Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #119| Why Slowing Down is the Ultimate Productivity Hack Nobody Talks About
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: I think the truth of this is that productivity isn't about how much you do.
- 0:05Michelle Gauthier: It's about doing the right things with focus.
- 0:07Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:20Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:25Michelle Gauthier: On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences, and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:37Michelle Gauthier: Hi, friend, thanks for joining today.
- 0:42Michelle Gauthier: In today's episode, we're going to break the myth that productivity is all about working faster and doing more.
- 0:48Michelle Gauthier: If you've ever felt like, no matter how much you do, it's never enough, this episode is for you.
- 0:53Michelle Gauthier: In this episode, you'll discover why the belief that more is better is keeping you stuck, and the surprising reason that slowing down actually makes you more productive, and I will give you a couple simple ways to create time for yourself, even when life feels really busy.
- 1:09Michelle Gauthier: So by the end, you'll have a couple tangible strategies to reclaim some of your time and be more present and more productive without adding more to your to-do list.
- 1:19Michelle Gauthier: Let's jump into it.
- 1:21Michelle Gauthier: So, somewhere along the way at least, I got the story and I'd imagine that most of you did too that doing more makes you more productive.
- 1:30Michelle Gauthier: So if you want to produce more, you have to do more, and I think that our society, especially for women, kind of glorifies the hustle culture and rewards busyness.
- 1:40Michelle Gauthier: If you think about when you run into someone in public that you haven't seen in a while and they're like how's it going?
- 1:45Michelle Gauthier: How have you guys been that you always say like busy, oh, we're busy, oh, super busy, crazy busy.
- 1:51Michelle Gauthier: It's like part of our culture is that we all agree that we're too busy and doing too much, and I think the truth of this is that productivity isn't about how much you do.
- 2:04Michelle Gauthier: It's about doing the right things with focus.
- 2:06Michelle Gauthier: So, instead of doing you know 15 things and working on each of those things for 10 hours, maybe it's about working on 10 of those things and working on those for five hours, and maybe you will be more productive by doing that.
- 2:21Michelle Gauthier: For example, have you ever had a day where you were just busy all day long, like you finish the day and your brain hurts, but at the end of it you still feel like I got nothing meaningful done, like I was doing stuff all day but nothing meaningful actually got accomplished, and I know everyone's had days like that, and that's because activity doesn't always equal progress, even though you're doing things like when I think about myself how many hours I used to have to spend just responding to emails.
- 2:45Michelle Gauthier: That always felt like I wasn't getting anything done Because as soon as I would get to the bottom of the email inbox it would fill right back up and it was so frustrating.
- 2:54Michelle Gauthier: So I think doing fewer things with more focus will always beat doing more.
- 3:00Michelle Gauthier: I looked up a study on this because I'm fascinated by the idea of diminishing returns, meaning when you work on something for a while, you're definitely being productive and probably getting good results, but at a certain point your productivity starts to drop off and your performance starts to drop off.
- 3:16Michelle Gauthier: I was always a runner and I ran a couple marathons, and a marathon is a perfect example of when you start off and you're feeling really good and you're running a mile.
- 3:25Michelle Gauthier: Maybe you cover a mile in eight minutes, and then you cover mile two in eight minutes and mile three in eight minutes, but you get to a point where you are continuing to cover more miles but it's just taking you longer and longer and it's probably beating up your body more and more after, say, mile 20 or so, and that makes so much sense for a marathon.
- 3:45Michelle Gauthier: But sometimes people feel like for work or taking care of your house or the combination of both that there is no point of diminishing returns.
- 3:53Michelle Gauthier: But there is.
- 3:54Michelle Gauthier: I found the study from Stanford that backs up what I'm talking about here, and the basic idea, if you look at the chart that they show, is that if when you start working, the more hours that you work, you become more and more productive and your output becomes better and better, until you reach about 35 to 37 hours in a week and that's when the curve starts to go back down the other side that your productivity starts to go down.
- 4:20Michelle Gauthier: But it doesn't go down slowly, it's like a cliff.
- 4:22Michelle Gauthier: At a certain point Between 40 and 55 hours it is a quick decline and after working more than 55 hours it just literally falls off a cliff.
- 4:33Michelle Gauthier: So there are studies that are even backing this up that if you're working more than 35 to 37 hours, you have gone beyond your maximum productivity hours.
- 4:45Michelle Gauthier: So think about that in terms of when you're working those additional hours.
- 4:51Michelle Gauthier: Is it worth it and what are you getting done, or would it be better for you to just call it a day and say, okay, I put in my hours for today, there's more that I can do, but I will do it better and more effectively tomorrow, instead of staying now and keep trying to do more and more and more?
- 5:08Michelle Gauthier: So think about that for yourself.
