September 29, 2025 • 27 mins
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Entrepreneurs deal with fear, anxiety, and overwhelm daily. Dr. Christiane Schröter does not just acknowledge it—she teaches how to turn it into momentum.
In this episode of the Business Growth Architect Show: Founders of the Future, Dr. Christiane Schroeter introduces the STEP framework (Simplify, Tell, Examine, Praise). It is a clear, four-step system designed to break big goals into small, doable actions and remove the overwhelm that comes with endless to-do lists. From writing two pages of a book a day, to using “Petite Practices” that keep progress moving, her methods show how consistent small steps lead to measurable impact.
This is practical and actionable. You will learn how to reframe stress into strength, move from “someday” to today, and build a mindset that keeps you executing.
👉 Explore more from Dr. Christiane Schroeter at doctorchristiane.com
📌 Subscribe for more strategies to grow and scale a business that actually aligns with you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christiane Schroeter (00:00):
The way that I look at fear and anxiety
(00:02):
is it's great to have. Two daysago, I stood on the TED stage
and shared my talk to a few 100people. You just have to think a
little bit about why am I doingthis to change somebody's life?
Overwhelmed is writing down 15things on your to do list in the
(00:23):
morning. That's legitimatelynever what I would do. It's just
setting me up for failure. Idon't want that. Winning is not
comfortable. Business ownersdon't share enough about how
crappy some days are. I think ifyou are overwhelmed and you're
feeling fear, you just have tobecome comfortable in sharing
(00:45):
exactly those moments. Justimagine you never did it then,
like, Gosh, I wish I would havestarted.
BEATE CHELETTE (00:57):
Dr. Christiane.
How do fear and anxiety show upfor high achieving
entrepreneurs, even when on theoutside things look
Christiane Schroeter (01:05):
just great. Yeah, beautiful question.
The way that I look at fear andanxiety is a it's great to have,
right? It's not bad to be afraidof something, and it's not bad
to feel anxious about something.
The way that I coach my clientsis you just need to redirect the
(01:26):
energy into something positive.
So what? Yeah, you maybe beafraid of getting on a stage.
Two days ago, I stood on the TEDstage and shared my talk to a
few 100 people. Great. So yeah,I was afraid about that. And
definitely, you know, that wasnot something that was natural
(01:48):
to me. Just get out there andgive a 15 minute talk, but I
thought, I'm going to sharesomebody my story and change
somebody's life. And thatchanged my thinking about it. So
when you are afraid ofsomething, or you maybe you are
even anxious, just think, what'sthe what's the worst thing that
(02:09):
can happen? Everybody hasexperienced this before, but why
am I doing this? Really? I'mgetting on the stage to change
somebody's life, and even ifit's just one person's life, so
that is what you have to thinkabout. You're helping somebody
else with it. So sometimes fearand anxiety, we're just too hard
on ourselves, and we just needto don't think about ourselves,
(02:32):
but think about the others, andthen you're in the getting in
the right mindset, right thinkabout not getting on the stage.
You wouldn't change thatperson's life. So they would be
missing out. That's a pity. Geton that stage. Share your stage.
Share your voice, right? Youtalk a lot about in your work,
about overwhelm.
BEATE CHELETTE (02:50):
What does it mean? Or what is it being
overwhelmed? Is it even alegitimate feeling? Is it man
made? What is it feelingoverwhelmed? Yeah,
Christiane Schroete (03:00):
overwhelmed is writing down 15 things on
your to do list in the morning.
That's legitimately never what Iwould do. I maybe write down 15
things when I go to a grocerystore, because I do need to buy
groceries to feed my family. Butwill I accomplish 15 things that
I'm actually feeling proud of atthe end of the day, no, because
(03:20):
that means I'm just sittingthere all day and fasting and
not getting through it. It'sjust setting me up for failure.
I don't want that, so maybewrite in three things I usually
stick to one hand.
BEATE CHELETTE (03:37):
Why do we do that? Is that like an Uber
accomplishment complex thatwe're having. Why do we do that?
Why do we you? So what I'mhearing you say is, like, I'm
setting myself up for overwhelm,
Christiane Schroeter (03:50):
Yeah, unfortunately, I think so. There
are all these moving elements atthe end of the day, though, and
I frequently tell my childrentoo, is, is that really
something that matters rightnow? Will this be something I
care about in five years? And ifthe answer is no, then I go,
(04:11):
okay, maybe I shouldn't evenwant to worry about it right
now. I
BEATE CHELETTE (04:14):
kind of like that is the question, the litmus
test question, this is evengoing to be relevant in five
years, because we sometimes, Ithink, as business owners, we
put other people's well beingover our own and our family's
needs, and we don't even knowthem. It's an email that needed
to go out or a piece of contentthat was published that's going
(04:37):
to be seen or not seen bysomebody I have no idea who that
is, and for that, I didn't dosomething that would have
created an impact in my family.
Is there a psychological or amental thing that we need to
look into to help people kind ofget that straightened out in
their head on why they do it andwhat they can do instead?
Christiane Schroeter (04:57):
Well, I think it's sometimes like pure
fear. Of Missing Out right thatyou feel like not writing the
email that others didn't seeyou, or just like by not posting
off on social media, or whateverthat you felt you're missing out
on not being visible. I canhonestly tell you if you're not
posting on social media for aweek, sorry to say this, most
(05:20):
people might not even notice, ornobody, or nobody cares. Maybe
it's three people that reallycare about you, but all the
others, they're so busy lookingat all these other accounts. I
always love it when people likeI'm taking a social media break,
and I know that they do it, justto let us know we can do that
(05:42):
too. So of course, but otherwiseit's like, go for it. Just Just
do it. You don't even need totell me you're doing it. Just,
just do it.
