Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #64| How to Get Un-Stuck Using Simple Time Management Techniques
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: What are my priorities?
- 0:01Michelle Gauthier: Where do I really want to focus my life?
- 0:03Michelle Gauthier: And then, how much time am I putting into those things?
- 0:11Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:19Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, M ichelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:24Michelle 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.
- 0:35Michelle Gauthier: Hello friend, thank you for joining and listening today.
- 0:40Michelle Gauthier: Today we have my former client, M arci, and Marci is an overachiever, as most of us who listen to this podcast are, and she found herself stuck in life, which was very strange for her because she is a mover and a shaker who makes things happen.
- 0:58Michelle Gauthier: So when she came and joined my group coaching program called T he Good Life, she was feeling really stuck and in this episode you'll get to hear how she got unstuck.
- 1:08Michelle Gauthier: She used some time management techniques to decide where she really wanted to spend her time.
- 1:13Michelle Gauthier: She started saying no to things that just didn't align with the type of life she was trying to create, and she really depended on the women in the group for support and offered support in return to them, and the combination of those things is what you're going to hear about today and what got Marci to the point where she is now, which is feeling completely unstuck and aligned in her life.
- 1:34Michelle Gauthier: Thank you so much, M arci, for being here.
- 1:38Michelle Gauthier: Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.
- 1:40Michelle Gauthier: Well, I just have a few questions for you, and the first one is how did you feel before group coaching and or why did you decide to join?
- 1:49Michelle Gauthier: Those might be two different answers or the same.
- 1:52Michelle Gauthier: So the biggest thing is I was completely stuck, which is very unlike me.
- 1:57Michelle Gauthier: I have been in corporate America for 30 plus years.
- 2:01Michelle Gauthier: I was type A manager, tons of people, make decisions, go go.
- 2:07Michelle Gauthier: Everything was fine and I was just - like.
- 2:09Michelle Gauthier: I was literally stuck.
- 2:12Michelle Gauthier: I wasn't making decisions, I couldn't move forward, I was just overthinking everything.
- 2:17Michelle Gauthier: It was very frustrating for me because it was very unusual for me.
- 2:22Michelle Gauthier: Because it was very unusual yes, I have had the great fortune of being retired and what I say is then moving into my third
- 2:36Michelle Gauthier: But that became overwhelming because I really wanted - now that I didn't have somebody telling me what to do and I was in charge of my whole life, my whole day.
- 2:46Michelle Gauthier: What was my priority?
- 2:47Michelle Gauthier: I just shut down.
- 2:49Michelle Gauthier: It makes so much sense.
- 2:51Michelle Gauthier: It's like too many options.
- 2:52Michelle Gauthier: It can be anything you want it to be, and I also think
- 2:57Michelle Gauthier: it's really common for people who I would say you're exactly like this, have it all together, are very successful, etc.
- 3:04Michelle Gauthier: The reason that people often come to me for coaching
- 3:07Michelle Gauthier: is because someone like that, who usually can solve their own problems, feels stuck and they're like wait, this
- 3:12Michelle Gauthier: is
- 3:12Michelle Gauthier: out of my wheelhouse, I don't know what to do here.
- 3:15Michelle Gauthier: Exactly.
- 3:15Michelle Gauthier: A and so I was familiar with your program.
- 3:21Michelle Gauthier: I know you, I you, you and I thought you know what.
- 3:25Michelle Gauthier: The best thing I can do is get a perspective that is not in in my circle of chaos, and so I thought you would be the perfect person to help me try and figure out just what the heck is going on here
- 3:41Michelle Gauthier: .
- 3:41Michelle Gauthier: Ah, good, well, thanks for trusting me.
- 3:43Michelle Gauthier: So, that being said, once we started the group coaching, what would you say is the most important thing that you learned
- 3:52Michelle Gauthier: I really loved the thought model.
- 3:52Michelle Gauthier: In my years of working, I've heard certain things, but b Being reminded and then taking through that again and then really trying to live that instead of just be familiar with it,
- 4:18Michelle Gauthier: .
