Do you ever wonder why your calendar is packed, your inbox is overflowing, and yet you still feel behind?
In this episode, Michelle reveals the surprising truth—your overwhelm isn’t caused by your schedule or your workload. It’s your mindset. Through a fun five-question quiz, she shows how your thoughts shape your feelings, your productivity, and ultimately your results.
By listening, you’ll discover:
- How to catch sneaky thoughts that quietly drain your energy and confidence
- The mindset shift that instantly changes how you experience stress
- Practical steps to reframe negative thinking so you can feel calmer and more in control
Hit play now to learn how shifting your thoughts—not your to-do list—can transform your week into one filled with clarity and calm.
Featured on the podcast
Sign up for the Declutter Challenge
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!
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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):
It's not your calendar, it's not your inbox,
it's your mindset.
It always goes back to yourmindset.
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
(00:20):
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, how's it going?
I hope you're having a greatweek.
(00:40):
Today I did something a littlebit fun.
I asked AI to listen to all ofmy podcasts.
They're like well, this is 175.
So there are lots of them nowand I said listen to all my
podcast episodes and summarizethe overall themes of what I
teach or things that I say a lot, and there were a bunch of
takeaways, but the number onetheme that came back was mindset
(01:04):
.
Specifically, it said the powerof managing your thoughts to
reduce overwhelm and improveproductivity.
If you've been a podcastlistener for a while, you're
probably shaking your head nowand thinking, yep, that sounds
about right.
That makes it into almost everyepisode and it's really at the
core of what I teach my clientsand how I teach them to change
(01:24):
their lives and stop feelingoverwhelmed.
So that made a lot of sense tome, and I decided for this
podcast this week to turn itinto something a little bit fun
and to create a quiz for youthat we're going to do on this
podcast episode.
Even if you're a first timelistener, stick with me, because
you'll be able to totallyfollow along and you might learn
(01:44):
something about your own brainand about mindfulness that you
didn't know before too.
If you have been a listener fora while or did coaching with me,
you're probably going to nailthis pop quiz that we're having
today.
So here's what I'm gonna do I'mgonna ask you a few quick
questions, give you a second tothink about your answer and then
, of course, I'll give you theanswer.
It's going to be a shortepisode.
(02:06):
It's just five questions.
It's going to be fun and it'sgoing to be a great reminder or,
if you haven't heard thisbefore, if you haven't learned
much about mindfulness before, agreat starter to get you
started on the path of how muchmindfulness can change your life
.
Also, one other funny thing whenI first asked it what do I say
all the time on the podcast.
The two things I say the mostare hi, friend, which I think I
(02:28):
say at the beginning of everyepisode, and then, if you
enjoyed today's podcast, pleaseleave me a review.
So apparently those are twothings that I say the most often
, so I guess you're probablyused to hearing me say that too.
But it's true, if you enjoythis episode or any episode of
the podcast, it would be amazingif you would leave a review,
because we just got bumped up.
It's been in the top 2% of thepodcast for about a year.
(02:51):
It just got bumped up to top1.5%.
So it is really working.
You guys are all listening,sharing this with your friends,
leaving ratings and reviews, andour percentile friends leaving
ratings and reviews and ourpercentile.
So that is top 1.5% of podcasts, of 3.6 million podcasts in the
whole world.
So thank you very much toeveryone who has listened and
(03:13):
written a review.
Even though I've said it 700times, thank you for those who
actually did it.
I appreciate it so much.
Okay, let's get into our funquiz.
So question number one is, whatcreates your feelings?
So, for example, if you'refeeling overwhelmed or stressed
or joyful, what created thatfeeling?
(03:36):
The answer is your thoughts.
So, for example, if we'rethinking about your to-do list
and you look at your to-do listand you feel overwhelmed, we
know that it's not the to-dolist that's making you feel
overwhelmed, it's your thoughtsabout the to-do list.
(03:59):
So there's just that littlestep in between.
We feel like it's the to-dolist, but really it's your
thoughts about it.
A thought like, "this isimpossible, creates panic or
overwhelm.
A thought like one thing at atime creates calm.
So it's the same list.
It's not the to-do list, it's adifferent mindset that gets a
(04:19):
totally different outcome.
Okay, keep going here on thequiz.
True or false?
If a thought is in your head,it must be true.
I hope everyone's yelling outin their car wherever you're
listening.
False, this is false.
Your brain serves up 60,000plus thoughts a day and most are
(04:44):
just thoughts that come as ahabit or fear-based noise.
Sometimes our brain makes anattempt to keep us safe and
gives us serves up lots ofnegative thoughts.
So it's okay, that's not aproblem, that our brain will
just drop in negative orfear-based thoughts, but we have
to have the ability to questionthem and decide whether we want
(05:04):
to believe them or not.
