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
#170| How To Align Your Workday With Your Workout Style to Beat Overwhelm and Increase Productivity: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Do you ever feel like you’re forcing yourself into someone else’s version of productivity—like waking up at 5 a.m. or grinding through “deep work” even though it doesn’t feel natural to you?
In this episode, performance coach Amber Deibert shares her game-changing approach: discovering your unique productivity style by looking at how you naturally expend energy—just like the way you work out. If you’ve ever struggled to stay consistent with routines that don’t fit your life, this conversation will show you a better way.
By tuning in, you’ll learn:
- How to identify whether you’re wired for endurance-style work or high-intensity bursts.
- Why mismatched productivity systems lead to burnout—and how to design ones that align with your strengths.
- Simple shifts you can make right now to get more done in less time while feeling more energized.
Press play now to discover how to “work like you work out” and finally create a productivity rhythm that truly works for 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 Worki...
But what I find is, if you're not thriving in your workplace, it might be that you're just in the wrong environment.
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:Hey friends, welcome back. Thanks for joining today. I'm super excited to share this conversation with you because it really influenced the way that I think about my own productivity. Today I'm talking with Amber Deibert. She is a performance coach who helps people in the sales field get to the very top of their game, and what makes her work so fascinating to me is how she helps her clients use their natural energy patterns to work more effectively, instead of forcing themselves to do things that don't fit. Her theory is that we can find out all we need to know about our own productivity based on the way that we like to work out or expend our energy. In this episode, we're going to talk about how your workout style can reveal your ideal work style. It's different if you like to run long distances versus take the occasional walk, versus go to a HIIT class. We're also going to talk about why productivity isn't about doing more, but doing what fits your brain and your body best, and then how to set up your day based on what's best for you, your breaks, your calendar, even your clothes or music to support your focus and reduce your overwhelm.
Michelle Gauthier:I do have to warn you that this episode is longer than the usual one. I usually try to keep my episodes shorter than this, but there was so much good stuff in here and I really didn't want to cut anything out, so you might have to listen to it over two different sessions or something. It's about 40 minutes long. Okay, let's meet Amber. Thank you, Amber, so much for being here today. Amber and I are in a coaching mastermind together, and she was the presenter one day when I attended a meeting and I just thought that what she had to say was so brilliant and so helpful that I wanted to bring it to the audience. Can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to be the type of coach that you are?
Amber Deibert:Yes, thank you so much for having me. I am a performance coach and I work specifically with enterprise and strategic tech sellers, so my clients are selling at the highest levels to Fortune 500 companies and I help them specifically with their mindset and their productivity. My sweet spot is people who know what they need to do. They just can't quite get themselves to do it and I find that it either comes down to limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome and mindset things, or it's that you don't have a productivity system that works for you. I'm so delighted to be on your podcast because working women is something that's near and dear to my heart as a working mom and thinking about how much there is on our plates and how we want to perform.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh good, I'm so glad and I thought you would be such a good fit for this audience, because one of the things that I'm always working on with my clients who are all overwhelmed working women is the idea that you don't have to do it Like, you don't have to get up at five in the morning and approach your work in a certain way. If that's not the way that works for you, you have to understand, first learn and understand who you are, and then create rules that work for you for your best productivity. So would you please tell us about your theory on that? We should essentially work the way that we work out. Will you tell us a little bit about how you developed that and what it is?
Amber Deibert:Yeah, totally, and I just want to touch on what you talked about really quickly, and I love that you've said that, because I think so many of us. I market on LinkedIn and I read all the LinkedIn posts and all the posts from all the like experts. They're like 20 year old dudes who aren't married, who don't have kids, and they're telling you what your morning routine should look like. But they're successful, like they're working 16 hour days, 20 hour days, and they're getting it done. And so we think like oh, I should be that way and I love your approach, michelle, of like it's not how somebody else designs it, it's how what works best for you. They would be like I just know that I need to do more deep work.
Amber Deibert:I keep reading about deep work and how important it is and I would look at them and I'd be like, respectfully, you're not a deep work kind of a person, like I don't know what it is about you, but like that just doesn't seem like a fit for you and maybe you're trying to squeeze yourself into a box that doesn't fit you.
Amber Deibert:You're this beautiful statue that doesn't fit in a rectangular box, and so I realized that you can learn a lot about somebody and how they like to expend their energy by looking at their workout style. So I have a theory that we like to mentally expend energy the same way we physically like to expend energy. So let me give you an example. Imagine like an endurance athlete versus maybe like a CrossFit or high intensity interval training athlete. On the endurance side, when I think about endurance sports, you have to do tons of upfront planning. And as long as you've got all the upfront planning done, then when you're executing on the workout, you are essentially in deep work. You have no more decisions that you have to make, you're just doing it.