BEATE CHELETTE (05:49):
It is really true. So you specialize in
helping people get out ofoverwhelm by giving them simple
processes. Talk to us a littlebit about what is the framework
that you're using, and how doesit help our audience?
Christiane Schroeter (06:03):
Yes, I use it for a step process that's
actually called step, right? Soyou'll be taking small steps
that lead to a big impact. Andbecause I'm from Europe, you
hear that my accent, I actuallycall the steps individual steps
are called petite practice. Sosmall, little practices, and
it's practice. It's notperfection. It's really
(06:25):
important. If you feel that youhave this big goal, whether
that's speaking on a Keynote orTEDx or writing the next book,
you have to simplify all right.
So let's take your big thing,break it down into these small
steps, and it could even beyou're writing it down on little
sticky notes, and then you'reshuffling up the sticky notes,
and you're choosing the one thatyou want to get started with.
(06:47):
You choose one, and then youhave to get started right? But
at least it's not that biganymore. And you could even make
it very dramatic, like take onebig piece of paper, write it on
there, and then cut it up intolittle modes, whatever that is.
If you're a visual learner, thatmight just work for you, and
then you have to tell othersabout it, and that's the tough
part. So others think you'rereally not doing anything,
(07:07):
because you honestly never talkabout what you do. And it
doesn't mean like, well, let metell you about my day in detail,
not like that, but more like, Ialways wanted to whatever write
a book. Others will be like, Ididn't even know that. And then
you're like, Yes, I did. Andthen it leads to the
conversation. And then peoplewill come back and like, how's
(07:27):
the book writing going? You'relike, well, well, well, let me
tell you about it. So that's theso the s simplified, the T,
tell, and then you have toexamine the E, the exam. And
like, think in your third step,a little bit like, what are you
doing that works? Are youwriting your book by writing two
pages a day? Are you writingyour book by maybe doing audio
notes when you go for walks?
(07:50):
What? What are you doing? What'swhat's moving the needle? And
then lastly, you have to praiseprogress. It could be like
you're writing two pages a day,and then you celebrate each day.
Wow, I wrote two pages. Or itcould be that you're speaking,
I'm speaking at a WritersConference next month about my
books. That's it. That's a greatthing to celebrate. So I'm
really speaking at a WritersConference, yay. And so it's
(08:13):
like you have to think a littlebit like small steps, big
impact. And not everything hasto be glamorous and amazing, but
you have to think that the mostimportant thing is just you're
moving the needle. And it doesnot have to be these 15 things
on your to do list. It couldjust be three small things.
BEATE CHELETTE (08:34):
What was your trigger moment? What was the
moment when you sat down and yousaid, I see a problem, and I
must do something about that.
I'm very
Christiane Schroeter (08:44):
much a woman of multiple hats, right?
So when I introduce myself, I'mlike, I'm a business and
wellness coach, I'm a professor,I'm an author, I'm a podcaster,
I'm also a TED speaker. I'm alsoa fitness instructor. And then
people like, how do you do that?
And I was like, well, it'sreally not magic. I mean, you
(09:06):
could do that too, any of thosethings. It's just that I do
literally just a little bit ofeverything. I don't really doubt
myself in doing it. I just doit. Just publish a book, right?
Don't need to be the next HarryPotter, but I just publish it,
you know? And so I think thatthe my secret sauce really came
(09:27):
from the fact that I actuallylistened to what people asked
me, and I didn't just talk, butI started listening to what
their problems are and what theywanted to know, and then I just
reformulated that into my uniquevalue proposition. I think you
just have to do a better job inlistening first and then
(09:48):
talking.
BEATE CHELETTE (09:50):
That is the truth. Most people don't know
how to do that because they loveto hear themselves talk all the
time. So did you know thiswasn't a problem that. People
actually wanting to do all thesethings, because it's almost
contradictory to everything elsewe hear, because they always
say, get rich. And then in theniche, or the niche, whatever
you however you want topronounce it, and you basically
(10:13):
saying the opposite. You say,Well, whatever drives you,
whether that's speaking orwriting or even fitness,
whatever makes you happy do it,and I'm going to give you the
framework to do that, is it notcontradictory to what's being
said in the market?
Christiane Schroeter (10:26):
Oh, that's a great question. I think that
for me, when I put my calendartogether, I use it a little bit
like a bouquet of flowers,right? So my flower bouquet is
really varied in the color, andthen the type of the job that I
do, right? So there's it's allthere, but each one of them
(10:49):
really sparks joy. And if I everfeel there's something in there
that doesn't work for me, I justtake it out. I'm like, You know
what? That didn't work? So Iexamine it and I take it out.
That is what helps me balance mybusiness and my wellness,
because if I were to only do onething, I would feel I'm coming
(11:11):
becoming too much focused on thesuccesses and the failures in
that one thing, and right now Ican celebrate successes from
another area of my life. It'snearly like you are at this
beautiful buffet, and it has allthese beautiful little elements
(11:32):
from all over the world, allthese little tasters that you
can try. And so I tried them,and then I'm like, I like this,
this, this, and then I put themon my plate. But it doesn't mean
that they always have to remainon my plate. I also switch them
out. So I think if you havemultiple jobs, it keeps you more
agile and flexible. Instead ofsaying, I'm just in this one
thing right here, and then ifyou switch, you're like, well,
(11:54):
now I have all my business, andI'm kind of locked in here, so
it's really hard to get out ofit. And it's like traveling
through Europe, all thedifferent languages, all the
different culture, where I'mfeeling like I'm wanting to be
more in tuned to tryingdifferent tasks and figuring out
which ones work for me. I
BEATE CHELETTE (12:13):
like that a lot.
