Ep 59 | ... and you're at your best when you're busiest

Maybe you're like me and you're at your best when you're busiest.

In this episode I share my journey of balancing multiple passions while staying grounded in faith. I talk about the importance of time management, embracing busyness as a superpower, and finding inspiration in the Proverbs 31 woman. I also emphasize the need for intentionality in both productivity and rest, encouraging you to pursue your purpose with confidence and creativity.

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Transcript

You're listening to Maybe You're Like Me, the transparent musings of a God girl chasing after her purpose. Maybe You're Like Me is a podcast for dreamers and doers who take life's lessons and level up to look more like Christ. We'll connect through super relatable stories, growing pains, and aha moments that most of us share, just not always out loud. I'm your host, Alicia Watson, creative entrepreneur, playwright, author, wife, mother, daughter of the king, and so much more. And I can't help.

But to think that maybe you're like me. Hey, beautiful people. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Maybe You're Like Me with Alicia Watson. It's me, Alicia Watson. And I'm really glad that you are joining me today. I hope that you're staying safe and warm wherever you are, because it is so cold here. It's ridiculously cold. But I'm so glad that we're here. We're blessed. We have food. We have heat. We have water. We have each other. And

Kids have a few extra days off of school and so that's good for them and it's kind of good for me too because I kind of get back a few extra minutes in the morning to gather myself and jump into work pretty early and that makes me happy because I can get things done and enjoy the rest of my day. I hope that the troubles of this world are not weighing you down friends. I hope they're not weighing heavily on your hearts and minds and you know they probably are but if they are.

I hope that you find some relief and some comfort. Remember, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Take hold of those things. Take care of yourselves. Nurture your community. Help where you can. Pray and ask for wisdom. And just keep your hope, keep your faith alive, whatever that means for you.

Just don't get distracted, don't be discouraged, don't get dismayed. That's what the enemy wants and we don't let him win. It starts in your mind, there is hope, there is power in numbers and there is power in the Lord. Power, love, sound mind. If you're like me, you gotta go back to the last thing that God told you to do and do it. That's where I am. And there are many things that God has told me to do. And you know, I'm determined to do them all and do them all at the same time. That's new. Doing a lot is not new to me, doing it all.

at the same time is new in this season. It's a new season. I've always been a busy person, always. And I've always had my eggs in a lot of baskets. And like I said in my last episode, I feel like during those times in my life was when I was the most productive and most effective. So maybe you're like me and you're at your best when you're your busiest. I'm sure you've heard the term, idle time is the devil's playground or a variation of it like idle hands are the devil's workshop.

We all know what it means when somebody has too much time on their hands. Unproductive, causing trouble, stalling out, going nowhere, aimless, sometimes lazy. I'm not saying that's where I've been. I've been resting and I've been healing. But I recognize that that season is over. And if I don't stay focused and get back with the program, then that is the direction that I will be heading towards idleness and not rest.

Rest is done, we're working now, you know, with pockets of rest, stealing away like Jesus did, you know. Not too long ago, I sat back and I did an assessment of my life, just looking back over my years. And you know what, I came to the conclusion that I am a person that needs to budget my time like I budget my money. It's not something, I think I've said this before on the podcast, because it's not a new concept. But when we're talking about productivity,

Time is even more finite than money. Time is even more precious and valuable than money. Like money you can get back, you can re-up on, you can get more time you can't. Once time is gone, it's gone and it's running out. That's what I've been saying. Keep saying it. So with this finite time that we have, we need to make sure that we are allotting it and assigning it to where it needs to go.

I need to budget my time like I budget money. Just like all of our money cannot be categorized as disposable income, all of our time cannot be categorized as disposable time. Just like I need to assign my dollars a job, I have to assign my minutes a job too. If you're like me, when you have an abundance of time, unassigned time, you're gonna procrastinate. You're gonna say, I can do that later because there's nothing in the slot for later. So you actually can do it later. Will you do it later? We don't know.

But it's not done now. If you're like me, instead of doing the thing that you know that you need to get done that will help move you forward, you do other things in that time. Things that you want to do, just kind of like when you think you have discretionary money, you spend it and you buy other things than the things that you need. You buy the things that you want. I spend my time sometimes doing the things that I want to do. Are they always bad things? No, sometimes they're good things. Sometimes they're productive things. Sometimes they are fruitful things like...

