October 6, 2025 • 25 mins
Today I'm talking about honoring your natural energy capacity, defining your non-negotiable values, and remembering that the little things—like connecting with the ones you love—that don’t feel necessarily feel productive produce invaluable results.
What if true productivity isn't about doing more; it’s about doing what truly matters, when your energy allows it?
Ready to explore a holistic way of living and working that works with you feminine energy and cyclical nature?
This conversation is a counterculture beginners guide to holistic productivity with tried and true ways I’ve found peace in my busy schedule.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why it’s crucial to define your family values: Identify your top 3 non-negotiable values and use them as a filter for your calendar and time.
- The 4 phases of the menstrual cycle and how to plan your month accordingly.
- How batching tasks is a smart calendar strategy
- The best phrase for making plans in advance
- What mindfulness is and how to be mindful when you’re a productive and busy mom
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Holistic Productivity
01:02 Defining Values for Productivity
06:03 Syncing Life with the Menstrual Cycle
10:15 Batching Tasks for Efficiency
15:16 The Importance of Relationships
18:52 Mindfulness in Daily Life
23:27 Resources for Holistic Productivity
If you feel inspired please consider sharing this episode with a friend, writing a 5⭐️ review or becoming a Raising Wild Hearts Member here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryann (00:00):
Hi, friend.
Welcome back to the show.
I'm so happy you're here asalways.
Today I want to talk aboutholistic productivity.
And I just want to share somereal life things from my world
that I do that help me out thatI think are gonna help you too.
And the first thing that reallyhelps me when I'm deciding how
(00:22):
I'm gonna be productive in acertain week or month is
deciding what is negotiable.
So what can I bend on?
What can I let go of?
And why might I need to, right?
So how do you do this though?
How do you decide what'snegotiable for me this week?
Because it sounds easy, but inpractice, what we need to do is
(00:44):
really define our values.
So if you don't know yourvalues already, what are two or
three things you highly value?
And when you know what youvalue, you can run every single
thing on your calendar throughyour values.
Does it align with one of yourvalues?
So pick your top three valuestoday.
(01:05):
Maybe it's family, balance,health, money, freedom, flow,
creativity, art, fun,sensuality.
There's so many more that Icould list, but pick three of
those that I said, or justGoogle really quick what are
some examples of values and pickthree that align with the
person you are today.
(01:25):
And when you run everything onyour calendar, everything on
your to-do list, everything thatyou're debating doing, plans
that you're making for nextmonth or next year, even when
you run those things throughthis list first, it's like a
filter.
You get to really just dropwhat doesn't fit the values.
And of course, there are thingsthat you have to do.
(01:47):
There are obligations that youhave to meet that might not feel
super aligned with your values.
Yes, like that's life.
I had an old friend reach outand ask me if I wanted to do
coffee with her.
And I'm like, yes, that soundsamazing.
I want to make time forconnecting with an old friend
because one of my values rightnow is relationships.
So I'm learning how to be agood friend.
(02:09):
I'm learning how to show up andserve or just show up and be
present with someone.
So I said yes to a coffee witha really, really old friend.
And get this.
She said when we were makingplans, she said, let's confirm
the day before.
And I'm like, oh my God, yes,please.
Thank you so much.
Because life will life.
(02:30):
And I often say, like, when Imake plans, I'm a different
person when those plans comearound.
I'm planning a conference.
Many of you know we're callingit a summit, summit conference.
Who knows what's thedifference?
My friend Ashley and I startedplanning this summit like in
June.
It might have even been sooner.
(02:51):
And the summit is coming upthis month.
It's at the end of October.
And I'm like, oh my God, I'mfundamentally a different person
now than when I started to planthis summit with my friend
Ashley.
So I think let's give eachother a little bit of grace and
let's normalize saying, hey, canwe confirm the day before just
(03:11):
to make sure we're still thesame people as when we made
these plans?
Just to make sure that nothinghas come up that we really need
to devote our attention to.
This friend actually did have acouple things come up and we
did have to pivot at the lastmoment and reschedule.
And I'm like, hey, all good.
I totally understand that.
That's the kind of friend Iwant to be.
(03:31):
When somebody cancels, I don'tmake it about me.
Oh my God, it must have beenthis, that, and whatever.
I'm not making up a story in myhead.
I'm just like, yep, you hadsome things come up.
I am free to be flowy.
Also, how we feel and whatwe're available for depends on
so many different factors.
Something comes up.
What day of our cycle are weon?
What's going on with work andfamily?
(03:52):
I am all for the let's makeplans, but let's confirm the day
before.
Every single person in my innercircle, which is a small
circle, but all two of thosepeople have heard me say at some
point, I'm on day one of mycycle, or I'm on day 22 of my
cycle, et cetera.
And they know what that means.
So let's normalize talkingabout our cycles.
(04:14):
Another example of decidingwhat's negotiable and what's
absolutely not negotiable is ourlunch and breakfast situation
around this house right now.
It is bananas.
I am cooking breakfast andlunch for my three kids, and
then sometimes my husband and I.
And everybody wants differentthings.
I'm also like cooking lunch toput in their thermoses every
(04:38):
morning.
And this is new this schoolyear.
In the past, I have been anight before lunch packer.
And this year I've decidedbecause of a number of different
things, that's a differentepisode, that I'm gonna make
home cooked meals every morning.
Let's just say it's bananas.
And I am like a sous chef and aline chef and a head chef all
(04:58):
in one.
And I am, I've got a lot ofdifferent plates in the air, no
pun intended.
