Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
Overwhelmed Working Woman is a podcast for accomplished women who want to feel more calm, in control, and focused without adding more to their already full plate.
This top 2% podcast is hosted by Michelle Gauthier, who has over 7 years of experience coaching hundreds of overwhelmed working women.
Each episode offers simple, practical strategies to help you reduce overwhelm, improve productivity, and stop people pleasing. You’ll learn surprising time management hacks, how to do less without guilt, and why the path to calm begins with changing how you think.
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Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
#160| 5 Ways Your Productivity Is Being Sabotaged by Procrastination — And What To Do About It So You Can Achieve Your Goals With Ease: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Do you keep waiting for motivation before starting, only to watch your to-do list grow longer?
In this episode, Michelle unpacks why procrastination isn’t about laziness—and reveals five surprising ways it shows up, from endless planning to people pleasing, all of which secretly sabotage your productivity and peace of mind.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn why action—not motivation—breaks the procrastination cycle.
- Discover tiny, practical steps to tackle big, overwhelming tasks.
- Understand how to set boundaries so you stop putting everyone else first.
Press play now to learn actionable strategies that help you beat procrastination and bring more calm and control into your week.
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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 Worki...
We assume that motivation has to come first, but the truth is motivation follows action.
Michelle Gauthier: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.
Michelle Gauthier:Hi friend, thanks for joining today. Today we're going to be talking all about procrastination, and maybe not in the way that you would expect. When you listen, today you'll learn number one, what procrastination and maybe not in the way that you would expect. When you listen, today you'll learn number one, what procrastination actually is - spoiler alert it's not laziness - and five sneaky ways that it might be sabotaging your productivity, both at work and at home, and, of course, what to do about it, what to do about each one of those. I think it's funny that when I was writing this episode and this is actually my third time starting the recording on this episode I found myself falling into two of these five that I'm about to tell you about. So I'm here to say that procrastination can easily sneak up on us, even as I'm writing and recording a podcast about procrastination. So today, by the time you're finished listening to this episode, you will know what to do for each one of these types of procrastination.
Michelle Gauthier:But let's dig in first by talking about what procrastination is and isn't we think procrastination is. I'm lazy, I have no willpower, I'm bad at time management. I need to be more disciplined. I need to try harder all those kinds of thoughts. The problem with thinking something like I'm just lazy is it just means something about you as a human, like you have a flaw, and those are totally not true. If you've been a listener to the podcast for a while, you know that we always think about the actions that we're taking. So procrastination is an action, an inaction but an action, and we always think about those actions that we're taking in terms of what thought am I having that's causing this? So what procrastination really is is a protective behavior, normally that your brain is trying to protect you from doing something that's going to make you feel uncomfortable, and it's simply a thought that you're having that is causing you to not take action. And I'm going to dive into more of that, but I think the biggest thing to take away is that procrastination is our brain trying to protect us from discomfort. Sometimes the discomfort isn't even that big of a deal, right, but our brain's trying to get us to not take action on something. It means nothing about you as a person. It doesn't mean that you're lazy or need to be more motivated or work harder.
Michelle Gauthier:So let's dig into each one of the five types of procrastination and some examples of each one, and then what to do if that one really resonates with you, if you're like oh yeah, that's the one that I do. So the first one is over planning instead of just starting, because planning and thinking about what to do feels productive and in control, but it can be a really sneaky way to delay taking action. So, for example, if you create the perfect spreadsheet to track all of your goals but you never take action on them, that would be an example of this over planning instead of just starting. Or you spend 30 minutes rewriting and organizing your to do list but then really don't have time to do anything on it At home. Maybe that would look like making a color coded chore chart for your family, but never actually use it it. So what to do instead if you're stuck in this, in stuck in the research phase and just spending your time? Personally, I love doing this, because you can just go forever learning new things but never taking any action.
Michelle Gauthier:So what to do instead is just to plan only for the first tiny step and set a timer for five minutes to start taking action immediately. So what I say is, if you think of the first step and it feels overwhelming or too big, make it smaller. Let's talk about the example that I mentioned of creating this perfect Excel spreadsheet that has all of your goals on it or all of your to do's on it, but you never take action on them. If you're going to take a tiny step and you said, okay, I'm going to do the first thing on the list, and your body was still like Nope, we're not going to do that, then maybe your step is to write out the first part of the first thing. Or maybe your first step is to open a blank document and type one sentence I'm talking tiny first steps and set a timer for five minutes and just take that tiny step for five minutes and and remind yourself that clarity comes from actually doing the thing, not doing the perfect planning.