Amber Deibert:You made all the decisions ahead of time, or maybe an interval training athlete, kind of like a circuit training athlete. They might show up to the gym and they might like maybe say Orange Theory. They might look and see what the workout is today, but they don't need to know the whole workout, they just need to know the first thing and I find that those type of athletes work more in short, intense bursts. On the endurance side it's more like low intensity, long duration, and on the interval training side it's more high intensity, short duration, if you can design your workday around that as well. I find so many people who are more of the interval training kind of people but they're trying to fit themselves in the deep work bucket when actually they get more done in a shorter period of time than most people can do in a week.
Michelle Gauthier:Yeah, I love that, and especially that neither one of those is the better answer. It's like whichever one sort of comes naturally to you or that you're attracted to, is the right thing. Okay, so what if somebody's listening right now and they're like, I don't work out consistently?
Amber Deibert:Oh, I'm so glad you asked that. Like I want to give the caveat that I don't actually care how much you work out or how you work out or if you're in shape. What I want to know is how do you physically like to expend energy? That's all I care about. It might be that you're like you know what. I just go for a walk with my dog.
Amber Deibert:And that's my favorite way to physically expend energy. That's fantastic. We can learn so much from that. Or maybe you're like you know I don't exercise, or I used to be in it. This is my story. I from that. Or maybe you're like you know I don't exercise, or I used to be in it. This is my story. I used to be an endurance athlete. Then I had kids and I was like I don't have the time for that, and so now I am more of an interval training kind of athlete and my work style has adjusted.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, oh my gosh. I would absolutely say me too. Used to run marathons. Used to go for a run on Sunday morning that would last three hours. There's no way that I would make the time to do that anymore. I go to a boot camp type training and I show up for it.
Michelle Gauthier:I go five days a week right now, sometimes six, and it's a different workout every day. Three days are strength, three days are cardio. I really don't care what it is, I just go. Sometimes I know what it is and sometimes I don't, because I need to wear different sports bras. That's the only reason why I care. And when I go there I don't know what the workout is and the trainer demos it and if I had to repeat back the workout, I could probably repeat back like 20% of it and just have to kind of get started see what other people are doing.
Michelle Gauthier:You know, sort of figure it out along the way. So if we use that as an example, maybe that could be helpful for me personally, but for other people as well. So what should I do work-wise, if you? Know, that about me?
Amber Deibert:Yes, and thank you for being the guinea pig. It's always so much easier to use a specific example. I call this process work like you work out. We're going to look at your workout style and glean insights from it of things that we can apply to your workday to help you be more productive. The way I think about it is that you have an internal blueprint for how your body likes to expend energy. It's always been there, but we just try to fit ourselves into a mold that we aren't. If you look at cues from how you like to exercise, you can establish these in your workday, and it's going to make things so much easier. So the first thing I like to ask about is intensity. Are these workouts pretty intense or are they like pretty chill? Super intense, yeah. Do you prefer to work in like short, intense bursts or do you prefer to have like slow, long workdays?
Michelle Gauthier:I would rather have the short, intense bursts.
Amber Deibert:Yes, which I find for a lot of entrepreneurs. They kind of naturally get into their right mode. So I've done this with a few friends of mine who are also coaches and we find that they are working in a way that works really well for them. But I find that with corporate employees that's not usually the case, because they're trying to be something that they're not. So that's the first thing to note is what is the intensity? So for somebody like you, I would definitely recommend blocking out time to get all your tasks knocked out in an hour or whatever it is, and working in short bursts. Pomodoros, which, if you've ever heard of the Pomodoro method, it's named after the guy who invented it used a timer that looked like a tomato, and tomato is Pomodoro in Italian.
Michelle Gauthier:I thought you were going to say his name was like Anthony Pomodoro.
Amber Deibert:It's like a tomato shaped kitchen timer.
Michelle Gauthier:That's what it's called.
Amber Deibert:It's named, but the Pomodoro technique is essentially interval training for the workday. The idea is you do 25 minutes on, you take a five minute break. You do 25 minutes on, you take a five minute break. We know that you're a high intensity person. I like to know, like, what is the ideal duration for your workouts? It sounds like you're doing a class that they kind of decide the duration for you. How?