So why am I doing this?
It's because I value whatthey're eating.
It's because I value gettinghigh-quality food into them at
breakfast and lunch.
And so I choose on purpose,yes, on purpose.
Like I choose to have crazy,wild mornings in the kitchen.
(05:18):
And oftentimes I spend like 30to 45 minutes cleaning the
kitchen after my kids leave orafter drop-off.
And some of you might be like,my God, that's insane.
And listen, I get it.
If that sounds totally crazy toyou, that's fine.
It might not be on your valueslist.
Maybe it is.
I don't know.
Maybe you're more efficient atit than me, which is great.
(05:39):
Either way, so that's anotherexample of really like filtering
everything I do.
And that's like something I dofive days a week, right?
And so that's a big one.
So another way I use holisticproductivity in my life as a
woman, as a busy woman, is anambitious, busy mom in
particular.
(05:59):
I am syncing or tracking mycycle.
And if you didn't learn thephases of the cycle, that's
okay.
Like I didn't learn thateither.
Um, and if you no longer haveyour cycle because of menopause
or paramenopause or anotherreason, you can always look to
the moon.
The moon has a 28-day cyclejust like women do.
So you can use the moon toguide you in cyclical living, if
(06:22):
that speaks to you.
And so I'm just gonna tell youwhat the phases of the menstrual
cycle are and what is good forthose phases.
So phase one is day one of yourcycle.
Day one of your cycle is whenyou start bleeding, it's when
you start your period.
And this is coincided with thenew moon.
So when you go outside and thesky is completely black and you
(06:45):
don't actually see the moon inthe sky, that's called the new
moon.
And this is a time for rest andintuition, and you're really
just kind of at your lowest.
You're at your valley at thattime.
However, internally, you've gotprocesses that are working
really well.
Your brain is actually at itsbest time.
(07:06):
I would say your brain and yourheart, really, at its best time
for intuition.
So the best things to do duringthis time of your cycle is
resting, reflecting on what'sgoing really well, reflecting on
what you might need to change,doing some research.
It's called the fertile, and Ithink Kate Northrop uses this
term.
(07:26):
I don't know if she coined it.
Um, and I'm gonna give you abook recommendation from her
too.
So that's phase one.
It's when you start bleeding,phase two is the spring or the
follicular cycle.
That's when the moon starts togo from black to like a crescent
moon, and you're starting tohave an increase in energy.
So you're like, okay, I can dothis.
(07:47):
You're starting projects,you're getting new ideas, you're
planning, your estrogen,biologically speaking, is going
up.
So it's bringing energy andmotivation.
And, you know, it's a good timeto start new things.
You could set some goals, youcould do some tasks, you could
do some calendar mapping.
So, right here, you're plantingthe seeds for new ideas.
(08:08):
That is phase two.
Phase three is ovulation.
So, this, if the day one wasyour valley, ovulation is your
peak or your summit.
And this is the full moon.
This is when the moon is thebrightest in the sky.
And so you are out and about,you're communicating, you are
very high energy, you'reconfident.
It's a great time to give atalk or record a podcast.
(08:32):
So during that peak time, it'sa great time to get out and to
socialize and to network and doclient meetings and give
presentations.
It's about visibility.
And then we come to phase four,which is the luteal phase,
which coincides with the fall orthe waning moon.
So the moon was full and nowit's starting to get small
(08:54):
again, right?
And so now you're feeling, Ialways feel like around this
time, actually, now that I'm I'mrecording this, I'm on day 20.
I think it might be 20 or 21,but I'm starting to come to a
completion.
I'm recording this podcast topublish.
And so I have all my tasks donefor next week.
I'm starting to tie up all theloose ends on some research I've
(09:16):
been doing.
I'm tying up some loose ends ona class I'm taking.
I'm making sure that all myducks are in a row so that when
I'm ready to kind of go inwardand rest, that everything is
done.
So any details that need to befinished up.
I love syncing up my calendarwith my cycle.
And I have a planner and I usemy paper planner and I just put
(09:37):
on my paper planner one when I'mon day one.
And then I can remember that,which usually honestly I don't.
Like I don't really remember.
I have to go back through andlook at my calendar and count to
see what day I'm on.
Cause sometimes I'll be feelinga certain way internally and
I'm like, what's going on here?
And then I'll reflect back.
Okay, what day am I on?
What's this time good for?
(09:58):
It does help me harness thecertain energy that I'm in,
especially during that middle ofthe month.
So if we're talkingproductivity, if we're talking
getting things done, it's thatmiddle of the month time that is
so valuable for you to planyour things around.
So this brings me to anotherholistic productivity tip that I
(10:20):
use in my life.
And that is batching tasks.
If you look at my Calendly, youcan see during that 10-day
period where I have a ton oftime slots open.
And then around that, it's likenothing's really open.
And so I really try to focus myplanning, focus my scheduling
(10:40):
on those 10 days where my energyis at its highest, because on
the other days, I'm doing moreinternal work.
I'm brainstorming behind thescenes or the researching or the
editing, something like that.
And I want to point out herelike this is a very small shift
and it can make a really bigdifference.
Just paying attention to yourinternal world, paying attention
(11:03):
to where your energy might beleaking.
That's a really, really big cueof what do I want to spend my
time doing?
Like, how do you feel when youspend time with certain people?
How do you feel when you visitcertain places?
I know when I was younger, Iused to love going to concerts
and events with a ton of people.
And now, like, I really can'tdo that unless it's like a very
(11:26):
special circumstance or aperformer that I really love or
something like that.
