Reclaim Your Time. Balancing Hustle, Rest and Ambition

Feeling overwhelmed by the endless to-do lists, the hustle culture, and the constant demand to "do it all"? This episode is your permission slip to stop, breathe, and prioritise rest as a non-negotiable. 🌟

In this quick yet powerful episode, we dive into:

• Why balance feels impossible in a world that glorifies overwork.
• The hidden cost of hustle culture: emotional burnout, physical health struggles, and creativity blocks.
• Practical strategies to reclaim your time, including setting boundaries, saying no, and scheduling rest as intentionally as you plan your work.

Discover why rest isn’t a reward—it’s the foundation for success, clarity, and creativity. Whether you’re a small business owner, a mum juggling a million things, or just someone needing a reminder to slow down, this episode will inspire you to prioritise yourself.

🎙️ Tune in now, and let’s get you back in control of your time. Ready to reclaim your week, month, or even just your next lunch break? Let me know your plan—DM me on Instagram or drop me an email. I’d love to hear from you!

Email all questions to hello@reconnectsisterhood.com

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Transcript

  Hello and welcome to the Reconnect Sisterhood podcast. My name is Natalie McCandless and I'm the founder of Reconnect Sisterhood. Reconnect Sisterhood exists to empower women to reconnect to their values, identity and confidence in a way that is kind, compassionate and accepting of who they are.  We know that by breaking down what is holding us back and by building connections or a community or a sisterhood, it can help us to give a foundation on which we can grow.

You are good enough and we're here to help you see it.  So let's get into today's episode. 

Hello and welcome back to the Reconnect Sisterhood podcast. Today, I'm going to be talking all about how to reclaim your time. Balance, ambition, productivity, and rest. So we've got a few things to cover and these episodes are a lot shorter. So I am going to be flying through these and I'm going to be breaking it down into why we struggle, the cost of it, strategies, and then takeaways as well.

So let's jump straight in.  Okay, I know all about the fact that Time runs away from us and that we kind of feel like we can do it all. And I mean the other day I am going to be totally honest. I walked in to a cafe and I did post this on Instagram. I walked into a cafe, this woman, she had just gone ahead of me and I was like two steps behind her.

All she had to do was just. Hold that door for a second. She didn't look like she was in a rush, but she didn't. And she let it go and it slammed in my face. Now, usually, I'm pretty gracious. I would just be like, okay, yeah, that's fine. This person's done whatever they've done. But instead, in my head, all I wanted to do was scream the C bomb  just at the top of my lungs.

Like, I could feel it just every single inch of me, just like, I just wanted to go, So I was, I was so mad. But what that did was kind of  made me think about, okay,  I I'm clearly tired. Perhaps I'm not  like something's going on because we don't often do that. So at the time I was like, okay, I actually need to take a nap.

I'm so tired. It gave me a moment to kind of reflect, like, why am I having such a big emotional response to  this? And recently I have been working, working, working because I'm one of the sponsors of small business. I am working on all of the freebies that I'm going to be giving people and just so much.

There's just like lots and lots and lots going on, which is great. And it's exciting. And also as we wind down for Christmas as well. Um, a lot of people do want to come into therapy and want to make sure they've had a couple of sessions. So yes, so lots and lots and lots kind of going on and in amongst that having  um, my birthday, my kids birthdays, and my husband's birthday, and christmas, and our wedding anniversary, and halloween, and Uh, bonfire night. 

The list is bloody endless. So there's just been, it's just been constant. And then I was like, I need to rest. I realized I'd been skipping my spas, my sauna that I usually do after the gym. I just haven't been prioritizing rest. So hence it culminated in that. huge feeling that I had.  So there we go. So that's, that's my kind of story of it that I have found recently. 

So  let's, let's get into this. Let's talk about it. This is something we all struggle with. Okay. So why, why, why do we struggle with balance for instance?  Well,  The thing is, I think we are part of a culture at the moment that is all about the hustle. So it's all about, you know, Oh yeah, we can hustle, we can do this.

We can have our fingers in these pies and we did and.  That's not helpful because we're kind of being, it's kind of being framed in a way that women should be able to do it all. That we should be able to be full time mums and have full time jobs and have a side hustle and do this and be everything to everybody and  That's exhausting  and it's, it just,  how is that supposed to be productive?