I like this journey of yourbusiness journey, or your life
life and business journey tocompare to a trip, because
doesn't make the trip to Europeeven better if you're not just
in Italy or Paris, but if yousaw Italy and Paris and France,
maybe or Portugal. So I feel thesame way. I do believe that we
go through reiterations. I canstand being boxed in to a
(12:36):
particular niche and then havingto do that, because I think life
is a series of transformationsthat we are going through. And
as we're going through thesetransformations, we get a
different skill set. And thenwhen we have this different
skill set, wouldn't we want totell other people about how to
(12:56):
master that, just in case theymight want the same as we do,
right? So I think it's abeautiful, beautiful way this
works. So how does thisapplication of your step system
of a petite practice? How doesthat now change someone's
trajectory, satisfaction,happiness, what happens to
(13:19):
someone who simplifies andexamines and then takes the
different steps to to executewhat's the outcome that they
actually
Christiane Schroeter (13:32):
get started on their goals before
some invisible deadline you setyourself? I think the majority
of people that I talk to arelike, yeah, eventually I'm going
to write a book. Then Isometimes challenge them, and
I'm like, when is eventually?
It's like, some days, well,that's not even on the calendar,
you know? So then I asked them,they're like, well, when the
(13:55):
kids leave the house, when Iretire, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And there's like these,the future deadline is always
very convenient and comfortable,because you don't want to become
uncomfortable today. So I alwayssay, if you make a plan and you
(14:15):
again those sticky notes, pickone and start today. Before you
change your mind to start, ifyou want to run marathons, you
always wanted to run themarathon, go to the store and
buy some shoes today. Step oneshoes, right? Good. Step one,
done. And so for me, I think themain thing is just that the step
(14:37):
system actually gets the wheelsgoing, and it makes you more
aware that life is finite, andthat this moment of I'm going to
start doing this thing in thefuture might never happen. And
you don't want to look back andthink, gosh, I just wish I would
have gotten ready to run them.
(15:00):
Marathon, and now I can'tanymore. What a big bummer,
right? I mean, that's reallysomething that would be so sad,
and this is really importanttoo. But I see with a lot of my
clients, let's just say podcast.
They're like, Oh, I always wantto start a podcast, and I'm
like, help them get ready. Andthen all of a sudden, they're
like, You know what, Christiana,I actually don't like it. It's
(15:20):
like, how amazing is that? Thatis a celebration right now.
Because just imagine you neverdid it, and then, like, Gosh, I
wish I would have started apodcast, but doing it and
figuring out it's not great,that's wonderful, because at
least you figure it out it's notgreat.
BEATE CHELETTE (15:41):
I always say that our job is to get people to
an intersection. There's only aleft and a right and a 711 so
you can either, you can eitherbe in the 711 eat hot dogs and
Slurpees, or you make a left, oryou make a right. There is
literally no other option. I'mlike you when somebody adamantly
(16:02):
recognizes that they don't wantsomething that's as much as a
celebration as we help them tofigure out what it is that they
do want. Because that is, Ithink, the paralysis a lot of
people experiencing. So I wantto talk about that a little bit.
A lot of people say I want toget out of overwhelm. I want to
get stuff done. I want to bemore productive. I want to get
(16:24):
out of fear. But they're stuckyear after year after year. How
do we help them get out of that?
Christiane Schroeter (16:32):
Well, first things first is, obviously
what you're doing right now is,is not really working. And I
think that's the first thing isto step away from it and try
something different. So I triedthat. I signed up with this
coach, I bought this book, I gota treadmill, blah, blah, blah,
(16:53):
you know. And so it's like, didyou actually use it? Did you
actually work with that coach,right? Yeah, Oh, you didn't
okay. So I mean, the first thingis, of course, you need to
commit to it. I always tell myclients, you know what, winning
is not comfortable. When we lookat the Olympic Games and they
look so happy and runningthrough the finish line, but
(17:13):
everything that led to thatstage not comfortable. There
were many mornings where theydidn't want to get up and train,
and many business owners don'tshare enough about how crappy
some days are. I think if youare overwhelmed and you're
feeling fear, you just have tobecome comfortable in sharing
exactly those moments to becomevulnerable means that you're
(17:38):
actually starting to step intoyour unique value proposition,
because you are starting toshare what others are feeling.
And if you become vulnerable andyou share your struggles right
now alone, that already feelsgood. It's kind of like poof got
that out of my system, right?
That is an immense service toothers, because we're all
(17:58):
feeling it, but just notpretending that everything is
good, but saying I'm reallystruggling with that would
BEATE CHELETTE (18:07):
already be a service to others. And then how
do we help them with thisanxiety, though? Because once
they in it, and I think in a lotof the spiritual teachings, we
hear that if you allow thereality of it to be spoken into
like you manifest by speakingabout it. So if I were to admit
(18:31):
that I'm overwhelmed or I don'tknow where to start, am I not
doing the opposite of whatspirituality tells me? Am I not
manifesting it? How do youmanage that? So
Christiane Schroeter (18:40):
you can write down all these words,
anxiety, fear, overwhelm on oneside. And you could even have
this table on your desk. And infact, in my books, actually, I
have a table like that where Iteach you write down all these
words, and then there is anerror that kind of flips the
(19:04):
switch from that word tosomething that's more positive.
So you need to figure out allright, so I feel overwhelmed.
Okay? On the bright side, itmeans I have a lot going on. I
could be bored and have nothinggoing on, so it's kind of nice.
I have a lot of different ideas.
I'm actually a creativeindividual, so being
(19:26):
overwhelmed, it's not bad atall. Maybe I should write, write
down all these different thingsthat I'm thinking about, and
some of those might just beoverwhelming me, because they
are there, but they are kind ofirrelevant today. Maybe they're
interesting in five years,right? So the first thing is
just getting it out of yourhead, whether that's writing it
(19:46):
down, whether that's maybeverbalizing it to somebody, or
whether that's just steppingaway from the problem. But I
think that you need toappreciate sometimes that
overwhelming. Is also somethingthat humans are uniquely gifted
with, because it just means thatyour mind goes in a million
directions, but you just have tothink a little bit about what
(20:09):
matters right now today.
