Ep. 071: Eliminating Overwhelm Forever w/ Mridu Parikh

The most common thing I hear from entrepreneurs is that they are overwhelmed. We are juggling too much and our brains are too full and what ends up happening is we split our attention to our own detriment. Instead of focusing on a few things that further our businesses, we try to be everything to everyone. Now add in the fact that COVID is adding on additional responsibilities and people feel like they are barely treading water. Join me for this important interview with Mridu Parikh where we talk how to get more done and banish overwhelm for good.

BIO:
Mridu Parikh helps ambitious women feel in control of their time, energy, and habits, even when they're overwhelmed by demands and distractions. As a productivity coach, speaker, and best-selling author she will teach you how to focus, overcome procrastination, and squash anxiety. A mom of two and wife of one, Mridu enjoys all things milk chocolate and red wine. Get Mridu’s FREE resource, 21 Killer Hacks To Stop Feeling Overwhelmed, on her website, at www.lifeisorganized.com/hacks.

LINKS:
Website: https://lifeisorganized.com/
EBook: https://www.amazon.com/Accomplish-Simple-Actions-Things-Achieve-ebook/dp/B07NLHTYF6
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LifeIsOrganized/ Free Download: https://lifeisorganized.com/hacks
Podcast: https://lifeisorganized.com/podcast/

• Want to read a transcript of this episode? Click here!

  Erika Tebbens: On this episode of the Sell It Sister podcast, I'm joined by special guest, Mridu Parikh, who is the woman behind Life Is Organized, that is her business.

  And her podcast is called a Productivity On Purpose. Mridu Parikh helps ambitious women feel in control of their time, energy and habits, even when they're overwhelmed by demands and distractions. As a productivity coach, speaker, and bestselling author, she will teach you how to focus, overcome procrastination and squash anxiety, a mom of two and wife of one, Mridu enjoys all things, milk chocolate and red wine. Get her free resource 21 Killer Hacks to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed on her website at lifeisorganized.com/hacks. I am a really thrilled that she is joining me for this incredibly important conversation where we are going to talk all about overwhelm, because it is so incredibly common in the world of entrepreneurship and also how to increase focus and productivity.

  And there's just so many great things that we talked about in here. Things that I took away from it that I started. Even implementing in my own life right after our talk, I feel like there's always room to learn in this area and always room to try new things. And it's one of those areas where it can be really easy to fall off track and backslide into really bad habits.

  So I hope that you will join me for this incredibly. Important conversation. And I would love to hear from you after, uh, if you want to share any of your big takeaways or ahas or things that you're going to start implementing in your own life and business to overcome overwhelm, by all means, please, uh, snap a screen grab of this.

  I'm assuming that you know, you're listening on your smartphone and then if you're on Instagram, go post and tag me @erikatebbensconsulting. Okay, onto the episode. Hi, Mridu! Welcome to the Sell It Sister Podcast. I'm really excited to have you here today.

  Mridu Parikh: I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. So first, before we dive into all the good stuff, why don't you talk a little bit more about the work that you do and how you came to do that work?

  Mridu Parikh: Sure. Well, uh I'm um, I work with women who are feeling overwhelmed by all the demands and distractions. I'm thinking probably everyone listening to this can relate, you know, help them get focused and feel more in control so they can be more productive at work and more present at home.

  And I started this work after leaving corporate, after leaving corporate, after 12 years, I had a big move across the country from New York to Nashville. I had no job, no family, no friends, a little child in tow. And when I got there, I decided I really hate the grind. And I just never was passionate about what I did.

  And I was like, I'm going to start, I'm going to start my own business. Meanwhile, I had no business starting a business. I had no idea what I was doing, um, and started a series of different, different things, kind of a party planning, other things. But eventually I landed on home organization. I became a professional home organizer and now this is way back before, like it was a thing before Marie Kondo, before all that. I started that and quickly realized I didn't love going into people's homes and actually doing the work as much as coaching and teaching them the strategies and the skills to help them be more, yeah, organized. So fast forward my business morphed. It kind of transformed into productivity and time management and primarily a lot of just personal experience like I had two kids at that point, I was running a business. I was doing all the things like I'm sure a lot of your audience is. And I realize that I can't even focus on home if I can figure out my time and my priorities. And that's really how I moved into this space. And now I work with ambitious, awesome women who are juggling all the balls, but like really need help to get more focused and feel in control of their lives.

  Erika Tebbens: I really enjoy that. And it's such important work because, Oh my gosh. It's like the thing I was telling you, like before we started recording, like I overwhelm is, it must be like in the top five, most used words among women in general and like, especially women entrepreneurs and especially now during COVID it's just like overwhelm is just the thing. And we are now having to juggle more than ever. Like there's no daycare, there's no school or kids might not be going back to school. And, uh, if you're running a successful business from home and now, like how do you make that happen?