Michelle Gauthier:This is definitely one of the ones that I get stuck in, and even for this podcast I definitely did. This leads perfectly into the second one, which is endless research. So the one we just talked about before this was over planning. Endless research is very similar to this one, where you just keep doing research on a topic before you take action because research gives us the illusion of being productive and being prepared and learning so many things about it in order to just be fully prepared, but the procrastination part is never taking action. So maybe you want to start meal prepping and you watch a ton of meal prep videos on TikTok and it looks fun and you just keep spending hours watching them, but you keep ordering takeout. This is very similar to the one ahead. It's being stuck in that planning or research phase instead of taking action. So the prescription for this one is very similar to the one above Set a time to limit your research and then choose that one tiny step and take it.
Michelle Gauthier:Okay, the next one is waiting to feel motivated. We do this one because we assume that motivation has to come first, but the truth is motivation follows action, so we start feeling motivated once we start doing it. So, for example, at work, maybe you need to write a tough email or have a tough conversation with someone, but you keep pushing it off because you're waiting until you feel calm and clear and motivated to have that conversation. Same thing with a big project in the house. Maybe you delay cleaning the garage until you feel motivated to do it. Same can be true of like going for a walk or working out.
Michelle Gauthier:I think the most powerful thing to do for this one is to remind yourself that motivation isn't a magical force that floats around the universe and just lands on you sometimes. And doesn't land on you sometimes, it's created by the way that we're thinking. What my trick is, instead of trying to make yourself motivated to do something, just remind yourself that you can do it. You can take action even if you don't feel motivated. So what I tell myself is, for example, let's say, I don't feel like working out when my alarm goes off in the morning and I don't feel motivated to do it. That's fine. I don't have to feel motivated in order to go to the gym. I know that on Sunday, I made a plan. I chose the times I was going to work out, I chose the workouts that I was going to do, and my job isn't to feel motivated. My job is just to do it. So that's what I tell myself. You could use. A thought like this is part of the plan that I made for myself. I'm going to get started now. It doesn't matter how I feel about it right now, and if that still feels like too much. You could also use that five minute 10 minute rule. If we're talking about the example of cleaning out the garage, I'm going to spend 10 minutes just to get started and see how it feels.
Michelle Gauthier:The next one is doing low stakes tasks first. This is another one of my favorite ones to do. Low stakes tasks, the ones that are kind of at the bottom of your to-do list or maybe not even on your to-do list, are so appealing because, for example, it's so much easier to just answer emails instead of creating that presentation you need to do, or to spend, you know time tweaking the fonts, but you haven't even finalized the content in the presentation that you have to make. Or maybe, on a personal note, you know you really need to revise and follow a budget, but instead you decide to repot all your plants. It makes sense that our brain wants to do the easy one, so that we can either check it off or just do something that feels more painless. But the solution for this one is to ask yourself is this task urgent or is it just easy? Am I just doing this one because I want to be making some progress and it's easy, but is it the urgent task that I want to work on, and then again, for each one of these, you're going to hear me say the same thing, which is do it for a set amount of time, just get started. 10 minutes, 5 minutes, whatever it takes to move through the difficult task that you're avoiding.
Michelle Gauthier:The last one is especially for my people pleasers out there. One way that we procrastinate is to help other people instead of facing our own priorities or whatever it is that we need to do. A classic example of this might be staying late to help a co-worker with their project, even though you're behind. Or you jump in to fix someone else's spreadsheet instead of asking for help on your own workload or from a home perspective. I feel like we often do things for our kids or our partner instead of the personal things that we have on our own to-do list. So what to do instead on this one is to set boundaries A boundary like I can help you after I finish what I'm working on for myself. And remember I've got tons of episodes on boundaries and how to say no. So if you need more help on that, there's lots of resources out there in different episodes. But remember that saying yes to others shouldn't mean sacrificing yourself. That is really the definition of people. Pleasing is when you're saying yes to others to the detriment of yourself. That is really the definition of people. Pleasing is when you're saying yes to others to the detriment of yourself. So the cure for this one is setting a boundary and, of course, setting a timer and just getting started on the first step.
Michelle Gauthier:So, in summary, there are five sneaky ways procrastination might be sabotaging your productivity over planning over researching. Sabotaging your productivity over planning over researching. Waiting to feel motivated, doing the easy stuff first and helping others before you help yourself. Keep in mind again these are not character flaws. They're coping strategies that your brain uses to avoid discomfort. As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, I personally did the over planning and over researching on this particular podcast episode.
Michelle Gauthier:So these can come up for anybody all the time, and the problem is not that they come up, it's just how do you handle it? What do you do about it? So now you are armed with the actions to take so that you don't get stuck in procrastination. If this episode hits home, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Those things mean so much to me and they are so helpful for us to grow the podcast, and if you want to know more about what's causing you overwhelm, take the free overwhelm quiz. Well, put the link in the show notes and you'll get personalized tools based on your biggest overwhelm habits, for example, the one I was just talking about at the end, where you're helping others before helping yourself. You might be a people pleaser, and if you are, you will get an exact description of what to do and even a worksheet that you can work through at the end of the quiz. Ok, have a great week.
Michelle Gauthier: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.
