Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
Are you sick of juggling a million things, and pleasing everyone BUT you?
What if I told you that you could achieve more and find your calm by doing LESS?
In this podcast for accomplished working women, discover where you're going wrong with managing your overwhelm and the exact steps to feel more composed and productive.
Tune in to learn unlikely time management hacks, tips to feel less overwhelmed, and surprising ways to do less with your host Michelle Gauthier, who has over 6 years of experience coaching hundreds of overwhelmed working women.
If you want to to start reclaiming your time, setting better boundaries, and nurturing your mental well-being, you're in the right place.
Get started by listening to fan-favorite episode "The Power of a To-Don't List."
Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
#134| Why Avoiding Difficult Conversations is Keeping You Stuck in Overwhelm and People-Pleasing - And How to Find Your Voice: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Are you constantly saying “yes” when you’re dying to say “no”—just to keep everyone else happy?
If you’re overwhelmed by trying to please everyone at work and home, this episode reveals how that behavior might be costing you your peace—and how small, intentional changes can help you reclaim your voice and your calm.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn the simple mindset shift that turns dreaded conversations into opportunities for growth.
- Discover a practical three-step process to prepare for tough conversations with clarity and confidence.
- Hear how one woman’s journey from people-pleasing to powerful boundary-setting completely transformed her relationships and career.
Hit play now to hear Tasha’s inspiring transformation and walk away with tools you can start using today to feel more calm, confident, and in control.
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Life can be overwhelming, but on this podcast, you'll discover practical strategies to overcome overwhelm, imposter syndrome, and negative self-talk, manage time effectively, set boundaries, and stay productive in high-stress jobs—all while learning how to say no and prioritize self-care on the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
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If you've ever found yourself saying yes when you really want to say no, or just staying quiet to keep the peace, this episode is for you. You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less. I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working woman and current life coach. 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. Hi, friend, in today's episode I'm going to share my client, Tasha's story with her permission, of course who went from feeling overwhelmed and approval seeking to calm, clear and confident. You'll hear how she stopped avoiding hard conversations, started setting boundaries and totally transformed the way she shows up in her life and her work. Before I jump in and tell you Tasha's story, just a reminder that in April we are celebrating the second birthday of Overwhelmed Working Woman. One of the things I'm working on is putting together a podcast where I am responding to all of the voice notes that you left me with what you love about the podcast and the questions that you have for me. I've had so much fun creating those episodes, so keep your eyes open for that. Those will be out next week, about a week from today, and I'm actually going to do two episodes on that because I got so so many voice notes, which was awesome. The other thing that we're working on this month is reviews. When you just open up your podcasting app and you see the shows that you subscribe to and then it gives you suggestions for other shows that you may like. That other shows that you may like is where I want to show up for people who are not already listening to our podcast, and the way to do that, the way for the algorithm to love us and show the podcast there is to have great episodes that lots of people listen to and to have lots of reviews. So if you have not yet and you want to help me reach all the rest of the overwhelmed working women who aren't listening, I would love if you would leave a review. It would mean so much to me and I would really appreciate it. Okay, let's dive in.
Michelle Gauthier:So Tasha came to me, like most of my one-on-one clients do, feeling overwhelmed. She was saying yes to everything at work, at home, with her friends, because she wanted to keep everyone happy, and when we investigated it, she realized that she was trying to keep everyone happy to the detriment of herself. She wasn't feeling happy, so that meant she avoided difficult conversations with her employees and friends and family. And what happened? Even if we just think about the work situation, when you avoid difficult conversations with, say this, this isn't something Tasha told me, but I'm thinking back to my working days instead of saying like this actually isn't up to speed on what I was hoping for. So if you could go back and you could add this, that and the other thing and get it back to me by tomorrow, that would be great. If you don't have those conversations and you end up being the one who takes the thing and does it yourself, then you're just setting yourself up for more overwhelm. So we decided that we were going to start small, and I think that's always the best way to start Just take one small step in the right direction.
Michelle Gauthier:Instead of overhauling her entire approach to communication, she took some simple steps to handle difficult conversations with confidence. We created a process and she came up with this process to prepare with data. So when she was going to have a tough conversation, she prepared with data. She set a clear intention for each one of the conversations and then she used breathing techniques like square breathing, which I'll link in the show notes, to calm herself before she had the conversation. And we noticed that the way she was thinking about these conversations before was what if they don't like what I say? And we transitioned that thought over to how can I help this person by being honest. So if you see this subtle but important shift there, it's worrying about what the other person is going to think and if they're going to like it too, how can I help this other person grow.
Michelle Gauthier:One of the biggest changes that Tasha noticed was how much more confident she felt because she was prepared for the conversations. She felt empowered and more in control and when she felt that way, she went in feeling confident and in service to try to help her employees and other people who she was communicating with get better or better understand what she was explaining. So as she kept practicing this, she got more comfortable using her voice and she stopped avoiding these tough talks and started leading them and proactively scheduling them, and she started to see that setting boundaries and having honest conversations was a great way to protect her own energy, but also they were gifts to the people around her. So sometimes I think we believe that if we set a boundary that we are going to, it's going to be to the detriment of another person, but that isn't always true. It worked for everyone, and this is a quote that she said to me. In the past. I avoided conflict and stayed quiet, but with Michelle's guidance, I feel like a completely transformed person. The tools and guidance you've provided have truly transformed how I handle challenges, both in my personal and professional life.
Michelle Gauthier:So this is a quick, short story just to remind us, and the reason why I asked Tasha permission to tell her story is because it's not like she's the only one right? If you're listening, you might be shaking your head and saying, yes, I definitely do that sometimes or all the time, and I love how her story shows that breaking the cycle of people pleasing isn't about becoming someone you're not. It's about finding the courage and the confidence to be exactly who you are and that, even if you've been a people pleaser your whole entire life which you probably are if you're a woman I feel like we just get socialized to do that. If you take just these small intentional steps and have small conversations and grow your confidence. That way, you really can reduce your overwhelm, have, in my opinion, more fulfilling and honest relationships and then have the confidence to use your own voice and change your own life. So thank you, tasha, for letting me share your story. I'm actually going to invite her to be on the podcast and tell us more about what she learned in her coaching. So look for that episode in the future.
Michelle Gauthier:That's a wrap for today. I hope you have a great week and if you enjoy this podcast, please do leave a rating and review. I would so appreciate it. See you next week. Thank you for listening to the overwhelmed working woman podcast. If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthiercom. See you next week.