  I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who like she and her husband are literally looking into like hiring a private teacher. Cause they both. She runs a really successful business. He's in the military. Like it's just, it's crazy. We are in crazy times. And I feel like what you are going to talk about today is like, it's like urgent.

  We have to get this figured out or we will just stall out or even maybe want to quit altogether.

  Mridu Parikh: I can't agree more. I don't think there's been. Honestly, a more urgent time in history, I think, or that in our lives, probably that we need to take control of this. You've got to get control of our priorities and our focus because yeah, I mean, forever, I've been talking to me about, you know, work life, how work life balance is not a thing.

  It's work, life integration, especially for entrepreneurs, right? It's like, there is no compartmentalizing the kids in the home and work in this, you know, as much as we try and if we don't have that foundational basis in place, and right now it's, it's, everything's gonna fall apart, right? Because now it's like, there are, there are no more integration than that.

  We could be integrated right now of everyone working at home. And it's just one big blur. I feel like it's a blur, you know?

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. So it really is a blur, like completely. And I think that's the best way to describe it. A blur. So in terms of, I know one of the things that you really like to focus on on is the, how overwhelm place into, like, how are we not hitting our goals when it feels like literally all we're doing is working.

  And then that overwhelm that comes from, A. The always working and, B. Feeling like I should be further along because I'm always freaking working. So how do you, how do you, you work with women on that? What is your advice on that piece of it?

  Mridu Parikh: Well, there's no doubt. First of all, that women wear a hundred hats.

  Right? We're doing everything for everyone all the time. And we have a million things to do. There's no shortage of stuff on the, to do list that's or the, or the many multiple to do list, right. So I know. And anyone listening to this right now, I'm sure as an overachiever, we're trying to do it all to the best of our ability.

  The problem is that we're getting caught up in this seemingly urgent. Like, it feels like this is what I should, where I should be putting my focus. This is totally what I need to be tending to right now, but it's not actually in alignment to their goals. And that it's really frustrating to hear, or to have that awareness, because like you said, we're working so hard.

  You'll get, I'm putting every minute into this and you know, it still feels like I'm a little bit stagnant or it's so mediocre. I'm not getting there fast enough. Then I think there's actually a real mindset shift that has to happen between that what feels urgent and I often call this like this false sense of urgency and what's truly important to your goals.

  So in relation to, you know, this podcast and what you're listeners are probably want to hear about is sales and revenue generating activities. I find are one of the most silent kind of urgency this time the silent importance. Like they don't have deadlines necessarily related to them. They don't necessarily have the alarm bells going off, right? It's the sales stuff, the tactics and strategies, and the things we need to do is typically sort of an internal need, something that comes from within us, whereas external needs feel more urgent. So those might be the texts, right? When you get a text, it's a signal. First of all, it's an auditory signal because you're probably hearing it right.

  It's a signal there. And then that is telling your brain, well, it's important. It, you know, I've got to get right back to them because it's somebody else's need, it's an external ask and request and demand. Similarly to your emails. It's external. We're like we have to respond to someone else's demands and it creates this false sense of urgency.

  Whereas our revenue generating, or even just our personal goals, our health goals, getting exercise, getting downtime presence. Those are all internal. And they tend to take a back seat because someone else externally, isn't giving us that signal. And so when you can kind of switch the mindset, it's like, you literally have to make the switch in your mind that the internal alarms internal signals take precedence to the external ones, but because there's not an actual signal alarm going off internally, that's where you gotta really switch your mind.

  Um, and so, again, we're sort of switching, like what is urgent? So those feel really urgent getting back to somebody and the alarm bells going off in the text and the emails and somebody walking in. Um, but they're not the most important things. They're not in alignment with like, what's really going to move you forward, whether it's personally or professionally, and this keeps us in this perpetual busy-ness.

  Does that make sense?

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah, it absolutely does. So how, like. I'm even thinking right now for myself. Like this is even though my, my life is like pretty calm, I would say most of the time. And I'm, I'm pretty good about like having a low key business and like a low key life and all of that. I am also like in the, in Gretchen Rubin's four tendencies, like I'm an obliger, but I also am sort of like a rebel, but when somebody is counting on me for something or like that, that text message that whatever, uh, I really feel like, Oh my gosh, I should, I should probably respond right now. Um, and Oh, it'll just be quick. And I can just get them the answer or, you know, whatever it is.

  And then it will be like off it's like, almost like it's off my to do list then. Uh, but then when I find a lot of times when I do that thing, it's harder for me to then get back on track, focused on whatever the heck it was I was doing in the moment. If it's my phone, then I'm like, Oh, well I'm already on my phone. I'll just. Like, let me just chat. I'll just look at Instagram really quick. And then I'll like kind of go down a rabbit hole. And so how do we start to do that mindset shift to like alert our inner stuff, to be like, this is important and kind of ignore that external stuff.