If I spend time building relationships and sitting on the phone and talking with friends and family, that's a good investment on my time, except that I might be needing to use that time somewhere else for an even better investment. But if it's not allocated, how would I know? So what that means for me is that I have to aim to be more intentional with my time, with my actions, and more locked in on my assignments. When I'm doing my assignments, I can't look to the left or the right. I can't second guess myself and get tripped up by doubt.

And I also can't try to do it perfectly because sometimes what the pursuit of perfect means is that I am not working, I'm learning, I'm listening to and trusting other people trying to make sure I do it right instead of just making sure that I get it done and trusting in the Lord to take it and do what he needs to do with it. Overall, it means that have to stay in line with the Lord and stay up to date on what that is and what that means because he'll tell us what to do, but he'll also tell us

How to do it, who to do it with, when to go, when to stop. Sometimes you get an assignment in one season during one set of circumstances and have to execute in a different season during a different set of circumstances. So what does my busyness look like practically? It looks like I'm doing the most. It looks like, wow, to some when I explain it and ooh, she's all over the place to other people. And neither perspective really matters when God's perspective is the most important to me.

When you know you're in position and doing what you've been told to do, then you don't have to concern yourself with the way that you're being perceived or whether people understand it or not. For instance, for the longest time, I've had all my eggs in one basket. I've talked about this, my business basket, and that was fine. I've learned a lot. I've grown a lot. I've done a lot of beautiful things. I've made a lot of beautiful things and I've met a lot of amazing people. But have I been my most effective? I can't say that I have because in my heart,

I've known for the longest that I wasn't supposed to grow and expand my company and that God had given me directions on how to treat my business. But it took a while for me to accept and trust that because of what I was hearing, what I was seeing all around me and what I defined as success or allowed success to be defined as for me based on the culture. But now I accept what success is supposed to look like for that business for me. The type of success that I have,

with my business allows me to do all the other things that I'm supposed to be doing at once, simultaneously with the limited time that I have. I don't have time to build that business up until, you know, multimillion dollar business and put all these other things off to the wayside. Like in my intro to this podcast, I even say I'm an author, a playwright, entrepreneur, mother, wife, daughter of King.

so much more or whatever else I say. And I am, I just haven't formatted my life so I can be all of those things at one time. I'll do one thing in one season, another thing in another season, and that's all well and good, but it's always in the back of my mind that I'm supposed to be doing those other things too, and that's where I'm overwhelmed. That's what leads me to being and feeling overwhelmed is the unclosed loops, it's the unchecked boxes. But that's not how I'm operating now.

How I'm formatting it now is that I'm doing something all the time in all of those spaces. And then I've created the goals and my dreams around the things that I'm doing that makes it manageable for me. And as I continue to go and grow, I'll allow God to show me what to delegate, who to offload to, what to do, what to let go, all of these things. But for now, I'm supposed to be doing everything and I accept that. And I accept it with confidence because

I'm realizing that being busy is a superpower for me because if I don't have time to waste, I won't waste it. That's why I'm at my best when I'm busiest. When I look back through the years, it's evident. Like when I was on homecoming court in high school and the host was like reading off all your clubs and your sports and extracurriculars while you walked down the aisle to the stage. And I just remember getting applause and even an ovation because when I made it to the stage, I was just in there behind her she was still reading. I did a lot.

I was involved in everything, like my whole senior year, I was barely at school. I was barely in classes. I was representing the school and doing everything all in one. And I thrived. I was salutatorian. I got good grades, like class president. I thrived when I was busy. When I got to college, I worked two jobs. I was captain of a dance team. I did an improv theater company all at the same time, all while taking 16 to 18 credits year round.

finish a double major, it's not two degrees. I've been calling it two degrees for like two decades, but it's a double major on my one bachelor's degree in four years. I thrived when I was busy. When I went back home to my hometown, I worked two jobs then. Hung out, volunteered at church. Then I moved down here. I got my big girl job. And then I still worked a part-time job. Alone with that. And I joined a very time-consuming production company, which I loved.

being a part of, interesting things happen. But I met beautiful, wonderful people, know, water under the bridge. But I said it to say, I was there all the time. All the time. I had to really, really hone in on spending my time where I, and even still, I was still writing. I wrote a play at that time and produced the play. All while I working on somebody else's stuff.

And I was writing a book. I was writing another book that I never finished. I got halfway through and then switched to the current book that's out, Secret Donuts. When I got married after that and had kids, okay, things died down a little bit, but we were still doing projects here and there. I worked my job, then I quit my job, then I started my business, and all my attention went there. And I was doing all the things, but not all at once. And that's kind of been the limbo that I've been in. But now, now, I have time. My kids are older.