Michelle Gauthier:long do you like to 45 minutes, 45 minutes? It's funny because before I would have said when I was a runner, I would have said that I like to run for an hour, but if I could have gotten the same workout in 45 minutes, I would have done 45 minutes. Whatever's the most efficient way to get the most muscle, burn the most calories, like whatever I'm doing, I want it to be like the most efficient way to do it.
Amber Deibert:Totally so. What a lot of people don't know with the Pomodoro technique, or don't give themselves permission, is you can change the duration of the Pomodoro technique to whatever you want it to be permission is you can change the duration of the Pomodoro technique to whatever you want it to be. I had a client who was a writer, and so 25 minutes was too short for him, so he would do 45 minute focus session with a 15 minute break you can do.
Amber Deibert:for me, for whatever reason, my workouts were 20 minutes and 20 minutes was all I could do for my Pomodoro. It was like 25 was too much but 20 was the sweet spot. So it's really helpful to look at cues from how long you like to exercise and that might be the cue for about how long you can focus in your workday. So for you, michelle, you might have like an hour or two hour block of. This is when I'm going to get all my administrative tasks done and you might break up that block into. You can kind of toy with the different durations. But it might be a 45 minute work segment with a five minute break and then maybe it's 25 and then five minutes and then 25 and five minutes. But toying with that duration can be really helpful as well.
Michelle Gauthier:That's such. That is such a great point because when I had a corporate job, the type of job I had, I pretty much had meetings all day long and you know in the corporate world how a 10 o'clock meeting goes till 11 o'clock and 11 o'clock meeting starts at 11 o'clock and goes till 12 o'clock.
Michelle Gauthier:Having my own business has helped me learn that an hour long meeting is too much and I always do my client meetings for 50 minutes and I think it's the perfect amount of time because you know when you're doing a client session you have to be like fully engaged, you're not doing anything else.
Michelle Gauthier:You're really listening at this level. That's above and beyond regular listening, and so 50 minutes feels perfect to me, because I need the 10 in between to just reset and refill your water bottle restroom. Yes, all that and I find, because I work with a lot of people. I work with entrepreneurs, but I work with a lot of corporate people too and for them to have even a meeting on their calendar where they have that 10 minutes is like whoa. So I think it's good for them, too, to have the chance to you know, reset.
Michelle Gauthier:I will never have a day ever again where I do nine one hour calls in a row, right. Sure, maybe that was the marathon runner in me who could do that, but, oh my gosh, that was. I can't imagine anyone who loves that actually.
Amber Deibert:That seems crazy. So do you like to make your own plan? Do you like to have somebody else decide the plan for you? Do you like to research other people's ideas and then make your own plan?
Michelle Gauthier:And for you.
Amber Deibert:Michelle, I love that you called out for yourself of like I don't care what the workout is, you don't need to know what the workout is. Somebody else that's a trusted advisor has already decided it. I work with salespeople and sometimes that comes into play as well. Some of them will be like no, I have to make my own plan. It's going to be really important for you to make your strategy of how you're going to go after these accounts and how you're going to sell these deals. But others are like no, I'd prefer that somebody else just tell me what to do. I'd prefer to sit on my Peloton and show up and have them give me the workout. And for those kind of people, I find it's really helpful to go out and find a trusted advisor who can basically set the blueprint for you of like this is how to gain success in your role.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, oh my gosh, absolutely. I would not just want to take direction from anyone. I would rather be in charge than take direction from someone who I don't trust. But when I trust someone as an authority on a topic, I'm like great, you've already done this, tell me everything. I don't want to waste my time figuring something out when you already know it. I'd be much happier to just pay you to tell me.
Amber Deibert:Yes, and now I'm like I have too many constraints. I'd much rather just hire the person who can tell me how to do this, because it's going to be so much faster, so much more fun. Like, yes, I'm perfectly competent to do the research, but I just don't have the time Right.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh, that makes so much sense. I feel so validated.
Amber Deibert:Yeah. So then, another interesting variable that I find is mismatched, for a lot of my clients at least Do you like to work out with other people, or do you prefer to work out on your?
Michelle Gauthier:own Mine's a hundred percent other people. When I like during COVID I would try to do these kind of weightlifting like stuff that I'm doing now on my own, and it just it was like I needed the structure. I needed to get in my car and go somewhere and I know my friends are going to be there, but I go to different class time so it's not the same people every time. I just need other people to be there other people to be there.
Amber Deibert:Okay, and I love that you made that distinction, because for some people it's like I go to be with my people. I go play pickleball because I get to hang out with my best friends or me and my buddy. We ride, we cycle every day and that's because I want to hang out with that specific buddy. Other people are like I don't care who it is, I just want to exercise with other people around. I want to feel like we're all in this together and there's some camaraderie, and that's an important distinction as well.