BEATE CHELETTE (20:12):
So what I'm hearing you say and tell me if
I'm right the way I understandthis, but you are saying it is
okay to actually admit thesedeep fears and thoughts that
you're having, even if they areappearing on the outside as
negative, get it out, and thenfind a way to reframe that into
something that has a morepositive connotation. So what
(20:34):
you said is, I could be sayingI'm overwhelmed, but if I look
at this on paper, I can say I ama I'm a creative I have a lot of
fabulous ideas that all deserveto be heard and brought out in
the open. I'm still overwhelmed,but now I have a positive spin
to it. Is this what I heard
Christiane Schroete (20:57):
completely, yep, flipping the switch. That's
exactly it. I think that. Let'sjust say you're walking into
your kitchen, you see all thesedirty dishes. All right, there's
two things you could think it'slike all I have to do after
plain dishes. Now I'm sooverwhelmed, the house looks
like a mess. It's a nightmare,or dirty dishes means you just
(21:21):
ate something. So there was foodin the fridge, right? It also
means that, hey, you had dishesto begin with. That's amazing in
itself, and you have a kitchen,whoa, right? So think a little
bit of like starting to break itdown, really. I what's happening
really, is that a lot of the thethoughts immediately spiral to
(21:47):
what you see in that verymoment. It's just like so bad
and we are so hard enoughitself. We need to fix it like
right now. I need to get thereand clean up those dirty dishes.
Maybe you do, sure, but at thesame time, it also is just the
outcome of something that led tothat. So maybe, if your desk is
messy, cool, but maybe that justmeans that you had a really busy
(22:10):
week, and it doesn't need to beall cleaned up in one day. Maybe
you can talk to somebody on yourphone while you're cleaning it
up with your headset on, and soyou're combining the beautiful
message you're sharing with yourfriend with cleaning up the
desk. And so you're flipping theswitch and like, you know what I
need to clean up at my desk, butlet's make this a really
positive experience by talkingto my friend about that. And so
(22:32):
cleaning the dishes, same thing.
You could put on music. Youcould talk to your family in the
kitchen while you do that. Soit's not always just like this,
oh, I have to do this. It'ssometimes like, All right, so
let's just, let's just kind ofget it done, right? It's all
right. Just getting it donedoesn't necessarily have to be
all that bad. It just basicallymeans like, how can I make the
(22:54):
best out of this right now?
BEATE CHELETTE (22:58):
Yeah, and I think that's a beautiful
spiritual approach to life ingeneral is to get away from the
I have to to the I have theprivilege to be in a home with a
kitchen with food in therefrigerator. That was an
amazing meal that we have had.
Now let's get everything readyfor the next one. So that's a
very different positive outcome.
(23:19):
Were you always this positive?
Or did you have to trainyourself? Or did you learn that?
Christiane Schroeter (23:25):
And I want to add on too. So instead of
saying I have to, I must justtry the word I get to, I get to
clean dishes because I owndishes and I have food in my
fridge. I mean, how amazing isthat? Right? Was I always this
positive? That's a really greatquestion. We are uniquely gifted
(23:46):
in certain areas. I think thatit's a muscle I had to work on
because we, I mean, it startedsmall, you know, coming back to
my petite practices, and then Ifelt it worked, and then I
trained it. And now it just it.
I pull it out when I need it soit, it doesn't necessarily mean,
if you are not a positiveperson, that you always will be
(24:09):
this Negative Nelly. It's justsomething you have to slowly
start. And I think that the themagic really starts and just
starting small, like forinstance, you could look at when
you when you go groceryshopping, they have these little
sample booth in a store. Youcould look at this on
(24:30):
opportunity. You're justsampling something, and you
totally might not like it, butyou know what? It was free
doesn't cost you anything to trypositivity. I think it's just
trying positivity, and I promiseyou that what you will receive
will be far bigger than what youget give far bigger. You will
(24:51):
feel that on the worst daypossible where you're like,
sitting there like, I can'tbelieve. If I didn't even know I
have that many dishes, how mykitchen looks like is beyond and
on that day where you maybeshare a text message to a friend
and that person doesn't haveeven have to struggle, what you
(25:12):
will get back will give you themotivation to clean up the whole
thing.
BEATE CHELETTE (25:17):
Well, I certainly, I certainly know what
it's like to have a lot ofdishes and then not have a
single dish in 24 hours, right?
It's certainly
Christiane Schroeter (25:24):
why I'm bringing this up, because I know
what you went through, and soyou totally resonate with that.
Like losing everything means allof a sudden you're like, I don't
even have any dishes.
BEATE CHELETTE (25:34):
That's a very, very strange feeling to be with
that. But I like your idea ofhow to reframe by simply
educating yourself in the small,petite steps in, you know,
following your system in movingforward. So for somebody who now
wants to learn a little bit moreabout you or read one of your
books, where do we send them? Goto my
Christiane Schroeter (25:54):
website, drchristiana.com it's all right
now. drchristiana.com, all inone word. My podcast is called
"Happy, Healthy Hustle," right?
Because we can be hustling bybeing happy and staying healthy.
And then, of course, my booksare all available on Amazon, so
grab them there. Dr. ChristianaSchroeter, that's my last name,
(26:17):
and if you have a question,reach out to me.
info@drchristiania.com I wouldlove to
BEATE CHELETTE (26:25):
help you.
Wonderful. Thank you so much.
