Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #239| Why Trying Harder Is Making Your Stress & Overwhelm Worse (And What To Do Instead)
Transcript
- 0:00Molly McNamee: The problem that's happening for so many of us is we are jumping from one stressful thing to the next stressful thing to the next stressful thing all day long.
- 0:13Michelle 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.
- 0:30Michelle Gauthier: And in each episode, you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease, and relaxation to your life.
- 0:37Michelle Gauthier: Hi, friend, welcome back.
- 0:42Michelle Gauthier: Thanks for joining.
- 0:43Michelle Gauthier: Today I have a very interesting guest for us.
- 0:45Michelle Gauthier: Her name is Molly McNamee, and she's a health coach who specializes in helping overwhelmed women like us manage stress and regulate our hormones and feel good in our own bodies.
- 0:56Michelle Gauthier: So if you've ever felt like you're kind of doing everything right, I've definitely had this thought that I'm eating right, I'm working at it, but still not getting the results you want.
- 1:04Michelle Gauthier: This is a great episode for you.
- 1:05Michelle Gauthier: Molly breaks down what's actually happening in your body when you're constantly in go mode and how you can calm it down without overhauling your entire life.
- 1:15Michelle Gauthier: When you listen today, you'll learn what cortisol really is and why it might be the reason you feel exhausted or anxious or stuck, how to lower stress hormones in just a few minutes a day, and why doing less might be the key to getting better results with your body and your energy and your mood.
- 1:30Michelle Gauthier: Today's episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth.
- 1:34Michelle Gauthier: We are getting to Mother's Day season, and you know that I always advocate for you guys to ask for what you want on Mother's Day, how you want to spend your time, and what kind of gifts you'd like to have.
- 1:44Michelle Gauthier: It's the perfect time to think about the Cozy Earth robe.
- 1:48Michelle Gauthier: I got this from my mom for Mother's Day, and I already gave it to her.
- 1:52Michelle Gauthier: I couldn't wait to give it to her, and she absolutely loved it.
- 1:55Michelle Gauthier: I've mentioned before that I'm a huge pajama person, and I got it from my mama, and so she appreciates pajamas and robes and things that are super comfortable.
- 2:05Michelle Gauthier: And she texted me this morning and said, I'm wearing my new robe and it's amazing, and it's the best robe I've ever had.
- 2:10Michelle Gauthier: It really is.
- 2:11Michelle Gauthier: It's soft, it's the perfect weight, it's amazing.
- 2:14Michelle Gauthier: I also splurged and got her the slippers that match, and she said those are like walking on a cloud.
- 2:20Michelle Gauthier: So if you are looking for something to ask for for Mother's Day or you want to buy a Mother's Day gift for your mom or your sister, I also sent one to my sister.
- 2:29Michelle Gauthier: Hopefully she doesn't hear this before it arrives, then consider the cozy earth robe and slippers.
- 2:35Michelle Gauthier: They are amazing.
- 2:36Michelle Gauthier: And as always, because they are our sponsor, if you use our code OWW for overwhelmed working woman, you will get 20% off.
- 2:44Michelle Gauthier: And you will make someone very happy.
- 2:46Michelle Gauthier: And maybe that's someone's yourself.
- 2:47Michelle Gauthier: Okay, let's get into the episode.
- 2:50Michelle Gauthier: Thank you so much, Molly, for being here today.
- 2:52Michelle Gauthier: I'm really excited for you to teach us all the things.
- 2:55Michelle Gauthier: But before we do, tell us a little bit about your own story.
- 2:58Michelle Gauthier: How did you get to become a health coach and focused on cortisol and helping people lose weight?
- 3:05Molly McNamee: Yeah, so I've been working in the fitness industry for about 15 years now.
- 3:09Molly McNamee: So that has been my life for a long time, but I really transitioned into helping people with chronic stress and hormonal imbalances about five years ago.
- 3:19Molly McNamee: And that's because of my own journey with those issues.
- 3:22Molly McNamee: I was doing all the right things.
- 3:24Molly McNamee: I was exercising a lot, eating really healthy, but I was feeling really drained, really tired.