But I really don't go to manyplaces that have a whole lot of
people and I'm kind of sensitivelike that, which I didn't
realize earlier in my life,which led me to abusing alcohol
and various other substancesbecause I was feeling the energy
(11:48):
of so many people around me andit would make me crawl out of
my skin.
And so I had to numb.
These are just the littlethings that if we pay attention
to our inner world, they canreally, really give us cues for
is this thing good for me?
Is this person good for me?
Is this place good for me?
What lights you up?
(12:08):
What's draining your energy?
You have to be paying attentionto your possible energy leaks.
And then on the flip side, whatleaves you feeling just like so
lit up?
And some of the really smallthings I do on a daily basis, I
get sunshine in the morning inmy eyes.
It's so good for our sleep.
(12:29):
It's so good for our circadianrhythm to go outside without
sunglasses and look at therising sun.
If you're not near the coast,it's okay.
Just go outside, look at thesun through the trees.
Like you don't need to sungazeor anything.
It's just being outside, evenif it's raining out, just being
outside in that light helps somuch.
And then you're gonna sleepbetter and then you're gonna
(12:49):
feel more energized the nextday.
For me, gosh, taking a walk.
Taking a walk is so key.
I was taking a walk before Irecorded this episode.
Taking a break, turning offyour devices at night.
Again, I'm super sensitive tolight.
And I notice when I'm watchingTV or I'm staying on my computer
late at night.
Actually, this happened thisweek because I was at my peak
energy and I was like, ooh, I'mgonna ride this wave.
(13:11):
And I decided, even though Iknow that it doesn't feel good
for me, I decided to stay on mycomputer a couple nights in a
row.
And I didn't sleep well.
I was fighting a cold, and thecold really super lingered and I
was dragging all week.
And I really tried to givemyself grace on those days.
I tried to block off somethings.
(13:31):
I leaned on my partner for moresupport.
One morning he looked at me,he's like, What do you need from
me?
And I was like, I need you totreat me like a newborn baby.
And he's like, Goo, goo, ga,ga.
I'm like, no, like seriously.
So he made me laugh, which washelpful.
But I was like, I am an infantright now.
I haven't slept well inmultiple days in a row.
Like, I just need so muchsupport.
(13:54):
And so if you're in thesituation where you can ask for
support, whether that's at workor at home, like really ask for
it.
Give yourself grace.
Learn how to ask for help.
Especially if those days whenyou're dragging and you don't
sleep well, if you're on thelatter part of your cycle when
your energy is waning, it's allconnected.
So another thing you can do tokeep track of your cycle too, I
(14:16):
want to mention here, is you canuse your Google Calendar or
your iPhone calendar and justput an event in there day one.
So that way you can kind of goback and reference on those days
that you are dragging.
Are you dragging extra becauseyou're in your last week of your
cycle?
Maybe.
So, more ideas for batching.
I batch my podcast interviews.
You could batch your food prep.
(14:36):
You could batch a creativeplanning day.
If you're a writer, you couldbatch your blog on those days,
client meeting batch day, housecleaning batch day.
Think of being able to loadyour calendar in the middle of
the month.
And all of this being said,when we talk about being
productive, I really, reallywant you to remember.
And this is being said withoutjudgment, I promise, because
(15:00):
it's been something that I'vehad to work through myself and
give myself a ton of grace on.
And so I am saying this with somuch grace.
And I hope you can receive itwith so much grace.
When we talk about beingproductive, I really want you to
remember one of the mostproductive things that really
doesn't feel like it'sproductive.
And that is building andgrowing the relationships in
(15:25):
your home and connecting withthe people who you love to
hopefully be building afoundation of a lifelong
relationship with those people.
And so I have to remember forme what that means is witnessing
the tantrums, allowing my tweento whine, listening to my
toddler tell me a story thatI've heard 65 billion times.
(15:47):
We have to remember all theselittle things become the big
things.
The little things become thebig things.
And so while raising a family,while being a mother doesn't
feel like it's productive, thoseare the tasks, those are the
things that I like to callchopping wood and carrying
(16:10):
water.
Those are the things that wecontinue to do.
We continually, consistently goinward and decide how am I
gonna show up in this moment andthis moment and this moment.
We have probably thousands oftimes a day, right?
To decide.
Are we gonna show up calm?
Are we gonna show up patient?
And side note, are we gonnanail it every single time?
(16:32):
No, absolutely not.
We're not gonna nail it everysingle time.
But the more we practiceshowing up calm, the more we
practice showing up loving, thebetter we get.
So I'm in a book club right nowfor The Anxious Generation by
Jonathan Haid.
It's been on the bestsellerlist for a number of weeks.
I think it's still there.
It's a really good read.
(16:53):
I dove into his work a whileback.
I've talked about tech a littlebit on this show.
And so I'm in a book club at achurch.
The leader of the book club,who also happens to be the
pastor at this church, broughtout two jars with marbles in
them.
And one of the jars visibly waslike pretty full.
And then one of them was likekind of looking empty.
(17:13):
Maybe there was like a fourthof the marbles left.
And he holds these two marblejars up and we're all looking
around at each other, like, ohmy God, what's this gonna be?
And each marble in the jarrepresented a week of his
child's life in his house.
So from age zero, right?
From newborn baby to let's saylike 18.
And a kid is, you know,supposedly supposed to leave the
(17:36):
house and go to college.
Each of those marbles was aweek of that kid's life.
And he has three kids.