Well, it's been a delight tohave you on the show and talking
to you about overwhelm andpositivity. So thank you so much
for being here. Thank you. Andthat is it for us today. So I
like the idea of taking petitesteps and just get it done one
(26:46):
small step at a time, instead oftrying to look at a really
daunting test task, break itdown into small steps, and with
that, I say goodbye, and untilnext time, that's it for this
episode of the business growtharchitect show, founders of the
future. If you're done playingsmall and ready to build the
future on your terms, subscribe,share and help us reach more
(27:07):
Trailblazers like you. And ifyou're serious about creating,
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schedule your uncovery sessionat uncoverysession.com lead with
vision. Move with purpose.
Create your future.
The way that I look at fear and anxiety
(00:02):
is it's great to have. Two daysago, I stood on the TED stage
and shared my talk to a few 100people. You just have to think a
little bit about why am I doingthis to change somebody's life?
Overwhelmed is writing down 15things on your to do list in the
(00:23):
morning. That's legitimatelynever what I would do. It's just
setting me up for failure. Idon't want that. Winning is not
comfortable. Business ownersdon't share enough about how
crappy some days are. I think ifyou are overwhelmed and you're
feeling fear, you just have tobecome comfortable in sharing
(00:45):
exactly those moments. Justimagine you never did it then,
like, Gosh, I wish I would havestarted.
BEATE CHELETTE (00:57):
Dr. Christiane.
How do fear and anxiety show upfor high achieving
entrepreneurs, even when on theoutside things look
Christiane Schroeter (01:05):
just great. Yeah, beautiful question.
The way that I look at fear andanxiety is a it's great to have,
right? It's not bad to be afraidof something, and it's not bad
to feel anxious about something.
The way that I coach my clientsis you just need to redirect the
(01:26):
energy into something positive.
So what? Yeah, you maybe beafraid of getting on a stage.
Two days ago, I stood on the TEDstage and shared my talk to a
few 100 people. Great. So yeah,I was afraid about that. And
definitely, you know, that wasnot something that was natural
(01:48):
to me. Just get out there andgive a 15 minute talk, but I
thought, I'm going to sharesomebody my story and change
somebody's life. And thatchanged my thinking about it. So
when you are afraid ofsomething, or you maybe you are
even anxious, just think, what'sthe what's the worst thing that
(02:09):
can happen? Everybody hasexperienced this before, but why
am I doing this? Really? I'mgetting on the stage to change
somebody's life, and even ifit's just one person's life, so
that is what you have to thinkabout. You're helping somebody
else with it. So sometimes fearand anxiety, we're just too hard
on ourselves, and we just needto don't think about ourselves,
(02:32):
but think about the others, andthen you're in the getting in
the right mindset, right thinkabout not getting on the stage.
You wouldn't change thatperson's life. So they would be
missing out. That's a pity. Geton that stage. Share your stage.
Share your voice, right? Youtalk a lot about in your work,
about overwhelm.
BEATE CHELETTE (02:50):
What does it mean? Or what is it being
overwhelmed? Is it even alegitimate feeling? Is it man
made? What is it feelingoverwhelmed? Yeah,
Christiane Schroete (03:00):
overwhelmed is writing down 15 things on
your to do list in the morning.
That's legitimately never what Iwould do. I maybe write down 15
things when I go to a grocerystore, because I do need to buy
groceries to feed my family. Butwill I accomplish 15 things that
I'm actually feeling proud of atthe end of the day, no, because
(03:20):
that means I'm just sittingthere all day and fasting and
not getting through it. It'sjust setting me up for failure.
I don't want that, so maybewrite in three things I usually
stick to one hand.
BEATE CHELETTE (03:37):
Why do we do that? Is that like an Uber
accomplishment complex thatwe're having. Why do we do that?
Why do we you? So what I'mhearing you say is, like, I'm
setting myself up for overwhelm,
Christiane Schroeter (03:50):
Yeah, unfortunately, I think so. There
are all these moving elements atthe end of the day, though, and
I frequently tell my childrentoo, is, is that really
something that matters rightnow? Will this be something I
care about in five years? And ifthe answer is no, then I go,
(04:11):
okay, maybe I shouldn't evenwant to worry about it right
now. I
BEATE CHELETTE (04:14):
kind of like that is the question, the litmus
test question, this is evengoing to be relevant in five
years, because we sometimes, Ithink, as business owners, we
put other people's well beingover our own and our family's
needs, and we don't even knowthem. It's an email that needed
to go out or a piece of contentthat was published that's going
(04:37):
to be seen or not seen bysomebody I have no idea who that
is, and for that, I didn't dosomething that would have
created an impact in my family.
Is there a psychological or amental thing that we need to
look into to help people kind ofget that straightened out in
their head on why they do it andwhat they can do instead?
Christiane Schroeter (04:57):
Well, I think it's sometimes like pure
fear. Of Missing Out right thatyou feel like not writing the
email that others didn't seeyou, or just like by not posting
off on social media, or whateverthat you felt you're missing out
on not being visible. I canhonestly tell you if you're not
posting on social media for aweek, sorry to say this, most
(05:20):
people might not even notice, ornobody, or nobody cares. Maybe
it's three people that reallycare about you, but all the
others, they're so busy lookingat all these other accounts. I
always love it when people likeI'm taking a social media break,
and I know that they do it, justto let us know we can do that
(05:42):
too. So of course, but otherwiseit's like, go for it. Just Just
do it. You don't even need totell me you're doing it. Just,
just do it.
BEATE CHELETTE (05:49):
It is really true. So you specialize in
helping people get out ofoverwhelm by giving them simple
processes. Talk to us a littlebit about what is the framework
that you're using, and how doesit help our audience?
Christiane Schroeter (06:03):
Yes, I use it for a step process that's
actually called step, right? Soyou'll be taking small steps
that lead to a big impact. Andbecause I'm from Europe, you
hear that my accent, I actuallycall the steps individual steps
are called petite practice. Sosmall, little practices, and
it's practice. It's notperfection. It's really
(06:25):
important. If you feel that youhave this big goal, whether
that's speaking on a Keynote orTEDx or writing the next book,
you have to simplify all right.
