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
#138| 3 Ways To Stay Productive AND Take Care of You: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Have you ever felt guilty for taking a break — even when you know you're running on empty?
In today’s fast-paced world, many of us try to power through work without stopping, but this episode shows how taking intentional "me time" throughout your day isn't just refreshing — it's a proven strategy to boost productivity, focus, and energy. If you’ve ever struggled with burnout or felt stuck in an afternoon slump, this episode is your guide to working smarter, not harder.
In this episode, you will:
- Discover why tiny breaks can actually supercharge your focus and energy.
- Learn simple, guilt-free strategies to schedule "me time" into even the busiest workday.
- Understand how aligning with your body’s natural energy cycles can make your workday more productive and less exhausting.
Hit play now to learn how a few minutes of mindful breaks can transform your productivity and your day — your future energized self will thank you!
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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 want to be more productive, science says that taking more breaks is your secret weapon. 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, I'm kind of laughing as I say that, because I literally just recorded this entire podcast. I didn't actually hit record, so this will be my second run through. Maybe it'll sound very practiced when you hear it today. Today, we're going to be talking about why stepping away from your work and taking a little time for yourself, even just for a few minutes, can supercharge your productivity, and I will give you three suggestions to schedule me time throughout the day so that you can do it easily and without guilt, and just treat it like another appointment on your calendar. Before I jump into that, though, I want to remind you that group coaching for the summer session is opening soon, so on May 12th is going to be the first day that registration is open, unless you get on the waitlist. You get a couple benefits if you're on the waitlist. First of all, you'll be notified first when it is available for registration. I only take 10 people for the program and you can secure one of those first spots as soon as they open up for people who are on the waitlist. And in addition to that, you get a discount, a big discount, like a 25% off discount. So get on the wait list, even if you're just thinking about joining group coaching.
Michelle Gauthier:If you aren't familiar with what the group coaching is, it's called the Good Life and it's a 12 week program where you, along with the rest of your classmates, will every week get new videos from me while you're learning a certain topic. So some of the topics, for example, are like how to say no, how to set boundaries, how to reset your expectations. So you do that during the week and then on Fridays we have live group coaching. So I will do a little bit more teaching on the topic and then I will take questions, help anybody who's stuck, etc. One of my favorite things about group coaching are the friendships that form and the encouragement that the group gives to one another. For some reason, as humans, we always think that we're alone, like I'm the only one who feels really guilty for working too much or whatever it is, and there's something about group coaching that just makes you realize, okay, I'm just like a bunch of other women who are also trying to improve their life. So if that sounds like an experience that you'd love to have this summer, I would love to have you sign up to get on the waitlist and get more information.
Michelle Gauthier:Now, all right back to how to be more productive and also take me time for yourself throughout the day. So let's just geek out for a minute. Have you heard of the Pomodoro technique or the Pomodoro timer? It's a time management method where you work in focus sprints, usually like 25 minutes of work followed by a five minute break, and then, when you do like three sets of that, then you take a 15 minute break. Why does this work?
Michelle Gauthier:Research shows that our brains can only focus really deeply for a limited time before productivity starts to drop. So taking these tiny little breaks, even five minute breaks, really help refresh your focus and prevent just mental fatigue and helps you create a better work product. Scheduling me time isn't selfish, it's really brain fuel. Even that five minutes can reset your energy and boost your focus for the next round. I don't know about you, but my approach to work even when I didn't have a job that I absolutely loved, like I do now is I want to get the most amount of work done possible in the hours that I'm doing work. So if I'm there, I really want to make it count, and this is a great way to do that.
Michelle Gauthier:The other thing to consider is that your body, your particular body, each one of our bodies has sort of natural rhythms, natural cycles where our energy rises and falls, and science shows that that happens about every 90 minutes. So even if you're a morning person and you can really do focused work in the morning, by mid morning or late morning you might start to feel a little bit of a slump, and that's totally normal. It's not just in your head. Your brain is getting tired, your body is getting tired. Same thing happens for me. The mid afternoon one feels a lot bigger because I'm a morning person. So the mid afternoon kind of slump hits me harder. So leaning into those rhythms instead of fighting against them, and really building your schedule where possible to help you ride the wave of productivity, instead of pushing through when your energy dips, really a great way to go.