And he goes, I bet you'rethinking, because he has one kid
in high school, I bet you'rethinking that this marble jar
with this really kind of emptysecond jar over here, I bet
you're thinking that thisrepresents my oldest kid.
And we all are like holding ourbreath.
(17:57):
And he's like, This doesn'trepresent my oldest kid, it
represents my middle who's inmiddle school.
This jar was almost empty.
He has already had the majorityof weeks that he's going to
have with his middle school kidalready.
I mean, that to me was such abeautiful visualization.
One, because I love a goodvisual, and two, because it
(18:20):
really put into perspectivelike, what are we choosing to
fill our lives with?
What we're choosing to fill ourdays with ends up being what we
choose to fill our months with,ends up choosing, ends up being
what we choose to fill ouryears with.
And like that ends up being ourlife.
So my call to you, myinvitation to you is not to let
(18:41):
that life slip by, not to letthat opportunity to build that
relationship with your partneror your children or your
extended family or whoever itmight be to slip by.
Because now is the time.
There is just the presentmoment.
This is what mindfulness is.
I think this word mindfulnessgets thrown around a lot.
(19:04):
And I think we try tounderstand how we can be more
mindful, what's something we cando to be mindful?
And I just want to call myselfout publicly, right?
And I want to give you aninvitation that mindfulness
happens in the messy moments oflife.
While you're witnessing thetantrum, while you're on your
(19:27):
way to drop off and it's been ahard morning, while you have an
argument with your husband whileyou're making the bed.
This was me this morning.
It actually wasn't an argument.
It was just a quick back andforth that really got me feeling
internally like a littleoff-center.
And we made the bed together.
We had this conversation.
He was like, okay, I'm gonna,you know, head to my office and
(19:48):
do my work.
And I was like, okay, I'm gonnahead to my office and do my
work.
And I was off center.
And I had the choice in thatmoment to grind my gears.
I don't I don't remember whatthat's from, but I had the
choice of whether I wanted togrind my gears and think about
how he's so wrong or think aboutwhy I'm so right.
No, I decided to go outside, tolook at the sunshine, to start
(20:10):
doing some brainstormingactually for this specific
episode and a couple others thatare coming up, and to really
dive in to what I wanted to dothat day.
And so it was there and then itwas gone.
And that's what mindfulness is.
It's an opportunity in all ofthose moments to show up and to
be aware of your internal state.
And so, what does this all haveto do with productivity?
(20:32):
Everything.
Because if we are constantlybeating ourselves up, or if we
are constantly picking fights,or if we are just feeling like
we're not getting enough done inthe day and we're choosing to
feel overwhelmed.
Yes, I said choosing.
If we're choosing to feeloverwhelmed, we're not going to
be at our highest and best,guys.
(20:52):
We're just not.
And so I want us to frame thisconversation in a way that helps
us be aware of our internalexperience as we show up to,
yes, do the things we need to doin a day, do the things we want
to do in a day.
And then that ultimatelycreates our life.
I really love that you werehere for this conversation with
(21:14):
me.
It's something that has been onmy mind and my heart for a
while.
I'm so happy to share it withyou, framed in this way.
And I hope it made you think alittle bit different about
productivity and how to checkoff the boxes on your to-do
list.
I hope it made you come to thetable being able to shift a few
small things and ultimatelygetting more productivity out of
(21:38):
that, being more efficient fromthose things.
These are ways that in my reallife I have tried and tested.
And so if you do one of thesethings or all of these things,
find me on Instagram and tellme.
Tell me what you loved, tell mewhat worked for you.
And hey, tell me something thatI didn't share today because
I'm sure that this is not anall-encompassing conversation
(22:01):
about holistic productivity.
So tell me if you have aholistic productivity in your
life that you use that hashelped you to show up for the
people that you love with moregrace.
Tell me, because I'd love tohear it.
I know that if you're a workingmom or if you're a stay-at-home
mom or any sort of busy,ambitious entrepreneur, or any
of it.
Like I know that the exhaustionor hopefully not, but the
(22:24):
burnout or the weight of theworld can feel like it's on your
shoulders.
Like I know that in certainseasons, those feelings are so
real and they're so valid.
And I just wonder what wouldhappen if you loved yourself
completely and wholly throughthose seasons.
The really busy, productiveseasons, you know, the seasons
(22:47):
where we harvest and wecelebrate success and we hit the
goals, like those seasons too.
And also the seasons when we'reat our valley and we're really
low energy and we have to reachout for help.
I really wonder what wouldhappen if you loved yourself
fully and completely throughoutevery season.
And just a reminder here itdoesn't need to be perfect.
(23:09):
It's never going to be perfect.
A great resource to learn moreabout cyclical living that I
love, especially if you're anambitious woman and a busy mom
like me, is Kate Northrop'sbook, Do Less: A Revolutionary
Approach to Time and EnergyManagement for Ambitious Women.
It's on my personal book list.
(23:29):
It is one of my favorite books.
The way that she talks aboutcycle tracking and harnessing
our energy during our 28-daycycles as women is completely
revolutionary.
And it honestly changed the wayI worked and lived and mothered
and everything.
And this is just one of themany, many, many books on my
(23:51):
list.
I have made you a book listthat I've been compiling for two
plus years.
It has nearly every guestrecommendation on it, every
guest from the Raising Wild Artspodcast, plus, of course, some
of my favorite books and acouple hidden gems too.
So if you're a book lover likeme and you need some
inspiration, grab the book list.
(24:12):
If you haven't already, Icategorized it.
