Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #104| Less Overwhelm, More Productivity: A New Approach to Goal-Setting Step 3
Transcript
- 0:04Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:12Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:16Michelle 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.
- 0:34Michelle Gauthier: Hey friend, welcome back to day three of preparation for your best year, 2025.
- 0:39Michelle Gauthier: I'm so glad you're here today, that you're back.
- 0:41Michelle Gauthier: If you're thinking back, what is she talking about?
- 0:44Michelle Gauthier: I want you to know that this is the third in a series of four podcasts and every day I'm asking you questions where you can reflect back on your 2024 and look at the good and the bad, and you'll see, today we're going to be talking about patterns and tomorrow we're going to be talking about thinking big for the year that you want to create.
- 1:04Michelle Gauthier: And all of this leads up to being fully prepared for the workshop.
- 1:13Michelle Gauthier: The workshop, which is called Your Best Year 2025, is next Tuesday, January 7th.
- 1:16Michelle Gauthier: It starts at noon, central time.
- 1:18Michelle Gauthier: It will be recorded if you're unable to make it at that time.
- 1:21Michelle Gauthier: In order to come to that, you need to register.
- 1:24Michelle Gauthier: The course is $25 and the link is in the show notes.
- 1:27Michelle Gauthier: If you register right now, you will get a workbook that goes along with the workshop and it has all of these pre-work questions in it that we've been talking about on the podcast and then space for you to journal and really think about your answers to those things.
- 1:43Michelle Gauthier: So on day one, we covered what went well in 2024.
- 1:46Michelle Gauthier: On day two, we covered what didn't go so well, and then today we are going to be talking about patterns.
- 1:53Michelle Gauthier: Something that I have discovered in working with my clients and in myself is that there are patterns that we have in our lives that create both good and not so good results, and understanding those patterns the patterns of behavior that we have when we get good results versus the patterns of behavior we have when we get less than good results are really important to know.
- 2:21Michelle Gauthier: So today, that's what we're going to investigate, and the reason why this will be helpful is because, when you're working on your goals for next year, you can think about what patterns, what approaches help me create good results, which will help you get all of your goals for next year.
- 2:36Michelle Gauthier: So here's what I want you to think about.
- 2:38Michelle Gauthier: The number one question is to look back from number one on the pre-work list, which was looking at your wins.
- 2:44Michelle Gauthier: So you've got this whole list of wins now, and if you haven't done that yet, go back and do that before you do this.
- 2:49Michelle Gauthier: But you've got this whole list of wins and ask yourself when I look at my wins, what patterns or common threads do I see?
- 2:58Michelle Gauthier: So think about your biggest wins from the past year.
- 3:01Michelle Gauthier: Maybe you hit like a professional milestone, or you really improved your health, or you strengthened your partnership with your business partner or your spouse or your kids, or whoever it will be.
- 3:12Michelle Gauthier: What did those have in common?
- 3:15Michelle Gauthier: Let's say, you achieved a career goal, you had a huge project and you finished it on time.
- 3:21Michelle Gauthier: And when you look back to try to figure out what made me successful in this, what were the patterns?
- 3:26Michelle Gauthier: You realize you were successful because you planned ahead, broke the project down into manageable steps, sought feedback early, maybe had like a weekly report out where you knew that you were going to have to report back to somebody on the progress that you have made.
- 3:42Michelle Gauthier: So in that case, I would say the pattern is you do well with preparation, doing things ahead of time, collaboration, having accountability, those kinds of things.
- 3:53Michelle Gauthier: Or maybe your win was sticking to a workout routine.
- 3:56Michelle Gauthier: That was definitely mine this year.
- 3:58Michelle Gauthier: And maybe you notice, when you look back and you stuck to a workout routine, you look back and you notice that the key was for you to go and work out at the exact same time every day and that that was just the best way to make sure that you do it.
- 4:12Michelle Gauthier: Or you might be a person where like this is me, more so than saying I'm going to do it every day at the same time, at the beginning of the week every week, I figure out when I'm going to work out and I put it on my calendar and I sign up for the classes and that helps me stick with it.
- 4:28Michelle Gauthier: So either way, the pattern there is consistency and planning ahead really make the goals stick.
- 4:37Michelle Gauthier: So it has to be in a way that works for you.
- 4:40Michelle Gauthier: On the flip side, when we look at the second question, which is looking at where you had challenges this year and asking yourself what patterns or recurring obstacles did I see, really give some thought to the places where you feel like - and this was part two of the pre-work - where you feel like you really didn't just nail it like you were hoping to and just see what happened there.
- 5:01Michelle Gauthier: So in the example I just gave of having a win of consistently working out, if you really had wanted to consistently work out and it didn't happen, why not?
- 5:11Michelle Gauthier: So maybe when you investigate that, you realize choosing some kind of workout that actually didn't appeal to you like.
- 5:17Michelle Gauthier: Oh, all my friends go to this gym, but this gym really isn't for me.
- 5:20Michelle Gauthier: That could be one.
- 5:21Michelle Gauthier: So maybe the underlying pattern there is peer pressure or doing what other people think versus what's best for you.
- 5:29Michelle Gauthier: Or I know for sure I would have failed if I had said what I'm going to do is I'm just going to go about my day and at the end of the day, if I have the energy, I'm going to go work out, because I would never actually do it.
- 5:39Michelle Gauthier: So those types of patterns are like procrastination, saving things till the last minute, not scheduling them.
- 5:48Michelle Gauthier: When I have those kind of patterns and I have those kind of patterns about certain things, when I have those kind of patterns, I'm never going to get the goal done.
- 5:56Michelle Gauthier: Or maybe a place where you struggled this year was you felt burned out from saying yes too much - helping at school, taking on extra work, agreeing to social commitments that you really didn't want to do, and the pattern there is a lack of boundaries left you feeling overcommitted and exhausted.
- 6:14Michelle Gauthier: So how is this helpful to you to know both of these things?
- 6:19Michelle Gauthier: Let's say one of your goals for this year is to do more social things and get together with friends more, feel more in community, and you can look at these patterns and say, if I just have this intention and I, you know, text people on a Friday night hey, who wants to go to happy hour, I'm unlikely to ever do that, but if I put something once a quarter and I send out an email now and I see if any of my other friends are feeling disconnected if they want to join.
- 6:45Michelle Gauthier: So I know about myself, if I plan it ahead and I put it on my calendar, it's going to happen.
- 6:50Michelle Gauthier: So it really helps you take the goals that you want to have and when you apply the patterns that are just naturally good for you and things that you can do and know about yourself, you're much more likely to hit that goal.
- 7:01Michelle Gauthier: So take a few minutes and answer these questions again and, as always, without judging yourself and see what you can find.
- 7:12Michelle Gauthier: Okay, that's a wrap on day three of pre-work for the your best year workshop.
- 7:17Michelle Gauthier: Again, registration link is in the show notes.
- 7:20Michelle Gauthier: And I would absolutely love to have you.
- 7:21Michelle Gauthier: I love a fresh new year, I love January, I love all of the potential that it has and I hope you're having fun so far, looking back on your year and learning what you can about what happened for you in 2024.
- 7:34Michelle Gauthier: Tomorrow we're going to start focusing on thinking big about the year you want to create this year.
- 7:39Michelle Gauthier: See you then.
- 7:46Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 7:49Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthiercom.
- 7:55Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.