  Mridu Parkih: Yeah, you hit on so many good points in many things. So one big mistake. I think the most common mistake, the thing that keeps us in perpetual reactivity that keeps us like feeling at the end of the day. And even though I've worked my butt off at five o'clock like, what did I get done today is that we are relying on our willpower. And willpower really sucks, right?

  Willpower, a finite amount of it. We're already trying to like ward off the other 800 things around us through our willpower. So before we even jump into like, how do I not respond? If we put up some barriers to, even having that distraction in front of us, we're going to have an easier time not responding, right? So you almost need to, Oh, we need to eliminate that distraction even more than thinking, Oh, I have it in front of me, but I'll just rely on my willpower and I won't respond. I won't react. I won't look at it. It doesn't ever going to happen. So the example I always give is if you were trying to get healthier or lose a few pounds, you wouldn't sit down at your desk and be like, Oh, you know what? I'm just going to put a big box of Dunkin Donuts next to me. And I'm going to put a chocolate cake and you know what, I'm not going to look at it. And then definitely not going to smell it. And I sure as heck not going to taste it. It's never going to happen, right? But we're like, I want to work on my most important activities.

  I want to be fully present. I want to reach my goals. I want to focus on my revenue generating tasks. We put all these distractions in front of us and think, I'm not gonna look at it. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna touch it. I'm not going to respond to it. It's never going to work. So I would say, first of all, we need to kind of get them away and, and not, and I don't mean like, throw your phone out the window or like never.

  I mean, I'm never going to say any of that. Okay. It's no one's ever going to do that. We're not going to turn off all the notifications. It's not going to happen, right? But there are some easier, simpler things to do to keep, I have you not focus on that and not rely on your willpower? So one, for example might be just to put your phone on do not disturb for a short amount of time.

  And if anyone's not familiar with that, you just go into your settings. Yeah, there's a setting and says, do not disturb when you swipe on it and all that allows you to do so if you're like, she's crazy, this is going to freak me out. There's no way all that it does. Let me just tell you, is that it doesn't allow alerts and texts and beeps and rings come into you at the moment, but you have full access to the interwebs. You have full access to all your apps. Like you're not disconnected. It's just, you're not getting those incoming requests that are going to totally throw you off course. And like you said, go down the rabbit hole of something else. There's also an option when you swipe in the do not disturb that says allow calls from, so if you're like, wait, my mom's got to get in touch with me or my key client or my kid or whoever.

  You can say, well, those people, those one or two or three totally critical ones can get in touch with me. And that way you have no excuse not to use this really simple tool. And if you combine that with just a short period of time, you're like, I'm just going to do it for 30 minutes. Just 30 minutes so I can be fully focused, intentional, deliberate.

  I know you love power hours , Erika, so do I, like you know, set it for that hour and that's it. You're going to be amazed how much you get through when you're not constantly getting distracted by those, but don't avoid don't blind willpower cause that going to work, you're going to see it vibrate. You're going to hear the ring.

  You're going to hear the ding you're, you know, you're just going to do it. It's a natural reaction. It's all about the pump. You may have heard of this, but like the dopamine hit, you know, like every time respond or you do, you, you get a hit and literally is in your logical response. So if you feel like I'm addicted, I have ADD, there is something truly going on in your brain.

  Like there is something that the dopamine is here. It's like do more, do more, do more. It's like the party drug, right? But it's the, it's the like, the drug of just getting back to someone quickly. So you it's beyond just your own personal power. They're just like, you're also trying to fight, fight, like neurological things going on.

  So like, don't do that, you know, just do simpler things. Like let's just turn it off for them. Similarly, you might just say, I'm just going to close the email tab for the 30 minutes, you know? So I don't get, because if you see the tab up. Well, we're all human, who is not going to like while you're thinking good.

  Only to see if an email came in or if you have your Instagram tab up and like, I just want to see who likes my picture. We're human. And so it's better to close it for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 20 minutes. Give yourself a timer, you know, put someone on a timer and put a deadline and that's, what's really going to help you more than anything.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's so helpful. And I actually last night, I went up around, I think it was like around nine o'clock and I put my pajamas on and my phone battery was almost dead anyways. And I thought, I am just going to plug my phone in here. Like right now I'm going to leave it here and go back downstairs and watch TV.

  And I usually knit while I watched TV and I always get annoyed with myself because at night, while I knit and watch TV, I will constantly hop to my phone. So I'm not. Getting as much knitting gum as I would like. Um, because I, you know, it like group chat, you know, comes like notification comes through and I'm like, Oh, I want to see, you know, like what are my friends talking about?