So you can just like go to thesection that you're needing now
and pick out your next greatread there.
Some of the categories Iincluded are holistic success,
health and wellness, feminineleadership, aligned business,
conscious parenting, and so muchmore.
You can get the book list byheading to raisingwildhearts.com
(24:32):
and becoming an insider.
I send out weekly Wednesdaylittle inspirational love notes
that I like to call WiseWednesday.
And so I send out my email onthose days and I usually do like
a podcast recommendation andthen just an inspirational note.
So if you're not on my mailinglist yet, if you don't have the
book list yet, go toraisingwildhearts.com and get it
(24:52):
there.
And until next time, guys, golove someone well.
Hi, friend.
Welcome back to the show.
I'm so happy you're here asalways.
Today I want to talk aboutholistic productivity.
And I just want to share somereal life things from my world
that I do that help me out thatI think are gonna help you too.
And the first thing that reallyhelps me when I'm deciding how
(00:22):
I'm gonna be productive in acertain week or month is
deciding what is negotiable.
So what can I bend on?
What can I let go of?
And why might I need to, right?
So how do you do this though?
How do you decide what'snegotiable for me this week?
Because it sounds easy, but inpractice, what we need to do is
(00:44):
really define our values.
So if you don't know yourvalues already, what are two or
three things you highly value?
And when you know what youvalue, you can run every single
thing on your calendar throughyour values.
Does it align with one of yourvalues?
So pick your top three valuestoday.
(01:05):
Maybe it's family, balance,health, money, freedom, flow,
creativity, art, fun,sensuality.
There's so many more that Icould list, but pick three of
those that I said, or justGoogle really quick what are
some examples of values and pickthree that align with the
person you are today.
(01:25):
And when you run everything onyour calendar, everything on
your to-do list, everything thatyou're debating doing, plans
that you're making for nextmonth or next year, even when
you run those things throughthis list first, it's like a
filter.
You get to really just dropwhat doesn't fit the values.
And of course, there are thingsthat you have to do.
(01:47):
There are obligations that youhave to meet that might not feel
super aligned with your values.
Yes, like that's life.
I had an old friend reach outand ask me if I wanted to do
coffee with her.
And I'm like, yes, that soundsamazing.
I want to make time forconnecting with an old friend
because one of my values rightnow is relationships.
So I'm learning how to be agood friend.
(02:09):
I'm learning how to show up andserve or just show up and be
present with someone.
So I said yes to a coffee witha really, really old friend.
And get this.
She said when we were makingplans, she said, let's confirm
the day before.
And I'm like, oh my God, yes,please.
Thank you so much.
Because life will life.
(02:30):
And I often say, like, when Imake plans, I'm a different
person when those plans comearound.
I'm planning a conference.
Many of you know we're callingit a summit, summit conference.
Who knows what's thedifference?
My friend Ashley and I startedplanning this summit like in
June.
It might have even been sooner.
(02:51):
And the summit is coming upthis month.
It's at the end of October.
And I'm like, oh my God, I'mfundamentally a different person
now than when I started to planthis summit with my friend
Ashley.
So I think let's give eachother a little bit of grace and
let's normalize saying, hey, canwe confirm the day before just
(03:11):
to make sure we're still thesame people as when we made
these plans?
Just to make sure that nothinghas come up that we really need
to devote our attention to.
This friend actually did have acouple things come up and we
did have to pivot at the lastmoment and reschedule.
And I'm like, hey, all good.
I totally understand that.
That's the kind of friend Iwant to be.
(03:31):
When somebody cancels, I don'tmake it about me.
Oh my God, it must have beenthis, that, and whatever.
I'm not making up a story in myhead.
I'm just like, yep, you hadsome things come up.
I am free to be flowy.
Also, how we feel and whatwe're available for depends on
so many different factors.
Something comes up.
What day of our cycle are weon?
What's going on with work andfamily?
(03:52):
I am all for the let's makeplans, but let's confirm the day
before.
Every single person in my innercircle, which is a small
circle, but all two of thosepeople have heard me say at some
point, I'm on day one of mycycle, or I'm on day 22 of my
cycle, et cetera.
And they know what that means.
So let's normalize talkingabout our cycles.
(04:14):
Another example of decidingwhat's negotiable and what's
absolutely not negotiable is ourlunch and breakfast situation
around this house right now.
It is bananas.
I am cooking breakfast andlunch for my three kids, and
then sometimes my husband and I.
And everybody wants differentthings.
I'm also like cooking lunch toput in their thermoses every
(04:38):
morning.
And this is new this schoolyear.
In the past, I have been anight before lunch packer.
And this year I've decidedbecause of a number of different
things, that's a differentepisode, that I'm gonna make
home cooked meals every morning.
Let's just say it's bananas.
And I am like a sous chef and aline chef and a head chef all
(04:58):
in one.
And I am, I've got a lot ofdifferent plates in the air, no
pun intended.
So why am I doing this?
It's because I value whatthey're eating.
It's because I value gettinghigh-quality food into them at
breakfast and lunch.
And so I choose on purpose,yes, on purpose.
Like I choose to have crazy,wild mornings in the kitchen.
(05:18):
And oftentimes I spend like 30to 45 minutes cleaning the
kitchen after my kids leave orafter drop-off.
And some of you might be like,my God, that's insane.
And listen, I get it.
If that sounds totally crazy toyou, that's fine.
It might not be on your valueslist.
Maybe it is.
I don't know.
Maybe you're more efficient atit than me, which is great.
