#191| Why More Money Isn’t the Cure for Overwhelm (& What Actually Is): Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing

Do you ever catch yourself thinking, “Once I make more money, I’ll finally feel less stressed”—only to find that the overwhelm never goes away?

In this episode, host Michelle Gauthier and Money Mindset and Personal Finance Coach Madison Aldini unpack the illusion that money alone fixes your problems. Madison shares how she climbed from $70,000 in debt to six figures, yet still felt trapped by scarcity, hustle, and self-doubt—and how uncovering her subconscious money beliefs finally broke the cycle.

In this episode, you will:

• Discover the surprising reason why financial success often increases stress instead of relieving it.
• Learn how to identify and rewrite the money stories formed in childhood that quietly shape your financial reality today.
• Find out how to create your “New Money Millionaire Identity” to feel abundant, in control, and aligned—no matter your income.

Listen now to learn how shifting your mindset—not your paycheck—can free you from overwhelm and completely transform your relationship with money.

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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...

Chapters

• 2:30 More Income, Same Stress
• 7:29 New Money Millionaire Identity
• 10:10 How To Rewrite Money Beliefs
• 14:36 Rewriting Your Money Story

Transcript

Madison Aldini: 0:00

It's literally like we have our own Instagram or TikTok algorithm in our brain.

Michelle Gauthier: 0:08

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: 0:35

Hi, friend. Thanks for joining today. Something that I hear a lot from my clients and just people in general who are feeling overwhelmed is the idea that I will feel less overwhelmed when X happens, whatever X happens to be. So maybe it's like my kids get older, or I finally get their promotion, or I get a new boss, or when I'm making a certain amount of money. And that's exactly what happened to my guest today, Madison Aldini. She went from being $70,000 in debt and she worked really hard and got to the point where she was making six figures in her job and paid off all of her debt. And theoretically she had plenty, but even when she hit her income goal, she found herself stuck in the same cycle of stress and overwhelm and realized that the problem wasn't the paycheck. It was her mindset that was built on scarcity and hustle and self-doubt.

Michelle Gauthier: 1:25

When you listen to this episode today, you'll learn the surprising reason that money does not solve overwhelm and how your subconscious money beliefs are shaping your reality. Whether you know it or not, you'll learn how to know it in this episode. And of course, what to do about it so that you can start living with a new money mindset now, which will of course reduce the stress and overwhelm in your life. So if you've ever been stuck in the thinking of once I get there, I'll feel better, I'll feel less stressed, I'll feel overwhelmed, this conversation is for you. Okay, Madison, hello and welcome, and thank you so much for joining us today. I'm excited to have you on.

Madison Aldini: 2:05

I know. I'm so excited. We got connected through a mutual friend, and I feel like we was just like an instant good connection. We were like, oh, we are of similar kin, same vibe, same kind of women. Yeah.

Michelle Gauthier: 2:15

Yes, absolutely. Okay, let's start with you and your story. How did you go from minus 70 to six figures? And how did that change your career? Just sort of give us a brief overview on your own story.

Madison Aldini: 2:28

Yeah, absolutely. My journey with personal finance really started at 17. I moved out my senior year of high school and became financially responsible for myself and very quickly had to learn how to navigate the world of money, which was very much from a survival perspective, not necessarily a thriving perspective. I ended up putting myself through college and wanting to escape this paycheck to paycheck cycle that I had been in for four or five years now. And so I went into sales and because that's what you do when you want to make money, right? And so I went so I went into sales. And when I entered that job, I put a six-figure income on a pedestal. And I was like, once I make more money, all of my problems are going to be solved. That was the narrative I had. And at the same time, the money story that I had was work hard, make money, but it wasn't necessarily how to keep it, how to grow it, which I later learned was actually the goal of money is understanding how to utilize it, keep it in your world, grow it, make it work for you, and utilize it as a tool and a resource to be able to live life the way that you want. So I was missing a lot of that information, hence why I ended up in $70,000 worth of debt. Even once I started making six figures, I was like, how am I making more money than ever? And yet I'm still buried in debt and I can't seem to escape this cycle. And so I just got really curious. I've always been the annoying person that's like, why do we do things that way? Or how do they get there, you know? And so I just started to ask questions around like, what do the wealthy actually do with their money? What is the objective here? What is retirement? What is financial independence, financial freedom? These were things that weren't part of my vocabulary and part of my world, which makes sense and why I was stuck in debt, because that was what I had really witnessed in my life growing up is just like paying for things and just being stuck in this cycle. And so I also started to learn a lot about mindset and the power of our subconscious beliefs and how our financial story really impacts our financial reality. Um, and just started to make some mindset shifts, started to figure out how to utilize my income a lot more intentionally and just made it my mission to pay off my debt as quick as possible and start to learn how to invest and leverage and just became obsessed with this idea of time and location and financial freedom. And that really is what sparked my interest in getting into this from a business perspective, from a coaching perspective. Because once I learned it and started to piece it together, I just couldn't shut up about it. I was like, everybody needs this information. Why don't we talk about this more? Why don't more women have this financial confidence and understand what to do with their money? And so it just became a hyper obsession of mine and then led me down this beautiful path of what I'm doing now.

