Podcast

I’m not a big social media person.

In the past, I’ve had a Facebook and LinkedIn profile but I barely used them. An odd like or share here and there was the most you’d see from me. I think I didn’t actively use my Facebook for nearly 5 years. Except to thank people for sending birthday wishes, usually a month after the fact 😆

Like me, our son is a sensitive introvert who is prone to overstimulation.

Of course, we didn’t know this when he was born. And we have struggled at times.

"The witching hour" (endless crying between 6 and 10 pm) was an every day occurrence for us when he was a baby. Later, nightmare riddled sleep and even aggressive behavior towards other kids at daycare.

And just the other day what was supposed to be a fun trip to the local fair proved to be just a little too much stimulation…

I used to think of myself as a “low energy person”

It was a little disclaimer I used to let people know that I wouldn’t be staying after work for drinks. That I wasn’t going to be at the party past 9 pm. And that I probably wasn’t going to join the activity-packed 3-day networking event.

“Yeah, I’m just a low energy person, you know”

It's not surprising that a lot of us brush it off when we deplete our energy and talk ourselves out of taking a break. We're so used to seeing examples of people who are always on. And we wear busy like it's like a badge of honor.

Honest question: Do you use to-do lists and are they working for you?

When I worked as a project manager, I was really proud of my to-do lists. There was a whole system to it with a master list and smaller lists with cross references. There were digital versions and hard copy versions, just what the project required.

In a word they were glorious and I felt like I was uber organized 💪

There was just one little problem..: My lists didn't seem to help me to move forward.

My toddler didn’t want to put on his slippers to go outside this morning.

In the span of 10 minutes, I went from that “minor incident” to a full blown “What am I going to do with my life?”

Wow, that escalated fast 😅

In short: I was having a bad bad day (insert Despicable me opening scene here) when I recorded this week’s podcast episode.

I used to think…, no hope.., no yearn for the day that ups and downs would become a non-issue for me. That I could quite frankly flip them off in my rear view mirror.

In this week's podcast episode, I talked about standing still to make progress. 

The reason I choose this topic is because in the past weeks - or even months - I felt like I haven't made a lot of progress in my business. That I should be doing more, I should be putting myself out there more, and I should be more involved in the groups I’m in. And I felt a little bit guilty about it.

Why do I have this feeling? And WHAT have I been doing with my time??? 😂

We’re always comparing ourselves to others, wondering why other people are doing things so much quicker, better, and bigger than we are.

When I was getting ready to build my first podcast, I felt overwhelmed.

Podcasts are huge right now. The number of podcasts released has been growing for years and the pandemic gave an extra boost with so many sitting at home looking for new ways to learn and to share.

All around me, I saw podcasts coming out like a well-oiled machine, receiving thousands of downloads in the first week.

Better time management is the holy grail of productivity.

Or so I thought…

All through college and my early career as a scientist, I tried my hardest to get more done by cramming things into every nook and cranny of my day.

I thought that if I could just manage my time better, I could achieve my goals faster and be more effective.