You get to choose the ones thatactually help you move forward
or help you feel better.
We think that our brain is atruth-telling machine, but it's
really a habit machine.
It just gets into the habitthat every time, for example,
your boss calls you if you havea horrible boss and you see
(05:25):
their phone number on your phonethat your brain drops in the
thought of run away or this isdangerous, or don't answer, or
oh crap, what are we going to donow?
And that just becomes a habit.
Okay, question number three is,what is always in your control?
Lots of stuff that's out ofyour control, but what is always
(05:50):
in your control?
Your thoughts and your actions.
Now, if we back up to thequestion number two right before
this, you'll remember that Isaid your brain puts a lot of
thoughts in your head thataren't true.
So I'm not talking about thethoughts that just drop into
your head.
I'm talking about the ones thatyou evaluate and if you decide
(06:13):
to believe them or if you workon having a new thought.
So that part is in your controland the actions that you take
from those thoughts, either thebad ones or the good ones are in
your control.
Now, question number four is theopposite.
What is always out of yourcontrol?
There are lots of answers forthis one, but what is always out
(06:36):
of your control?
This one, but what is alwaysout of your control?
The shortest answer for this iseveryone and everything else.
So you can't control yourboss's mood or your inbox.
Things are just coming intoyour inbox, or your kid's snarky
(06:57):
tone, or what your next doorneighbor thinks about the fact
that you haven't cut your grassin two weeks.
You can't control any of that.
And because that's true thatyou have no control over it
anyway, I often encourage you onthe podcast to spend as little
time as possible in that zonethinking about what other people
are thinking or trying tocontrol someone else's mood,
(07:19):
because you can't do it.
So you might as well save yourprecious energy and put it
towards something that is inyour control.
Okay, last question, questionnumber five.
Let's just say you sit down atyour desk in the morning and the
first thought that pops intoyour head is, I'm not doing
enough, or I'll never figurethis out, or I'll never catch up
(07:39):
to anybody else.
What should you do once younotice you've had a thought like
that?
This is the hardest question.
What I would say is there'sthree steps.
When you've had a thought thatyou don't want to remember I'm
(08:00):
not doing enough as an examplewill create a certain feeling,
and having a thought like I'mnot doing enough is going to
create a feeling like stress,panic, something to that effect.
So when you realize that you'vehad a thought that isn't going
to serve you, there are threesteps.
The first one is to notice it.
So if you've gotten to thepoint where you realize you had
that thought, that's step numberone, which is about 80% of the
(08:23):
battle.
It's hard to get used tonoticing the thoughts that come
into your head because so manyof them are unconscious.
But if you can do that andnotice that you've had the
thought, pat yourself on theback and then question is this
really true?
Is there any evidence I canpoint to the contrary.
So if I say I'm not doingenough and I'm like is that
really true?
No, that is not really true.
(08:44):
Think of all the things I'vealready done this morning.
Just yesterday I had sixmeetings, you know whatever it
is and then try to reframe thethought.
The thought has to feel true.
So, for example, if yourthought that pops into your head
is I'm not doing enough, andthen you try to switch that to
I'm always doing enough, it'sprobably not going to feel true.
(09:06):
Maybe a replacement thought forthat would be I'm giving it my
best effort for today, or I knowwhat I need to work on next, or
I'm going to prioritize my topthree tasks, or I don't have to
do everything all at once, orI'm doing enough things for
today.
There are a million differentthoughts.
You have to just figure outwhich one feels better to you
(09:28):
than the original thought andthen write that down on the top
of your to-do list.
So how did you do?
I really want you guys to tellme.
I feel like lots of youprobably got lots of those
answers right.
So there were five total.
Send me a message.
I have a little link at thebottom of the show notes that
you can send me a message onInstagram.
You can DM me on Instagram andtell me how many you got on the
(09:50):
quiz.
I want to know.
So this quiz wasn't really aboutgetting the right answers, but
just about reinforcing howpowerful mindfulness is, because
your thoughts are the firstthing that can shift you when
you feel overwhelmed or stressedor any way that you don't want
to feel.
It's not your calendar.
It's not your inbox, it's yourmindset.
(10:11):
It always goes back to yourmindset.
So when you change yourthoughts, your feelings follow,
and that's how you shift yourresults too.
If you think about the kind ofwork that you will do during a
day when you feel completelyoverwhelmed and stressed versus
the kind of work that you dowhen you feel confident and calm
, you get completely differentresults.
If this episode helped youcatch even one sneaky little
(10:35):
thought, send it to a friend whospirals with you.
And if you want more helpmanaging your mind, you know
where to find me.
Tune in twice a week on thispodcast.
Or if you're interested indoing one-on-one coaching with
me, there's always a link in theshow notes to set up a free
consultation to do that.
Oh, also, don't forget, I amdoing a fall declutter reset.