  Or, you know, whatever. And, uh, but I was like, no, I'm just going to like, leave my phone here. It's going to be out of sight out of mind. And then I can like, just have like an enjoyable few hours before I go to bed. And I realized that for the first, maybe 15 minutes that I was back downstairs, even though I was knitting, like I was doing something with my hands, I kept wanting to reach over to my right and like pick up my phone like multiple times.

  I was like, Oh my God, it's not there. Like I am, I was realizing how often I do that by the absence of my phone. And I was like, that's weird. And then I realized too, like, usually, what I'll do is like a show we'll finish like on Netflix. And then I'm like, okay, this is a great time, like time to go get ready for bed.

  But because I'm already tired, I'm on the couch. It's like easier to open my phone and just scroll through than to like get off the couch and get ready for bed. So I will spend like another 20 minutes on the couch, just on social media when I could be going to bed. But I could, like, I could do that last night.

  Cause my phone wasn't there when the last episode ended and I was like, Oh wow. Oh my gosh, this is so bad. Like I'm, this is literally my pattern every night. And I, I was relying on my own willpower every other night before, even though I get annoyed with myself, even though I hate that I do that. I had been relying on my willpower and once I wasn't relying on my willpower anymore, I, it was, it was like shocking to me how chronically my hand was just like, okay, every 10 minutes or whatever, every five minutes, reach for the phone and see like, what is going on? Who is? I was like, Oh, I'm disgusted with myself.

  Mridu Parikh: That's a perfect example. I mean, it is literally crippling and it's, I always say it's like an appendage. Like our phone is now like our hand. Like, are your brain just go, you know, like you said, he just reaches through it.

  It's just like an appendage. It doesn't even think anymore. Um, And so, yeah, so I think that's a perfect example of why just you can't rely on willpower. It is it's too. It's too strong.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah.

  Mridu Parikh: So instead just put it in another room, put away. I've had clients who just said kind of similarly to you, but one of my clients, just instead of most of us have our phones better.

  Yeah. The red side, which is so not healthy for us, but we do, but she just started charging. You have a phone in the kitchen. That was it. That's the only difference at night. She just put it in the kitchen. So. In the middle of the night, if she woke up, she wasn't on her phone. She used to, when she work up, first thing she'd get right on the phone.

  And now she's like just doing other things, right. You're just like addicted to it. The second you get up is she's just doing some gratitude in the morning, or just running up a few more minutes in the bed with her husband or whatever it is. Right. It's just better at night, but it's yeah, the, the willpower stuff is not, it's not going to work.

  It's not going to work. You have to come to reality with that.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah, that is huge. I I'm totally gonna keep that up because that is my, like, it's my Achilles heel during the day also, because, so I'm an extrovert. So I love, like, I actually like get energy from interacting with people. And especially now that like, like I can't just go out and like be around other people.

  Um, It's I like, look for that in my phone during the day to like distract me, but then I'm not, I'm like not working efficiently because it will take me like three times as long to do one stupid thing, because I'm like, Ooh, I wonder if my friend, you know, like, I don't know, my friend messaged me on Instagram or whatever it is sent me a Voxer or something like that.

  I'm just, yeah. So it's good to know. Like it's just, it's. It's a, uh, it's a matter of not relying on my willpower. So that's super helpful.

  Mridu Parikh: Yeah. And fighting your own urology. Like you can't, we can't fight this stuff, you know? It's yeah. It's hard. Um, and then, you know, a little bit, a ton of research that shows that.

  And actually when I speak, I speak lot in front of audiences and I do this little exercise with them, but I'll, I live in tell you about it here, but there's a lot of research that shows that. If we just stayed more focused, right, if we weren't so distracted all the time with the email and texts, we would be 40% more productive over the course of the day, which if you put that into like hours, right.

  If you're working eight hours, That's only five hours. You'd be working. If you just stayed more focused. If we were like, I'm just gonna put that stuff away or I'm going to give myself specific time for it. So maybe it's not to say I'm never going to check my email. I'm never going to check my text and never, it's just, that's ridiculous.

  But if we're like, okay, I have a few 30 minute blocks throughout the day. When the rest of the time I'm fully focused on what it is I need to get done. Well, that eight hour work day can turn into a five or six hour workday, which is tremendous, especially now when you're like, I need every second of my life back right now, kids running around and you're, you know, it's all the things that are happening right now.

  And so it is so impactful and the exercise it'll do, they'll do it really quickly. But if we have an audience, I'll say, okay, turn, turn to a partner. And I just want you to write down, I'll give him a piece of a piece of paper and said, write, write your numbers from one, two 26. That's it. Just write numbers and then write the alphabet A through Z.