(05:39):
Either way, so that's anotherexample of really like filtering
everything I do.
And that's like something I dofive days a week, right?
And so that's a big one.
So another way I use holisticproductivity in my life as a
woman, as a busy woman, is anambitious, busy mom in
particular.
(05:59):
I am syncing or tracking mycycle.
And if you didn't learn thephases of the cycle, that's
okay.
Like I didn't learn thateither.
Um, and if you no longer haveyour cycle because of menopause
or paramenopause or anotherreason, you can always look to
the moon.
The moon has a 28-day cyclejust like women do.
So you can use the moon toguide you in cyclical living, if
(06:22):
that speaks to you.
And so I'm just gonna tell youwhat the phases of the menstrual
cycle are and what is good forthose phases.
So phase one is day one of yourcycle.
Day one of your cycle is whenyou start bleeding, it's when
you start your period.
And this is coincided with thenew moon.
So when you go outside and thesky is completely black and you
(06:45):
don't actually see the moon inthe sky, that's called the new
moon.
And this is a time for rest andintuition, and you're really
just kind of at your lowest.
You're at your valley at thattime.
However, internally, you've gotprocesses that are working
really well.
Your brain is actually at itsbest time.
(07:06):
I would say your brain and yourheart, really, at its best time
for intuition.
So the best things to do duringthis time of your cycle is
resting, reflecting on what'sgoing really well, reflecting on
what you might need to change,doing some research.
It's called the fertile, and Ithink Kate Northrop uses this
term.
(07:26):
I don't know if she coined it.
Um, and I'm gonna give you abook recommendation from her
too.
So that's phase one.
It's when you start bleeding,phase two is the spring or the
follicular cycle.
That's when the moon starts togo from black to like a crescent
moon, and you're starting tohave an increase in energy.
So you're like, okay, I can dothis.
(07:47):
You're starting projects,you're getting new ideas, you're
planning, your estrogen,biologically speaking, is going
up.
So it's bringing energy andmotivation.
And, you know, it's a good timeto start new things.
You could set some goals, youcould do some tasks, you could
do some calendar mapping.
So, right here, you're plantingthe seeds for new ideas.
(08:08):
That is phase two.
Phase three is ovulation.
So, this, if the day one wasyour valley, ovulation is your
peak or your summit.
And this is the full moon.
This is when the moon is thebrightest in the sky.
And so you are out and about,you're communicating, you are
very high energy, you'reconfident.
It's a great time to give atalk or record a podcast.
(08:32):
So during that peak time, it'sa great time to get out and to
socialize and to network and doclient meetings and give
presentations.
It's about visibility.
And then we come to phase four,which is the luteal phase,
which coincides with the fall orthe waning moon.
So the moon was full and nowit's starting to get small
(08:54):
again, right?
And so now you're feeling, Ialways feel like around this
time, actually, now that I'm I'mrecording this, I'm on day 20.
I think it might be 20 or 21,but I'm starting to come to a
completion.
I'm recording this podcast topublish.
And so I have all my tasks donefor next week.
I'm starting to tie up all theloose ends on some research I've
(09:16):
been doing.
I'm tying up some loose ends ona class I'm taking.
I'm making sure that all myducks are in a row so that when
I'm ready to kind of go inwardand rest, that everything is
done.
So any details that need to befinished up.
I love syncing up my calendarwith my cycle.
And I have a planner and I usemy paper planner and I just put
(09:37):
on my paper planner one when I'mon day one.
And then I can remember that,which usually honestly I don't.
Like I don't really remember.
I have to go back through andlook at my calendar and count to
see what day I'm on.
Cause sometimes I'll be feelinga certain way internally and
I'm like, what's going on here?
And then I'll reflect back.
Okay, what day am I on?
What's this time good for?
(09:58):
It does help me harness thecertain energy that I'm in,
especially during that middle ofthe month.
So if we're talkingproductivity, if we're talking
getting things done, it's thatmiddle of the month time that is
so valuable for you to planyour things around.
So this brings me to anotherholistic productivity tip that I
(10:20):
use in my life.
And that is batching tasks.
If you look at my Calendly, youcan see during that 10-day
period where I have a ton oftime slots open.
And then around that, it's likenothing's really open.
And so I really try to focus myplanning, focus my scheduling
(10:40):
on those 10 days where my energyis at its highest, because on
the other days, I'm doing moreinternal work.
I'm brainstorming behind thescenes or the researching or the
editing, something like that.
And I want to point out herelike this is a very small shift
and it can make a really bigdifference.
Just paying attention to yourinternal world, paying attention
(11:03):
to where your energy might beleaking.
That's a really, really big cueof what do I want to spend my
time doing?
Like, how do you feel when youspend time with certain people?
How do you feel when you visitcertain places?
I know when I was younger, Iused to love going to concerts
and events with a ton of people.
And now, like, I really can'tdo that unless it's like a very
(11:26):
special circumstance or aperformer that I really love or
something like that.
But I really don't go to manyplaces that have a whole lot of
people and I'm kind of sensitivelike that, which I didn't
realize earlier in my life,which led me to abusing alcohol
and various other substancesbecause I was feeling the energy
(11:48):
of so many people around me andit would make me crawl out of
my skin.
And so I had to numb.
These are just the littlethings that if we pay attention
to our inner world, they canreally, really give us cues for
is this thing good for me?
Is this person good for me?
Is this place good for me?
What lights you up?
(12:08):
What's draining your energy?
You have to be paying attentionto your possible energy leaks.
And then on the flip side, whatleaves you feeling just like so
lit up?