So let's take your big thing,break it down into these small
steps, and it could even beyou're writing it down on little
sticky notes, and then you'reshuffling up the sticky notes,
and you're choosing the one thatyou want to get started with.
(06:47):
You choose one, and then youhave to get started right? But
at least it's not that biganymore. And you could even make
it very dramatic, like take onebig piece of paper, write it on
there, and then cut it up intolittle modes, whatever that is.
If you're a visual learner, thatmight just work for you, and
then you have to tell othersabout it, and that's the tough
part. So others think you'rereally not doing anything,
(07:07):
because you honestly never talkabout what you do. And it
doesn't mean like, well, let metell you about my day in detail,
not like that, but more like, Ialways wanted to whatever write
a book. Others will be like, Ididn't even know that. And then
you're like, Yes, I did. Andthen it leads to the
conversation. And then peoplewill come back and like, how's
(07:27):
the book writing going? You'relike, well, well, well, let me
tell you about it. So that's theso the s simplified, the T,
tell, and then you have toexamine the E, the exam. And
like, think in your third step,a little bit like, what are you
doing that works? Are youwriting your book by writing two
pages a day? Are you writingyour book by maybe doing audio
notes when you go for walks?
(07:50):
What? What are you doing? What'swhat's moving the needle? And
then lastly, you have to praiseprogress. It could be like
you're writing two pages a day,and then you celebrate each day.
Wow, I wrote two pages. Or itcould be that you're speaking,
I'm speaking at a WritersConference next month about my
books. That's it. That's a greatthing to celebrate. So I'm
really speaking at a WritersConference, yay. And so it's
(08:13):
like you have to think a littlebit like small steps, big
impact. And not everything hasto be glamorous and amazing, but
you have to think that the mostimportant thing is just you're
moving the needle. And it doesnot have to be these 15 things
on your to do list. It couldjust be three small things.
BEATE CHELETTE (08:34):
What was your trigger moment? What was the
moment when you sat down and yousaid, I see a problem, and I
must do something about that.
I'm very
Christiane Schroeter (08:44):
much a woman of multiple hats, right?
So when I introduce myself, I'mlike, I'm a business and
wellness coach, I'm a professor,I'm an author, I'm a podcaster,
I'm also a TED speaker. I'm alsoa fitness instructor. And then
people like, how do you do that?
And I was like, well, it'sreally not magic. I mean, you
(09:06):
could do that too, any of thosethings. It's just that I do
literally just a little bit ofeverything. I don't really doubt
myself in doing it. I just doit. Just publish a book, right?
Don't need to be the next HarryPotter, but I just publish it,
you know? And so I think thatthe my secret sauce really came
(09:27):
from the fact that I actuallylistened to what people asked
me, and I didn't just talk, butI started listening to what
their problems are and what theywanted to know, and then I just
reformulated that into my uniquevalue proposition. I think you
just have to do a better job inlistening first and then
(09:48):
talking.
BEATE CHELETTE (09:50):
That is the truth. Most people don't know
how to do that because they loveto hear themselves talk all the
time. So did you know thiswasn't a problem that. People
actually wanting to do all thesethings, because it's almost
contradictory to everything elsewe hear, because they always
say, get rich. And then in theniche, or the niche, whatever
you however you want topronounce it, and you basically
(10:13):
saying the opposite. You say,Well, whatever drives you,
whether that's speaking orwriting or even fitness,
whatever makes you happy do it,and I'm going to give you the
framework to do that, is it notcontradictory to what's being
said in the market?
Christiane Schroeter (10:26):
Oh, that's a great question. I think that
for me, when I put my calendartogether, I use it a little bit
like a bouquet of flowers,right? So my flower bouquet is
really varied in the color, andthen the type of the job that I
do, right? So there's it's allthere, but each one of them
(10:49):
really sparks joy. And if I everfeel there's something in there
that doesn't work for me, I justtake it out. I'm like, You know
what? That didn't work? So Iexamine it and I take it out.
That is what helps me balance mybusiness and my wellness,
because if I were to only do onething, I would feel I'm coming
(11:11):
becoming too much focused on thesuccesses and the failures in
that one thing, and right now Ican celebrate successes from
another area of my life. It'snearly like you are at this
beautiful buffet, and it has allthese beautiful little elements
(11:32):
from all over the world, allthese little tasters that you
can try. And so I tried them,and then I'm like, I like this,
this, this, and then I put themon my plate. But it doesn't mean
that they always have to remainon my plate. I also switch them
out. So I think if you havemultiple jobs, it keeps you more
agile and flexible. Instead ofsaying, I'm just in this one
thing right here, and then ifyou switch, you're like, well,
(11:54):
now I have all my business, andI'm kind of locked in here, so
it's really hard to get out ofit. And it's like traveling
through Europe, all thedifferent languages, all the
different culture, where I'mfeeling like I'm wanting to be
more in tuned to tryingdifferent tasks and figuring out
which ones work for me. I
BEATE CHELETTE (12:13):
like that a lot.
I like this journey of yourbusiness journey, or your life
life and business journey tocompare to a trip, because
doesn't make the trip to Europeeven better if you're not just
in Italy or Paris, but if yousaw Italy and Paris and France,
maybe or Portugal. So I feel thesame way. I do believe that we
go through reiterations. I canstand being boxed in to a
(12:36):
particular niche and then havingto do that, because I think life
is a series of transformationsthat we are going through. And
as we're going through thesetransformations, we get a
different skill set. And thenwhen we have this different
skill set, wouldn't we want totell other people about how to
(12:56):
master that, just in case theymight want the same as we do,
right? So I think it's abeautiful, beautiful way this
works. So how does thisapplication of your step system
of a petite practice? How doesthat now change someone's
trajectory, satisfaction,happiness, what happens to
(13:19):
someone who simplifies andexamines and then takes the
different steps to to executewhat's the outcome that they
actually
Christiane Schroeter (13:32):
get started on their goals before
some invisible deadline you setyourself? I think the majority
of people that I talk to arelike, yeah, eventually I'm going
to write a book. Then Isometimes challenge them, and
I'm like, when is eventually?