  Okay. So this is the simplest exercise in the world. Anybody can do this. It doesn't get easier. This is like nursery school staff. Right. So they write it down. Yeah. And then like, okay, now we're going to do the exercise again, but this time, right? I want you to go back and forth and say, Go from your alphabet to your numbers or a numbers outfit.

  So it might be one, a B, two C three D four, and do it that way. So now you're kind of, you go, what your thoughts are going back and forth just as our text, our emails, our phone calls. Are you going to up and hands down every time I've done it, whether it's like four or five people or 500 people in the audience, people are it's 40 to 50% slower.

  When we did the second, the timer the second time around. And, and by the way, this is like the lowest type of work, right. Low is like brainwork, it's your ABCs and your one, two threes. This isn't like writing emails to clients. This isn't sales conversations. This is just like your ABC's and one, two threes.

  And they're losing 40 to 50% time. So. If you, sometimes I know we hear these and I do that exercise because, I feel like we hear these stats sometimes with these re you know, the research is thrown out and we're like, yeah. Okay, sure. I'll be down to five hours, but when you can actually show somebody right there and practice, so, you know your audience, you can try this at home.

  Um, you're going to see it's going to be anywhere from 30 to 50% slower doing it that way, going back and forth. Um, yeah, so it's, it's really powerful and we've got it. We've got to take it seriously, you know, because that's how much of an impact it can have on your day. To be spending time with their family or going to exercise or just doing the things that are really, really important to you.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. Oh, that is powerful. Like I, yeah, I, I am not great with tasks switching, and I, and I will say too, like my power hour episode of stuff, like when I do a power hour, I get so much done, but I like now, cause my son is 15. Like. It's easy for my husband to work from home, like where everyone's pretty independent in our house.

  I don't have pressing things like that. It's not like, I'm like, Oh, I have to be at this place and meet this person or whatever. Like, so I, I don't have those artificial time blocks that are like, Okay, well, today you literally only have two hours to work. Cause I could just kind of work whenever the hell I want to.

  Um, and so I will be more loosey goosey about it and it's like, Oh, well, I'll just, yeah. If I just like do that other, you know, social media thing, whatever it is for 15 minutes, like who cares? It's not that big of a deal, but. Yeah, it totally, it totally gets me off track. That is like, Oh my gosh. That's so eye opening.

  Mridu Parikh: I wanted to add one more thing to that because I do think that a lot of us are also focusing on the time. Right? Like you just mentioned, like it takes more time to get through and that's huge. So I showed you that in that example, it's 40%. You know, you're losing that time. I get that. But it also, I think we're not thinking about is how much it affects us mentally and physically.

  So that constant task switching that you mentioned is. It's adding to the fatigue. It's adding to our, scatteredness adding to like our lack of clarity. So if you are getting snarky with the kids or your husband at three o'clock, or if you're being impatient or you're, or you're just literally feeling like, why am I even more exhausted during this time, you know, than ever like, like my back hurts. My shoulder hurts my back. I'm just exhausted. It's this fatigue, this chronic fatigue from the task switching. So not only is it stealing your time, but it's puts this. And again, there's so much research. I can get into all the medical and brainstem, but just trust me on it. It's putting all this fatigue to your brain and which is then impacting your body by going back and forth.

  And I think that's really undervalued how important that is, you know? So. If you think about how you're feeling at three or four o'clock sometimes you're like, I need a cup of coffee, or I just need to get out of the house where I'm feeling really just impatient. And imagine if you didn't feel that way until six o'clock or seven o'clock until after dinner, when you can put your feet up, what a difference that would make to you as a boss, as a mother, as a wife, as a friend, as a sister, as a daughter, right?

  Like it would, it would just give you so much. Such deeper relationships, so much more presence, so much more creativity for your business. Um, which more clarity, I mean, so it affects us in ways. I think we're not even thinking about.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah, I remember a few weeks ago. Well, maybe it was like over a month ago at this point, but it was, uh, there was like a dad who he, like, he wasn't just like some random person who decided to like make this chart.

  I think he was like a scientist or. Worked in data or something like that. And, and like with his two young kids at home and he, like, he like literally graphed out, uh, when his kids would come and like ask him for something. Like, I think it was like his. Block of time where like he was working and the kids were supposed to be like entertaining themselves.

  And, but they would come in, like one of them would come in like every few minutes just to be like, Oh, can I have a snack? Or, you know, where are the whatever, you know, like these little, little things. And he, so he like mapped it all out and it showed. How, uh, like how much it interrupted his actual ability to do his work.

  So even though it was only like over the course of a few hours, it was like, Every few minutes, there would be something that would steal his attention away. Um, that would go like, you know, because of his kids and how that impacted his productivity overall. And I was like, Oh yeah. Like, cause that's, that's one of those things like you, don't it.