- 3:29Molly McNamee: I was gaining weight and I was feeling really anxious and overwhelmed, and I didn't know what was going on.
- 3:35Molly McNamee: And that's when I really dove into stress and hormones and I put all the puzzle pieces together and I was like, oh wow, this is life-changing when you really understand how your body is working internally.
- 3:47Molly McNamee: It changed everything for me.
- 3:49Molly McNamee: And then I just completely switched up how I work with my clients, and now I help people navigate those things, those hormones, that stress, their nervous system, because all of that is just as important as how you're eating and how you're moving.
- 4:03Michelle Gauthier: That's so interesting and important to know, I think, because we all know like stress is bad, overwhelm is bad for us.
- 4:10Michelle Gauthier: I'm using air quotes, but no one can see them except for Molly.
- 4:12Michelle Gauthier: But why and like how does that exactly impact us?
- 4:16Michelle Gauthier: I'm excited to learn about that.
- 4:18Michelle Gauthier: When you went through all of that and you came out on the other side and cracked the code, what was the difference in how your body felt, how your brain felt?
- 4:27Michelle Gauthier: What were the results that you got?
- 4:29Molly McNamee: When I was really going through it, and by that, lots of hormonal imbalances, lots of stress, I just felt tired all of the time.
- 4:36Molly McNamee: And it felt like I was trying to push through that at all times.
- 4:39Molly McNamee: And it also felt even though I was exercising really hard, I wasn't getting stronger, I was actually getting weaker, I wasn't losing weight, I was actually gaining weight.
- 4:46Molly McNamee: And then once I got over that and I started really moving and living in a way that aligned with my body, I just felt awake again.
- 4:53Molly McNamee: I was like, wow, I can actually exhale and I feel like I'm making progress and I feel energized and happy, where I didn't even realize how unhappy I was for so long when I was dealing with all of those imbalances.
- 5:06Molly McNamee: And then once I overcame that, it was like an aha moment of I didn't realize it got that bad because I feel so good now.
- 5:14Michelle Gauthier: Yes.
- 5:14Michelle Gauthier: Okay, that's great.
- 5:15Michelle Gauthier: First of all, yay for you, and yay for you for sharing that with other people too.
- 5:19Michelle Gauthier: Not only did you solve your own problem, but now you help other people solve theirs.
- 5:23Michelle Gauthier: That's fantastic.
- 5:24Michelle Gauthier: I think the most frustrating thing is when you're doing all the right things, like when you're working out and you're eating mostly well, and your body's doing something different than it has ever done before.
- 5:36Michelle Gauthier: And then I think that affects everything when you're trying so hard and nothing's working, and then it just makes you feel tired and all that stuff.
- 5:44Michelle Gauthier: I also think, and I want to hear your tips on this, that it's enough to try to eat healthy and work out.
- 5:51Michelle Gauthier: And so the thought of what else do we have to add in there in order to get our body to its maximum potential?
- 5:57Michelle Gauthier: It's one more thing that we have to do.
- 5:59Michelle Gauthier: So, what are all the secrets that you know that we overwhelmed working women can do?
- 6:04Molly McNamee: So many women that I work with are coming to me being like, I'm doing everything right, at least I think I am, but I just feel horrible.
- 6:11Molly McNamee: And that's seeping into other areas of their life.
- 6:14Molly McNamee: Like they have these weight loss goals, they have these fitness goals, but they're also struggling to show up at work, struggling to show up in relationships, just feeling consumed by feeling really bad.
- 6:25Molly McNamee: And that's what we're working on overcoming, right?
- 6:28Molly McNamee: So the very first thing I say to these people is we talk about stress a lot in my work and in my community.
- 6:35Molly McNamee: But I always tell the clients that I work with, it's not about removing stress from your life.
- 6:40Molly McNamee: It's figuring out how to manage that stress better.
- 6:43Molly McNamee: And that is where most of us, including myself, are falling short.
- 6:48Molly McNamee: We're letting that stress consume us.