Amber Deibert:So, if you're like you and I, where we work from our home offices, it's kind of just us Even having your spouse or your partner sit at the same desk and work with you can be really helpful Going to a coffee shop where you feel like we're kind of all in this together, we're all working, can be helpful. I get more done in virtual co-working sessions than I can in a whole week.
Amber Deibert:Just in an hour because I'm like they're looking at you, they're going to see if you stand up from your desk like just stay here and focus on this. We're on Zoom, we're just muted and I've had clients who do this with colleagues and other peers. But having somebody else there that you feel like we're doing this together can be really, really helpful.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, that makes total sense to me and I don't have trouble getting started Like if I was just here for a week alone in my house. I'm sure I would do tons of work. But there's something about the coaching mastermind you and I are in together. It's a great example of the kind of work where you're bouncing ideas off people. Has anyone ever done this? Does anyone?
Michelle Gauthier:want to try this, and it's just so helpful to have colleagues, because that's something that you don't have when you're an entrepreneur. Well, maybe you do if you own a company with 100 people, but in my case that's a good tip too, and I really do enjoy working at coffee shops, even if I don't talk to anyone.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, I do have a lot of clients who also are like no, I just want to work out by myself, I don't want to be around other people, and for them it's really difficult if they are required to go into the office. And so a lot of them have been able to work out arrangements where maybe they work from home in the morning, then they go into the office in the afternoon, when, when they're like less focused, it's late in the afternoon, it's after lunch they can be around colleagues and collaborate.
Michelle Gauthier:Yeah, that's a great tip.
Amber Deibert:You are the kind of person that needs to work out by yourself. Try to give yourself space to work by yourself. Me personally yeah.
Amber Deibert:Okay so we talked about a few different variables intensity, duration. Do you like to make your own plan? I also like to know how do you know what you're going to do every day? For some people they have their like. Maybe they're a weight trainer and they're like Monday is arms, tuesday is back, wednesday is legs, thursday is core. They have a plan for each day of the week. Other people are like I don't know. I think I have 30 minutes of exercise in me today and I'm going to jump on the peloton and find a 30 minute exercise. Others are like I just walk my dog.
Amber Deibert:Others are like you. Do you have a set structure for what you do? Do you just go by your gut intuition? Because there are a lot of people who are like I, just kind of like tune into what I want and I do that.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh my gosh, I literally can't imagine that for working. It's like the furthest from what I do. My personal process is I on Sunday, I plan my whole week and the first thing I do is I go to my gym app and I look at the protocol for the week and I see that like Monday's arm day and Tuesday's hit and Wednesday's whatever. So I can just see these are the days. It doesn't really matter, meaning I'm going to go anyway.
Michelle Gauthier:And then I look at all my client sessions about my workout. What the workout is and what time I'm going is the literal first thing that goes on my calendar.
Amber Deibert:So for someone like you, you don't necessarily need the structure of knowing what you're going to do every day, but you know that you're going to exercise every day.
Michelle Gauthier:Yeah, and I think I know that over the course of the week I'm going to exercise every day. Yeah, and I think I know that over the course of the week, I'm going to do them all so.
Michelle Gauthier:I don't care what day arm day is, I just know it's. I'm going to hit all of the things that I want to do. But now that you're saying this, I also record podcasts every week, do interviews. I just know, over the course of a week I'm going to record two podcasts at some point, and each week it's different, but I just know. I do try to like have a general idea of when I'm going to do it. Now, you and I this is like a structured setup time to do it. But if it's just me, I put it on the calendar. But I know every week I'm going to get that done.
Amber Deibert:Yes, okay, I want to touch on that. So for you, you got the structure, you show up and I think that that is going to also be similar to how your workday goes, where you know, kind of, the six basic chunks of things you're going to do every week and for you it doesn't really matter which day they fall on, but you know that those things are going to happen and get done. Yes, for some people where they have the kind of like okay, monday is this Tuesday, is this like Monday, is arms Tuesday is back, whatever For them, I like to have them set themes for each day as well when, like, monday might be your planning day. For some people who hate planning, I also hate the idea of like the word planning just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I call it like list making day.
Amber Deibert:I'm just going to look at all my accounts. I'm going to see what needs to happen. I'm going to make all my lists. So Monday might be list making day for my clients. Tuesday might be like internal meetings, wednesday is outreach. Thursday is follow up, friday is networking, whatever it might be, but it's helpful to have a theme for each day if you're that kind of a person, and for the people who are more like, go by their gut intuition. They have the hardest time in the corporate world because the corporate world doesn't value you using your gut intuition. But those people are some of the most successful people that I've ever worked with.
