Don't lie to yourself by saying "I don't have time."

If you're trying to develop a skill, you can't give the excuse that you don't have time.  It just means that it isn't a priority for you right now.

Let’s say your phone rings right now and your kid is sick at school. Do you say “I have no time to come pick him up”? 

Of course not! You make the time by moving things around in your day. Some meetings might get canceled. Maybe you let some things fall off your list. If you’re out of town, you find someone that will go get your sick kiddo and bring him home to rest.

I call bullshit on the excuse that you don’t have enough time.

We can all squeeze time when given a budget.

The reality is it’s not a priority. If you don't make time for the things that are important in your life, they will start withering away. That’s a whole different strategy.

“I don’t have time,” can...

It's my trigger word: busy. 

When I ask someone how they are and I get the reply "busy” I want to primal scream into a pillow. Yet, sometimes I notice that word slip out of my mouth.

If I manage to catch it, I change my response to “life is full right now.”

“Every time you say you’re busy, you’re actually saying that you can’t prioritize your life.” Darius Foroux

I love this quote because we all choose to do what we do. If your life feels busy here are some ways to turn that around.

Work Hard & Smart

I am sure you have heard this term, but what does it actually mean?

Think of working hard as being efficient. You pour time, energy, and resources into something.

Making sure that something is the right something is working smart.  

Imagine you want to start growing your own food. Then you go to the nursery and buy everything you need to build your backyard...

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, don't we? How often have you heard that and wanted to roll your eyes and walk away?

Time is a resource that’s dolled out evenly to all humans but we are playing with different cards in our hands.

I can’t change the cards in your hand but I can help you identify how you’re wasting time in the game.

Common Time Wasters

Social media, email, notifications and meetings are on the top of everyone’s list. I’ve covered these subjects here, here, and here. I’ll be doing a deep dive into email later this year but if you want some quick wins check out this post.

You can also limit personal stuff to after work hours to minimize these external distractions.

I’m not saying you should be rude, but draw clear boundaries.  

I'll give you an example. Every few days I go to a neighborhood gym before work. While bumping into my friends and neighbors is often fun, sometimes a...

As I pull out my keyboard to write this morning, I’m feeling imposter syndrome creep in.

Reframing dips into the sphere of therapy. Because you all know how much I love therapy, I'm going to start this post by stating...find professional help if your "situation" is rooted in trauma or something that is interfering with your everyday life.

Sigh, I feel better with that off my chest.

If you're just feeling stuck, keep reading.

Reframing Defined

Let’s start out with a definition of reframing. 

Harvard Stress & Development Lab explains, “Positive reframing involves thinking about a negative or challenging situation in a more positive way. This could involve thinking about a benefit or upside to a negative situation that you had not considered. Alternatively, it can involve identifying a lesson to be learned from a difficult situation.  Finding something to be grateful about in a challenging situation is a type of...

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” Benjamin Franklin warned fire-threatened Philadelphians in 1736.

I watched this play out on TV last night. Any This is Us fans in the house? 

It was the Saturday in the Park episode where Kate and Toby’s house starts crumbling because of a leak that hadn’t been fixed. The writers for this show get me every-time. The failed roof was a metaphor for the marriage that seems to be falling apart.

Prevention can play a role in fire, home maintenance, and marriage.

The same rings true to managing overwhelm.  If we took some measures to prevent it, we could stop it from taking down our lives.

In the last few blog posts I’ve dove deep into overwhelm as an entrepreneur and as a mom.

Today I want to offer you a seven minute fix to emotional overload:

Let me introduce you to the Weekday Shutdown Routine:

It's my secret to creating boundaries...

“Why are you listening to that?” Michael questioned me.

It was a Clubhouse room about how to have difficult conversations. I was listening to find struggles my clients are dealing with so I can help them find solutions.

Here’s one I clipped:

“My question is, what if the person being inconsiderate of your time is higher on the hierarchy chain than you?”

That's a rough one.

The conversation then turned to sleep deprivation. Moms face this challenge all the time.

Today I don’t want to focus on all the reasons why moms feel overwhelmed. 

Let me just summarize by saying in the last year we’ve gone from dealing with a pandemic to explaining to our children the injustices of what’s happening in the Ukraine.

Let’s focus on addressing some questions that will move you closer to overjoy.

How do you recognize as a mom that you're overwhelmed?

I mentioned in here that...

That moment when your husband walks in after a long day can you feel your body tense?

It could be a tone in his voice or a particular way he holds himself. Overwhelm is written all over his face.

It's much easier to spot in others. We are more used to our own sh*t.

No matter if you are being called out for being stressed out or if you recognize the warning signs in yourself. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’ve reached that awful place of not knowing what to do next.

Protect your Mental Health

I’ve been an advocate for mental health long before it was trending because of my journey with parenting two kids with ADHD. I think this is a good starting point to go into overwhelm.

If this is a problem bigger than yourself, you need to look outside to get the help you need.  I urge you to seek help if there are trauma or behavioral issues involved. There is zero shame in seeking help from a therapist. I started seeing a...

I’ve been hacked!

Fortunately, I’ve been able to recover my Instagram account but now I’m cleaning up the mess the hacker left behind.  Ironically on the same day, the hacker struck I participated in a Clubhouse room led by

Stephanie Deininger alongside Katie Matusky, and our special guest Jana Osofsky to share out top tips

on how to stay organized on social media. We gave tips for both creators and regular users that can be utilized on different platforms. If you prefer to listen to the replay, CLICK HERE (it's a great way to follow along with our list and you don't have to download the app!). 

If you feel your social media is due for a little spring cleaning, here’s the list:

1. Create circular viralocity (Brendon Bruchard's term) create a longer piece of content on a weekly basis and break it into smaller chunks (like Jana mentioned) but then have those posts link back to your longer-form content which will hopefully...

My dog saved my life.

As a toddler, I had the luckiest day of my life. One day, while they were busy inside, my parents let me play in the backyard.  They didn't know the pool guy had left the safety gate unlocked.

My little feet floated into the pool area. I was not safe, so my dog alerted the adults. When my parents came outside to see what all the barking was about, I was about to jump in.

Do I believe in luck? Absolutely, but I also believe it takes more than gold coins and rainbows to live a full life. Let’s explore the possibilities.

“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”

This is a famous quote by Roman philosopher Seneca.

This idea makes sense because we have to put in the hard work to be prepared. If you want to land your dream client, you have to have done the work to prove to them you are worthy of their business. If you want an amazing relationship with your daughter, you have to show up in their lives...

Good news!

Well, sorta…it’s Monday and instead of spending time primping in the bathroom, I’m sitting at my desk on time making the keys move on my keyboard.

The unfortunate thing is that I'm sitting in my bathrobe with my lashes all cray-cray and my hair still in a messy bun.

Not procrastinating on writing today, but there's no doubt I need more time in the morning.

Last week I shared seven types of procrastinators and a quick fix for each. Today I want to finish off that list.

Types of Procrastination

The Gratification Monkey

You’re on a diet but it’s girl scout cookie season and you only get to indulge in these cookies once a year. Perhaps you know that you should connect with another media executive, but you feel more comfortable catching up with your besties. Maybe you’re writing a blog post on procrastination and suddenly spiral into reading lots of other blog posts on procrastination.

Am I...