- 6:50Molly McNamee: And then that stress makes it really hard to see results in all of the things that you're trying.
- 6:56Molly McNamee: And that is going off of what you said.
- 6:58Molly McNamee: You're doing enough.
- 6:59Molly McNamee: You don't have to do more.
- 7:00Molly McNamee: And that is true, but you have to deal with that stress piece.
- 7:04Molly McNamee: Because if you're working out really hard, but your body is stressed, it's not gonna let you progress.
- 7:09Molly McNamee: If you're eating really healthy, but your body is stressed, you're not gonna be able to be in a calorie deficit because your body's clinging on to everything that it possibly needs.
- 7:18Molly McNamee: To put puzzle pieces together for your listeners, the way stress really impacts your body.
- 7:24Molly McNamee: First of all, if your body is really stressed, your cortisol, which is what you talked about earlier, can get high.
- 7:29Molly McNamee: And cortisol is just one of your body's stress hormones.
- 7:32Molly McNamee: And when that stress hormone is high, your blood sugar can also be high.
- 7:36Molly McNamee: And that can lead to some insulin resistance.
- 7:38Molly McNamee: So that's already a problem for a lot of people.
- 7:40Molly McNamee: And then also what's happening when your body is stressed is your body stays stuck in fight or flight.
- 7:46Molly McNamee: And when that happens, it starts to slow down your metabolism so that it can conserve energy because your body thinks a threat is nearby.
- 7:53Molly McNamee: So it needs to hold on to everything it possibly can.
- 7:56Molly McNamee: So you're not going to be burning as many calories as you normally are.
- 8:00Molly McNamee: It's also very tough to build muscle when your body is dealing with chronic stress.
- 8:04Molly McNamee: And that combination of things, that insulin resistance, that slower metabolism, that inability to build muscle is just a recipe for disaster for someone who is trying to lose weight.
- 8:15Molly McNamee: So if you are someone who feels like you're doing everything right, but your body's just working against you, it's because it literally is right now.
- 8:22Molly McNamee: If you're dealing with chronic stress, your body is just gonna say, no, we can't progress because we need to sort this out.
- 8:28Molly McNamee: So stress is always pretty much the first conversation I have with the clients that I'm working with.
- 8:34Molly McNamee: And it's figuring out how to navigate that stress a bit better in their body.
- 8:38Michelle Gauthier: Okay, makes sense.
- 8:40Michelle Gauthier: I want to back up and ask you why is insulin resistance, what does that mean and why is that bad?
- 8:47Molly McNamee: Insulin resistance is something you hear often in the conversation with type 2 diabetes because it means your body's not processing things the way that it is meant to.
- 8:56Molly McNamee: So your body is gonna start to hold on to fat, especially around your tummy.
- 9:01Molly McNamee: You're gonna start to experience those blood sugar spikes and crashes throughout your day.
- 9:06Molly McNamee: Your energy is probably gonna be off because of that.
- 9:09Molly McNamee: And that's just gonna make it incredibly difficult for you to actually lose weight and lose body fat.
- 9:15Molly McNamee: So it's one of those kind of scientific terms, if you will, but I feel like the term that people recognize more is diabetes.
- 9:23Molly McNamee: And if you are experiencing that insulin resistance, it can lead to that.
- 9:28Michelle Gauthier: As you're describing someone who's working out so hard and trying to eat perfectly, and I'm guessing probably has a stressful job and potentially is a mom or whatever else, whatever other stressors, I literally was picturing someone just like holding on as tight as possible and just like gunning their way through life, trying to do everything.
- 9:47Michelle Gauthier: And so when you said your body really is like holding on to stuff, that's how I feel.
- 9:52Michelle Gauthier: The whole thing just makes me feel like I'm in a pressure cooker, just thinking about it.
- 9:56Michelle Gauthier: So, how do they let go of any of that?
- 10:00Molly McNamee: I am all about baby steps.
- 10:02Molly McNamee: A lot of times when we want to feel better or improve on something, we think we need to do a lot of things.
- 10:09Molly McNamee: But I am all about just doing one thing really well and then gradually building on that.