It's like, some days, well,that's not even on the calendar,
you know? So then I asked them,they're like, well, when the
(13:55):
kids leave the house, when Iretire, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And there's like these,the future deadline is always
very convenient and comfortable,because you don't want to become
uncomfortable today. So I alwayssay, if you make a plan and you
(14:15):
again those sticky notes, pickone and start today. Before you
change your mind to start, ifyou want to run marathons, you
always wanted to run themarathon, go to the store and
buy some shoes today. Step oneshoes, right? Good. Step one,
done. And so for me, I think themain thing is just that the step
(14:37):
system actually gets the wheelsgoing, and it makes you more
aware that life is finite, andthat this moment of I'm going to
start doing this thing in thefuture might never happen. And
you don't want to look back andthink, gosh, I just wish I would
have gotten ready to run them.
(15:00):
Marathon, and now I can'tanymore. What a big bummer,
right? I mean, that's reallysomething that would be so sad,
and this is really importanttoo. But I see with a lot of my
clients, let's just say podcast.
They're like, Oh, I always wantto start a podcast, and I'm
like, help them get ready. Andthen all of a sudden, they're
like, You know what, Christiana,I actually don't like it. It's
(15:20):
like, how amazing is that? Thatis a celebration right now.
Because just imagine you neverdid it, and then, like, Gosh, I
wish I would have started apodcast, but doing it and
figuring out it's not great,that's wonderful, because at
least you figure it out it's notgreat.
BEATE CHELETTE (15:41):
I always say that our job is to get people to
an intersection. There's only aleft and a right and a 711 so
you can either, you can eitherbe in the 711 eat hot dogs and
Slurpees, or you make a left, oryou make a right. There is
literally no other option. I'mlike you when somebody adamantly
(16:02):
recognizes that they don't wantsomething that's as much as a
celebration as we help them tofigure out what it is that they
do want. Because that is, Ithink, the paralysis a lot of
people experiencing. So I wantto talk about that a little bit.
A lot of people say I want toget out of overwhelm. I want to
get stuff done. I want to bemore productive. I want to get
(16:24):
out of fear. But they're stuckyear after year after year. How
do we help them get out of that?
Christiane Schroeter (16:32):
Well, first things first is, obviously
what you're doing right now is,is not really working. And I
think that's the first thing isto step away from it and try
something different. So I triedthat. I signed up with this
coach, I bought this book, I gota treadmill, blah, blah, blah,
(16:53):
you know. And so it's like, didyou actually use it? Did you
actually work with that coach,right? Yeah, Oh, you didn't
okay. So I mean, the first thingis, of course, you need to
commit to it. I always tell myclients, you know what, winning
is not comfortable. When we lookat the Olympic Games and they
look so happy and runningthrough the finish line, but
(17:13):
everything that led to thatstage not comfortable. There
were many mornings where theydidn't want to get up and train,
and many business owners don'tshare enough about how crappy
some days are. I think if youare overwhelmed and you're
feeling fear, you just have tobecome comfortable in sharing
exactly those moments to becomevulnerable means that you're
(17:38):
actually starting to step intoyour unique value proposition,
because you are starting toshare what others are feeling.
And if you become vulnerable andyou share your struggles right
now alone, that already feelsgood. It's kind of like poof got
that out of my system, right?
That is an immense service toothers, because we're all
(17:58):
feeling it, but just notpretending that everything is
good, but saying I'm reallystruggling with that would
BEATE CHELETTE (18:07):
already be a service to others. And then how
do we help them with thisanxiety, though? Because once
they in it, and I think in a lotof the spiritual teachings, we
hear that if you allow thereality of it to be spoken into
like you manifest by speakingabout it. So if I were to admit
(18:31):
that I'm overwhelmed or I don'tknow where to start, am I not
doing the opposite of whatspirituality tells me? Am I not
manifesting it? How do youmanage that? So
Christiane Schroeter (18:40):
you can write down all these words,
anxiety, fear, overwhelm on oneside. And you could even have
this table on your desk. And infact, in my books, actually, I
have a table like that where Iteach you write down all these
words, and then there is anerror that kind of flips the
(19:04):
switch from that word tosomething that's more positive.
So you need to figure out allright, so I feel overwhelmed.
Okay? On the bright side, itmeans I have a lot going on. I
could be bored and have nothinggoing on, so it's kind of nice.
I have a lot of different ideas.
I'm actually a creativeindividual, so being
(19:26):
overwhelmed, it's not bad atall. Maybe I should write, write
down all these different thingsthat I'm thinking about, and
some of those might just beoverwhelming me, because they
are there, but they are kind ofirrelevant today. Maybe they're
interesting in five years,right? So the first thing is
just getting it out of yourhead, whether that's writing it
(19:46):
down, whether that's maybeverbalizing it to somebody, or
whether that's just steppingaway from the problem. But I
think that you need toappreciate sometimes that
overwhelming. Is also somethingthat humans are uniquely gifted
with, because it just means thatyour mind goes in a million
directions, but you just have tothink a little bit about what
(20:09):
matters right now today.