  Yeah. It's, it's like, when you're in the flow and then somebody is like, Oh, Hey, by the way, like where's the, I dunno, scotch tape. Then you have to be like, you know, pull yourself out of what you're focused on. Think about where it is, relay that message, regroup, get that, like, it really is super derailing.

  And it's interesting. Cause when I, uh, when I used to work outside the home, when I was in, um, retail management, It was such an intense, I had to focus so much tentatively, like while I was at my job, that I wouldn't even think about like anything else in my, in my life. And so I could really, he's super focused.

  Like people be like, Oh, you know, do you miss your son or whatever? He was in daycare at the time. And I'm like, well, of course I miss him, but like I'm too busy to even think about him. I'm super are, are like, We have like a staff of over 40 people. It's a super busy store. We were really high volume. So like I'm managing people, I'm managing customers.

  I'm like doing things, things that are part of my corporate responsible abilities. Like I'm so hyper focused on my job. And like, we couldn't even have cell phones on our person at the like, Like none of the sales associates could at all. So there were no distractions. Like I could just literally do more job.

  And then the moment I was done, I could like, like, leave my job there and then go and switch into a different mode. And I feel like now we just, none of us have that, where, like you said, that's where that blur comes in. So.

  Mridu Parikh: Yeah, no. I mean, for sure there's a whole another level of complexity right now and challenges that, you know, we haven't had earlier.

  Um, and I think it, it it's so unpredictable, but at the same time, there are, there's some level of planning that can, you know, that can definitely help. So for example, and I'm not, I mean, I had, my kids are older too. Now. I had young kids at a time it's been awhile, but I remember, yeah, they're coming in every second.

  But some things I've been working on with my clients with just young kids is like, okay, Can you just get the snack basket, ready? Just have it out so that they don't have to come to the next, can you get all the, um, the scissors and the tape and all the crafting stuff in a basket somewhere everything's already for them.

  Hey, what can we do at this point? Like, you've been home for a while. We know the questions that are going to happen. Yes. Some are unpredictable. Someone's going to fall. They need you. But there are some things at this point that we sort of know, like, I need this, I need that. I can't get the remote working.

  What does it mean? That maybe you can cue up the TV on Netflix where the certain things, or maybe we can, you know, get those snacks together or whatever it is. There was some level, I think, a planning that we can do right now that it's going to help for that because you're right. You know, the kids are going to come in like incessantly.

  Yeah, absolutely. And I think that goes into, like, I know I mentioned it in the power hour episode, but like pre planning what you're going to be working on and having all the components. Ready to go so that you're not sitting down at your desk and then being like, okay, what am I going to do for the next hour?

  Like you already know, so you can kind of maximize every, every minute of that time. Yeah. And now, but now than that, the other level of complexity is that we've got to think about that with the other people in the house. You know, it's like you need in the next one hour, I'm on this call. What are they going to, you know, um, So, so yeah, it's kind of thinking that through ahead of time, but that preplanning is, I always have my, my, like one of my mantras is like, yeah, no, your success lies in your ability to plan really believe that like all of your success was going to come down to like how, you know, how much, how much thinking can you do ahead of time?

  How much planning can we do? And that ties back to avoiding these distractions or turning them off or knowing what I'm going to focus on and prioritizing at that time. And so you have planning, planning is huge.

  Erika Tebbens: It is. And so I know one thing too, because like, even for the best plan, uh, you know, we, we have those moments.

  Like somebody gets sick or whatever, and things just get a ride. So how do we get back on track? And then, are there any other ways that you could talk about how we can like refocus, especially? Cause I, I just feel like this year has just been like at right when you are like, alright, I think I got it. Like, I think I ha I'm I'm used to like my new normal and then like something else happens that it's like, Oh God, now everything is like in the air all over again.

  Mridu Parikh: Yeah. I mean, it, it is, it's, it's really hard. It's really hard. Especially when we were like, okay, I did the right things. I did the plan, but now everything went crazy and things, Nicole, as they were. And I, what I would say here is probably one of the hardest things to do, um, because you kinda have to retrain your brain, but it's at this time more than ever, like during that moment, when everything is crazy, I'm like, I don't want to do that.

  We have to do the thing. That's. Most counter-intuitive, which is to just stop and step back and reassess. And it seems so counterintuitive because at that time everything's going crazy. You're like, I don't know what about my mind? And you're just like, I'm going to do, do, do, do, do, do. I'm just going to do this and be like you said, I'm going to hit the, I'm going to cross something off the checklist.

  I'm going to do the next thing. And it's like, what our mind is telling us to do is go faster, do more, get more done, but where, where we really to be is. Step back for just a minute. I mean, really it's like a minute or two look at that list again and reprioritize because if, what happens, I think some of what we tend to do a lot is sometimes we can be pretty focused in the beginning of the day, at the beginning of the week.