- 10:14Molly McNamee: So if you are trying to de-stress, I actually don't advise you to remove stress from your life.
- 10:21Molly McNamee: I just encourage people to take little pauses throughout their day to help regulate their nervous system.
- 10:26Molly McNamee: The problem that's happening for so many of us is we are jumping from one stressful thing to the next stressful thing to the next stressful thing all day long.
- 10:35Molly McNamee: And when that happens, your body gets stuck in that high stress state.
- 10:40Molly McNamee: And what we need to do is give your body some time to rest and reset and tap into that parasympathetic state, which helps you actually calm down.
- 10:50Molly McNamee: So one of the first ways I encourage people to start approaching their stress is by taking really strategic breaks throughout their day.
- 10:57Molly McNamee: Maybe if you exercise, that just looks like instead of ending your workout and hopping right into the next thing on your to-do list, you just lie down and breathe for a couple of minutes.
- 11:06Molly McNamee: Maybe after you get to your appointment after sitting in rush hour traffic, instead of instantly slamming your door and running out, you just pause and close your eyes for 10 seconds.
- 11:16Molly McNamee: Taking moments in your day to just pause and allow your body to rest can be so powerful.
- 11:22Molly McNamee: Cause I think a lot of us think, oh, I need to just get some stuff off of my plate or I need to wait until things calm down.
- 11:28Molly McNamee: And then I can start to work on my self-care, my mental health, my physical health.
- 11:33Molly McNamee: But what you really need to do is start training your nervous system to calm down through the chaos.
- 11:38Molly McNamee: So again, that can be as simple as closing your eyes for 10 seconds, taking three deep breaths, fixing your posture in between calls, just finding little pockets in your day when you can help your body calm down.
- 11:52Michelle Gauthier: Love that.
- 11:52Michelle Gauthier: And one of the things I talk to my clients about with regards to stress is just noticing when your body feels stressed.
- 11:59Michelle Gauthier: Because sometimes when you get stuck in that, it's like the treadmill of stress, and you're just constantly on it.
- 12:05Michelle Gauthier: And if you can just even notice, oh wow, I just felt really like my jaw was really tight, or when I took a deep breath, I noticed I was holding my stomach or whatever it is.
- 12:15Michelle Gauthier: I think just even acknowledging it.
- 12:17Michelle Gauthier: I have this aura ring.
- 12:19Michelle Gauthier: Do you wear one of these rings?
- 12:21Molly McNamee: I don't, but I have clients who do.
- 12:23Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, and it shows you throughout the day your stress level based on your heart rate, I'm sure.
- 12:29Michelle Gauthier: And it's so fascinating to me now because I have learned to like really tune in and to be able to calm myself down in the ways that you've talked about.
- 12:36Michelle Gauthier: But I can see if I flip back through my day and you and I started our interview about 20 minutes ago, and I was running late and my podcast microphone wasn't plugged in, and it was like a little bit of a flurry there for a minute, and I can almost guarantee you that I will see that on my on my daily stress.
- 12:52Michelle Gauthier: And so just knowing, okay, I'm in that stress state, but now I want to interview someone.
- 12:56Michelle Gauthier: So I want to just calm myself down and to have that skill.
- 13:00Michelle Gauthier: It just makes the day so much nicer.
- 13:02Michelle Gauthier: Because it's not, you can't avoid stress for the most part, but I think you can.
- 13:06Michelle Gauthier: I'm just endorsing your baby steps, even just noticing it approach.
- 13:11Molly McNamee: And it's interesting with the aura rings and all of the other trackers people are using.
- 13:16Molly McNamee: I have had many conversations with people who said I didn't even realize that I was stressed until this ring told me that I was.
- 13:22Molly McNamee: Yes.
- 13:22Molly McNamee: And I feel like that is the case for a lot of people.
- 13:25Molly McNamee: We're very aware of stress, like in a vague sense, where it's, oh, I had an argument and now I'm stressed, or something frustrating happened with my podcast setup and I felt stressed.