Amber Deibert:So, giving yourself permission to know that like and this is similar to how you work too of like you don't need to have a set structure of when you're doing things, but to have the trust in yourself that you're going to get it done, and allowing yourself the variability and the variety of giving yourself that. Because, for some people, having a structure and knowing what you're going to do every day feels so. It feels like there's so much friction, it feels like you're trying to put me in a box that I don't fit in. I need variety, I need, I need the variability, and so for those people, it can be really, really freeing to just trust I'm going to get it all done and I'm going to show up today and decide what it is I'm going to work on today, and I don't need to worry about trying to constrain myself.
Amber Deibert:So I want to talk about your variable start time. Everybody tells you that you should time box your work.
Amber Deibert:What time is you have your list of tasks and you take your first task and you schedule it on your calendar. And you take your second task and you schedule everything on your calendar. You time block so you set aside a time for it. I have done this for myself as an entrepreneur. I've had my business for almost eight years now and I'd be very thoughtful about when's the best time for me to record my podcast and I'd be like Tuesday at 1.30 would be a perfect time for me to record my podcast. Inevitably, tuesday at 1.30 happens, the calendar invite pops up time to record your podcast and I would be like don't tell me what to do.
Michelle Gauthier:Who are you to tell me what I have?
Amber Deibert:to do. Just because you told me I have to do it means I don't want to do it. I'm like you're the one who decided this, amber. It's ridiculous. So for some of us, time boxing is not the right tactic for us, and that's okay. You can try instead. Or maybe you set aside, like during these two hours this is my administrative time and I know I have these five tasks that I need to get done and another really helpful tool is to decide in advance how long you'll let yourself spend on a task.
Amber Deibert:Oh, that's good, I know I could probably polish that presentation for the next four days, but really I probably only need 40 minutes to finish it off. Yes, so you can time box. Just decide in advance how long you'll give yourself to finish that task, but then give yourself the flexibility to work on that task whenever it is that you want to work on it yeah, I love that.
Michelle Gauthier:That's a great idea too. So it's like a little bit of structure, but not 100% structure, and I have yet to find somebody of all I've had my business for eight years too and of all the clients that I've had. I always try to help my clients figure out. How much structure do I like in my day? You?
Michelle Gauthier:know do you like 80% structure, 20% structure, more creative type jobs. They usually like less structure, but they still need some, and I have yet to find somebody who's like I like 100% structure. I want to know what I'm doing every minute of every day and have it on my calendar, and I feel like most planning methods are kind of that idea of that you have to do that in order to be successful.
Michelle Gauthier:So I love that you're saying have that block, but then let yourself be the boss of what you work on first and how long you're going to work on it. Something I noticed is when my clients like, let's say, a client, I'm seeing my client, Lauren on Wednesday at 11. And if she texts me and says I can't do that time this week, I'm so sorry. Is there any way you could do Monday at 12? To me that is like a non-ask. I don't care at all. Like I've got my working hours, I want to see her during the week. It doesn't make any difference to me what day or what time she shows up on my schedule and that has never bothered me. But I noticed that my clients seem to feel really bad about it.
Michelle Gauthier:And you're helping me realize that it's just like my workouts, like I don't care when arm day is, I just care that I'm doing arm day. I don't care what time I see Lauren, I just care that I'm seeing Lauren.
Michelle Gauthier:So that's really eye opening to me about why that seems to really matter to other people but it really doesn't matter to me?
Amber Deibert:Yeah, because they might be like, arm day is Monday.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, that is very true. That's probably exactly what she would say about herself.
Amber Deibert:So, talking about the different variables that I like to look at, one last funny variable is I like to look at what clothes you like to wear and also any food or drink. Some of these matter to people when they exercise. Some of these don't matter to people when they exercise. And just if it does matter to you like, if you have a particular outfit that you like to wear when you exercise. It might be really helpful for you to have a particular outfit that you wear when you work.
Amber Deibert:It kind of sets your brain and tells you that you're in that environment of, like it's work time. Yeah, if you might really benefit from listening to particular music when you work as well.
Michelle Gauthier:I do make myself the same drink, like this pre-workout mix, and I put it in the same cup with a certain amount of ice and water and drink that and bring it into the gym with me. I would hate to work out without that. I forgot it the other day and I had to buy a little packet of it when I got there.