How is it supposed to be everlasting? We only have a certain amount of energy before we completely burn out.  So I think this is why we struggle with it because there is a culture around it and we promote this culture. We promote productivity. We promote like, yeah, we're all taking off the list. We're all doing things.

We're all bossing it. Well, no, fuck that. Honestly,  it's stop making us feel guilty because that's all it does. It makes everybody who sat there on their own, you know, trying to work and trying to get everything done and balancing and spinning so many plates that they don't feel good enough. Actually it's bullshit.

I really call bullshit on this because it's productivity guilt.  It's this ugly hustle culture that you can do everything. It's wrong.  I don't know anybody who can do this and sustainably.  It doesn't work.  Anything else, you're just tipping yourself over.  So that's one of the reasons why we might struggle.

Another reason might be the, the kind of misconceptions about rest being unproductive. If you're, if you're sat still, if you're not doing anything, that you're being unproductive.  Unproductive people must always be on the go. They must always be doing something, must always be thinking of something. And that really is a misconception because rest is one of the  biggest things you can do to be productive. 

I know this because I personally do a lot of working out  and I got to a point where I was working out six days a week until my body said no.  My body said rest and you know, it was just too much and I've actually got to the point that on days where I don't train and work out, I get palpitations.  So it's kind of telling me that this is not a good idea to keep doing this and my body is on the edge  and Rest is productive because when I've rested, I'm able to come back and lift heavier, to train harder, to feel better. 

So please don't fall into this misconception that rest is unproductive.  And also we struggle with balance because of lack of boundaries.  We let things blur in, especially small business owners or people who work for themselves.  We really don't focus on the boundaries like we do in work. We will go home from work.

We will open up our laptops and we'll carry on and we'll put the kids to bed. Then we'll answer this email and then we'll do this. We're always switched on. We are not allowing ourselves to have boundaries to say stop.  If you don't stop yourself apart from the only time that you're working, you are always switched on. 

And I know this from working with people in corporate jobs as well, that they're doing just the same.  It's this constant feeling of switched on. And because we have the rise of, the rise of, I said so old there. I mean because we have access to our laptops, to our phones at all times, then we never really have to leave the office.

I know people who are up at two, three o'clock in the morning working with people on the other side of the world, even though their job is a nine to five, but it's, it's kind of become a culture. It's kind of become expected now,  and it's wild to me that people do this, but they do. And then they wonder why they are so stressed, why they have.

burnout, why they're feeling depressed, why they're feeling anxious,  because if we don't rest,  we can't be productive.  If there's one thing you take away from this episode, it is please, please, please prioritize your rest, put it in your diary as and commit to it as much as you would to a meeting. But I'm going to come back, come back to that one. 

Also the cost of overworking. There is a cost to overworking.  There's obviously a cost to underworking, but I don't think that happens very often for most people. But the cost of overworking are things like emotional burnout, physical health, like, you know, also the kind of physical, the impact in the physical health,  and also creativity and productivity blocks. 

So when you are overworking, it's almost like you're overstimulating yourself. You're doing too much all the time.  Emotionally,  We don't have the capacity to take on all of that and then take on everything else that goes on in  because we aren't just robots. We don't just work. We have everything else that is.

is also emotional in our lives. Even great things, even good things, even if your life feels like it's near enough perfect, it will still have a cost.  Because I kind of see it like this, imagine that there's an empty jar in front of you  and everything that you do and all your interactions, they're kind of like,  they're put into this jar.

So you keep putting things and putting things in and You've got kind of like a semi full jar and then you might rest a little bit and you can take a little bit out and you can put it to one side. Well,  if you are overworking, all you're doing is adding, adding, adding, adding, until you get to the top and the jar is just overflowing. 

And this is when we really get to burn out because you haven't. Spent the time taking things out of the jar. All you've done is put in, put in, put in, because it's just taken its toll.  So emotional burnout, absolutely. We really need to think about that, that impact of that. And also the physical health impact.

Often people only come, so As a therapist, people often come into therapy when something is happening to them physically.  So they might be experiencing panic attacks, they might be experiencing just physical exhaustion. You can even end up with something like chronic fatigue as a result of keeping your body in stress  for a considerable amount of time.

I do know people who that have happened to.  So it's often when the physical health is happening, it is your body's way of saying Stop. It's your body's way of saying, look after me. Take care of me. Let's rest. Let's prioritize looking after ourselves. Let's prioritize taking some of this out of the jar, instead of keep putting in. 