- 13:36Molly McNamee: We're familiar with that, but we are less familiar with that chronic stress that our body may be feeling just by attempting to de-stress anyway.
- 13:43Molly McNamee: You may be like, oh, I didn't realize I was so tense.
- 13:46Molly McNamee: But now I notice that.
- 13:48Molly McNamee: So it's a good thing that I'm starting to build.
- 13:50Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, exactly.
- 13:51Michelle Gauthier: Even with no kind of tracking at all, I think I could do it now.
- 13:55Michelle Gauthier: I could do it on my own because I've gotten used to it.
- 13:58Michelle Gauthier: Okay, I love that.
- 13:59Michelle Gauthier: So, step one, baby steps to de-stress.
- 14:02Michelle Gauthier: How long does it take if I get in the habit of learning to calm my own body?
- 14:06Michelle Gauthier: How do I know when I've come out of that fight or flight?
- 14:10Michelle Gauthier: And then how long does it take for our body to be like, okay, now we can relax?
- 14:16Molly McNamee: That's a great question.
- 14:17Molly McNamee: And I have a two-part answer to that, depending on which direction you want to choose to go.
- 14:22Molly McNamee: For one, I'm a big advocate for tracking your symptoms just in life, tracking your energy, tracking your mood, tracking your anxiety.
- 14:30Molly McNamee: And if you do keep track of those things, you will likely notice those things shifting over the course of a few weeks or a couple of months once you start really paying attention to your nervous system and your stress.
- 14:43Molly McNamee: But if you don't track those things, you may just suddenly be aware of, oh, I'm sleeping a bit better, or oh, I'm not as busy during my day.
- 14:51Molly McNamee: You may just notice some little shifts, but if you're tracking, you can absolutely see those shifts.
- 14:56Molly McNamee: But as far as timeline goes, I have this two-week stress reset on my website, and people do go through it and say they notice a shift in their energy in those two weeks, or at least like after four weeks of following that protocol, they say they feel significantly different.
- 15:12Molly McNamee: So it doesn't take an extremely long amount of time to start feeling different and feeling different in your energy.
- 15:18Molly McNamee: And what's really amazing, and what I see with the clients that I work with is you start to feel those shifts in your energy.
- 15:23Molly McNamee: And then once you feel those shifts, your real goals can start to become more possible.
- 15:29Molly McNamee: So if you're trying to lose weight, you feel a shift in your energy, and then your body's a bit more primed for that weight loss.
- 15:34Molly McNamee: If you're trying to get a promotion at work, you feel a shift of an energy, and then you can start working a bit more aggressively at work and feel more confident doing it.
- 15:43Michelle Gauthier: I love that.
- 15:44Michelle Gauthier: Yeah.
- 15:44Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 15:45Michelle Gauthier: So if they, if people are interested in doing that two-week reset that you have on your website, how long, like how long each day are they working on something?
- 15:56Michelle Gauthier: What's the time commitment?
- 15:58Molly McNamee: It's really simple and it is my baby step strategy.
- 16:01Molly McNamee: Within that reset, I give you like a couple of habits to build.
- 16:05Molly McNamee: And for the first week, it's extremely simple.
- 16:08Molly McNamee: The second week, we just build on those habits slightly and they're like at most a minute in your day.
- 16:13Molly McNamee: And you also get workouts to do in there at most 20 minutes, but they're really aligned with your energy.
- 16:19Molly McNamee: So they're all like different playlists.
- 16:21Molly McNamee: Are you tired today?
- 16:22Molly McNamee: Do this.
- 16:22Molly McNamee: Are you energized today?
- 16:23Molly McNamee: Do this.
- 16:24Molly McNamee: Are you anxious today?
- 16:25Molly McNamee: Do this.
- 16:25Molly McNamee: So it's really just teaching you how to move and how to build habits that align with your energy and your stress a bit better.
- 16:32Molly McNamee: But as far as total time commitment, it's a minute a day and then the couple of days that you exercise at most 20.
- 16:39Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 16:40Michelle Gauthier: That sounds very doable.
- 16:42Michelle Gauthier: Even to a stressed out person, they could do that.