(10:58):
It's going to be lots of fun.
It's going to be five days ofpodcasts.
We're going to look at alldifferent areas that you want to
declutter.
This declutter challenge has aton to do with mindfulness,
because it all starts withdecluttering our mind and then
decluttering our space.
Thank you so much for tuning inand have a great week.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
(11:26):
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegothiercom.
See you next week.
It's not your calendar, it's not your inbox,
it's your mindset.
It always goes back to yourmindset.
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
(00:20):
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, how's it going?
I hope you're having a greatweek.
(00:40):
Today I did something a littlebit fun.
I asked AI to listen to all ofmy podcasts.
They're like well, this is 175.
So there are lots of them nowand I said listen to all my
podcast episodes and summarizethe overall themes of what I
teach or things that I say a lot, and there were a bunch of
takeaways, but the number onetheme that came back was mindset
(01:04):
.
Specifically, it said the powerof managing your thoughts to
reduce overwhelm and improveproductivity.
If you've been a podcastlistener for a while, you're
probably shaking your head nowand thinking, yep, that sounds
about right.
That makes it into almost everyepisode and it's really at the
core of what I teach my clientsand how I teach them to change
(01:24):
their lives and stop feelingoverwhelmed.
So that made a lot of sense tome, and I decided for this
podcast this week to turn itinto something a little bit fun
and to create a quiz for youthat we're going to do on this
podcast episode.
Even if you're a first timelistener, stick with me, because
you'll be able to totallyfollow along and you might learn
(01:44):
something about your own brainand about mindfulness that you
didn't know before too.
If you have been a listener fora while or did coaching with me,
you're probably going to nailthis pop quiz that we're having
today.
So here's what I'm gonna do I'mgonna ask you a few quick
questions, give you a second tothink about your answer and then
, of course, I'll give you theanswer.
It's going to be a shortepisode.
(02:06):
It's just five questions.
It's going to be fun and it'sgoing to be a great reminder or,
if you haven't heard thisbefore, if you haven't learned
much about mindfulness before, agreat starter to get you
started on the path of how muchmindfulness can change your life
.
Also, one other funny thing whenI first asked it what do I say
all the time on the podcast.
The two things I say the mostare hi, friend, which I think I
(02:28):
say at the beginning of everyepisode, and then, if you
enjoyed today's podcast, pleaseleave me a review.
So apparently those are twothings that I say the most often
, so I guess you're probablyused to hearing me say that too.
But it's true, if you enjoythis episode or any episode of
the podcast, it would be amazingif you would leave a review,
because we just got bumped up.
It's been in the top 2% of thepodcast for about a year.
(02:51):
It just got bumped up to top1.5%.
So it is really working.
You guys are all listening,sharing this with your friends,
leaving ratings and reviews, andour percentile friends leaving
ratings and reviews and ourpercentile.
So that is top 1.5% of podcasts, of 3.6 million podcasts in the
whole world.
So thank you very much toeveryone who has listened and
(03:13):
written a review.
Even though I've said it 700times, thank you for those who
actually did it.
I appreciate it so much.
Okay, let's get into our funquiz.
So question number one is, whatcreates your feelings?
So, for example, if you'refeeling overwhelmed or stressed
or joyful, what created thatfeeling?
(03:36):
The answer is your thoughts.
So, for example, if we'rethinking about your to-do list
and you look at your to-do listand you feel overwhelmed, we
know that it's not the to-dolist that's making you feel
overwhelmed, it's your thoughtsabout the to-do list.
(03:59):
So there's just that littlestep in between.
We feel like it's the to-dolist, but really it's your
thoughts about it.
A thought like, "this isimpossible, creates panic or
overwhelm.
A thought like one thing at atime creates calm.
So it's the same list.
It's not the to-do list, it's adifferent mindset that gets a
(04:19):
totally different outcome.
Okay, keep going here on thequiz.
True or false?
If a thought is in your head,it must be true.
I hope everyone's yelling outin their car wherever you're
listening.
False, this is false.
Your brain serves up 60,000plus thoughts a day and most are
(04:44):
just thoughts that come as ahabit or fear-based noise.
Sometimes our brain makes anattempt to keep us safe and
gives us serves up lots ofnegative thoughts.
So it's okay, that's not aproblem, that our brain will
just drop in negative orfear-based thoughts, but we have
to have the ability to questionthem and decide whether we want
(05:04):
to believe them or not.
You get to choose the ones thatactually help you move forward
or help you feel better.
We think that our brain is atruth-telling machine, but it's
really a habit machine.
It just gets into the habitthat every time, for example,
your boss calls you if you havea horrible boss and you see
(05:25):
their phone number on your phonethat your brain drops in the
thought of run away or this isdangerous, or don't answer, or
oh crap, what are we going to donow?