And some of the really smallthings I do on a daily basis, I
get sunshine in the morning inmy eyes.
It's so good for our sleep.
(12:29):
It's so good for our circadianrhythm to go outside without
sunglasses and look at therising sun.
If you're not near the coast,it's okay.
Just go outside, look at thesun through the trees.
Like you don't need to sungazeor anything.
It's just being outside, evenif it's raining out, just being
outside in that light helps somuch.
And then you're gonna sleepbetter and then you're gonna
(12:49):
feel more energized the nextday.
For me, gosh, taking a walk.
Taking a walk is so key.
I was taking a walk before Irecorded this episode.
Taking a break, turning offyour devices at night.
Again, I'm super sensitive tolight.
And I notice when I'm watchingTV or I'm staying on my computer
late at night.
Actually, this happened thisweek because I was at my peak
energy and I was like, ooh, I'mgonna ride this wave.
(13:11):
And I decided, even though Iknow that it doesn't feel good
for me, I decided to stay on mycomputer a couple nights in a
row.
And I didn't sleep well.
I was fighting a cold, and thecold really super lingered and I
was dragging all week.
And I really tried to givemyself grace on those days.
I tried to block off somethings.
(13:31):
I leaned on my partner for moresupport.
One morning he looked at me,he's like, What do you need from
me?
And I was like, I need you totreat me like a newborn baby.
And he's like, Goo, goo, ga,ga.
I'm like, no, like seriously.
So he made me laugh, which washelpful.
But I was like, I am an infantright now.
I haven't slept well inmultiple days in a row.
Like, I just need so muchsupport.
(13:54):
And so if you're in thesituation where you can ask for
support, whether that's at workor at home, like really ask for
it.
Give yourself grace.
Learn how to ask for help.
Especially if those days whenyou're dragging and you don't
sleep well, if you're on thelatter part of your cycle when
your energy is waning, it's allconnected.
So another thing you can do tokeep track of your cycle too, I
(14:16):
want to mention here, is you canuse your Google Calendar or
your iPhone calendar and justput an event in there day one.
So that way you can kind of goback and reference on those days
that you are dragging.
Are you dragging extra becauseyou're in your last week of your
cycle?
Maybe.
So, more ideas for batching.
I batch my podcast interviews.
You could batch your food prep.
(14:36):
You could batch a creativeplanning day.
If you're a writer, you couldbatch your blog on those days,
client meeting batch day, housecleaning batch day.
Think of being able to loadyour calendar in the middle of
the month.
And all of this being said,when we talk about being
productive, I really, reallywant you to remember.
And this is being said withoutjudgment, I promise, because
(15:00):
it's been something that I'vehad to work through myself and
give myself a ton of grace on.
And so I am saying this with somuch grace.
And I hope you can receive itwith so much grace.
When we talk about beingproductive, I really want you to
remember one of the mostproductive things that really
doesn't feel like it'sproductive.
And that is building andgrowing the relationships in
(15:25):
your home and connecting withthe people who you love to
hopefully be building afoundation of a lifelong
relationship with those people.
And so I have to remember forme what that means is witnessing
the tantrums, allowing my tweento whine, listening to my
toddler tell me a story thatI've heard 65 billion times.
(15:47):
We have to remember all theselittle things become the big
things.
The little things become thebig things.
And so while raising a family,while being a mother doesn't
feel like it's productive, thoseare the tasks, those are the
things that I like to callchopping wood and carrying
(16:10):
water.
Those are the things that wecontinue to do.
We continually, consistently goinward and decide how am I
gonna show up in this moment andthis moment and this moment.
We have probably thousands oftimes a day, right?
To decide.
Are we gonna show up calm?
Are we gonna show up patient?
And side note, are we gonnanail it every single time?
(16:32):
No, absolutely not.
We're not gonna nail it everysingle time.
But the more we practiceshowing up calm, the more we
practice showing up loving, thebetter we get.
So I'm in a book club right nowfor The Anxious Generation by
Jonathan Haid.
It's been on the bestsellerlist for a number of weeks.
I think it's still there.
It's a really good read.
(16:53):
I dove into his work a whileback.
I've talked about tech a littlebit on this show.
And so I'm in a book club at achurch.
The leader of the book club,who also happens to be the
pastor at this church, broughtout two jars with marbles in
them.
And one of the jars visibly waslike pretty full.
And then one of them was likekind of looking empty.
(17:13):
Maybe there was like a fourthof the marbles left.
And he holds these two marblejars up and we're all looking
around at each other, like, ohmy God, what's this gonna be?
And each marble in the jarrepresented a week of his
child's life in his house.
So from age zero, right?
From newborn baby to let's saylike 18.
And a kid is, you know,supposedly supposed to leave the
(17:36):
house and go to college.
Each of those marbles was aweek of that kid's life.
And he has three kids.
And he goes, I bet you'rethinking, because he has one kid
in high school, I bet you'rethinking that this marble jar
with this really kind of emptysecond jar over here, I bet
you're thinking that thisrepresents my oldest kid.
And we all are like holding ourbreath.
(17:57):
And he's like, This doesn'trepresent my oldest kid, it
represents my middle who's inmiddle school.
This jar was almost empty.
He has already had the majorityof weeks that he's going to
have with his middle school kidalready.
I mean, that to me was such abeautiful visualization.
One, because I love a goodvisual, and two, because it
(18:20):
really put into perspectivelike, what are we choosing to
fill our lives with?