- 16:44Speaker: I approach things like that as being not a large time commitment because, like you, I work with a lot of overwhelmed people.
- 16:51Speaker: And my approach to people who are feeling overwhelmed by health and self-care is can we make it extremely simple for you to get a quick win?
- 16:59Speaker: So that's what that attempts to be for people.
- 17:01Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, I love that.
- 17:02Michelle Gauthier: That's such a great idea.
- 17:03Michelle Gauthier: Okay, so if people either do that two-week stress reduction or they're following some of the other tips that you've given and they start feeling less tress stress and they feel that change in their energy, it sounds like it will allow them to gain muscle, lose weight.
- 17:18Michelle Gauthier: What are some of the other benefits that you see in your clients that are non-scale victories, as they call them at my gym?
- 17:25Molly McNamee: Oh, I love that.
- 17:26Molly McNamee: Things like your productivity is going to increase, that brain fog is going to decrease.
- 17:32Molly McNamee: So those things that really directly affect probably your working brain will improve.
- 17:36Molly McNamee: And I notice that with myself.
- 17:38Molly McNamee: If I notice I'm feeling really tired in my workday and really unfocused, I know that something is up with my nervous system and I need to regulate a bit.
- 17:46Molly McNamee: And when I do, those things improve.
- 17:49Molly McNamee: Also, still physical-ish thing, but not.
- 17:53Molly McNamee: If you're having like really sensitive skin, that may start to improve.
- 17:58Molly McNamee: If you've been like breaking out a lot or feeling really itchy, those things can get better.
- 18:03Molly McNamee: Your sleep is going to improve.
- 18:05Molly McNamee: Your mood just as a whole is going to improve.
- 18:08Molly McNamee: If you've been feeling pretty negative for people that I work with, they start to see that shift, not feeling so negative all of the time.
- 18:15Molly McNamee: So, really, so many aspects of your life can improve, which also on the flip side, if you are dealing with chronic stress and you are dealing with stress hormone imbalances, that can also negatively impact so many areas of your life.
- 18:29Molly McNamee: It can really go both ways there.
- 18:32Molly McNamee: The people that I am working with usually come to me complaining about not being able to lose weight.
- 18:37Molly McNamee: But then after a deeper conversation, they're revealing, oh, I've been feeling pretty anxious.
- 18:41Molly McNamee: I've been having panic attacks.
- 18:42Molly McNamee: I've been feeling unfocused at work.
- 18:44Molly McNamee: And then working on these things can improve all of those things.
- 18:48Michelle Gauthier: Okay, that's so great because I think at the beginning of the conversation, if somebody's just tuning in and they hear you've got to get your cortisol down, you've got to get your hormones in order, you've got to do all these things.
- 18:58Michelle Gauthier: But really the prescription for that is just tiny ways to make your body feel more relaxed, and that enables it.
- 19:05Michelle Gauthier: So I think that's a really hopeful message.
- 19:07Michelle Gauthier: Like it's possible to do it.
- 19:09Molly McNamee: I'm glad that it sounds hopeful because that is always my goal.
- 19:13Molly McNamee: And I know there is so much overwhelming information online about stress and hormones and how they impact every part of you.
- 19:21Molly McNamee: But this approach can really hopefully make it digestible for people.
- 19:25Molly McNamee: And also your hormones like that gentle approach.
- 19:27Molly McNamee: They don't like to be swamped and overwhelmed, which is what gets people into these problems in the first place.
- 19:33Molly McNamee: The response to feeling overwhelmed is not to overwhelm it with a different stimuli.
- 19:38Michelle Gauthier: Yes.
- 19:38Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, exactly.
- 19:39Michelle Gauthier: Even though me, overachiever type, and when something isn't working, I'm like, I just need to try harder.
- 19:44Michelle Gauthier: I need to do more.
- 19:45Michelle Gauthier: And sometimes it's like, you just need to do less.
- 19:48Molly McNamee: Yes.
- 19:49Michelle Gauthier: Which leads me perfectly into our two questions that I ask everybody.
