murawski, and at 27 I had a fall-down-on-the-floor nervous breakdown. I spent the next 20 years figuring out what actually works — not tips and tricks, but real rhythms. The kind that build sustainable success without costing you your soul.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

Why work-life balance is the villain — and what rhythm actually looks like
The four rhythms every driven leader needs: Relational, Emotional, Spiritual, and Tangible
What becomes possible when all four are working together: harmony at home, mental clarity, physical energy, and meaningful work
A preview of Brandon's story — from 12-15 hour days, seven days a week, to 2-4 focused hours daily. All from one simple rhythm.
Your first RHYTHMS Check: one action you can take in the next 24-48 hours

Your First RHYTHMS Check

Sit with this question: If you had to cut your work hours in half tomorrow, what would you stop doing first?

Your answer reveals what you already know isn't essential. Drop it in the YouTube comments or tag me @kentmurawski on Instagram. I read every one.

Resources

🔗 Free Rhythms of REST Assessment (5 min) → kentmurawski.com/assessment

📧 Bi-Weekly Newsletter → kentmurawski.com/newsletter

New episodes every other week. Every episode ends with a RHYTHMS Check — one thing you can do within 24-48 hours to build sustainable success.