Michelle Gauthier: 4:59

And here you are. I love that. A couple things I think everyone can relate to is the idea that once I make X amount of money and everybody's X amount of money is probably different. But when you're 23 years old and you've just put yourself through college and you're making six figures, you're like, my life is gonna be golden. And I think everybody has that. And then when you get there and it's not, and in fact, you spend more than you even made, I feel like that is also part of the human condition. It's like the experience you don't want to have, but once you have it, you can learn so, so much from it. I was just listening to this interview with Shaquille O'Neal, and he was telling a story about how he made his first, I don't know, he got a signing bonus when he first went into the MBA or something, and he made like three million dollars and he spent it in the same day. He bought like three Mercedes and I mean just a bunch of insane stuff, and he didn't even think about taxes coming out. So he actually immediately went into like hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt because he spent what he didn't have. And you're like, how could you spend that much money in one day? But it's the same thing you're talking about. Like he's probably hustling so hard thinking, once I get to this, I will feel better and I'll be able to buy everything I want. And it just doesn't actually work that way.

Madison Aldini: 6:11

100%. There's actually a really interesting study about professional athletes. It's like some crazy number, 80% of them end up rogue five years after they retire. And it's like you make all this money to your point. But if you don't have the mindset to view money differently or the systems or the financial literacy to understand how to make that money work harder for you, then it's so easy. And especially if, you know, in that scenario or in mind where you're like, I worked so hard, I deserve this, right? Like this voice starts to pop up and you just start to essentially start to self-sabotage. Or how I like to view it is, you know, like we're spending money from the point of view of our past self or like to fill our past like scarcity or or, you know, I grew up and I never got to do this, so I'm gonna do it now. And like we're we're from that perspective. Verse, what I love to do is really start to tap into the future version of you. Like, how does that version of you want to spend money? And that's where you can really start to shift your mindset and shift it and not utilize money to like fill this hole from your past and start to build the future that you're after. So that's definitely something that is very common.

Michelle Gauthier: 7:14

I love that. I think that's so interesting, the idea that you're creating who you want to be and how you want to spend your money as a combination. And I've heard you talk about the new money millionaire identity. What does that mean?

Madison Aldini: 7:28

Oh, thank you for asking me. I just went through this whole rebrand and it's it feels so aligned with the individual that I'm here to help. And it's so much of my story. This new money idea, this new money millionaire identity is, you know, getting an opportunity to rewrite your story. I think we hear a lot about old money, old money mindset, especially right now. Like old money aesthetic is in like this whole idea. And it's like, I don't know anybody that has old money. Like there's this obsession with this old money that's like secrecy and it's like, it's this luxury, quiet thing. But I'm like, I feel like the majority of the population out here is trying to build something for themselves. They're trying to do something different than what they have maybe seen in their environment growing up. Maybe they no longer want to spend or utilize money the way that they have. And so it's just this opportunity to recreate your identity and not necessarily need to continue to identify with past financial decisions, past financial realities, past financial mistakes or stepbacks that you might have had in your life. Like you get to choose today who you want to be and how you want to show up and the habits that you want to have and the conversations that you want to be a part of and how you want to see, treat, and utilize money. And you get to rewrite that. So it's all about having a new mindset, making new moves, rewriting your story and essentially just building like your own set of rules for money. There's so much of like what we should do with money, and there's just shame and guilt around it. And so it's like, how do we utilize it in a way that feels very much so in alignment with you and who you want to become? And I also embury into manifestation and this idea idea of being able to create your reality. And I think it's so real. And that that starts with you, that starts with your identity, that starts with the mindset that you have and the habits that you have and the beliefs that you have about yourself and what is possible. And so when you can start to tap into the new money version of you, the new money story, you can take different actions and you can build a different reality for yourself with your finances. And that for me is an opportunity for people to then explore who they want to be and what's their purpose, right? There's money is really, if you're kind of trapped in this like fight or flight mentality or the struggle mentality or this overwhelm mentality, like it can be really hard to focus on like building a fulfilling life and living a life of purpose and figuring out who you are here to be and the impact that you want to make. And I just think money is a wonderful tool to do that. And I just believe that you can rewrite that story at any time, at any time, anytime you want to.

