Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing
Imagine feeling calmer, more focused, and in control . . . even with a full plate. That’s what Overwhelmed Working Woman, a top 1.5% podcast, delivers for accomplished women every week.
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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. All of this comes with guidance from host and Life Coach Michelle Gauthier, who has 8+ years of experience coaching hundreds of women.
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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
#194| 3 Types of “No” Every Woman Needs To Learn To Ditch the Overwhelm and Guilt: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing
Do you feel a wave of guilt every time you say “no”? What if the real reason you’re overwhelmed isn’t your schedule—but your inability to protect your energy?
When you listen, you’ll discover how your upbringing, cultural expectations, and fear of disappointing others may be quietly draining your time and peace—and how to finally stop it.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn three distinct types of “no” and exactly when to use each one.
- Get nine word-for-word phrases you can use right away to set clear, kind boundaries.
- Discover a mindset shift that makes saying no feel empowering instead of guilty.
Listen now to learn how to say no with confidence and reclaim the calm, spacious life you actually want to live.
Featured on the podcast
People Pleasing Purge Course
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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...
If saying no makes you feel guilty or selfish or like a bad person, it's probably influencing you to not say no because who wants to feel that way?
Michelle Gauthier:You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less. I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach. On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences. And in each episode, you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease, and relaxation to your life.
Michelle Gauthier:Hi, friend. Today we're talking about one of the most complicated, emotionally loaded words in the English language, which is no. Such a short word, but it packs so much punch and has so much guilt and all kinds of things associated with it. So if you've ever said yes while your body on the inside was like no, or if you've said sure and then instantly regretted it, or if you know you're overcommitting yourself, but you feel too guilty to back out, this is going to be a great episode for you. In this episode, you'll hear three types of no and when to use them. And I'm going to give you nine real life phrases that you can borrow word for word. So you can save this episode and keep coming back to it to remember how to say no. And I'll also give you a mindset reframe that makes saying no way easier.
Michelle Gauthier:Let me start off by saying: if there's a situation where you want to say no and you know you want to say no, and you feel badly about it, just remind yourself it isn't rude, it's honest. And being honest, in my opinion, is always kinder than being dishonest. The thing about saying no is it's actually a skill and probably one you were never taught, especially if you're a woman. You were probably raised to know your quotes, know that the most important thing was to put other people first or to make sure other people were happy, and that you were seen as likable and easygoing, which means saying yes, even if you don't want to. The great news is you don't have to master a script for every situation. You just need a couple go-to categories that help you say no in a way that feels good to you.
Michelle Gauthier:Okay, so here are the three categories of no, plus three exact phrases you can use. The first one is the warm but firm no. This is for when you care about the person and you appreciate the invite, but it's still a no for you. So, for example, your friend invites you to dinner and you don't have other plans, but you've just been looking forward to a quiet night in. This literally just happened to me, and it's probably happened to you as well. And you know that you want to say no. The way that you can communicate that is to say, thanks for thinking of me, I'm gonna sit this one out. Or that sounds so fun, but I'm just not up for it right now. Or I wish I had the capacity, but I'm trying to keep things really simple this week. And here's what not to do in these kinds of no's and any kind of nos. Go into a whole bunch of description. Like, don't feel like you need to overexplain. For example, I normally would, but I've had the most exhausting week and I just need to go to bed, and my kids did this, and my work was like that, et cetera, et cetera. Most of the time when you overexplain, it's completely unnecessary. And I think it almost makes you seem guilty when it's totally okay just to say no. I would rather just stay home. And of course, along with the warm but firm no, you can always just say no thanks, or even just no. No can be a complete sentence on its own.
Michelle Gauthier:The second type of no and some examples of how to say it is the boundaried no. So this is where you have a boundary and you know your boundary, and you're just saying a firm, unapologetic no. It's for when saying yes would cost you your time, energy, or your sanity, or just go against a certain boundary that you've set for yourself. So let's say your extended family asks you to host Thanksgiving again this year, and you've done it the last three years, and you're maxed out, and you promised yourself that you wouldn't do it. Some of the ways that you can say no in this type of situation is to say, that's not something I have space for this year. I'm keeping my energy really protected this season. So it's a no for me. I've already committed my time somewhere else or to something else. Again, you want to make sure these are true. You don't need to tell a lie, you can just tell the truth. So I'm keeping my energy protected this season is really true. Another one I tell my clients to use all the time, and you're welcome to use this too, is to say, my life coach is teaching me or making me say no to things so that I can have more space in my life. So I have to say no. You can totally blame me as you want to, because if you're listening to this podcast, I'm sort of your life coach.
Michelle Gauthier:The third category is the no for now. So this is when you see an opportunity that actually is exciting and you want to do it, but the timing just isn't right. If it's genuine, if you genuinely would like to do the thing, but just not do it right now, then this is the type of no you want to say there. Again, make sure that's true. If someone invites you to do something, let's just say someone invited me to do like a bourbon tasting. I don't ever want to do that. I don't like bourbon. I don't want to learn to like bourbon. I don't want to do that. So I would that would just be a different category of no for me. But for example, someone just asked me to be a guest on this panel of women who owned their own businesses, and it seemed really cool, and I really like the person who was coordinating it, but frankly, I just did not have time. If I had said yes, I would have made myself feel overwhelmed. So I was like, nope, I just can't do it. So if you're in that situation, you can say, I'd love to join, but I can't this time. Please keep me posted if you're doing this again, which is exactly what I said in this situation. And they said we're never gonna do it again. And I was like, shoot, I'm sorry to miss the opportunity. You could say, This is so aligned, I'm a no for right now, but I hope we can collaborate further down the road. Or can you circle back with me in a couple months? I'd love to talk about this when I have more space. Again, only use this when you mean it, because if you say this and you don't mean it, then when they come back to you, you're just gonna have to say no again.
Michelle Gauthier:Okay, so those are three types of no. Each of those, I gave you three examples for how to say it. So you've now got nine verbatim things that you can say depending on the situation. So what comes before you say no is figuring out if you want to say yes or no. And what comes after saying no is making sure that you don't feel guilt and that you're not overthinking after you've said no. So you kind of have the middle part right now in this particular episode, which is how to exactly say no. Those other two parts are one of the many things included in the class that I'm teaching starting next Monday, November 3rd, called the People Pleasing Purge. If you are a person who would call yourself a people pleaser and you know that it would be better for you if you stopped that people-pleasing behavior, but you're not sure where to start, I know exactly where you should start. It's starting next Monday. We are going to be doing these classes live. It's a three-week class. We have class twice a week, and it's going to be live. Eventually, this is going to be a video self-paced course, but right now I'm going to be teaching it live. So you can ask me all your questions. I can coach you as you are going along in learning not to be a people pleaser anymore. In the show notes, there's a link with all of the details, all of the things that you'll learn in that class. And registration, like I said, is open right now. And it is only going to be open until Saturday. So if you're listening to this when it comes out on a Thursday, click on that link like right now and sign up for the class if it feels like it's a great fit for you. I would love to teach you how to just stop people pleasing in its entirety. It is so freeing, and you will not believe how much space you have available in your calendar and your brain when you're not constantly thinking about what other people are thinking of you and if you want to say no or if you want to say yes.
Michelle Gauthier:Have a great rest of the week. Don't forget to practice saying no. Maybe take one of these phrases and use it once this week and see how that feels for you. See you Monday. 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.