BEATE CHELETTE (20:12):
So what I'm hearing you say and tell me if
I'm right the way I understandthis, but you are saying it is
okay to actually admit thesedeep fears and thoughts that
you're having, even if they areappearing on the outside as
negative, get it out, and thenfind a way to reframe that into
something that has a morepositive connotation. So what
(20:34):
you said is, I could be sayingI'm overwhelmed, but if I look
at this on paper, I can say I ama I'm a creative I have a lot of
fabulous ideas that all deserveto be heard and brought out in
the open. I'm still overwhelmed,but now I have a positive spin
to it. Is this what I heard
Christiane Schroete (20:57):
completely, yep, flipping the switch. That's
exactly it. I think that. Let'sjust say you're walking into
your kitchen, you see all thesedirty dishes. All right, there's
two things you could think it'slike all I have to do after
plain dishes. Now I'm sooverwhelmed, the house looks
like a mess. It's a nightmare,or dirty dishes means you just
(21:21):
ate something. So there was foodin the fridge, right? It also
means that, hey, you had dishesto begin with. That's amazing in
itself, and you have a kitchen,whoa, right? So think a little
bit of like starting to break itdown, really. I what's happening
really, is that a lot of the thethoughts immediately spiral to
(21:47):
what you see in that verymoment. It's just like so bad
and we are so hard enoughitself. We need to fix it like
right now. I need to get thereand clean up those dirty dishes.
Maybe you do, sure, but at thesame time, it also is just the
outcome of something that led tothat. So maybe, if your desk is
messy, cool, but maybe that justmeans that you had a really busy
(22:10):
week, and it doesn't need to beall cleaned up in one day. Maybe
you can talk to somebody on yourphone while you're cleaning it
up with your headset on, and soyou're combining the beautiful
message you're sharing with yourfriend with cleaning up the
desk. And so you're flipping theswitch and like, you know what I
need to clean up at my desk, butlet's make this a really
positive experience by talkingto my friend about that. And so
(22:32):
cleaning the dishes, same thing.
You could put on music. Youcould talk to your family in the
kitchen while you do that. Soit's not always just like this,
oh, I have to do this. It'ssometimes like, All right, so
let's just, let's just kind ofget it done, right? It's all
right. Just getting it donedoesn't necessarily have to be
all that bad. It just basicallymeans like, how can I make the
(22:54):
best out of this right now?
BEATE CHELETTE (22:58):
Yeah, and I think that's a beautiful
spiritual approach to life ingeneral is to get away from the
I have to to the I have theprivilege to be in a home with a
kitchen with food in therefrigerator. That was an
amazing meal that we have had.
Now let's get everything readyfor the next one. So that's a
very different positive outcome.
(23:19):
Were you always this positive?
Or did you have to trainyourself? Or did you learn that?
Christiane Schroeter (23:25):
And I want to add on too. So instead of
saying I have to, I must justtry the word I get to, I get to
clean dishes because I owndishes and I have food in my
fridge. I mean, how amazing isthat? Right? Was I always this
positive? That's a really greatquestion. We are uniquely gifted
(23:46):
in certain areas. I think thatit's a muscle I had to work on
because we, I mean, it startedsmall, you know, coming back to
my petite practices, and then Ifelt it worked, and then I
trained it. And now it just it.
I pull it out when I need it soit, it doesn't necessarily mean,
if you are not a positiveperson, that you always will be
(24:09):
this Negative Nelly. It's justsomething you have to slowly
start. And I think that the themagic really starts and just
starting small, like forinstance, you could look at when
you when you go groceryshopping, they have these little
sample booth in a store. Youcould look at this on
(24:30):
opportunity. You're justsampling something, and you
totally might not like it, butyou know what? It was free
doesn't cost you anything to trypositivity. I think it's just
trying positivity, and I promiseyou that what you will receive
will be far bigger than what youget give far bigger. You will
(24:51):
feel that on the worst daypossible where you're like,
sitting there like, I can'tbelieve. If I didn't even know I
have that many dishes, how mykitchen looks like is beyond and
on that day where you maybeshare a text message to a friend
and that person doesn't haveeven have to struggle, what you
(25:12):
will get back will give you themotivation to clean up the whole
thing.
BEATE CHELETTE (25:17):
Well, I certainly, I certainly know what
it's like to have a lot ofdishes and then not have a
single dish in 24 hours, right?
It's certainly
Christiane Schroeter (25:24):
why I'm bringing this up, because I know
what you went through, and soyou totally resonate with that.
Like losing everything means allof a sudden you're like, I don't
even have any dishes.
BEATE CHELETTE (25:34):
That's a very, very strange feeling to be with
that. But I like your idea ofhow to reframe by simply
educating yourself in the small,petite steps in, you know,
following your system in movingforward. So for somebody who now
wants to learn a little bit moreabout you or read one of your
books, where do we send them? Goto my
Christiane Schroeter (25:54):
website, drchristiana.com it's all right
now. drchristiana.com, all inone word. My podcast is called
"Happy, Healthy Hustle," right?
Because we can be hustling bybeing happy and staying healthy.
And then, of course, my booksare all available on Amazon, so
grab them there. Dr. ChristianaSchroeter, that's my last name,
(26:17):
and if you have a question,reach out to me.
info@drchristiania.com I wouldlove to
BEATE CHELETTE (26:25):
help you.
Wonderful. Thank you so much.
Well, it's been a delight tohave you on the show and talking
to you about overwhelm andpositivity. So thank you so much
for being here. Thank you. Andthat is it for us today. So I
like the idea of taking petitesteps and just get it done one
(26:46):
small step at a time, instead oftrying to look at a really
daunting test task, break itdown into small steps, and with
that, I say goodbye, and untilnext time, that's it for this
episode of the business growtharchitect show, founders of the
future. If you're done playingsmall and ready to build the
future on your terms, subscribe,share and help us reach more
(27:07):
Trailblazers like you. And ifyou're serious about creating,
growing and scaling a businessthat's aligned with who you are,
schedule your uncovery sessionat uncoverysession.com lead with
vision. Move with purpose.
Create your future.
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