Are you craving a slower, more intentional summer — but find yourself buried in chaos the moment June hits?
Most of us imagine summer as a season of rest, but without a clear plan, our calendars fill up with obligations before we even realize it. If your summer days keep slipping through your fingers, this episode delivers the exact strategy to reclaim your time.
In this episode, you will:
- Discover the 3-step Calendar Clean-Out Method to create space, sanity, and simplicity each week.
- Learn how to categorize your time (Locked, Open, and Off-Duty) to make smarter decisions.
- Find out why estimating task time can transform your weekly productivity — and your peace of mind.
Listen now to learn how to design a summer schedule that gives you both relaxation and results — without burning out or missing out.
Featured on the podcast:
Sign up for The Good Life group coaching
Calendar Clean Out
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.
Send Me a Message - Have a question, comment, or just want to say hi? Message me here, I'd love to chat!
Work With Me - Interested in working with me 1-on-1, taking a class, or joining one of my coaching groups? Message me here to get the scoop.
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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...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michelle Gauthier (00:00):
Just like budgeting your money if you
don't plan your time, it justgets spent by accident and
suddenly it's all gone.
You're listening to OverwhelmedWorking Woman, the podcast that
helps you be more calm and moreproductive by doing less.
I'm your host, MichelleGauthier, a former Overwhelmed
(00:21):
Working Woman and current lifecoach.
On this show, we unpack thestress and pressure that today's
working woman experiences, andin each episode you'll get a
strategy to bring more calm,ease and relaxation to your life
.
Hey, friend, tell you what it'ssummer in my house, and here's
(00:42):
how you know.
Know, because I just had to askthree children to get out of my
office so that I could recordthis episode.
And I am recording this betweentaking my 14 year old to
Starbucks and then later drivingher to a pool party.
So they are living their bestlife.
Meanwhile, we all of us, Ibelieve want our summer to be
(01:02):
different than the rest of theyear.
We want it to feel relaxed andeasy and open.
I do, anyway, but that doesn'thappen by accident.
In fact, the only way to trulyenjoy the slower pace of summer,
or to make summer have a slowerpace, is to intentionally plan
it that way.
So if you have had summers inthe past where you really wanted
(01:23):
it to feel relaxing and it justabsolutely was not.
I have got a great method foryou to try.
Today, I'm going to walk youthrough a simple strategy that I
use every single week thecalendar clean out method.
It's the perfect way to protectyour time and reduce your
stress and make space for thekind of summer you actually want
to have.
You really don't need morehours.
The hours are neutral.
(01:44):
We have the exact same amountevery week.
You just need a better way todecide what fits.
When you listen, today, youwill learn a method that could
change the course of your entiresummer.
It's called the calendar cleanout method and it has three
steps.
I'm going to give you thedetails on each one.
Number one you're going to lookat your calendar, see what is
(02:05):
already blocked or locked in andwhere you have open time.
Then you're going to create orreview your to-do list and give
an estimated time for each oneof those things.
And then the third step, whichI'm going to give you the full
scoop on, is where the magichappens.
That's the one where youoverlay those two things
together and create a realisticschedule for yourself so that
(02:28):
you do not feel overwhelmed.
You instead feel in control andproductive, even if it's summer
.
Before I jump into all thedetails on that, though, I
wanted to let you know thatgroup coaching registration is
still open.
I am going to close groupregistration this week, so if
you are interested, click on thelink in the show notes to get
(02:51):
all the information, all thedetails about what we do in
group coaching, and set up aquick 15 minute consultation
with me to see if it's a greatfit for you.
Okay, let's jump in.
As you're listening to thepodcast today, I'm following
along and thinking oh, I hope Ican remember all these steps.
I just want to tell you that Idid create a downloadable PDF
(03:12):
that has all these steps in itso that when you're ready to
plan your week and maybe you'relistening to this and you want
to do that right now you can gograb that document that will
guide you through exactly how todo this calendar clean out
method, that document that willguide you through exactly how to
do this calendar clean outmethod.
The first thing you're going todo is you're going to review
what is already on your calendar.
So these are the things thatare meetings, doctor's
(03:33):
appointments, kid logistics thatyou are involved in.
For me it's coaching calls orgroup coaching anything that's
already on the calendar wherethat time is already spoken for.
Then I want you to think aboutbreaking down your time in your
mind into three types of time.
The first type is locked time.
(03:55):
If you have a teenager, youknow how they say I'm locking in
.
