#266| The Surprising Reason Your Overwhelm Is Costing You Money — and The 3 Practices That Unlock Both Calm and Wealth

What if your overwhelm isn't just draining your energy—but quietly costing you money?

Many working women believe the path to earning more is simply working harder. But what if the same habits creating stress, burnout, and constant overwhelm are also limiting your financial growth? In this episode, Michelle explores the surprising connection between building wealth and creating a calmer life through insights from Rachel Rodgers' bestselling book We Should All Be Millionaires.

By listening, you'll discover:

• How making "million-dollar decisions" can reduce overwhelm while creating more time, energy, and opportunities.
• Why setting stronger boundaries protects not only your peace but also your productivity and earning potential.
• How creating a compelling vision for your future helps you make intentional choices that support both calm and financial success.

Press play to learn one simple change you can make this week that will help you feel less overwhelmed while creating more capacity to build the life—and wealth—you truly want.

Featured on the podcast
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers

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...

Transcript

Why Overwhelm Costs You Money

Michelle Gauthier 0:00

When you listen today, you'll learn the surprising reason why your overwhelm is costing you money.

Michelle Gauthier 0:09

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 0:37

Hi, friend. Thanks for joining. Today we're going to be talking about overwhelm and money. And in my opinion, this episode is full of good news. I'm going to be talking about the book We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers. And in reading this book, I found so many connections between the things that block us from making money and the things that also make us feel overwhelmed. So when you listen today, you're going to learn the three practices that reduce overwhelm and bonus help you build wealth. You'll learn what million-dollar decisions actually are and why they help overwhelm, how million-dollar boundaries protect your time and your energy and your income, and why having vision to have a life of wealth is key to creating it. Okay, let's dig

The Book That Connects Calm And Wealth

Michelle Gauthier 1:25

in. I have been seeing this book, We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rogers everywhere, like for years, and have had it on my want to read list for a long time. And one night I was doing a little decluttering project, and I thought I want something good to listen to. So I ended up buying this book. First of all, it was an excellent book and it delivered exactly what I was looking for. But I also discovered something that surprised me when I was reading this book, and that the things that I teach about how to not be overwhelmed are the exact same things that make you money, and that the path to feeling less overwhelmed and the path to building real wealth are the same path. The reason Rachel Rogers wrote this book is because she argues that all women, especially women of color, can and should become millionaires, despite the systemic barriers that have historically kept women from building wealth. And so, according to her, the path forward isn't working harder or living more frugally. So it's not doing more. It's shifting your mindset about money, reclaiming your own time and energy, essentially putting yourself first to enable yourself to make more money. And as it happens, feel less overwhelmed in the process.

Million-Dollar Decisions In Daily Life

Michelle Gauthier 2:33

One of the first things Rachel talks about is learning how to make million-dollar decisions. And she's not talking about how to do one big investment or make one huge choice and make millions of dollars. She's talking about small decisions that you make every single day. Maybe they even seem insignificant in the moment, but they compound over time. So a million-dollar decision is one that creates time and energy, frees up your mental space, and to quote her, reduces pitily shit and creates space for the stuff that matters to you, allows you to feel strong and secure and free, and creates options instead of eliminating options. On the opposite, a broke ass decision, or a B A D, as she calls it, steals your time and your energy, depletes your mental state, increases all the crap that you don't want to do, makes you feel weak or insecure or trapped and eliminates options rather than creating them. If you are walking your dog yourself every morning and night, even though you don't enjoy it and you're always tired, that is a broke ass decision. A million-dollar decision would be hiring a dog walker or delegating it to a family member. Or if you own a business but you don't want to hire help, so you spend 20 hours a week doing admin work. That is a broke ass decision where a million-dollar decision would be you recognize the value of your own work and you hire an assistant for 20 hours a week. A broke ass decision is doing your own laundry because you can't imagine having a stranger handle your underwear. But a million-dollar decision is using a laundry drop-off or pickup service because you can't imagine spending hours doing laundry this weekend when you need to rest and recuperate so that you're ready for Monday. Another broke ass decision is to have your phone by your side at all times, be constantly checking it and constantly responding to people the second that they send you a message, where a million-dollar decision is putting your phone on silent and putting it on the charger and going outside to get a breath of fresh air. Making that decision one time is not going to make you a million dollars, but it will instantly make you feel slightly less overwhelmed and it will put you in the mindset to make more money.