What we're choosing to fill ourdays with ends up being what we
choose to fill our months with,ends up choosing, ends up being
what we choose to fill ouryears with.
And like that ends up being ourlife.
So my call to you, myinvitation to you is not to let
(18:41):
that life slip by, not to letthat opportunity to build that
relationship with your partneror your children or your
extended family or whoever itmight be to slip by.
Because now is the time.
There is just the presentmoment.
This is what mindfulness is.
I think this word mindfulnessgets thrown around a lot.
(19:04):
And I think we try tounderstand how we can be more
mindful, what's something we cando to be mindful?
And I just want to call myselfout publicly, right?
And I want to give you aninvitation that mindfulness
happens in the messy moments oflife.
While you're witnessing thetantrum, while you're on your
(19:27):
way to drop off and it's been ahard morning, while you have an
argument with your husband whileyou're making the bed.
This was me this morning.
It actually wasn't an argument.
It was just a quick back andforth that really got me feeling
internally like a littleoff-center.
And we made the bed together.
We had this conversation.
He was like, okay, I'm gonna,you know, head to my office and
(19:48):
do my work.
And I was like, okay, I'm gonnahead to my office and do my
work.
And I was off center.
And I had the choice in thatmoment to grind my gears.
I don't I don't remember whatthat's from, but I had the
choice of whether I wanted togrind my gears and think about
how he's so wrong or think aboutwhy I'm so right.
No, I decided to go outside, tolook at the sunshine, to start
(20:10):
doing some brainstormingactually for this specific
episode and a couple others thatare coming up, and to really
dive in to what I wanted to dothat day.
And so it was there and then itwas gone.
And that's what mindfulness is.
It's an opportunity in all ofthose moments to show up and to
be aware of your internal state.
And so, what does this all haveto do with productivity?
(20:32):
Everything.
Because if we are constantlybeating ourselves up, or if we
are constantly picking fights,or if we are just feeling like
we're not getting enough done inthe day and we're choosing to
feel overwhelmed.
Yes, I said choosing.
If we're choosing to feeloverwhelmed, we're not going to
be at our highest and best,guys.
(20:52):
We're just not.
And so I want us to frame thisconversation in a way that helps
us be aware of our internalexperience as we show up to,
yes, do the things we need to doin a day, do the things we want
to do in a day.
And then that ultimatelycreates our life.
I really love that you werehere for this conversation with
(21:14):
me.
It's something that has been onmy mind and my heart for a
while.
I'm so happy to share it withyou, framed in this way.
And I hope it made you think alittle bit different about
productivity and how to checkoff the boxes on your to-do
list.
I hope it made you come to thetable being able to shift a few
small things and ultimatelygetting more productivity out of
(21:38):
that, being more efficient fromthose things.
These are ways that in my reallife I have tried and tested.
And so if you do one of thesethings or all of these things,
find me on Instagram and tellme.
Tell me what you loved, tell mewhat worked for you.
And hey, tell me something thatI didn't share today because
I'm sure that this is not anall-encompassing conversation
(22:01):
about holistic productivity.
So tell me if you have aholistic productivity in your
life that you use that hashelped you to show up for the
people that you love with moregrace.
Tell me, because I'd love tohear it.
I know that if you're a workingmom or if you're a stay-at-home
mom or any sort of busy,ambitious entrepreneur, or any
of it.
Like I know that the exhaustionor hopefully not, but the
(22:24):
burnout or the weight of theworld can feel like it's on your
shoulders.
Like I know that in certainseasons, those feelings are so
real and they're so valid.
And I just wonder what wouldhappen if you loved yourself
completely and wholly throughthose seasons.
The really busy, productiveseasons, you know, the seasons
(22:47):
where we harvest and wecelebrate success and we hit the
goals, like those seasons too.
And also the seasons when we'reat our valley and we're really
low energy and we have to reachout for help.
I really wonder what wouldhappen if you loved yourself
fully and completely throughoutevery season.
And just a reminder here itdoesn't need to be perfect.
(23:09):
It's never going to be perfect.
A great resource to learn moreabout cyclical living that I
love, especially if you're anambitious woman and a busy mom
like me, is Kate Northrop'sbook, Do Less: A Revolutionary
Approach to Time and EnergyManagement for Ambitious Women.
It's on my personal book list.
(23:29):
It is one of my favorite books.
The way that she talks aboutcycle tracking and harnessing
our energy during our 28-daycycles as women is completely
revolutionary.
And it honestly changed the wayI worked and lived and mothered
and everything.
And this is just one of themany, many, many books on my
(23:51):
list.
I have made you a book listthat I've been compiling for two
plus years.
It has nearly every guestrecommendation on it, every
guest from the Raising Wild Artspodcast, plus, of course, some
of my favorite books and acouple hidden gems too.
So if you're a book lover likeme and you need some
inspiration, grab the book list.
(24:12):
If you haven't already, Icategorized it.
So you can just like go to thesection that you're needing now
and pick out your next greatread there.
Some of the categories Iincluded are holistic success,
health and wellness, feminineleadership, aligned business,
conscious parenting, and so muchmore.
You can get the book list byheading to raisingwildhearts.com
(24:32):
and becoming an insider.
I send out weekly Wednesdaylittle inspirational love notes
that I like to call WiseWednesday.
And so I send out my email onthose days and I usually do like
a podcast recommendation andthen just an inspirational note.
So if you're not on my mailinglist yet, if you don't have the
book list yet, go toraisingwildhearts.com and get it
(24:52):
there.
And until next time, guys, golove someone well.
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