This is like the locked in timethings that have to happen and
they have to happen at a veryspecific time.
So for me, this would be acoaching session.
Both I and another person havethis time on our calendar.
It's locked.
I'm not going to be moving that.
It could also be something likeif you have to drive your kid
(04:15):
to a camp before nine o'clock inthe morning, or for me,
workouts go into this lock time.
I choose.
I don't work out the same timeevery week, but I choose on
Sunday which times I'm going tobe working out and I put those
on my calendar as locked time.
So normally, if you look atyour calendar, you'll see a lot
of these things on there already.
(04:36):
But what I want you to do rightnow is think about what do you
have in the summer, if anythingthat is locked time that you
don't have the rest of the yearand is that on your calendar?
So an example for me is that mydaughter works at the barn
where she takes her horselessons, and she's only 14, so
she can't drive.
So when she has to work and infact before she can even get on
(04:59):
the schedule, she has to ask meif she can do it, because I need
to block a half hour of my timeeven more, really, 45 minutes
of my time to drop her off andthen get back home and then pick
her up and get back home.
So both of those things have tobe planned on my calendar.
So that's an example of lockedtime where I I really in a
(05:24):
normal week during the fall orsomething I wouldn't even have
that on my calendar.
Think about what that is foryou that could be new for the
summer.
That needs to actually show upon your calendar and put that on
your calendar.
The second category of time isopen time.
So this is for flexible tasksthat matter, but the timing of
them isn't super important.
So, for example, if you need torun some errands, I always use
(05:45):
the example of returns, becauseI always have returns.
I'm always shopping online andreturning things.
So for me that could look likeerrands.
It could look like my.
I just bought my daughter abracelet and it broke the second
she opened it.
So we need to go back to thestore and she's going to pick a
different one.
Things like that that don'thave a very specific time.
(06:06):
From a work perspective, for methis looks like creating time to
write and record a podcast.
I can really do that anytimethat I have open that's not
already locked.
So what do you have in thatopen time category and then
think about is that actually onyour calendar?
I'll tell you a tip that I doIf you use a real planner.
(06:28):
I love digital stuff, butthere's something about using a
real planner that just reallyhelps me.
I write on little post-it noteflags.
I write like write podcastnumber one, write podcast number
two, and then I physically movethem around as I need to.
So I just have them on there asopen time and I can put them in
wherever I want.
(06:48):
If you use a digital calendar,you can obviously just change
the time and maybe make those acertain color.
And then the third type of timeis off duty time.
This is where you're justrecharging, having fun, resting,
doing hobbies, whatever youwant to do.
For me, this is basicallybecause I just work a
traditional schedule.
For me, any night during thesummer where we don't have
(07:10):
locked time like a specificevent, it's pretty much off duty
time.
In fact, last night we playedTaboo.
I haven't played Taboo inforever.
That is such a fun game.
So once you've really taken alook at your calendar and seen
not only what's on there thelock times but also try to
account for the open time andthen just think about your
(07:30):
off-duty time.
For me, I just leave that timeas white space, but if you want
to mark it on your calendar, ifthat feels good to you, you
should definitely do that.
Then you pull out your to-dolist.
Think about your to-do list aseverything that's trying to get
your attention and wants to havea place on your schedule.
Make a full list of everythingthat's calling for your
(07:51):
attention, both personal andprofessional.
If you don't have this listgoing right now, this might take
you a little bit to do, but ifyou get in the habit of doing
this every week which I superrecommend it's quick because you
can just look and see whatdidn't make it on the schedule
the week before add anything new, and it can be a really quick
activity.
(08:11):
Once you have a full list ofwhat's on your to-do list also
known as what's trying to get aspot on your schedule, like it's
fighting for a spot on yourschedule then I want you to do a
high level estimate of time forthose items and you can group
things together if you want toBe real and be generous about
how long things are going totake.
(08:32):
I am a famous underestimatorand I know this about myself.
What I have learned in owning abusiness that things that I
think will take one hour willdefinitely take two hours, and
if I think something's going totake four hours, it's probably
going to take more like eight.
So be generous with your timeestimates for how much you think
things are going to take, andthen we're just going to take
more like eight.
So be generous with your timeestimates for how much you think
things are going to take, andthen we're just going to do some
(08:54):
simple math.
So now you're going to takeyour already existing calendar
that has everything blocked offthat needs to be blocked off,
all of your lock time, any opentime that you've chosen to put
on there and then see how manyhours you have left.