- 4:14Michelle Gauthier: I think that that was the difference, to really put it into practice, yes, and so just to explain that to anybody who's listening, the thought model is the basic idea that the thoughts you have create the results that you get in your life, and there are a few steps in between.
- 4:32Michelle Gauthier: But what we do in group coaching is we work all the way through that.
- 4:36Michelle Gauthier: So, for example, if Marc's thought about her post working life, where she went into retirement, was like I just have no idea what to do next, that's going to create a feeling of confusion that then will create the result of knowing what to do next.
- 4:49Michelle Gauthier: That's going to create a feeling of confusion.
- 4:50Michelle Gauthier: That then will create the result
- 4:51Michelle Gauthier: of not knowing what to do next.
- 4:52Michelle Gauthier: It kind of keeps you stuck in that.
- 4:54Michelle Gauthier: So, as an example, I don't know if this was really your thought, M arci I'm just suspecting.
- 4:59Michelle Gauthier: Maybe you had a thought, a new thought of I'm going to take one next step.
- 5:03Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, and then you did one.
- 5:05Michelle Gauthier: You know one thing, and that created a different result.
- 5:08Michelle Gauthier: So I don't know if you have a specific example, but I'm just trying to explain in general sort of how that helps.
- 3:16Michelle Gauthier: Exact;y.
- 5:14Michelle Gauthier: Absolutely, well, you had a lot of tools that were great beforehand to say you know, like, what are my priorities, where do I really want to focus my life?
- 5:22Michelle Gauthier: And then, how
- 5:22Michelle Gauthier: much time am I putting into those things?
- 5:26Michelle Gauthier: Because.
- 5:26Michelle Gauthier: Truly, all know there are good things and there are great things, and so many others will try and put their desires on your time.
- 5:37Michelle Gauthier: But you really have to be strong and clear, focused on what are those true important priorities that only I can do?
- 5:47Michelle Gauthier: And where do I want to focus that time and energy?
- 5:51Michelle Gauthier: And then how can I use my thought to make those great things?
- 5:57Michelle Gauthier: Where I'm putting my energy to build a
- 6:01Michelle Gauthier: great life for myself?
- 6:02Michelle Gauthier: And I thought that that was amazing.
- 6:05Michelle Gauthier: Yes, yes, that's so amazing, I think, especially for .
- 6:08Michelle Gauthier: someone
- 6:08Michelle Gauthier: like you, where, when you're suddenly available, everybody wants you to be on .
- 6:13Michelle Gauthier: their board, - wants you to help with s omething in church.
- 6:16Michelle Gauthier: You know your family would love to have you do things for them too, and so it's - n compliment slash challenge to really get focused on what you want.
- 6:26Michelle Gauthier: What is the way that you want to spend your time?
- 6:28Michelle Gauthier: Absolutely, exactly, exactly, exactly.
- 6:33Michelle Gauthier: Okay, yeah, so it's a 12 week program.
- 6:37Michelle Gauthier: If you had to guess, I'm sure you too, know the exact day, but witsh how long do you think it took until you started feeling better?
- 6:43Michelle Gauthier: Not solve the problem entirely, but started feeling better.
- 6:45Michelle Gauthier: Oh, it was in the first couple of weeks Truly the first couple of times that we met, because I had a feeling I'm doing something positive for me and that helped at least to relieve a lot
- 6:59Michelle Gauthier: of the stress.
- 6:59Michelle Gauthier: So not that I had to solve anything,- but I knew - was taking action to make things better, and just that Even, to know, a ton of stress and clear my mind.
- 7:07Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, that helped to relieve a going to solving the problem and that took off the pressure.
- 7:17Michelle Gauthier: That's
- 7:18Michelle Gauthier: What was your favorite part about group coaching?
- 7:20Michelle Gauthier: The other attendants, the other women I have.
- 7:26Michelle Gauthier: I always love to be around I'll just say top performers, and in that I mean people that are looking to get better
- 7:34Michelle Gauthier: want to.