  Like, okay, here's the things I gotta nail. Here's what I want you to get out this week. The problem is we're still relying on that even though the day has gone crazy, even though the day has taken a different turn, we're still, we're still thinking about that list. Whereas we've got to be looking at that pretty much all day, like kind of reprioritizing as other circumstances change.

  So. You might be used to write back that might still be your priority, or it might not because now something else has happened, right. Another demand or request or something came in. And I think it's just sort of the stepping back and not falling into the, I just gotta do, gotta do, gotta do. Gotta do. I gotta do more, more, more.

  I stepped back and say, okay, what is most important right now? Because something just took a turn. What's the next step now? I tend to keep things like really simple and kind of do some old school stuff, because I think it's still the best, like just the foundational basics. So I keep a, because I moved because just before this podcast, you know, I had to move around, but on my, on my office, I'm not there right now.

  I had a sticky note and it has like my top three. Important priority yeah. For that day or would it always when I need to be focusing on. And so it's a sticky note. It says one, two, three, and that's it. And they put that on my, like where I'm working or on my laptop every day, because, because exactly we're talking about things, you're going to get unfocused.

  We're gonna go crazy. And so when I step back, I can look at that. So for example, for your audience, it might be maybe number one is sales followups, right? Number two might be. Um, check in with my current clients and three might be, you know, um, some marketing thing, like maybe something with like posts post about my next promotion.

  They, so it's those three. So when everything's gone crazy, when there's a hundred emails, when you're like the phone's ringing off the hook and texts, you just, I just feel like I need a visual anchor to bring me back. And so I'm like, okay, I can put my attention to a hundred things right now. But my number one priority is to do those sales followups.

  It's literally visually seeing that on my laptop because I, I feel like you really need that visual thing because all the senses are going crazy at that time. So that's like a simple technique that helps me just get back on track and back and focus when it's all going awry. Um, so that's like a simple way, but like I said, I think mostly more than anything, you just gotta step back for a moment and just be like, let me take a deep breath.

  Let me think this through, because otherwise I'm just going to be running, running, running, running, and it's, I'm really not doing the stuff that's going to matter most today.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. I, uh, I agree. I think that that is it. I know. I struggle with the, like the pause and then to step back and think ahead. But it really is.

  It is so important. And I know even right now, since we're at the halfway point of the year and I just had to cancel like my last travel thing for the year. So usually how I tend to work best is around like different kind of events. Right. So it'll almost be like a sprint leading up to that event where it's like, okay, well, I'm going to be gone for this week on vacation or for this work thing or whatever. So I have, you know, four weeks between now and then what absolutely has to get done in that time, because it's like, that is like my builtin container where it's like, well, if I'm going to launch this thing, I have to have it done. And all of it complete by the time.

  I leave cause I don't want to take that work with me while I'm on vacation or whatever. And it's very, like, I feel like that container helps me focus to be like, okay, this is what we're going to do. And then from there I could break it out further, like, okay, what needs to be done in each of the four weeks and then what needs to be done on each of the days.

  But now that it's like, there's nothing, I have no more anchor points for my year. Uh, and at least not. Right now, like most of my main offers of like how people can work with me are they're not super time sensitive. Like if I have space for the clients, so you can work with me. Um, so it's, I'm finding it more mentally challenging for myself to create a plan.

  Cause I'm somebody who loves planning, but when things are super wide open, it's kind of like, Well, who cares if I do that this week or next week? Like, so I really have to like hone in on, okay, what are my goals? Like, are there any projects, what do I want to be doing? And then working backwards from there and, and keeping it really simple because otherwise, if I'm like piling too much stuff on in a day, I just, yeah.

  I start to like, kind of be like, man, I was actually talking with a friend this morning. We were messaging back and forth. Um, and I was like, that's what I was complaining about. Like, I was like, I just feel like there's no urgency anymore for me to accomplish any of these things. And so it, and it really is more of a mindset thing.

  Cause quite frankly, and I realized how lucky I am, but like I have plenty of time. Like we were already homeschooling, like it's not that big of a deal. So now it's really more about like wrapping my mind around what are those top three important things? How do they relate to my bigger goals? And like, how do I eliminate those distractions?

  So, yeah. Yeah.

  Mridu Parikh: Yeah. I, um, and I totally hear you on this. It feels like that there's no, there's no deadlines anymore. In some cases, um, in something I've been, I work with my clients on our putting self-imposed deadlines and they are in it. You want to tie it into an external deadline because self-impose is, like you said, Oh, okay.

  I can do an X, they can do it next week. So maybe putting in something in your business or personal life that makes you reach that deadline. So I'll give you some examples. So if someone is putting up something personally, like they're like, I've been meaning to, you know, clean up that guest room or the garage forever.