I just did this with a client ona session the other day and she
had this huge to-do list andshe estimated her time for it
(09:15):
and she had about 50 hours ofthings that she wanted to do for
the week and when we lookedthrough and saw how much space
there was on her calendar forher to do these things, she had
five hours.
So that is literally 10x.
Her to-do list contained 10times the amount of things that
she could actually accomplish ina week.
If you don't take time to dothis exercise just every week,
(09:36):
you're going to think I didn'tget enough done.
Why am I not getting anythingdone?
Why did this 50 hours worth ofstuff keep staying on here?
It's because you literallydon't have time for it.
So then you have to decide what?
How much time do you have left?
Let's just say for an examplethat in any given week I have 25
(09:56):
hours of locked time.
Then I have 10 hours of opentime where I'm doing some other
things.
So I have five hours left thatI can do things on my to do list
.
I'm going to go ahead andchoose those based on importance
for that week.
Usually, I suggest, if you havea big old to-do list, just look
at your top three schedule thefirst one, first, second, one
second, obviously third, onethird and then just see what is
(10:20):
left over.
This is the magic, you guys.
This is like where the rubbermeets the road, because if you
don't make the decision here andprioritize and are realistic
about how long things take,you're going to become
overwhelmed and you're not goingto have any flexibility in your
schedule.
But if you are realistic andreally put the amount of things
(10:40):
that you can accomplish in aweek on your calendar, you're
going to feel so much betterbecause you're going to be
successful.
You're going to execute on thethings that you have actually
put on the calendar for yourselfand instead of thinking, why
didn't I get anything done?
At the end of the week, you cango back.
I like to just check stuff off,even on my calendar and my
(11:00):
planner.
I'm like look at that, Iexecuted on all the stuff I put.
That doesn't always happen, bythe way.
Sometimes I have to push thingsto another week or move the
time on them or something, butit feels really good to look
back when you have actuallythoughtfully planned your week.
So if you desire to have a morerelaxing summer, the way to do
it is actually to get strategicand specific about your planning
(11:23):
.
I highly recommend that you trythis method.
There's a link in the shownotes where you can get the
calendar clean out worksheet.
It will walk you through, stepby step, what I just described
to you, and if you try thismethod and your week isn't
better, I don't know what I'llgive you a million dollars.
Seriously, it will be so muchbetter just to try it.
I really want you to have agood summer and I want you to
(11:45):
feel relaxed and productive atthe same time, so give it a
whirl.
If you have ever gottenanything from this podcast that
was beneficial to you, would youplease leave a review?
It would mean so much to me ifyou would take the time to do
that.
Thank you so much and have afantastic week.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
(12:09):
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegauthier.
com.
See you next week.
Just like budgeting your money if you
don't plan your time, it justgets spent by accident and
suddenly it's all gone.
You're listening to OverwhelmedWorking Woman, the podcast that
helps you be more calm and moreproductive by doing less.
I'm your host, MichelleGauthier, a former Overwhelmed
(00:21):
Working Woman and current lifecoach.
On this show, we unpack thestress and pressure that today's
working woman experiences, andin each episode you'll get a
strategy to bring more calm,ease and relaxation to your life
.
Hey, friend, tell you what it'ssummer in my house, and here's
(00:42):
how you know.
Know, because I just had to askthree children to get out of my
office so that I could recordthis episode.
And I am recording this betweentaking my 14 year old to
Starbucks and then later drivingher to a pool party.
So they are living their bestlife.
Meanwhile, we all of us, Ibelieve want our summer to be
(01:02):
different than the rest of theyear.
We want it to feel relaxed andeasy and open.
I do, anyway, but that doesn'thappen by accident.
In fact, the only way to trulyenjoy the slower pace of summer,
or to make summer have a slowerpace, is to intentionally plan
it that way.
So if you have had summers inthe past where you really wanted
(01:23):
it to feel relaxing and it justabsolutely was not.
I have got a great method foryou to try.
Today, I'm going to walk youthrough a simple strategy that I
use every single week thecalendar clean out method.
It's the perfect way to protectyour time and reduce your
stress and make space for thekind of summer you actually want
to have.
You really don't need morehours.
The hours are neutral.
(01:44):
We have the exact same amountevery week.
You just need a better way todecide what fits.
When you listen, today, youwill learn a method that could
change the course of your entiresummer.
It's called the calendar cleanout method and it has three
steps.