- 5:09Michelle Gauthier: Is there just a small place in your life where you could say I'm going to stop now and I'm going to come back to this later?
- 5:15Michelle Gauthier: I've never regretted the stop and come back to this later, because by the time I feel like I need to do that, it's because I'm just burned out and my brain is not working at its best capacity, and I'm not even going to be doing good work if I continue to work.
- 5:29Michelle Gauthier: The other thing that gets a bad rap is doing anything slowly, unless you sign up for a slow flow yoga class or something like that.
- 5:38Michelle Gauthier: Other than that, pretty much speed is praised and doing things slowly is not, and I think it's interesting to ponder how slowing down can actually make you more productive rather than less.
- 5:55Michelle Gauthier: Think about what happens when you're in a rush.
- 5:57Michelle Gauthier: So if I'm running out the door and I know that I'm going to be late for something and I realize, oh my gosh, I can't find my keys.
- 6:04Michelle Gauthier: I can't find my keys.
- 6:05Michelle Gauthier: I have no idea where my keys are.
- 6:06Michelle Gauthier: I'm running around my house.
- 6:07Michelle Gauthier: I'm like yelling at my kids Does anyone know where my keys are?
- 6:09Michelle Gauthier: Has anyone seen my keys?
- 6:10Michelle Gauthier: Blah, blah, blah.
- 6:10Michelle Gauthier: And if my brain wasn't feeling rushed and I was feeling slowed down, I would be like wait, let me just think about this.
- 6:17Michelle Gauthier: Oh yeah, I put them in my workout bag.
- 6:19Michelle Gauthier: They're hanging up in my closet.
- 6:20Michelle Gauthier: I know right where they are.
- 6:21Michelle Gauthier: Our brain just works better when it's not rushed and I think, if you can imagine in your life where that happens, that's probably true for you as well.
- 6:31Michelle Gauthier: The other thing is, when you're not in a rush and you're not trying to do things really quickly, you make smarter, more intentional decisions.
- 6:40Michelle Gauthier: For example, have you ever responded to an email really quickly and regretted it later?
- 6:45Michelle Gauthier: That's what happens when we rush.
- 6:48Michelle Gauthier: You might dash off a quick response.
- 6:49Michelle Gauthier: That is, either, if you know it's something that you're irritated with, might be in a more irritated, non-problem-solving tone.
- 7:02Michelle Gauthier: And the other thing is, when we answer things quickly, we're not thinking all the way through it, so you might give a confusing answer, which means you're just going to get another reply back.
- 7:07Michelle Gauthier: So think about if you were in a not-rush state of mind when you answered an email.
- 7:11Michelle Gauthier: The difference in the quality of the communication that you would have.
- 7:15Michelle Gauthier: The other downside to never slowing down is that you just miss so much of life.
- 7:20Michelle Gauthier: It doesn't let you be present for the little things like that first sip of your morning coffee or a great conversation with someone or fresh air.
- 7:29Michelle Gauthier: So if you're a person who's always rushing from one thing to the next, so if you're a person who's always rushing from one thing to the next, I've given you a couple examples here of why slowing down could be better.
- 7:51Michelle Gauthier: Think about one area where you could slow down.
- 7:53Michelle Gauthier: Sometimes, when I feel really probably I will just calmly walk.
- 7:57Michelle Gauthier: Or instead of like throwing my shoes on while I'm also trying to walk, I'll just sit down and put my shoes on.
- 8:03Michelle Gauthier: If you can slow down your body, it helps you slow down your brain, and that will truly not only allow you to enjoy life more, but do better quality work and have better quality interactions with everyone your kids, your family, your boss, your co-workers, whoever Okay.
- 8:25Michelle Gauthier: So we've talked about the myth that doing more is not true.
- 8:28Michelle Gauthier: We've talked about why slowing down actually makes you more productive, and now I want to give you a couple ideas for how you can make time for yourself and slow down instead of rushing everywhere all the time.
- 8:42Michelle Gauthier: If you're a person who's not spending a lot of time on things for yourself, you can schedule time like it's an appointment.
- 8:48Michelle Gauthier: If you had just even like a 10 minute check in with your boss or someone who works for you, would you ever skip it?
- 8:54Michelle Gauthier: Probably not.
- 8:56Michelle Gauthier: I have a client right now who just schedules 15 minutes of reading before bed or first thing when she works up, and it's non-negotiable and it's something that she loves to do, and it doesn't have to be, you know, reading to learn something.
- 9:10Michelle Gauthier: It can just be a book that you find interesting, but spending time for yourself doing something slow and, in theory, non-productive.
- 9:19Michelle Gauthier: Another thing you can do is just slow down during the rituals that you already have.