My energy has been restored after my season of rest, along with my optimism, my ability to dream, my ability to hope, my ability to just see my role in the great plan that God has, you know? And I want to do it all. And I want to do it all right now. And so I am, and I'm letting Him give me grace through it. I'm letting myself have grace to not be perfect, to be a beginner, to be an intermediate, to be just me. I don't have to do everything at a thousand.

I can have fun with things. I can learn and go and grow as I go. And I think it's the better idea of everything. And I know God gave me confirmation of this because the other day he led me right to Ecclesiastes 11, 1 and 6, where it says, send your grain across the seas and in time profits will flow back to you, but divide your investments among many places for you do not know what risk might lie ahead.

When clouds are heavy and the rains come down, whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls. Farmers who wait for a perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you do not know if profit will come.

from one activity or another, or maybe both. While it might look like I'm doing the most or being the most or all over the place, it's actually me investing. I'm taking risk and faith. I'm putting my eggs in different baskets, because acting might go, my business might go, this podcast might go, everything might, I'm being called to do it all. Even if it doesn't blow up or I gotta let one thing go, like I feel so fulfilled.

doing it all and that's already yielding a return, but I don't know what's gonna yield an even bigger return. One, and two, I don't even know what God is doing. It's not for me to know. I just have to do my part. So I'm embracing being a multi-passionate creative. And it's been so liberating and so much fun. I keep saying it. It's so much fun. Like I have so much peace with it. No one day is like another. Like today, I'm creating a podcast. I've edited photos for a headshot session. Tomorrow,

I'll be memorizing my script for my play in May that I'm in. And then I'm working on my documentary that I finished. Just putting my finishing touches on that and delivering that. Wednesday I'm going to be working on a brand film and editing content for two clients. know, Thursday I'll be working on my YouTube videos. I told you I started a YouTube channel. I probably didn't. I probably didn't. I did. I started a YouTube channel. It's in my show notes. And you can go check it out. There's videos there. If you've gotten on through the episodes here on the podcast, there's like,

I don't know, like 30, 35 more videos of me chit chatting there, you know, you can see my face. So go watch my YouTube videos and I'll do more of that because that's a big assignment on me. So we'll see. I don't even know if the podcast is going to be a video podcast. It might be soon. I don't know. Is that something y'all want? Let me know. Anyways, it's all working together. It's energizing. It's invigorating because now that I am not boxing myself in, I really feel very excited to.

Just explore, explore even more creatively, like with narrative films and short films and writing more books and creating more graphics or just creating for fun. Like I wanna start making like bracelets and painting and just doing things for fun. Y'all, there is so much joy in working with yourself and not against yourself and not feeling like you have to explain yourself because...

In my case, it all connects. Like I keep trying to make myself fit into one box and I'm just supposed to be in many boxes. Like I'm investing, I'm sowing my seeds, investing in many ventures, like Ecclesiastes, like Solomon told us, you know? I look at it like, like a charcuterie board, right? There might be cheese, there might be fruit, there might be meat, veggies, olives, whatever, but all the flavors, they work together. It's just like, they all come together. It's just.

They play well, right? That's my life. That's my creativity. That's my life's work. Those are the things that I'm doing. Like they all match. They talk to each other. Some people might be called to just do one big old steak and some potatoes and that's their thing. They've been known for that thing. They've been doing that thing for the last 35 years. They're going to do it for 35 more years. When you think of them, you think of that thing and that's it. That's them. That's what they do. That's what they're known for. Cool. That's not me.

I can't keep pushing myself into that kind of box. Like I'm supposed to be busy in a different way. Like they might be busy doing that one thing. I'm busy doing lots of things. That doesn't mean I'm all over the place. I'm just making the investments where I'm supposed to be making the investments. That's perfect for them. But as for me, I'm dabbling here and I'm snacking there and it all equals out to one satisfying creative meal. And guess what? I'm already seeing a boost in my productivity. Like 2026.

is going so well because I've expanded my productivity by reducing my idle time. It's budgeted out. I don't have time to scroll as much. I don't have time to binge watch as much. I don't even have time to worry as much. I don't have time to ruminate. I don't even have time to talk about things that are good, like things that might be worth looking into, but they don't fit on that board, right?