I'm going to give you thedetails on each one.
Number one you're going to lookat your calendar, see what is
(02:05):
already blocked or locked in andwhere you have open time.
Then you're going to create orreview your to-do list and give
an estimated time for each oneof those things.
And then the third step, whichI'm going to give you the full
scoop on, is where the magichappens.
That's the one where youoverlay those two things
together and create a realisticschedule for yourself so that
(02:28):
you do not feel overwhelmed.
You instead feel in control andproductive, even if it's summer
.
Before I jump into all thedetails on that, though, I
wanted to let you know thatgroup coaching registration is
still open.
I am going to close groupregistration this week, so if
you are interested, click on thelink in the show notes to get
(02:51):
all the information, all thedetails about what we do in
group coaching, and set up aquick 15 minute consultation
with me to see if it's a greatfit for you.
Okay, let's jump in.
As you're listening to thepodcast today, I'm following
along and thinking oh, I hope Ican remember all these steps.
I just want to tell you that Idid create a downloadable PDF
(03:12):
that has all these steps in itso that when you're ready to
plan your week and maybe you'relistening to this and you want
to do that right now you can gograb that document that will
guide you through exactly how todo this calendar clean out
method, that document that willguide you through exactly how to
do this calendar clean outmethod.
The first thing you're going todo is you're going to review
what is already on your calendar.
So these are the things thatare meetings, doctor's
(03:33):
appointments, kid logistics thatyou are involved in.
For me it's coaching calls orgroup coaching anything that's
already on the calendar wherethat time is already spoken for.
Then I want you to think aboutbreaking down your time in your
mind into three types of time.
The first type is locked time.
(03:55):
If you have a teenager, youknow how they say I'm locking in
.
This is like the locked in timethings that have to happen and
they have to happen at a veryspecific time.
So for me, this would be acoaching session.
Both I and another person havethis time on our calendar.
It's locked.
I'm not going to be moving that.
It could also be something likeif you have to drive your kid
(04:15):
to a camp before nine o'clock inthe morning, or for me,
workouts go into this lock time.
I choose.
I don't work out the same timeevery week, but I choose on
Sunday which times I'm going tobe working out and I put those
on my calendar as locked time.
So normally, if you look atyour calendar, you'll see a lot
of these things on there already.
(04:36):
But what I want you to do rightnow is think about what do you
have in the summer, if anythingthat is locked time that you
don't have the rest of the yearand is that on your calendar?
So an example for me is that mydaughter works at the barn
where she takes her horselessons, and she's only 14, so
she can't drive.
So when she has to work and infact before she can even get on
(04:59):
the schedule, she has to ask meif she can do it, because I need
to block a half hour of my timeeven more, really, 45 minutes
of my time to drop her off andthen get back home and then pick
her up and get back home.
So both of those things have tobe planned on my calendar.
So that's an example of lockedtime where I I really in a
(05:24):
normal week during the fall orsomething I wouldn't even have
that on my calendar.
Think about what that is foryou that could be new for the
summer.
That needs to actually show upon your calendar and put that on
your calendar.
The second category of time isopen time.
So this is for flexible tasksthat matter, but the timing of
them isn't super important.
So, for example, if you need torun some errands, I always use
(05:45):
the example of returns, becauseI always have returns.
I'm always shopping online andreturning things.
So for me that could look likeerrands.
It could look like my.
I just bought my daughter abracelet and it broke the second
she opened it.
So we need to go back to thestore and she's going to pick a
different one.
Things like that that don'thave a very specific time.
(06:06):
From a work perspective, for methis looks like creating time to
write and record a podcast.
I can really do that anytimethat I have open that's not
already locked.
So what do you have in thatopen time category and then
think about is that actually onyour calendar?
I'll tell you a tip that I doIf you use a real planner.
(06:28):
I love digital stuff, butthere's something about using a
real planner that just reallyhelps me.
I write on little post-it noteflags.
I write like write podcastnumber one, write podcast number
two, and then I physically movethem around as I need to.
So I just have them on there asopen time and I can put them in
wherever I want.
(06:48):
If you use a digital calendar,you can obviously just change
the time and maybe make those acertain color.
And then the third type of timeis off duty time.
This is where you're justrecharging, having fun, resting,
doing hobbies, whatever youwant to do.
For me, this is basicallybecause I just work a
traditional schedule.
For me, any night during thesummer where we don't have
(07:10):
locked time like a specificevent, it's pretty much off duty
time.