Michelle Gauthier: 9:50

Yeah. So if if someone listening, pretty much everyone who listens is feeling overwhelmed, right? And they're probably working really hard and trying to make as much money as possible. And maybe they've made money mistakes in the past. I'm sure they have. I don't know anybody who hasn't, myself included. And they want to do this. If they're like, I want to just get a new identity as it relates to money, what's the first step that they would take to do that?

Madison Aldini: 10:17

I think figuring out what your current belief system is about yourself and about what you think is possible. You've got to be able to chuck in on and what's what is current state, right? If you're sitting here viewing your past financial, right, we call them mistakes, I call them learning opportunities. Like if you finance a $3,000 couch on a credit card and you're like viewing that as a mistake, it's like maybe you switch your mindset of, you know, I think I just learned that I don't like to do that and I don't want to do that in the future. So learning, switching your mindset around that. But I think understanding what your current beliefs are is really key. And sometimes it's kind of hard to figure that out on your own, right? I'll be talking to people and I'm like, oh, interesting, you said that. So that means that you believe this to be true. And they're like, oh, so sometimes you have to like really figure it out. But if you have a core belief, if you have a subconscious belief that money equals struggle or that rich people are bad, right? These like core narratives that I feel like are so common in mainstream media of like the rich people are corrupt, or you know, you have to struggle to get by, or if you have an abundance, like you're greedy and that means you didn't work for it. Like there's all these common narratives that we have. And if you believe that to be true about yourself, then it's going to continue to show up in your future. And so figuring out what is current state for you and then figuring out what you would rather believe to be true is a really powerful opportunity because once you figure out what you want to be true for you, you can go find proof about that. Like you can go find actual evidence. And our brains love evidence. Once we know that something is real or possible or attainable, we get to start to move into a solution-based method where we're like, okay, it's possible now. How can it be possible for me? So I think switching that mindset is really huge. And then also just really asking yourself, like, who is the version of you that has everything that you want, right? Like, how does she show up? What are her skills? What are her habits? How does she spend her day? How does she spend her time? How does she talk to herself? How does she talk to other people? The more that you can get really clear on who that version is of you, and then starting to figure out like what's the micro step that you want to take to move in that direction, we know that habits are built over time and they're built in these like small decisions that you're just slowly going to rewire the way that you think about money, rewire the way that you treat money, right? So if you're overwhelmed with your finances and you're caught in like an avoidant tendency, a lot of people fall into avoidance where they're just like not checking their bank accounts or not really looking at their credit card statements. And you want your identity to be like, I am someone who is competent in control and I know where it's going. Like build a microhabit of implementing a finance tracker, opening up your bank account, setting like a money date every week or every month where you can start to romanticize and start to build a better relationship with your money so that you can move out of overwhelm and start to tap into this identity of the version of you who is in control of that and can face your finances and can start to do something different and change it so that you can start to tap into that new money millionaire mentality.

Michelle Gauthier: 13:04

I love it. I love it. Okay. So the first thing you said that we should do though is investigate what our beliefs are, because I read somewhere that by the time you're seven years old, your money story is like set in your mind. And then we just sort of follow that without questioning it. So we got to get out our seven-year-old, whatever we were programmed with with regards to money, which is usually just basically whatever our parents told us about money or whatever your experience was, and then get a new mindset, choose a new mindset and start taking actions and thinking about what that person does. So let's just say somebody's starting with rich people are bad, rich people are evil. And then I want to create a new thought about that and find evidence for it. What could you give us an example of like what that could be and what some of the evidence could be?