- 7:35Michelle Gauthier: None of us are perfect, but we're all trying to do a little more or be better or have a happier life.
- 7:44Michelle Gauthier: - nd just to be whack.
- 8:59Michelle Gauthier: And I can take radical responsibility, as T ladies like that was really fun.
- 7:49Michelle Gauthier: I enjoyed it and learned so much from everybody else that it was great.
- 7:54Michelle Gauthier: Yes, that's one of the things I love too is that the coaching that somebody else gets you can learn something from it, and I thought that group was so cool because people were at all different stages of life and so I felt like you
- 8:07Michelle Gauthier: could help people who were early in their career and somebody else had experience with something else that they would share.
- 8:13Michelle Gauthier: I loved that.
- 8:14Michelle Gauthier: I think that's great.
- 8:14Michelle Gauthier: I did too, and even though we were in so
- 8:18Michelle Gauthier: different you made that point.
- 8:19Michelle Gauthier: I just I love being able to learn from everybody.
- 8:23Michelle Gauthier: Even you know their interpersonal relationships with a mother-in-law because start to get out of w I am a mother-in-law.
- 8:27Michelle Gauthier: So how am I?
- 8:27Michelle Gauthier: Interpersonal relationships with a mother-in-law because I am a mother-in-law.
- 8:29Michelle Gauthier: So how am I?
- 8:29Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, I could take that and try to learn from that.
- 8:32Michelle Gauthier: And so no, it was, it was wonderful.
- 8:35Michelle Gauthier: Yeah, oh, good, good, I love that part too.
- 8:42Michelle Gauthier: So how would you say, once you finished up the program and all the work that you were doing on yourself in there, how does your life feel different now than compared to the stuckness that you felt before?
- 8:49Michelle Gauthier: That?
- 8:49Michelle Gauthier: I think I just have a much deeper sense of calm.
- 8:54Michelle Gauthier: I have a tool that I know I can go back to if I you said in your class for the results that I have in my life, and by doing that, that gives me empowerment to be able M arci to set myself up for a lot more success and a lot more feeling of joy and happiness and calm, or whatever those things are that I'm looking for.
- 9:30Michelle Gauthier: Health is a big one.
- 9:31Michelle Gauthier: .
- 9:32Michelle Gauthier: Instead, of what am I doing?
- 9:35Michelle Gauthier: Yes, such a waste of your precious brain to be thinking what am I doing now you can just be like OK, I know how to figure out what to do.
- 9:43Michelle Gauthier: I can use this tool and c do that.
- 9:45Michelle Gauthier: Ok, that's wonderful.
- 9:48Michelle Gauthier: Okay, two questions that I ask every guest on the show.
- 9:50Michelle Gauthier: The first one is what's something g o o w
- 9:52Michelle Gauthier: you can do to make yourself feel over, not overwhelmed, less overwhelmed?
- 9:57Michelle Gauthier: What's your quick go-to if you notice that you feel overwhelmed?
- 10:02Michelle Gauthier: Moving my body.
- 10:03Michelle Gauthier: So it's taken me a long time to recognize that I am worth the time and energy it takes to be healthy.
- 10:10Michelle Gauthier: I would do that for another person without blinking an eye, but to do it for myself has actually taken effort.
- 10:17Michelle Gauthier: - i
- 10:18Michelle Gauthier: So either go for a walk or I love to go and exercise.
- 10:23Michelle Gauthier: I do jazzercise five, six days a week just because it's fun, and it's got a whole bunch of fun, ladies.
- 10:29Michelle Gauthier: But moving my body to get my yaya's out, yeah s and doing that with a group of other people.
- 10:40Michelle Gauthier: I do the same thing and I think it's so nice to know they're sort of expecting you, like if you didn't show up for a while they'd be like, hey, where'd you go, arcy?
- 10:49Michelle Gauthier: I think that's really helpful too, like accountability partners in a way, absolutely.
- 10:53Michelle Gauthier: So that has helped a lot.