Michelle Gauthier:I still brought the cup with the ice, but I couldn't find the actual powder. So that is like a big thing to me and I think it's like my brain and my body's way of saying okay, now we're getting ready to work out this this is we're starting.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, it might be really interesting to incorporate that into your work time as well. Yeah whether it's a particular drink or a particular snack or something that you have at your desk. It's all these really small things that can cue our body. That it's work time, yeah. So for me I use music. I have a particular playlist that I only listen to when I'm doing deep, focused work.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh interesting.
Amber Deibert:I love listening to Hans Zimmer.
Michelle Gauthier:He's a music? Yeah, I was gonna say does it have words, or is it just like yeah, that's a great thought.
Amber Deibert:Never.
Amber Deibert:So then your brain is like okay, this, this means we're doing deep work, exactly, and because I only listen to that music when I'm doing deep work. Now, as soon as I hear that first song, I listen to Inception, and so as soon as I hear that first song, it's like my brain is like okay, we're focused now. Another thing that I'm doing is I'm learning about how we tend to use different literal geographic spaces in our home for the wrong things. So we're working where we should be eating, or we're scrolling where we should be sleeping, or for me, I'm like getting distracted where I should be working.
Amber Deibert:And so I'm experimenting with only sitting at this desk when I'm working and focused. As soon as I get distracted, start doom scrolling like kind of my attention fades. I move away from my desk so that it cues my body that when I'm here I'm working. And then I also, whenever I'm working, I have a rule for myself that I wear pants that have a button and a zipper. I love that because then it just like nobody knows, I know and it cues to me like this is work time.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, oh my gosh, so many good things in what you just said right there. I think the idea of doing the wrong activities like activities in the wrong place in our house is a fascinating idea, and I love the idea that if I need to take a break from work, that I don't do it sitting at my desk, that I get up and go sit on my couch if I want to scroll on my phone or switch to a different area.
Michelle Gauthier:That's meant for that kind of thing. That is so cool, so many things that you're teaching me. I'm realizing. Yeah, I do that, Like for me it's earrings. When I'm going to work, I put on earrings, that's like my indicator.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, which are sitting on my desk right now, because I can't wear them. With my big headphones that I wear and I also fill up a big pitcher of water and I have that with a glass and when I sit down to work I always I feel kind of panicky if I don't have that water sitting at my desk, like I couldn't walk into my kitchen. That's 10 feet away, but I think that is like okay, we're starting to get down to like a whole day of work If there's a full pitcher of water that means I'm getting to a full day of work.
Michelle Gauthier:So I really didn't even realize that I was doing that, and I'm going to proactively think about the music one, because I don't listen to music while I work. The idea of listening to something like you're talking about sounds fascinating.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, it's different for everybody. I had one of my clients just messaged me yesterday. He's like I got all my work done. I was listening to German beats. I'm like I don't even know what that is. That sounds great, or like other people are. Like it's trap music for me or lo-fi beats, or yeah, you can really be strategic about it.
Michelle Gauthier:Yeah, like whatever works for you. And I think at my workout place when the music gets turned up loud, that's when we're really working out. It's definitely an indicator, like when they're explaining the workout or you're saying hello or whatever. It might be on low, but then when it gets loud, it's like okay, now we're seriously doing it. So I love the idea of doing that at work too.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, I'm going to try that, yeah, I have ADHD and I've just got diagnosed a year and a half ago and because I teach productivity, so I've been able to mask it for such a long time. But I was like, how come all these things that work for other people don't work for me?
Amber Deibert:And so I love what you're teaching, michelle of like, accept yourself, optimize for you and who you are, and there's always a lot of pushback with this. So like, well, you don't understand, like I can't really, because they expect me to be something else and I need to perform in a certain way in order to be successful, and me to be something else and I need to perform in a certain way in order to be successful. And I just love talking about the other side of it, like okay, let's imagine, michelle, you know how you work best. You've intuitively figured this out for yourself. But let's imagine that you try to put yourself into somebody else, someone else's box, and you instead have to do the same thing at the same time every day. You have to have deep focus for two, three hours.
Michelle Gauthier:No, I mean the opposite of productive, and also I think it would make me hate a job that I actually love, Like just that structure would be enough to wreck it for me much less a job you don't really like in the first place.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, I had a client who was one of the top salespeople. It's really interesting working with salespeople because there's literally a leaderboard. He was one of the top salespeople in his whole organization and he works so fast and so efficiently. It's just how he does it. Same with his workouts really intense, super quick and so he would get his work done in like three hours. But then he'd stay sitting at his desk because he was like it's not okay to work three hours. He was getting amazing results and working three hours, but he's like you're supposed to work eight hours, so he would just let himself sit at his desk and he would just deteriorate. And I was like are you doing anybody a favor by letting yourself deteriorate, get in a worse position, not manage your energy by sitting at your desk for eight hours?
