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.
If you're ready to reclaim your energy, focus, and peace of mind you’re in the right place. Start with listener favorite: “The Power of a To-Don’t List.”
Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
#167| 3 Signs You’re Trapped in People Pleasing & How to Break Free Without Guilt or Overwhelm: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Have you ever said “yes” just to avoid awkwardness—even when you knew it wasn’t right for you?
In today’s episode, Michelle shares a surprisingly relatable moment where she—an actual life coach—found herself people pleasing during a business call. Whether you're constantly worried about being liked, struggle to say no, or overthink what others think of you, this episode will help you spot and break the cycle.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn 3 subtle but powerful signs that you’re people pleasing without realizing it
- Understand what people pleasing is really costing you (emotionally and professionally)
- Get practical tools to start setting boundaries and speaking up without guilt
If you’re tired of second-guessing yourself or putting others’ comfort above your own, hit play now to reclaim your time and truth.
Wondering why you're overwhelmed? Take my "why am I overwhelmed" quiz to find out the source of your overwhelm, and what to do about it.
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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...
What would I choose if I wasn't worried about their reaction? 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, thanks for joining me today.
Michelle Gauthier:Today I'm going to tell you a story about how I just very recently got in a situation where I realized, a few minutes in, that I was totally people pleasing, and it just reminded me that even when you're educated on people pleasing and have worked really hard not to be a people pleaser, sometimes it sneaks up on you. So when you listen, today I'm going to tell you three subtle but powerful signs that you were people pleasing, and you might not even realize it, what it's really costing you if that's what you're doing, and how to start breaking the habit without guilt or shame or spiraling. So here's what happened. If you're ever curious about working with me one-on-one, the first step is booking a free consultation. So when someone signs up for one of those, they're taken to. First of all, you start on a page that explains all about the coaching into. First of all, you start on a page that explains all about the coaching, the cost, how long it is, all that stuff. Then they go to a form where I ask a couple questions what's going on in your life right now? How do you wish you could feel six months from now? What do you want to work on in coaching? And it's designed to help us both get clarity and make sure that coaching is the right fit for that person. So the other day I got a new form and it didn't have the actual answers on it, it just said I'd rather talk about it on the call. Totally fine, not everyone feels like typing it all out or they feel uncomfortable typing it to someone who they don't know yet. So the call was booked and I get on the call at the time that it's scheduled. And then here's the plot twist About 30 seconds in I realized that this guy wasn't looking for coaching at all.
Michelle Gauthier:He was trying to pitch me on his business. He's asking questions about my social media, whether I have a podcast, who my audience is. So he booked my free consult meant for women who are overwhelmed and thinking about making real changes and potentially working with me for coaching, and used it as a sales opportunity for himself under a completely false premise. And I'll be honest, I stayed on the call longer than I should have. He was asking me questions about my business and I was answering them and I'm thinking in my mind I don't think he actually wants coaching. But I hung in there because I didn't want to be rude and I didn't want to make it awkward. Let's just pause on that for a second. I didn't want to make it awkward. He scheduled on my consult to sell me on his business and I didn't want to make it awkward. So once I directly asked him are you on this call because you're considering coaching with me? He said, I mean not right now, but like maybe in the future or maybe I could refer someone to you. And that was when I was like okay, people pleasing, time is over here. And I said okay, listen, this call is for people who are interested in one-on-one coaching and you booked this call knowing that. But what you're actually doing is trying to sell me on your business. If you wanted to do that, a good way to do that would be to send me a message on LinkedIn and he said, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry if it came across that way. If it came across that way, what other way would it come across? That is the truth. That is what is happening here. So this is your reminder. I am a coach who helps people stop people pleasing, and here I was. I mean, I'm happy to say, I only wasted about five or 10 minutes of my own time. I only wasted about five or 10 minutes of my own time, but I all of a sudden was more concerned about making it awkward for him. So here are three ways that you might be doing something similar to what I did the other day. These are kind of hints that you might be people pleasing.
Michelle Gauthier:Number one: you worry more about being liked than being honest, so you say what someone wants to hear instead of what's actually true for you. This might mean you're sugarcoating feedback or avoiding conflict or agreeing with something just to keep the conversation nice, which is exactly what I was doing. You find yourself in this situation where you're doing that. You can practice saying things honestly in small ways, like, actually I have a different take or I'm still figuring out how I feel. So you don't have to be completely bold and in someone's face about it if that feels really uncomfortable to you, but make sure that you are not worrying more about being liked than telling your truth.
Michelle Gauthier:Number two is the idea that saying no makes you mean or selfish. This is like a classic guilt trip. You've been conditioned to think that the word no is a rejection of the person or their needs and like you should be helpful. So you say yes, even when you don't have the time or the energy or the desire. This definitely came up for me, I think, in the situation that I just described to you, because, as a person who owns her own business, I am always supportive of other entrepreneurs. So had he sent me a message and said I really think I could help you with your business here's what I do. I do videos for social media I might have responded and said okay. Or if somehow someone had introduced us, I would have said tell me about your business, maybe there's someone I can refer to you, maybe I would be interested in it. So I felt like I was being mean or selfish, saying no to him, but he approached me in the completely wrong way. So I think, in this case, saying no did not make me mean or selfish. I think he was the one who was making the selfish choice in this particular situation.
Michelle Gauthier:And the third clue that you might be people pleasing is you focus more on what the other person might be thinking than on what you actually want. So will he think I'm rude? Am I worried about making this person mad? Who will they tell that I'm not a nice person? And when you're doing that and thinking like that, it's all this mental gymnastics going on in your head and it takes up so much space that there's no room to even ask what do I actually want? So I did that exact thing and once I realized what do I actually want right now? And you know what I wanted to do right now Call my sister back. Because my sister had called me I was like shoot, I thought I was going to be on the phone for a whole hour. Now I see I'm not going to be on the phone for a whole hour, so I'm going to call my sister back. So what I want to choose is to call my sister instead of let this guy pitch me on something I'm not interested in that I did not ask for. So if you find yourself in this situation, it's really great to say what would I choose if I wasn't worried about their reaction. So if I wasn't worried what the other person would think, what would I do in this situation, and that can really help you get clarity about what you want to do.
Michelle Gauthier:So, in summary, if you saw yourself in any of these, or you have recently been in a situation like I was, where you were being too nice quote unquote for too long. I say nice in quotes because I wasn't really being nice. I was just trying to control how I thought that he was going to feel about me or my business. So just remember it people pleasing is just a habit and it's a survival strategy that a lot of us were taught, but it is definitely one that you can unlearn. So today we learned if you care more about being liked than being honest, if you think saying no makes you a bad person, or if you're much more worried about what someone else might think than what you actually want, you could be people pleasing. The good news is you don't have to do a 180 overnight, but you can start practicing any of the things that I just mentioned just tiny acts of honesty or boundaries or self-awareness and eventually that adds up to real change.
Michelle Gauthier:If you feel like people pleasing is a big problem in your life, guess what you can do a consultation with me. It's free, it's an hour long and we will talk all about what is happening with you and your life and I'll tell you all about coaching and we can see if it's a good fit. Now, if you use that time to try to sell me something, I will cut off the call after five minutes. You can set up that consultation with me. Fill out the form that I just talked about and we will talk on the phone. We will chat on Zoom for about 45 minutes so that I can see what's going on with you, tell you a little bit about coaching and see if we are a good fit to work together. Have a great week and be on the lookout for people pleasing. 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.
