#181| Declutter Challenge Day 4: Calendar Clean Up: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing

Does your calendar feel heavier than your closet—packed with things you don’t actually want to do?

So many working women are stuck in endless commitments, from unnecessary meetings to social obligations that drain energy. In this episode, Michelle shows you how to spot the time clutter that doesn’t show up on your calendar but still weighs you down—and how to start removing it today.

By listening, you’ll discover:

• How to quickly identify hidden time drains that never make it onto your schedule
• Simple strategies to cancel, move, or delegate commitments without guilt
• The empowering shift that comes from creating true white space in your day

Press play now to learn how to declutter your calendar and finally reclaim your time for what matters most.

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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...

Chapters

• 0:53 Decluttering Your Time
• 2:01 Action Steps for Calendar Decluttering
• 4:28 What Can You Delete?

Transcript

Michelle Gauthier: 0:04

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: 0:31

Hi friend, welcome back to the declutter challenge. Today, we're going to be focusing on taking back your time. We're literally going to declutter your time today. So yesterday we talked about digital clutter, and I loved hearing how freeing it was to clear out your inboxes, delete old photos, finally get rid of those apps you never use. It's amazing how much mental space opens up when your digital world is lighter. So, for today, we're going to declutter something that is sometimes not even visible but equally draining, which is your time.

Michelle Gauthier: 1:01

So your calendar can get just as overloaded as a closet, and every commitment carries weights that can weigh you down. So taking even one thing off your schedule can give you a huge sense of relief. What I want you to think about, though, when you review your schedule.

Michelle Gauthier: 1:17

Let's say you whip out your calendar right now on your phone and you look at it. How does it make you feel? And then second follow-on question to that is what is not on your calendar that takes up your time? So, for example, if you were to look at my calendar tonight, it would be blank. There's nothing special on there tonight, but what I will be doing is making dinner and picking my daughter up from golf practice and probably helping my son with some homework, and lots of things like that. So think about what your calendar reflects and what it doesn't, and how your calendar makes you feel, and then I want you to ponder, of those things, which commitments feel heavy or unnecessary.

Michelle Gauthier: 2:02

So if you were to look at my calendar right now, it's pretty slim and trim. I do not have a lot of commitments on there. I have nothing on there that I don't want to do, but, man, I used to. I had a ton of things that felt like I needed to do them Volunteering in my kids' classrooms all the time, getting up and running every day of the week, those kinds of things. So what are the commitments that you're doing that feel heavy or unnecessary? When I work with my clients, a lot of times it's like oh, I'm on this board, but I don't want to be on this board anymore, but I don't know how to get out of doing it. Or I'm always going to the meetings that my team members are having when I really don't need to be there anymore, or I'm still running this meeting when I could really hand it off to someone on my team to manage. So think about that and choose one, . and for your action today,. declutter Declutter your calendar and your time by making at least one small adjustment. So take the time to look through and maybe list out things that you're doing that don't show up on your calendar. And do something like cancel a meeting that no longer serves a purpose, reschedule a call for a less stressful time I just did move a call out a whole month because I was like I don't have to do this right now and it's making me feel stressed to be able to prep for it in time.

Michelle Gauthier: 3:16

Delete a recurring event that doesn't fit anymore. Or, if you have one of those things on your calendar where you've blocked yourself so that you have free time but you never actually use it, just take. Or, if you don't want to like, delete stuff and stop doing them. What's one thing you could skip this week, just this one week, to make some more space for yourself. Or say no to a social obligation, a social invitation that feels like an obligation, or maybe adding something to your calendar like time off for yourself, like time off for yourself.

Michelle Gauthier: 3:52

So, for example, I was just talking to one of my clients who was spending 30 minutes on her lunch hour just sitting in her car and meditating and journaling. So could you block off some time like that and, after you decide what your thing is, I would love to hear from you, either via email, if you're doing the challenge you got an email from me this morning, so reply back to that or send me a voice note and tell me what you did to declutter your time in your schedule today and how it made you feel. I would love to share your win or I would love to answer any questions you have about how to do this. So, just like we've talked about on the other days, you take everything out. So in this case, look at everything on your schedule.

Michelle Gauthier: 4:28

Just like the digital decluttering, think about the delete step first. So what can you delete? Is there something that you can literally just say, I'm not going to do this anymore and then look at? Is there something I could move to a time that feels less stressful to me, and then just straighten up your calendar, make sure you've got white space in there and let me know how you feel. Just a reminder every time you share with me, you get entered for one of our prizes. Our prizes are the Sunday Basket Organizing System, a cutesy little label maker. It's like the size of a phone and it just prints out automatically. It's so fun, it just makes me happy. And then the last one is a half hour coaching session with me. So that's it for day four. Declutter your calendar, reclaim your time, and tomorrow we'll wrap up the challenge with a reset and a celebration and a plan for going forward with this. All right, talk to you tomorrow.

Michelle Gauthier: 5:27

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.