Michelle Gauthier:Everybody wins.
Amber Deibert:when you optimize for your energy style and work three hours a day, your team is not complaining. You're one of the top performing people because, you've optimized for how you work best and we have to remove all these shoulds and all this societal expectation of who we think we should be, because it's all 200 years old from the industrial revolution. What's most important to your team and your company is that you are performing at your best.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, I agree, give yourself that permission. This is such a good episode for everybody to think about, for themselves and then for the people who work for them, or their kids or your spouse, you know, to help them embrace the way that they really are kind of designed to work. Is there one? If somebody were to just make one change or think about one thing, what do you think is the most important?
Amber Deibert:I actually would be interested. If somebody is feeling overwhelmed by this. I would want to know, because the feedback that I usually get when people learn this is they're just like it turns on a light bulb. It unlocks something in them. And I had somebody I do a free workshop on this every month and I had somebody come to my workshop and then email me a week later and he was like hey, can I just talk to you about what happened in the workshop? I was like oh yeah, of course. He was like hey, can I just talk to you about what happened in the workshop? I was like oh yeah, of course we get on the call. And he's like I just wanted to tell you I got more out of that workshop than I ever expected. He's like I'm trying to not be generous with this, but I think that my productivity has increased 70%.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh my gosh. First of all, that's amazing, and the fact that the person took the time to call you and tell you that that's so amazing. Well, I think what happens sometimes is when we're because most of my audience is overwhelmed overachievers trying their best at everything. So sometimes something like this that's a different way of thinking can be like I've been doing this wrong all along. I haven't been doing the right things for myself. How can I switch over? I'm in a position where I'm thinking of, like where I used to work, that we had call centers and people had to work certain hours and they didn't have a lot of flexibility. So that's why I'm thinking if you're not in a position, or if you feel, like you've been doing it wrong this whole time what's a?
Michelle Gauthier:different way they could do.
Amber Deibert:Yeah, I'm going to again sort of answer your question.
Amber Deibert:I want to just reiterate what you talk about, which is accepting yourself. For that person who's like, this sounds amazing, but I can't do that because of the constraints that I'm under. I want to just reiterate everybody wins when you are at your best. Let's imagine that you are working in a way that doesn't align with you and your energy and you burn out. You don't benefit when you burn out. Your team does not benefit when you burn out. Your manager doesn't benefit when you burn out. Your company doesn't benefit when you burn out. Your family does not benefit when you burn out.
Amber Deibert:But let's imagine that you do set some small boundaries at first, just small boundaries. Start to protect your energy, start to work in a way that aligns with you. Who benefits? You feel much better and now you're bringing your best self to your work. So your team is benefiting, your manager is happier because you're performing better than you ever have before, your company benefits from this and your family benefits from this. It feels so counterintuitive and I don't understand why I'm in the same boat of like. No, there's no way that I can take care of myself first, but when you protect yourself and your energy first and put yourself in a position where you are operating at your best, literally every person around you wins.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, I love that. I think that's perfect, because the way that you are and I'm talking to everyone listening is right, Like the whatever it is that you are, it's. There's nothing that's wrong. And if you go in with the assumption of accepting that and knowing that it's right, then you can become this next level version of yourself where you're really working in the way that you prefer. Oh my gosh, Amber, I could talk to you all day. This is such a fascinating topic. I absolutely love it.
Amber Deibert:Can I give one more analogy for those people who feel like they're just like banging their heads against the wall.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes.
Amber Deibert:I, for whatever reason, love to think of people like plants. So in my office here I've got a bird of paradise it's like this giant tropical plant and then also next to I've got a snake plant the snake plant. I don't have to water this thing, like it could go for two months and it will thrive. It's also really far from the light source and it's just like doing its thing. It's having a great time over here. Meanwhile, the bird of paradise needs water, like every couple days, like I live in a desert and so this thing. I really love my tropical plants, but it is not thriving here. It needs water all the time, and I think about people the same. Let's imagine, like this beautiful tropical plant versus a cactus. Is the cactus wrong for needing less water?
Michelle Gauthier:No.