And that just becomes a habit.
Okay, question number three is,what is always in your control?
Lots of stuff that's out ofyour control, but what is always
(05:50):
in your control?
Your thoughts and your actions.
Now, if we back up to thequestion number two right before
this, you'll remember that Isaid your brain puts a lot of
thoughts in your head thataren't true.
So I'm not talking about thethoughts that just drop into
your head.
I'm talking about the ones thatyou evaluate and if you decide
(06:13):
to believe them or if you workon having a new thought.
So that part is in your controland the actions that you take
from those thoughts, either thebad ones or the good ones are in
your control.
Now, question number four is theopposite.
What is always out of yourcontrol?
There are lots of answers forthis one, but what is always out
(06:36):
of your control?
This one, but what is alwaysout of your control?
The shortest answer for this iseveryone and everything else.
So you can't control yourboss's mood or your inbox.
Things are just coming intoyour inbox, or your kid's snarky
(06:57):
tone, or what your next doorneighbor thinks about the fact
that you haven't cut your grassin two weeks.
You can't control any of that.
And because that's true thatyou have no control over it
anyway, I often encourage you onthe podcast to spend as little
time as possible in that zonethinking about what other people
are thinking or trying tocontrol someone else's mood,
(07:19):
because you can't do it.
So you might as well save yourprecious energy and put it
towards something that is inyour control.
Okay, last question, questionnumber five.
Let's just say you sit down atyour desk in the morning and the
first thought that pops intoyour head is, I'm not doing
enough, or I'll never figurethis out, or I'll never catch up
(07:39):
to anybody else.
What should you do once younotice you've had a thought like
that?
This is the hardest question.
What I would say is there'sthree steps.
When you've had a thought thatyou don't want to remember I'm
(08:00):
not doing enough as an examplewill create a certain feeling,
and having a thought like I'mnot doing enough is going to
create a feeling like stress,panic, something to that effect.
So when you realize that you'vehad a thought that isn't going
to serve you, there are threesteps.
The first one is to notice it.
So if you've gotten to thepoint where you realize you had
that thought, that's step numberone, which is about 80% of the
(08:23):
battle.
It's hard to get used tonoticing the thoughts that come
into your head because so manyof them are unconscious.
But if you can do that andnotice that you've had the
thought, pat yourself on theback and then question is this
really true?
Is there any evidence I canpoint to the contrary.
So if I say I'm not doingenough and I'm like is that
really true?
No, that is not really true.
(08:44):
Think of all the things I'vealready done this morning.
Just yesterday I had sixmeetings, you know whatever it
is and then try to reframe thethought.
The thought has to feel true.
So, for example, if yourthought that pops into your head
is I'm not doing enough, andthen you try to switch that to
I'm always doing enough, it'sprobably not going to feel true.
(09:06):
Maybe a replacement thought forthat would be I'm giving it my
best effort for today, or I knowwhat I need to work on next, or
I'm going to prioritize my topthree tasks, or I don't have to
do everything all at once, orI'm doing enough things for
today.
There are a million differentthoughts.
You have to just figure outwhich one feels better to you
(09:28):
than the original thought andthen write that down on the top
of your to-do list.
So how did you do?
I really want you guys to tellme.
I feel like lots of youprobably got lots of those
answers right.
So there were five total.
Send me a message.
I have a little link at thebottom of the show notes that
you can send me a message onInstagram.
You can DM me on Instagram andtell me how many you got on the
(09:50):
quiz.
I want to know.
So this quiz wasn't really aboutgetting the right answers, but
just about reinforcing howpowerful mindfulness is, because
your thoughts are the firstthing that can shift you when
you feel overwhelmed or stressedor any way that you don't want
to feel.
It's not your calendar.
It's not your inbox, it's yourmindset.
(10:11):
It always goes back to yourmindset.
So when you change yourthoughts, your feelings follow,
and that's how you shift yourresults too.
If you think about the kind ofwork that you will do during a
day when you feel completelyoverwhelmed and stressed versus
the kind of work that you dowhen you feel confident and calm
, you get completely differentresults.
If this episode helped youcatch even one sneaky little
(10:35):
thought, send it to a friend whospirals with you.
And if you want more helpmanaging your mind, you know
where to find me.
Tune in twice a week on thispodcast.
Or if you're interested indoing one-on-one coaching with
me, there's always a link in theshow notes to set up a free
consultation to do that.
Oh, also, don't forget, I amdoing a fall declutter reset.
(10:58):
It's going to be lots of fun.
It's going to be five days ofpodcasts.
We're going to look at alldifferent areas that you want to
declutter.
This declutter challenge has aton to do with mindfulness,
because it all starts withdecluttering our mind and then
decluttering our space.
Thank you so much for tuning inand have a great week.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
(11:26):
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegothiercom.
See you next week.
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