- 9:23Michelle Gauthier: So if you already have a morning routine to have coffee or tea or whatever you have, instead of just like pouring it into the cup and running out the door or taking it straight to your office and barely even noticing it, take just a minute to create more of a slow down ritual where you pour the coffee and you pour the cream and you're not doing anything else.
- 9:42Michelle Gauthier: You're not checking your phone, you're not listening to anything, you're just paying attention to the coffee and take a sip of it and take a couple breaths and just notice how differently you feel and just notice how you feel after that, after you've taken one minute 30 seconds to slow down and actually drink your coffee.
- 10:05Michelle Gauthier: Another way to slow down is to have less to do.
- 10:09Michelle Gauthier: So this week, I challenge you to try to say no to something, anything, even just a tiny thing, like if your kid says will you come in here and watch me do this dance for the sixth time?
- 10:20Michelle Gauthier: I challenge you to say no, I saw it before, it was great.
- 10:23Michelle Gauthier: Whatever, I'm not going to do that right now.
- 10:26Michelle Gauthier: Give yourself the gift of one no If you do this, if you try any of these so scheduling a time for yourself to do something that you enjoy, creating a slow ritual for your coffee or whatever kind of rituals you have in your day or say no to one thing this week.
- 10:41Michelle Gauthier: Would you send me a message and tell me what it was?
- 10:44Michelle Gauthier: I would love to share your examples and ideas on next week's podcast.
- 10:50Michelle Gauthier: Okay, let's wrap up with Michelle's do less for more success tip.
- 10:54Michelle Gauthier: This is a tip that I learned from a stylist, laura Sawyer.
- 10:58Michelle Gauthier: She was on a previous episode of the podcast.
- 11:00Michelle Gauthier: If you want to listen to it, it's a great episode, but it's something that I've been doing and is so helpful.
- 11:05Michelle Gauthier: She suggested, if you put on an outfit and you really like it, to take a picture of yourself in the outfit, because you know sometimes when you're trying to figure out like, will this sweater go with these pants?
- 11:15Michelle Gauthier: Do I need to wear boots with this, or should I wear tennis shoes with this?
- 11:19Michelle Gauthier: When you put together an outfit that you really like, if you take a picture and then you can remember, oh yeah, I liked last time I wore it, let me just look back, let me flip through my pictures and see what I did, you don't have to rethink through the whole outfit every time.
- 11:31Michelle Gauthier: This has been so helpful to me because I have been going to an office.
- 11:36Michelle Gauthier: I have a corporate client right now and I see them.
- 11:39Michelle Gauthier: It's a group coaching thing and I see them at their office.
- 11:41Michelle Gauthier: So normally when I'm working from home and seeing my clients on Zoom, I definitely shower and get ready, but I always wear like comfy pants on the bottom and I don't put together like a whole outfit.
- 11:52Michelle Gauthier: So since I've been having to leave the house in a real outfit, it's taken me quite a bit of time to figure out what do I wear.
- 11:58Michelle Gauthier: I literally never wear shoes, so what shoes go with this outfit?
- 12:02Michelle Gauthier: So it's been really helpful to me to use this little trick that Laura taught me a while ago.
- 12:07Michelle Gauthier: Now let's just review what you've learned today.
- 12:11Michelle Gauthier: Productivity isn't about doing more.
- 12:13Michelle Gauthier: It's about doing what matters with focus, and slowing down makes you more effective.
- 12:18Michelle Gauthier: Remember that cliff I talked about where you're productive until you're not, and when you're not, it just falls off a steep, steep cliff.
- 12:26Michelle Gauthier: So give yourself permission to do less and you will be more productive.
- 12:30Michelle Gauthier: And the last one is taking time for yourself is not selfish, and if you can slow down and take a few minutes for yourself, I think you'll see an increase in your satisfaction and your ability to be present throughout the whole day.
- 12:44Michelle Gauthier: If you've been listening to the podcast and wondered what it's like to work with me one on one, to have me be your one on one coach for some of the things that we're talking about on the podcast, I would love to talk to you.
- 12:55Michelle Gauthier: If you're curious about what this would look like, you can click on the link in the show notes to send me a message and I'll tell you how to set up a free session where we'll talk about what's going on with you, what's feeling stressful in your life, and then I will talk about how we would approach that in coaching, and we will no pressure see if it's a good fit or not in coaching, and we will no pressure see if it's a good fit or not.
- 13:17Michelle Gauthier: So if you've been thinking about it and you've kind of had the urge to reach out to me, do it.
- 13:19Michelle Gauthier: It's free, even if you don't end up coaching with me.
- 13:22Michelle Gauthier: I promise you you will get some great tips in that one-on-one session.
- 13:26Michelle Gauthier: Okay, see you later this week.
- 13:27Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 13:36Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegothiercom.
- 13:42Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.