Amber Deibert:Like there are people out there who are like you know what, I don't need to collaborate as much as other people. I want you to give me the assignment and trust me to do it and I will take care of it. Versus, maybe there's a tropical plant out there that needs a lot of water, and are they wrong for needing a lot of water and support? Absolutely not. But what I find is, if you're not thriving in your workplace, it might be that you're just in the wrong environment.
Amber Deibert:It might you just need more water? And the desert's not a bad environment for cactuses, but it's not great for tropical plants, and so just knowing who you are and what you need can be the biggest unlock to finding the success that you're looking for.
Michelle Gauthier:I love that. That is such a great analogy. I too have lots of plants in my office and I'm thinking about this yeah. They're different. It's another perk of having the water on my desk all the time. If somebody looks like they need some water, I can give them some water. Oh, that's amazing.
Amber Deibert:I love it.
Michelle Gauthier:Okay, I have to ask you two more questions, the questions I ask every guest on the show, and the first one is what do you do if you feel overwhelmed to feel better? What's your go-to strategy?
Amber Deibert:I feel overwhelmed all the time with ADHD and my go-to strategy is two things. Number one I need to make my tasks more clear.
Amber Deibert:To me overwhelm happens when I either something feels too big, like I can't even do it, or it's just like too confusing. I don't even have the brain cells to figure out what's happening here. Number one I add clarity. Rather than writing out presentation on my task list, like what actually needs to happen with this presentation? Is it finish the presentation? Is it review the presentation? Is it add photos to the presentation? So, number one, I add clarity and make it really easy for my caveman brain to read it and know exactly what needs to happen with just one brain cell.
Amber Deibert:The second thing I do is I break down my tasks much smaller. You can break down your tasks as small as you want. Sometimes, when I'm really hesitating to do something and I'm procrastinating, like making a presentation, let's say I'll say, like step number one, log into Canva.
Amber Deibert:And I write that on my task list and do you know the dopamine hit I get from crossing that off? Yes, I do. Yeah, you can break them up as small as you want and make them as easy as you want, and sometimes just getting the inertia going and making them super clear and super small to the point that I just want to cherry pick every task, like well, I can log into Canva, like watch me go. Yes, cross that a point that I just want to cherry pick every task.
Michelle Gauthier:Like well, I can log into Canva, like watch me go, yeah, cross that off, get a dopamine hit. The next one is like brainstorm ideas like well, I can do that, like watch me go, absolutely great, it feels like in order to treat overwhelm, you just have to keep making it smaller and smaller until you get to the feeling of oh, that's totally doable, I can do that okay, and then second question is what is something that you do to consistently save yourself time or just do less? So lately, it's AI.
Michelle Gauthier:Tell us how you use AI.
Amber Deibert:I use AI for everything. So I use typically ChatGPT and Cloud. Cloud tends to be better. I create a lot of content. Cloud tends to be more helpful with content, but I use it for everything. I use it for helping write a response to an email. I use it for if I'm feeling like those times when you just want to write an angry response. I write my angry response in AI and I say can you make this nice? Yes, can you make this like kind and considerate, but I still get the benefit of like getting all my emotions out. Yes, I use it to plan out what I'm doing. I use it to answer questions. I would use it to learn things. I mean, I've automated a few things. So there's like I'll record a voice note and then it will automatically go through this process and then it will output a LinkedIn post for me based on what I said. Exactly.
Michelle Gauthier:Oh, that's amazing. That's a great one. Yes, okay. So if you're not using AI, I have a feeling hopefully everybody's used chat GPT a little bit, but it is amazingly helpful. That is great, that's a great answer, and I really think you're the first person to say that.
Amber Deibert:So thank you.
Michelle Gauthier:Yes, thank you so much for sharing your time and knowledge with us. This is so great. So you mentioned that you do a free workshop once a month. Can you tell us about that? And then just anything else, if people want to follow you, you said you're mostly on LinkedIn. Give us all the scoop.
Amber Deibert:Yes. So if you have any questions, if you have any feedback, if this was interesting for you, like, please reach out. I love hearing from people. You can come find me on LinkedIn just search Amber Diver D-E-I-B-E-R-T. You can come join my free workshop and get personalized coaching on your workout style. I go through the same process and I give people feedback, exactly like I've given you today, michelle. I'm like, okay, if you're that kind of person, here would be a technique that would be really good for you. You can go to mentalmasterycom slash free workshop to sign up for that.
Michelle Gauthier:Okay, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. I really enjoyed the interview myself. Thank you for giving me personalized coaching. Slash being a guest on the podcast Amazing.
Amber Deibert:Thank you so much.
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 michellegauthiercom. See you next week.