- 19:53Michelle Gauthier: So tell us what is something that you do when you feel overwhelmed to make yourself feel better.
- 19:58Molly McNamee: So I have two answers to this, and one really focuses like on my coaching protocol, and that is to simplify things.
- 20:05Molly McNamee: So whatever is overwhelming me, I think, okay, how can I break this down to make it easier and more digestible for me?
- 20:12Molly McNamee: And it's the same if I'm working with someone and they say, I'm overwhelmed with trying to exercise.
- 20:16Molly McNamee: I'm like, okay, how can we make it simpler for you to do this more easily?
- 20:20Molly McNamee: But the practical thing that I do is I move my body.
- 20:23Molly McNamee: If I'm feeling overwhelmed, I instantly go to movement.
- 20:26Molly McNamee: And right now I'm really enjoying walks.
- 20:28Molly McNamee: So I get outside and I go for a walk when I'm feeling overwhelmed.
- 20:31Molly McNamee: And usually what happens is I'm walking for five minutes, clearing my mind.
- 20:36Molly McNamee: And then the next 30 minutes are a productivity walk where I'm like, okay, I feel clear-headed now and I actually get tons of work done.
- 20:43Molly McNamee: And everything that was overwhelming me, I'm able to sort out while moving my body.
- 20:47Molly McNamee: Movement is so healing to me.
- 20:49Molly McNamee: If I'm feeling overwhelmed, exhausted mentally, then I know that I need to turn my brain off for a second.
- 20:55Molly McNamee: It's rebooting your computer.
- 20:56Molly McNamee: It's what I do.
- 20:57Molly McNamee: I turn off my brain, I turn on my body, and then everything starts working together again.
- 21:01Michelle Gauthier: Yes, yes.
- 21:02Michelle Gauthier: Okay, perfect.
- 21:03Michelle Gauthier: I love that.
- 21:03Michelle Gauthier: And then what is something that you do consistently to do less or save time?
- 21:08Molly McNamee: Honestly, it's in planning my weekly schedule.
- 21:12Molly McNamee: I used to be like a huge to-do list person where I would have the longest always adding on to it to-do list, and that would just slow me down, to be honest.
- 21:22Molly McNamee: So now I take 10 minutes every Friday to outline the major tasks I need to do each day for the week ahead.
- 21:30Molly McNamee: So I'm like, okay, on Monday, I know I need to get these two things done.
- 21:33Molly McNamee: And I believe it flexible because I don't love hard and fast.
- 21:38Molly McNamee: Oh, I have to do this exactly at 115 and it has to be done by 145.
- 21:42Molly McNamee: That kind of stresses me out.
- 21:44Molly McNamee: So I'm like, I need to do these couple of tasks on these two days.
- 21:47Molly McNamee: And that just keeps me on track.
- 21:48Molly McNamee: When I used to have that long to do list, I feel like I had a lot of decision fatigue where I'd be sitting there staring at my to do list, being like, okay, what am I going to start with first?
- 21:58Molly McNamee: And then I would feel overwhelmed.
- 21:59Molly McNamee: And nothing would get done.
- 22:01Molly McNamee: So now I basically tell myself, you need to do these things on this day.
- 22:06Molly McNamee: And that has saved me a lot of time, no longer experiencing that decision fatigue, that overwhelm.
- 22:12Molly McNamee: And if it didn't make it to my list of things I need to do, then it's not important.
- 22:16Michelle Gauthier: Yes, that I don't have to do it.
- 22:18Michelle Gauthier: I love it.
- 22:18Michelle Gauthier: I feel like there are a couple of gems in there about knowing yourself.
- 22:22Michelle Gauthier: For example, I always try to help people figure out what percentage of structure they like in their life.
- 22:28Michelle Gauthier: And you're not a hundred percenter.
- 22:29Michelle Gauthier: If you don't want to do it from 115 to 145, sounds like you're more of a 75.
- 22:34Michelle Gauthier: Like I know the day it needs to be on, but I don't know, I don't have to schedule the exact time.
- 22:39Michelle Gauthier: So I think coming up with a schedule that works for you.