Madison Aldini: 13:53

Yeah. I feel like figuring out where that came from could be really huge. And I think the important thing to notice too, so our subconscious beliefs are formed between zero and seven because of how our brain is developing. And I think that's really important to understand because our prefrontal cortex is not fully developed. Like it hasn't even, it's not even like there yet. And that's where we utilize logic. So a lot of times we're forming our beliefs around the world at a time in our life where we can't even think with logic. So sometimes we, you know, an example could be like you see your parents arguing and they're holding a receipt. And so you're just assuming that they're fighting about money, or maybe your dad bought you something at the store and you're like, oh, they must be fighting about that, but it's so unrelated, but you're just kind of you're you're filing that away, right? And so if you can start to reflect, like, maybe why do I think that? And sometimes it's so much more obvious because sometimes people are like, oh no, my parents tell me that rich people are corrupt. Like, like, okay, so we know where it's coming from, right? So if that's the example that you're trying to swap, what I would do is really ask yourself, how many wealthy people do you actually know? And really start to assess, are you making this assumption based on facts or based on what somebody else is telling you? And a lot of times when we can start to like delineate that, right? Like draw a line, like, oh, well, no, I guess everyone's just telling me that. I actually don't know anyone that's super rich or super wealthy, right? Then it's like, okay, then how do we close that gap? How do you go start to hang out with those types of people? And how do you go meet somebody that is wealthy, that actually has a really good agenda with their money? And again, it's starting to find, oh, okay, well, now I know someone who isn't a slime dog and isn't scamming people over and donates a lot to these charities and really just focuses on wanting to make improvements in the world. Like once you start to do that, like, okay, well, let me hold on to that belief then that that that can be true as well. And once you start to have that proof, you're like, okay, now I can start to align with this story more than the other one.

Michelle Gauthier: 15:38

Yes, yes. A money story that I personally had to work on when I started my own business was the idea that I could make a lot of money, but that it had to be really hard and like the job kind of had to suck. And so I didn't have the belief that I could have fun, love my job, and make money. So I had to start working on the evidence because something that Madison said that I think is really important is our brain looks for evidence to support whatever thought we're thinking. Yeah. So if you're thinking rich people are terrible and you see it in the news, your brain's gonna file that away. Or you like you know somebody who's a real jerk who's rich, then you file that away. So the opposite can also be true. So I started saying to myself at the end of a work day, I can't believe that I just made whatever the amount of money was doing this job that I absolutely love. And I had so much fun today doing my work. And so I had to, and then I started surrounding myself with people who also are making lots of money doing things that they love and putting good out into the world. So I I have personal experience in going through this exact process that you're talking about. So I'm just here to say it definitely really works and that it's very hard to change your like to start all of a sudden making more money if you're going from a place of rich people are bad because you're just gonna reject the money unconsciously without meaning to.

Madison Aldini: 17:00

100%. Because you don't think you're a bad person. And if you think that you have to be a bad person to have this money, then why would you let yourself have this identity of being a bad person? And I think what you mentioned is so important to know. This is like the neuroscience behind manifestation, if you will. Our brain is processing like 11 million bits of information at like in a day or in a second, some crazy amount of information. You can't process all of that. So we have this part of our brain called the reticular activating system that is essentially a filter for information that's coming into your brain. And that information is either going to be deleted, distorted, or generalized based on your viewpoint and your beliefs about the world. So exactly what we're talking about here. Like if you think that it's really hard to make money, if you think rich people are bad, if you think you have to struggle to get by, you're gonna go out into the world with that belief. Your brain is going to find all of the evidence to prove you correct. And so affirmations and visualization are two really great tools that you can implement to essentially start to remind your brain what you want it to find information to validate. So I feel like the example that's like so common is the car analogy, right? Like if you're deciding you're gonna go buy a car, you do all this research and you're like, I'm gonna buy a white Volkswagen Jetta. And then you go out onto the road and you're like, is everybody buying this car? Like everyone drives this now, all of a sudden you notice it everywhere because you've told your brain that it is important to you. So it's gonna go find it. So same thing with these beliefs that we have. If you can start to remind your brain, tell your brain, hey, I actually want to believe that this can be easy and fun, and then you can go out into the world and your brain's gonna overhear conversations of like, oh my God, I made so much money and it was so easy and I love my life. Like it's gonna pick up on these things because now it's filtering in what you are telling it. So no matter if you have a negative or a positive spin on it, it's literally like we have our own Instagram or TikTok algorithm in our brain. If you're like engaging with it, liking it, saying yes, yes, yes, like it's just gonna show you more of that and you're slowly shaping your reality based on those beliefs that you have and those thoughts that you tell yourself.

