190: Why Productivity Advice Fails —And The Nervous System Approach That Works

[00:00:00] If you've ever wondered why you can't stick to routine, why you have bursts of energy followed by total exhaustion or why forcing yourself to be more disciplined never seems to work.

This episode is for you. Today, we're breaking down why traditional productivity advice fails high achieving women and what actually works in stead. By the end of the episode, I'm also going to invite you to the Academy.

This is a place for successful high achieving women who have perfectionist tendencies or imposter syndrome to utilize the intersection between somatic therapy. Um, really, really deep in a work, looking at your core wounds, looking at attachment, looking at body based desires and actually creating and taking the energy and the vision, the thing that you know that you can create from inside of your [00:01:00] body out into the world in a way that It's strategic and helps you not sacrifice all of the things that, that you really need and that you really want.

So I'm going to do like the quick summary and then we'll dive deep just in case, you know, you don't have time to get to the end. Quick summary. The reason that most productivity hats don't work is because I assume that everybody's brain and body body functions the same way. Now I work with a lot of people who have chronic illness or a neurodivergent or have experienced some trauma, which gives them like a special, gives us a special kind of like flavor.

And we work a little bit differently to others. However, Their fundamental understanding of what I'm trying to articulate and what productivity advice fails is that your nervous system has a very specific way of functioning in the world and channeling its energy into the things that are going to make the biggest difference in your profitability, in your ability to lead, in your ability [00:02:00] to problem solve, in your ability to delegate, et cetera, make decisions.

Thank you. And your business also has a really specific structure. I was literally just having a conversation with a client and she's kind of comparing herself to her car, um, what do you call them? Somebody that she lives with and they both have their own businesses and they both work from home and they work in different ways and she finds herself comparing the other person thinking, Oh my God, they're so productive.

How can I be like that? But it's not about her mimicking the tax and things that they use. It's about her working smarter with her energy to create more productivity. And I'll share a simple practice that she uses to get more done in less time in a second, but we need to first understand that. A lot of the information that you receive from really well meaning coaches or, or consultants or the internet or whatever doesn't [00:03:00] account for how your stress and energy cycles work and how a dysregulated nervous system, one that is focused on protecting itself from what it thinks is a threat impacts your focus and execution.

You know, that feeling where you push through and you force yourself into a strict schedule and you probably get things done, but you end up feeling overwhelmed and like you kind of have left something on the table. You haven't lived up to the potential of what could have happened. You're not proud of your work.

And it's not because you're lacking discipline or a specific productivity hack. It's because you're not tapping into the intelligence of your body. And so you're working against it and it's working against you. You're not working together. The reality is you don't get tired, exhausted and unmotivated because you're working too much.

It's not that specific thing, although you might be. It's because you're working in ways that your body can't sustain and isn't, doesn't have the energy available to do in that moment. [00:04:00] So while you can push through for a while, Your energy is going to crash, your creativity stalls, you find yourself procrastinating, scrolling, it's hard to get to sleep at night, um, you're saying no to invitations with friends and you're avoiding all of the things that you know that you need to do.

This is not a motivation issue. This is a regulation issue. So instead of trying to force yourself to be disciplined and be productive, what we're teaching inside of the academy. And what I'm asking, what I'm inviting you into today is to start looking at, okay, what is the feedback that my body is giving?

Because I'm not even going to pretend that I know what's best for you. Um, with your nervous system, I'm going to give you some tools and I want you to experiment with them and then find out what you learn about your body. A lot of what we teach inside of the academy is creating that feedback loop and making it more sensitive so that you have better information so that you [00:05:00] know what tasks to prioritize.

When to do them, what to do when you have a high energy day, what to do when you need more space to process or plan or rest, or you're not feeling motivated and how to be okay with taking some perhaps some time off or doing something else and knowing what to do to be still productive in those moments and having that confidence in yourself that you don't have to push through, even though it's scary not to stop doing things.