Also, creativity and productivity blocks. Have you ever been in a place where you just constantly, you just, it's almost like you're just looking at a wall. You've got nothing.  You've got no inspiration, you've got no more ideas, you don't know what you're doing, where you're going, who you are, what your name is. 

It's honestly like, you're just stopped and it's almost like your brain is saying, enough, same way that your body says, enough, I will stop  you. I often get the, I'm gonna put you down, like,  I, when I go, when I go on holiday,  that's when I get sick.  And then I'm like, oh, it's because I've been hanging on, hanging on.

And then my body finally relaxes and it goes whoosh. It's got me.  This is what can happen. And also, I'm no longer creative. I'm no longer unproductive. I'm just doing stuff for the sake of doing it.  So, let's think about strategies to reclaim your time.  There are lots of things out there that you can do.  I would say numero uno  is boundaries, learning to say no and delegating.

Get boundaries on yourself. Be, if you are your own boss, be your own boss. Your boss would tell you to stop, to rest. Only work these hours unless it's an exceptional circumstance. This is what you need to be doing. Like, You know, be kind, be generous with it, but boundary yourself and say no. You don't have to say yes to everything.

You don't have to have that kind of fear of missing out on something.  If your body and if your mind is telling you, I want to say no to this, say no.  Can you delegate this to someone else? If you can't, what is more important than that moment? Is it to go to another event that you know the cost of that event is going to wipe you out for a couple of days?

Or  do you miss that event? Give yourself rest, prioritize yourself, and then go to the next one  a bit more recharged.  That's how I see it. So saying no. It's so, so, so, so important.  Also have a non negotiable list. So these are where you identify your priorities in your work and in your life. What are the things that I absolutely need to prioritize?

Those are the things I'm going to work towards first. Make it non negotiable.  Make it as if you have a meeting or, you know, something really important that you wouldn't miss. I often say to people like a doctor's appointment because we never miss our doctor's appointments.  Um, because  Often you can't get one, so you're just like, I can't miss this. 

Make it non negotiable to yourself. And time block. Setting aside time for rest as intentionally as you plan work.  Create those spaces. Have those moments, even if they are five minute, ten minute blocks, where you are breaking up your meetings. Where you are deciding, okay, on a Sunday evening, this is where I stop, and this is what I do in this time. 

Take some time to not have your phone,  go for a walk on your lunch break without your phone and look around, look up, take a breath.  Honestly, it can really make all the difference. These small things, if you keep doing very small things for yourself, I guarantee you they build up.  They might be taking little bits out of that jar for you, but they will build up. 

So those are some strategies. I've got lots more strategies, um, which I'm going to be sharing with you in another podcast.  But let's think about, okay. What's the role of rest in success? Let's think about it this way.  Rest is essential for clarity, creativity and growth.  So being able to think, you know, think more clearly because you have more bandwidth. 

To be creative, to be in a space where you are more open to ideas.  It's, it's  Amazing when you're doing that, when you are open, when you are not flooded with everything else that's in your brain, that's trying to take up all the priorities all the time.  And you know, with growth as well, you need to be able to reflect, have time to sit back  in order to grow. 

We can't just be on this growth journey all the time in and just keep on that treadmill. We need to be able to pause and reflect what's gone right. What hasn't, what has, you know, you know, that's all part of building resilience, but. If you don't pause, you'll, you'll create no space.  So pause, then spend some time to reflect. 

So, thinking about also these practical ways to build rest into your routine. You know, go for those 15 minute pauses. Unplug after work. Like really unplug after work. You know,  keep thinking about all the different things that you can do in order to create rest for yourself.  So,  what's the one way that you'll reclaim your time? 

Today. This week. This month. This quarter.  Really think about it. Make a plan for it. And, you know, rest is not a reward.  It is a necessity to keep you going.  So let me know, what are you going to be doing to reclaim your time this week? Drop me a message. Let me know. You can drop me a message on Instagram.

You can write me an email. I want to hear from you. I want to hear what yours is.  I am now going to sign this off and I'm going to go off to the spa because I really do need some rest and  I'm going to go enjoy myself in the spa for a little while. Okay, take care of yourselves and I will speak to you again soon.

Bye bye.