Michelle Gauthier: 18:55

I absolutely love that comparison, actually. That makes so much sense. So if I was constantly searching like rich people suck, and then I had all these things in my feed showing me that that was true, and then tomorrow I come on to look for something else, it's gonna start off by rich people suck video. So I think that's so great. Yes, yes. Okay, that's wonderful. I think that is if I could like take a highlighter and highlight a part of your message, that's the one. The idea that you can, when you think a new thought and you find evidence for it, your brain will help you find more and more and more evidence to help you believe that that thought is true. And when you start believing that that thought is true, that is when you start making money and having fun or whatever your thing is that you want to do. I love that. Okay, thank you so much. This has been so great. I want to ask you the two questions that I ask everybody when they're on the podcast. What is something that you do when you feel overwhelmed to make yourself feel better? What's your go-to?

Madison Aldini: 19:52

Oh, this one is like, I feel it's so funny. I'm coming out of a season of overwhelm recently. So this is like fresh. Sometimes if I'm really overwhelmed, I'm just gonna let myself cry. This is something I've been trying to lean into. Like, let the emotion out is been really good. If I'm like that kind of overwhelmed, I also might just do some deep breaths. I also might just let myself watch a little Netflix and just be like, you know what, girl, just veg out. Like just let yourself.

Michelle Gauthier: 20:16

Those are all good options. And I think a lot of times when we're overwhelmed, especially if you're an overachiever, when we get overwhelmed, we use our one tool that we have, which is work harder. Like, oh gosh, I'm overwhelmed. I've got to get so much done today. And so for you to say, I'm leaning into just crying, if that's if that's the feeling that comes up and the tears come, and that you can do that instead of trying to do more work, which you can't even do more work when you're overwhelmed. Like your brain's so not clear, it's impossible to really do work. So I love that. I love just leaning into the feeling. And I've never cried that I haven't felt better after. It's always like a cathartic thing if you just let yourself do it.

Madison Aldini: 20:55

Yes, I love that. Literally, like such an emotional release. And one thing I'm starting to be more intentional adding in is like an afternoon walk. Like if I'm feeling overwhelmed by work, just taking a lap around my neighborhood, getting some steps in. I feel like that always regulates my nervous system and kind of gets me out of the task and into my body and just like gives me a chance to breathe. So walk just a good habit I'm taking.

Michelle Gauthier: 21:14

Same, same. Except that it's so hot. I mean, you live in Scottsdale, so it's probably even hotter there. It's so hot that I'm like, can I get sweaty between now and my next client? Sometimes I've been walking laps in my basement sometimes, which is hilarious. I'm like walking around in a you know 30-foot circle, but whatever. It still feels good just to get the movement in there. Oh my gosh. Yeah, exactly. And then the last question is what's something that you do regularly to save yourself time or effort?

Madison Aldini: 21:43

Yay. Order things on Amazon. Avoid shopping in person, going to malls. Like, I hate I hate going. If I can just get it delivered to me and save me time on that, like I'm a big advocate of that. There's a line though, like you've got to be careful that it's not becoming like a detrimental tool that it's just like screwing your budget. But if it's, I think it's a really good resource. So I like it.

Michelle Gauthier: 22:05

Yes, I do too. I feel like it can be your best friend when you're like, oh shoot, I don't have time to go get that. I'm just gonna order that thing. My problem is sometimes I treat it like my house is my dressing room for all the stuff I'm gonna try on. And I'm like, let me order 80 things and then I have to go return all of them, and then I get on my own nerves with that. But just for useful things, I totally useful things.

Madison Aldini: 22:26

If you're like in a state of overwhelm and you're like the thought of going to the store and figuring this out, like it's not gonna go in any other way.

Michelle Gauthier: 22:32

Sounds terrible. Yes, exactly. But the other day I was like, you know what I want? I want one of those cordless light bulbs. You know what I mean? Where you can put it in there and it has a remote and you can cut the cord off your lamp so you don't have to try to hide it. How am I even gonna go to the store and buy that? I've gotta go to Amazon. Amazon has everything. Everything they really do. That's right. It's like they're the sponsor for this podcast, the way I'm talking about it. Okay. Tell us if people are like, I'm picking up what she's putting down. I love what she's saying. Where can they follow you or find you if they want to work with you or just read what you put out there, listen to what you put out there?

Madison Aldini: 23:07

Yeah, absolutely. So I mainly hang out on Instagram. So @n ew money madison is the handle on Instagram. I have a podcast, Busy Getting Better, which Michelle's gonna be on soon as well. So those are gonna be the two main places. I also have a newsletter if you want me up in your email inbox. You can go ahead and subscribe through my profile on Instagram. But Instagram and Instagram DMs are probably the best place to reach me.

Michelle Gauthier: 23:29

Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you. 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.