And then in the academy, we, okay. Help you structure your business in a way that honors those fluctuations. But we can only do this when we create nervous system safety. Because if your body perceives a task as stressful, overwhelming or unsafe, whether that's raising your prices or showing up online or making a big decision, you're going to resist it no matter how much willpower you have.

I'm not asking you to push harder. I'm encouraging you to create a condition where your nervous system feels safe enough to take [00:06:00] action with ease and utilize skills to create that safety in about 60 seconds. I'll share it then with that skill, with that safety inside and with that understanding and feedback loop, then you create a schedule.

Then you create your allegiance strategy or your marketing or you create like the business plan and you design your work way so that you get more done in less time. There we go. So, the practice, if your brain feels foggy, unfocused or overwhelmed, you're going to try this one thing. We're all going to stand up right now.

Literally. And I want you to just take your, shake out your hands. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, let out a long audible sigh, great, good. Now come up on your heels, lift your heels up and you're going to kind of start bouncing on the balls of your feet and you're going to get your body really, really [00:07:00] loose.

I'm going to try and stop doing it and you're going to start shaking here and I want you to start tapping your heels, kind of dropping them down on the earth and then coming back up and then dropping them down on the earth. And then coming back up and then dropping down on the earth and then coming back up.

And we're just doing these heel taps with a soft body, shaking, moving some energy here.

And as you do that, you'll notice that your body kind of changes and you, you experience a little bit more regulation and it's not saying it's going to fix it. I'm not saying that you're going to completely change your entire state,

but then I want you to come in and you can kind of ask your body,

what is it? That is going to move the needle the most today. What does my business need from me?[00:08:00]

What is going to make money? What is going to get me to the right person?

And then you're going to ask, What do I need to make that happen? And you're going to go and do it. Now there is a disclaimer. Around this, this practice works, but there's a lot of fogginess that can happen inside. Either you don't get an answer to that question, or you do get an answer, and you don't have the confidence to trust because there's a part of you that thinks that you need to be doing something else, thinks you need to be creating content, thinks you need to have a strategy to do it this way, thinks that, I don't know, you need to do something because that's what that person taught you or that's what you learned in school, but you don't really want to do it.

And that's why you're listening to this episode because you're like, I can't get things done. And There's a lot of untangling and disentangling that we do from our emotions, from our conditioning, from our fears, that we do inside of the academy that helps you get more clear and confident, [00:09:00] connecting to that voice and then acting on it.

It is a practice and you show up to do it over and over and over again, and it gets so much easier. I promise you it does. Today, like this, this week has been insane. I have completed the first kind of semester of my psychology studies, which are tertiary studies, which are really important to return to me.

Um, my book is coming out next month. We had the first coaching call for the academy. Sorry, my book is coming out in eight days. We had the first coaching coaching call for the academy. And in my personal life, like everything is just exactly what I wanted. And like, it's literally a situation where like I wrote it down in my diary and it's happening the exact same way.

And what's really cool is that when this type of thing has happened before, I've had self sabotaging things. I've complained, I felt anxious, I felt annoyed at people. I've just felt like things were going to fall apart. I don't have any of that this week. I'm just happy. It's just neutral. Everyone's like, how are you feeling about the [00:10:00] book?

I'm like, yeah, it feels good. And that's what is on the other side. This gets so much easier. And I'm sure that I'll look back in a year and I'll be like, wow, even this time last year, I didn't understand how much better it can get. That is what is awaiting you inside of the Academy. When you connect with me, sending a message will talk about what the next 12 months for your body and your business looks like so that you can tangibly really, really feel it and really, really understand how the Academy is going to support you in getting there.

But if you're an ambitious woman and you want to create success in a way that works with your energy, not against it, you're tired of pushing past pushing harder and you want to do good work in the world. You are invited to the Academy. Link in the show notes to find some information about it. Send me a message on Instagram or book a call from that same link that I just referred to so that you and I can connect.

Because your success isn't about working and doing more, and [00:11:00] you know that. It's about doing the things that only you can do in the way that works for you. I'll see you next time.