- 10:56Michelle Gauthier: Just to make exercise something that is truly, in my mind, non-negotiable.
- 11:02Michelle Gauthier: That is great, and when it gets to be that solid in your life, it's just a habit.
- 11:08Michelle Gauthier: You don't have to think about it, you just know you're going to do it.
- 11:11Michelle Gauthier: I think everyone aspires to that, so that's great, that you have that Wonderful.
- 11:15Michelle Gauthier: And then my second question is what's something you do consistently to save time or do less?
- 11:21Michelle Gauthier: I'm a planner and I know other people that do this as well, but on Sundays or sometimes Mondays because Sundays I try to do Sunday dinners for my family, so Mondays I have the luxury of having that day available I will plan out my menu items for the week.
- 11:39Michelle Gauthier: I plan out my schedule for the week so that I've done it and I know what's coming.
- 11:46Michelle Gauthier: So by doing my menu planning and I'm not rigid, like on Tuesdays we're going to have tacos, but I just, I literally have a spreadsheet or and I was more rigorous when I had a family but I had a spreadsheet of like 20 different dinners and I would just rotate that on a basis, so I didn't have to think about it it would just be these five things are what we're eating this week and then usually one day was leftovers and one michellegauthier.
- 12:12Michelle Gauthier: com day was eating up.
- 12:13Michelle Gauthier: But those five things just go through the 20 things and then start over.
- 12:17Michelle Gauthier: That's so great.
- 12:19Michelle Gauthier: Yes, and I'm sure, I'm sure a bunch of teenage boys were just happy to have food on their plate, absolutely, absolutely.
- 12:27Michelle Gauthier: But just, I'm more of an.
- 12:29Michelle Gauthier: If I can make things automated, then I don't have to go, I don't have to think that hard again.
- 12:35Michelle Gauthier: Yes, that is such a great point.
- 12:38Michelle Gauthier: I love how you said that you think hard one time to create the thing and then you can just use that over and over and over again.
- 12:45Michelle Gauthier: Exactly, yes, and I love how you gave the example that sometimes you just would put eating out on there, because I think people put a lot of pressure on themselves to have like a sit down dinner every night and that's just not feasible sometimes, maybe lots of times.
- 13:01Michelle Gauthier: So that's great, I love it.
- 13:02Michelle Gauthier: That's a great tip.
- 13:04Michelle Gauthier: As you could tell from listening to this episode, M marci was part of my group coaching program called the Good Life.
- 13:10Michelle Gauthier: In the Good Life, we start off by defining what the problem is that you're trying to solve, and in Marci's case it was.
- 13:18Michelle Gauthier: She felt stuck and by the end she solved it.
- 13:22Michelle Gauthier: And we walked through it week by week, tool by tool.
- 13:26Michelle Gauthier: You have each week videos assigned to learn new concepts.
- 13:30Michelle Gauthier: You do work in your workbook.
- 13:32Michelle Gauthier: You come to group coaching.
- 13:33Michelle Gauthier: You get group coaching from me, you get support from the women who are in the group and I promise you we have knocked out all types of problems.
- 13:42Michelle Gauthier: I would love to have you join this group.
- 13:44Michelle Gauthier: There is going to be registration starting in July, but right now you can get on the waitlist, which I really encourage you to do.
- 13:52Michelle Gauthier: The group is small and I keep it that way on purpose.
- 13:55Michelle Gauthier: So when you join the waitlist, not only do you get to register early and be the first one in the door and secure yourself a spot, but also you get a bonus.
- 14:03Michelle Gauthier: The bonus that you get when you are on the waitlist and register for group coaching is a one-on-one coaching session with me that you can use at any time.
- 14:11Michelle Gauthier: Those are normally $250.
- 14:14Michelle Gauthier: So that will be yours for free when you join group coaching from the waitlist.
- 14:18Michelle Gauthier: So get on the list now and start thinking about what problem you want to solve.
- 14:23Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 14:31Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 14:35Michelle Gauthier: com.
- 14:37Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.