Episode 117: Medium Effort Advice - "Help I'm doing too much, and none of it well!"

Medium Lady Talks

Hello, hi! Today’s episode is a new kind of format, we’re doing “Medium Effort Advice”. One listener asked me on instagram: “How do I handle the problem of doing too much? Because I’m going too many things, I end up not doing them well or even to completion. This episode is for you if you too are struggling with all.the.things this fall, and you want a bit of relief!

Episode Summary

• Check in: The weekend did not go as planed but as the month of September closes out, I’ll look back on what I enjoyed about the month, and I look ahead to what I’m anticipating being fun and fulfilling in October
• Today’s listener asks a question (sent on IG) about how to address the problem of doing too many things and not doing any of them well or to completion.
• High effort problem solving: the high effort approach sees this with regret from the past, focused on allll those things that were never finished. This approach tries to solve the problem by putting it on lock in order to achieve a more ideal future state - planners, systems and rules. This approach also sees optimizing your time and maximizing productivity as “self-care”
• Low effort problem solving: This approach sees the problem as very overwhelming but impossible to change. They also regret the past, but even more so they dread the future as this cycle keeps repeating itself. Because this person never says no to new things, they may be getting something out of the problem some kind of positive feedback for taking on more and more.
• Medium Effort problem solving: Instead of the ideal future, the regretful past, or the dreaded future what if we think about our resourceful past? *these 4 ideas are from the Dialectical Orientation Quadrant studied and published by Dr. Haesun Moon (see resources).
• Medium effort notes the limiting belief inherent in the question “I never do things well” or “I never finish things properly. Addressing this limiting belief helps us take action in a way that questions the limiting belief and instead confronts it with evidence from our resourceful past that proves actually, we do many things well, and we have seen lots of opportunities through to completion.
• Mindful Fun: In order to further help solidify your new beliefs about this problem I give the listener an “assignment” to create a project hall of fame for past projects that have gone well, AND instructions to conduct “closing ceremonies” for all of their unfinished business, so they can gain the permission they need to stop pursuing those undone things that are bogging them down.

A Moment of Gratitude:

• Did you know about Banned Book Week? (Sept 22-28) I share my gratitude for Libraries and all they do to maintain accessibility to knowledge and to fight against forces that would limit our agency and autonomy by controlling access information and artistic expression.

Other Resources Mentioned:

Coaching A to Z: The Extraordinary Use of Ordinary Words by Dr. Haesun Moon

Other Episodes you might like:

Episode 109: Medium Lady Unfiltered - Three Truths about Motherhood Content on Instagram and TikTok

Episode 89: Everyday Manifesting with Diana Alexander Rane

Medium Lady Reads Episode 27 - Escape and Put Your Face in a Book

Connect with Erin:

• Instagram: @medium.lady
• Email: [e-mail]
• Explore more book-related content on "Medium Lady Reads." - link to Spotify
• Instagram: @mediumladyreads