In fact, last night we playedTaboo.
I haven't played Taboo inforever.
That is such a fun game.
So once you've really taken alook at your calendar and seen
not only what's on there thelock times but also try to
account for the open time andthen just think about your
(07:30):
off-duty time.
For me, I just leave that timeas white space, but if you want
to mark it on your calendar, ifthat feels good to you, you
should definitely do that.
Then you pull out your to-dolist.
Think about your to-do list aseverything that's trying to get
your attention and wants to havea place on your schedule.
Make a full list of everythingthat's calling for your
(07:51):
attention, both personal andprofessional.
If you don't have this listgoing right now, this might take
you a little bit to do, but ifyou get in the habit of doing
this every week which I superrecommend it's quick because you
can just look and see whatdidn't make it on the schedule
the week before add anything new, and it can be a really quick
activity.
(08:11):
Once you have a full list ofwhat's on your to-do list also
known as what's trying to get aspot on your schedule, like it's
fighting for a spot on yourschedule then I want you to do a
high level estimate of time forthose items and you can group
things together if you want toBe real and be generous about
how long things are going totake.
(08:32):
I am a famous underestimatorand I know this about myself.
What I have learned in owning abusiness that things that I
think will take one hour willdefinitely take two hours, and
if I think something's going totake four hours, it's probably
going to take more like eight.
So be generous with your timeestimates for how much you think
things are going to take, andthen we're just going to take
more like eight.
So be generous with your timeestimates for how much you think
things are going to take, andthen we're just going to do some
(08:54):
simple math.
So now you're going to takeyour already existing calendar
that has everything blocked offthat needs to be blocked off,
all of your lock time, any opentime that you've chosen to put
on there and then see how manyhours you have left.
I just did this with a client ona session the other day and she
had this huge to-do list andshe estimated her time for it
(09:15):
and she had about 50 hours ofthings that she wanted to do for
the week and when we lookedthrough and saw how much space
there was on her calendar forher to do these things, she had
five hours.
So that is literally 10x.
Her to-do list contained 10times the amount of things that
she could actually accomplish ina week.
If you don't take time to dothis exercise just every week,
(09:36):
you're going to think I didn'tget enough done.
Why am I not getting anythingdone?
Why did this 50 hours worth ofstuff keep staying on here?
It's because you literallydon't have time for it.
So then you have to decide what?
How much time do you have left?
Let's just say for an examplethat in any given week I have 25
(09:56):
hours of locked time.
Then I have 10 hours of opentime where I'm doing some other
things.
So I have five hours left thatI can do things on my to do list
.
I'm going to go ahead andchoose those based on importance
for that week.
Usually, I suggest, if you havea big old to-do list, just look
at your top three schedule thefirst one, first, second, one
second, obviously third, onethird and then just see what is
(10:20):
left over.
This is the magic, you guys.
This is like where the rubbermeets the road, because if you
don't make the decision here andprioritize and are realistic
about how long things take,you're going to become
overwhelmed and you're not goingto have any flexibility in your
schedule.
But if you are realistic andreally put the amount of things
(10:40):
that you can accomplish in aweek on your calendar, you're
going to feel so much betterbecause you're going to be
successful.
You're going to execute on thethings that you have actually
put on the calendar for yourselfand instead of thinking, why
didn't I get anything done?
At the end of the week, you cango back.
I like to just check stuff off,even on my calendar and my
(11:00):
planner.
I'm like look at that, Iexecuted on all the stuff I put.
That doesn't always happen, bythe way.
Sometimes I have to push thingsto another week or move the
time on them or something, butit feels really good to look
back when you have actuallythoughtfully planned your week.
So if you desire to have a morerelaxing summer, the way to do
it is actually to get strategicand specific about your planning
(11:23):
.
I highly recommend that you trythis method.
There's a link in the shownotes where you can get the
calendar clean out worksheet.
It will walk you through, stepby step, what I just described
to you, and if you try thismethod and your week isn't
better, I don't know what I'llgive you a million dollars.
Seriously, it will be so muchbetter just to try it.
I really want you to have agood summer and I want you to
(11:45):
feel relaxed and productive atthe same time, so give it a
whirl.
If you have ever gottenanything from this podcast that
was beneficial to you, would youplease leave a review?
It would mean so much to me ifyou would take the time to do
that.
Thank you so much and have afantastic week.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
(12:09):
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegauthier.
com.
See you next week.
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