- 22:42Michelle Gauthier: And I interviewed this time management expert, Kelly Nolan.
- 22:46Michelle Gauthier: It's one of the old episodes.
- 22:48Michelle Gauthier: I can't remember the number, but we'll link it in the show notes.
- 22:50Michelle Gauthier: And she does planning on Fridays and she does two weeks at a time, and she spends two hours, and that's how she does it.
- 22:57Michelle Gauthier: I do it on Sundays and I spend about 30 minutes.
- 23:00Michelle Gauthier: So whatever works for you, but I think the concept is the same just in that you're taking away the decisions of the everyday because you already know what's happening and you already know ballpark what you have to do.
- 23:12Michelle Gauthier: That's a great suggestion.
- 23:14Molly McNamee: And I also think you can easily do that with your self-care as well, because I think a lot of people struggle to then fit in their self-care to their busy routine, but you could just be like, okay, I'm gonna do these couple of habits on these days as well.
- 23:28Molly McNamee: Just planning ahead can, like you said, really clear up a lot of mind space.
- 23:32Molly McNamee: Yes, yes.
- 23:33Michelle Gauthier: And then it's just like you're pressing play and following your own directions instead of refiguring out everything all the time.
- 23:40Molly McNamee: It's been a game changer for me.
- 23:41Molly McNamee: The to-do list needed to go.
- 23:44Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, good, good for you.
- 23:46Michelle Gauthier: Okay, so tell us where we can get the two-week stress reduction plan.
- 23:50Michelle Gauthier: Is that what it's called?
- 23:51Molly McNamee: I have a couple of things that people may want to check out after hearing this conversation.
- 23:55Molly McNamee: If you are resonating with this, my two-week stress and hormone reset is what it's called, is on my website.
- 24:01Molly McNamee: And you can get that at my website, mollymacnamy.com forward slash reset.
- 24:06Molly McNamee: But if you are interested in learning a bit more about your stress hormones and figuring out how to navigate your lifestyle around them, I also have a free ebook that I would love to give your listeners.
- 24:17Molly McNamee: And it really just educates you on what your stress hormones are and what they do, what habits to do daily to support them, and how to adjust your workouts if you're feeling a bit more stressed and how to support your body a bit more in that way.
- 24:31Molly McNamee: So if you're interested in that, it's again my website, MollyMacknamy.com slash cortisol.
- 24:37Molly McNamee: So you can get either of those things on my website and they're gonna be good next steps from this conversation.
- 24:43Molly McNamee: If you're like, hey, yeah, stress is impacting me in a big way.
- 24:47Molly McNamee: What do I do about it?
- 24:48Molly McNamee: Those things can be really helpful for you.
- 24:51Molly McNamee: And I also just anyone wants to have a further conversation about this.
- 24:56Molly McNamee: I am always down to talk to people one-on-one or in a community.
- 25:00Michelle Gauthier: So come chat with that on your website too if they want to set up a conversation with you.
- 25:05Molly McNamee: Yeah, if you want to hop on a free strategy call, you can get that on my website, which is again my website slash call me.
- 25:13Molly McNamee: But I probably actually the easiest place for your listeners to go to is just gonna be slash links.
- 25:18Molly McNamee: It has all of those links for you.
- 25:20Michelle Gauthier: Okay, okay, perfect.
- 25:21Michelle Gauthier: I'll put those all in the show notes and we will then they can easily just click on them and find them that way.
- 25:26Molly McNamee: Absolutely.
- 25:27Michelle Gauthier: Okay, perfect.
- 25:27Michelle Gauthier: Thank you so much.
- 25:28Michelle Gauthier: This has been a fun conversation.
- 25:30Michelle Gauthier: I think I need your ebook.
- 25:31Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, go grab it.
- 25:33Michelle Gauthier: Although now I'm much more educated than I was before this call started.
- 25:37Michelle Gauthier: So thank you.
- 25:38Molly McNamee: You are welcome.
- 25:38Molly McNamee: Thanks for having me.
- 25:44Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 25:47Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at MichelleGauthier.com.
- 25:53Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.