Michelle Gauthier:This makes me think of when I used to run marathons. There were kind of two different methods for running marathons, and one was that you just continue to run the whole entire time, and then another one was you run for 10 minutes and then you walk for one minute, and I chose the first one of. Of course, that's exactly who I was at the time that I believed I couldn't stop. I was trying to get to the end of the marathon. Why would I ever walk unless I absolutely needed to walk because I couldn't go on any further. But guess what? The people who did the 10 minute run with the one minute walk got faster times than me who ran the entire time. I think it's even though we're not talking about marathon running here.
Michelle Gauthier:The concept is the same If you focus and you really go hard on something, you can take a five minute break and then you have more energy instead of less energy than you would have had before. So here are a couple scheduling tips that I have for you to take this little me time break. I'm going to share with you a couple things that I do every day and see if you can get any ideas from these and apply them for your day. So the first thing that I do is I schedule my time in just hour blocks, but I try to use 50 minutes of that for work and 10 minutes of that for just a little brief break. So, for example, if you've ever been my client, you know that your appointment with me for a nine o'clock coaching session goes from nine to 950, not from nine to 10. And at 9.50, the session is over and I have 10 minutes between that and my next session. And if you're my client and you're at work too, you have 10 minutes before you have to jump back into your next call. During that time it's really useful to me to take a few minutes, refill my water, get up and just walk around a little bit.
Michelle Gauthier:If it's morning time, or even afternoon, sometimes I'll grab a coffee, I might do a little stretching, I might listen to an audiobook for a few minutes, but just something to reset my brain. Where in your work life can you do that? If you're in the type of job which I used to be in, where my day was just wall-to-wall meetings one ended at four and one started at four can you drop two minutes early. When you're in charge of the meeting, can you make the meeting end at 55 instead of right on the hour? And if you have to really just hang up and dial back in, take even 30 seconds. Take a drink of water, take a couple deep breaths, roll your head around a couple times and stretch your neck, stand up from your desk for a second and then call in instead of racing to the next meeting. So if you don't have the luxury of taking a 10 minute break every 50 minutes, like I do, see what you can do and build from there In the afternoon. This is my second tip.
Michelle Gauthier:So for me in the afternoon, that's when I feel the biggest slump, when I finish seeing my last client in the afternoon. I actually still do work after that, but I definitely need a break. So I build that break in and I don't schedule anything else for myself and after I've seen all of my clients, I'll take a 15 to 20 minute break. Sometimes that might look like just having a snack and not having it at my desk, or sometimes even lunch, depending on what time it is. I always like to try to have my lunch in the kitchen and I sit in the kitchen and I don't do anything work related. I always make sure I drink a full glass of water. I try to have a healthy meal. Normally, I prep all my lunches on Sunday, so I'll eat whatever I'm having for my lunch and maybe I'm just looking out into my backyard, maybe I'm listening to an audio book or a podcast, anything like that. But I definitely plan a break every afternoon Then, when I'm finished with my day and this is something that I really recommend that you do I end my day with a me time anchor, so I pick one thing that I'm going to do to end the day.
Michelle Gauthier:That is something just for me. I have a couple clients who go for a walk. This is especially powerful if you work from home. I can't remember which one of my clients told me this, but when they finish for the day, they just go walk around the block one time and that means I'm finished with my work and I'm getting ready to get started on the rest of my night. Whatever that might look like for you, you could journal. Another one of my clients does journaling. She does it at her desk at work before she leaves for the day. You could read for 10 minutes, listen to an audio book for 10 minutes. What I do almost every day is I meditate. So when I finish, I'm officially finished with work for the day and I'm not coming back I will go to my room and I will meditate and then after that I have so much more energy to make dinner, take my kids wherever they need to go. You know, be a nice person for the rest of the night.
Michelle Gauthier:So, in summary, we talked about why breaks are good, honoring your body's energy cycles and then scheduling in that me time. So the three times that I suggested to think about doing them are in between meetings can you get a little break in there. And then is there a time in the afternoon or whatever time feels like you have the biggest dip in energy, where you can take a 15-20 minute break and eat your lunch You're probably gonna have to put that on your calendar and block it on your calendar or go outside or take a quick walk. And then how can you end your workday? With an anchor a me time anchor to say, okay, I'm finished with work, I'm going to do something I enjoy and then I'm going to move on to the rest of my night. That is it for today.
Michelle Gauthier:My challenge for you is to just try one of these strategies this week. Let me know how it goes. You deserve the break and also it's better for your productivity. You can't lose. Don't forget to get on the list for group coaching. If you're interested, get on the wait list right now and you will be hearing from me very soon. Have a great 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 michellegauthier. com. See you next week.