Boundaries That Protect Time And Income

Michelle Gauthier 4:41

The next thing she talks about in order to become a millionaire is to have million-dollar boundaries. You know, most women are people pleasers, and having boundaries is difficult. The way that she defines a million-dollar boundary is making a declaration to yourself and others where needed of what you will do and won't do in a given situation. And the purpose of setting this boundary is to set reasonable limits to protect your own energy and sanity and therefore feel more joyful, more powerful, and more moneyful, as she says. And as we've talked about many times in this podcast before, you can have a boundary. You can create it, you can define it yourself. But when push comes to shove, you have to enforce it. She gives lots of examples in the book of what she calls broke ass boundaries, meaning boundaries that do not work or that you're not enforcing versus million-dollar boundaries. One of the examples I liked was if you have an employee who's routinely late, consistently misses deadlines, and when he does complete the work, it's not really to your standards. And you sort of let it go, don't really say anything, and work late to redo the stuff that he's doing, where a million-dollar boundary would be noticing immediately, having an honest conversation, giving him a chance to know that there will be a probationary period. And when he doesn't deliver, letting him go and finding someone else. I'll tell you another broke-ass boundary that probably plenty of us are doing this summer, which is you tell your kids that you have to focus on work during your work hours at home while sitting in your home office, they interrupt you 27 times during the day and you entertain their requests and interruptions every time. When that is your boundary, I have to work on work during work hours, but yet you're showing them that they are allowed to interrupt you and that you will talk to them when they come in. That is a broke-ass boundary. If you want to have a million-dollar boundary, you tell your children that you have to focus on work during work hours and not to interrupt you unless someone is bleeding, essentially. And while sitting in your home office, you work with the door locked. There are little to no interruptions, and you finish your work early and give your kids your undivided attention. We've talked about making million-dollar decisions and setting million-dollar boundaries.

Build A Million-Dollar Vision

Michelle Gauthier 6:55

And the other thing that I absolutely loved is that she suggested that everyone create a million-dollar vision for their life. She tells a story in the book about how she had three kids or so at the time and they were living in a small house, and how her office was like essentially in the front hall by the front door, and she didn't have a door to close, and it was driving her crazy. And so she found this giant, beautiful house that she wanted and came home and ran the numbers on it and realized that she had to make like five times what she was actually making in order to live out that million-dollar dream. But that kind of behavior is actually exactly what she encourages. So to think about what your million-dollar vision is, think about absolutely everything that you would just love to have in your life. So, do you want a different house or the same house that you have now, but just a lot more help? Do you want to have a car? What kind of car do you want to have? What kind of vacations do you want to take? What would be your vision for if you had millions of dollars? I always envision a chef, a cook, whoever, being in my kitchen, coming up with the ideas, making healthy meals, and cleaning them up. What a dream that would be. So think about whatever that is for you and how you would feel if you were living that life. And then what she recommends is do the math. Figure out what it would really take to get there. And probably it's going to be a lot, or maybe not. Maybe you're not that far from your dream, but figure out exactly what it is and how much more you would need to make every month to get that. And then here's the important part commit to your first upgrade, the first small thing. That first upgrade could be something that costs nothing, like setting a boundary. But if you think about yourself as the person you'll be in that future vision, does that woman who has a million dollars let people waste her time and violate her boundaries? Probably not. Does the woman with a big house and the beautiful career never allow herself to have fun? Probably not. So your very first step to getting to your million-dollar vision could be something as simple as getting yourself your first set of really nice sheets. Your upgrade could be taking really good care of yourself and having a really nice nighttime routine. You don't have to have a million-dollar serum that you're putting on your face, but you could create a routine where every night you put your phone away and read a book and wash your face and take your time in doing all of it. So, what is one small thing that you could do to move towards that million-dollar vision?

Pick One Upgrade And Start

Michelle Gauthier 9:27

Now, I have just given you a tiny chunk of this book. There's lots more to it, obviously. But I think even if the only thing you do is listen to this podcast and think about the fact that if you implement any of these things, not only will you feel less overwhelmed, but also you would create the capacity for yourself to make more money. That is a great start. You don't have to choose between feeling calm and building wealth. The woman who feels less overwhelmed is also the woman who's making intentional choices, protecting her time and energy, and knowing what she wants. So that same woman is also building wealth. All of the things that Rachel Rogers is talking about in her book to make more money are also things that will make you feel less overwhelmed. Start implementing the million-dollar decisions, the boundaries, the vision, and you get a calmer life and also the capacity to build more wealth. You don't have to choose one over the other. If you want to read this book, it's called We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers, but you don't have to read it to start this week, just pick one million-dollar decision or set one new boundary, or get clear on one part of your million-dollar vision and just see what happens. Have a great week. 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.