If they don't work on the board, that's not what I'm supposed to be focused on, even if they're good ideas, right? If they're good things, not for me. But I will still fit in what's actually important to me, like things I have goals towards. Like I told you I want to build community, so I have to connect with my friends and family and make time for them and go out and spend time with them. So that's allocated. Working out, I need to make sure that I'm here and make sure I'm fit to do all the things that I have to do. Like I'm in tip top shape.

so that I'm qualified, stay qualified to do the work that God needs me to do. can't have my health being a distraction, something I can take care of, then I'm taking care of it. So working out, right, taking care of my health. Other forms of self care, because I want to look good while I'm doing it as well. All that stuff is allotted, so there's balance, and so that I don't get burned out. Now what I'm not giving up is rest. Rest is important. Rest is necessary.

I'm not being productive and busy for the sake of it, just to say it, just to show it. Like I have something to prove because I don't have anything to prove. But I want to see what could come of my focus and obedience in these areas. So that's what I'm working on. I know a lot of us get tripped up over the Proverbs 31 woman, but just thinking about this and this perspective.

Helps me to see her in a different way. When you're reading through, it's like this woman does everything. She's got her hands and she has so many skillsets. She's got her hands in so many like baskets. She can do everything. It's not necessarily what she does, it's how she does it. Like she finds time. She finds time, she finds time, she does this, she does that, let me see. A wife of noble character who can find a virtuous and capable wife. She's more precious than rubies.

Her husband can trust her and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good and not harm all the days of her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spends it. She's like a merchant ship bringing her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for a serving girl. She goes to inspect a field and buys it. With her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable. Her lab earns late into the night.

Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She has no fear winter for her household for everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linens and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates where he sits with other civic leaders. She makes built-in linen garments. She ensashes to sell to the merchants.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her. There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive.

and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise." This just sounds like a woman who manages her time to me, who is intentional, who has a plan, and who executes her plan. But she's not praised because of how busy she is. She's praised because she fears the Lord. She's rewarded for all she's done.

But she does all that she does because of her fear of the Lord and how she esteems her position as a wife, a mother, a business owner, a leader, of servants, a woman. Like, she's amazing. And perhaps we could be like her in our own ways. Perhaps we can have this level of success in everything that we're called to do and everything that we're called to manage and everyone that we're called to manage.

because we fear the Lord, we get busy, and we manage our time well. I'm inspired. I'm inspired and I'm excited. I'm just, I don't know, I feel really great because I feel like all of my cups are being filled. And so I am going to continue on this path because I know my best days are not behind me. Like, God, like.

I know that people be like, did you peak in high school? No, I didn't peak in high school, Lord. I didn't peak at any time. I'm a new creation like all the time. Like I'm constantly changing. I'm constantly evolving. I'm constantly being perfected. I'm not perfect. I'm embracing the idea of perfecting. So there's always hope for growth. There's always hope for change. There's always hope for seeing something different. We're in seasons, different seasons, but God remains the same. So even when I was like,

in a very sad and low season, he carried me so that I have peace. And while I'm in this loud and moving season, he's gonna carry me through this too and allow me to have peace. Like I am learning, I'm leaning back in to contentment because the reward is beyond this life. I have victory, you have victory because in this world there's many troubles, but he has overcome this.

So we continue to seek Him, His kingdom, His righteousness, His will, His purpose. We pray, we worship, we praise. We use the spiritual tools and the gifts that we have to help us to be the people that He wants us to be, to bear the fruit, to be that good soil that hears the word. It takes root. It grows up. It produces a fruit. And He has a harvest. Like, that's where we're on.

I'm not being productive for performance sake. I want to be productive to produce the fruit. I want to do the things that he has told me to do so that when I spread these seeds of productivity, these seeds of action, that they grow and produce fruit for harvest. That's what we're supposed to be doing. So in other seasons, I don't know, maybe those things were for my glory, but where I am now, I'm doing things for his glory.

And I hope this encourages you to do the same. I hope this has been helpful for you. If you want to hear some more of like the things I'm doing to stay productive, practically, I can talk about those in another episode. Again, go listen to my YouTube channel or go and watch my YouTube channel. If you haven't picked up Secret Donuts, it's available on my website and on Amazon. And that's all I have for you today.

If you're like me, reach out to me on my website or on Instagram. They're both in the show notes. If this episode resonated with you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, because that's usually where I'm checking them. Really enjoy reading the reviews and just getting that feedback on what's going well, what you want to talk about, all of that, because I know I'm not the only one who's experiencing these life's lessons. If you know someone who is like us,

Be sure to share this episode or any other episode that resonates with them. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Stay safe, stay warm, stay encouraged. Kay? Bye!