  And I just can't get myself to do it. Oh, we will actually say, okay, well, why don't you host the holidays this year? Or why don't you have a, I know right now we can't do that, but why don't you have a dinner party in three weeks from now? Why don't you host that? And so it's kind of like, it's a self-imposed, it's like something you've come up with, but it's around other, an external factor.

  Right. Other people. So in business it might be something like, okay, you're right. I don't have, maybe I'm not launching a program. But maybe I'm going to, and I'm just making this up, but maybe I'm going to offer a bonus that's only, or a discount or whatever you wanna do. That's only valid until the end of July or the end of August.

  So that way it's like, you're trying to get as many people into that. You know, by that it's something you've, you've made up, but like, by that time, without launching a whole nother program, we were like, I want to get that, you know, to as many people or I have a sales goal of whatever it is by the end of this quarter and then work our way backwards.

  But I think we do have to give ourselves some type of, of kind of external way to get those internal, um, deadlines in place because otherwise you're right. Is kind of like, well, You know, there's just really no deadline for that. I can just go on and on and on.

  Erika Tebbens: Yeah. I actually, uh, I ended up this month. I decided I'm doing a workshop, uh, later in the month.

  And just having that anchor point, like I was able to go back and do a whole content plan and everything. But I ha I had to just be like, okay, this is the thing I'm doing. And it won't be hard, hard for me to like put together that workshop. I love, I love teaching and it's something that I talk about a lot with my clients.

  And so I can do that, but yeah, I like, I literally just, I had to be like, well, this is the, this is the date. Like I, I had to put something in place and be like, Start talking it up because then I know like if I've already put it out there that I'm going to do it, then I will follow through. So yeah, I definitely have to do that.

  I know that you have other resources, so you have a book and a podcast. So why don't you talk a little bit about those and that way people can get even more, more help from you.

  Mridu Parikh: Sure. Thanks. Um, so I have a book that was released last year. It's called Accomplish It. Seven Simple Actions to get The Right Things Done and Achieve Your Goals.

  Um, essentially, it's just, it's a really, it's a fun, I'd say it's a fun journey of, of the sum of seven of seven actions are seven strategies that you can put into your work life and your home life. Um, as I mentioned, the very beginning of this interview that. You know, I started as a home organizer and then moved to productivity and time management.

  And I was always asked, like, how did you make that switch? Like, did you have to get more training? And my, I would say, no. The reason is that what I found is that the strategies are the same. Like they're the same strategies that you're going to use with your kids or your family or your closet, or your bills is what you're going to use with your colleagues and your teams and your desk and your calendar.

  They're the same strategies. And so. Um, I wrote this book and the perspective, of here are the strategies and I get lots of examples of here's where you can apply at home here's you can apply it at work. And I think especially now in our, you know, our world, it's more, probably relevant than ever in terms of just really helping you.

  I know, set yourself up and one big takeaway from that. And it's a little bit of a spoiler alert, I guess, is that, you know, after we go through the seven and, um, I asked you to just really focus on one, just focus on one, because what I really found is that. These are habits. Like all we're, all, everything we've been talking about today is just like changing some of them.

  That's right. And so I want to help you influence your habit, changing your habit transformations. And so we'll say which one resonated with you the most and just focus on that one. Because after working with hundreds of women and just personally developing myself, I know when you try to do 10 things at one time or even three changes at one time, you're probably setting yourself up for failure, right?

  It's not going to work. So do the one that you're like, okay, this is the one I really want to, I want to work on, I want to master when I feel really good about it. And then when it starts becoming kind of part of your life. So for example, the avoiding distractions, but that's the one you're like, I am going to use that you're not disturb her.

  I am just going to put a Tamer for them. You know, the amount of time on my texts and my emails, or I am going to use the power hour. And when that starts becoming part of, you know, who you are, or your day daily ritual, then we'll move on to something else. So. Like I said, it's just like a fun, it's a fun journey and, um, you know, encourage everyone to check it out.

  And then also I launched a podcast. Um, I'm a on episode 20, almost at 25 now I think twenties out and that's called productivity on purpose. And it's, you know, a lot of the same it's for overwhelmed women who are doing it all, juggling all the balls and we get really, and of course, as you know, from podcasts, you just have an opportunity to get more in depth on specific topics and really get into the nitty gritty and, um, step by step process of how to take control, how to be more focused, how to prioritize, how to make, make like a really awesome to do lists.

  Um, and so those are just some of the topics. So I would love if anyone's interested, come on over it's productivity on purpose.

  Erika Tebbens: I love that. And I know I mentioned it, um, in the intro. But you also have a free resource, the 21 Killer Hacks To Stop Feeling Overwhelmed, which people can get at your website at lifeisorganized.com/hacks so definitely people should, should go check that out too, because I feel like even now, just at the time of recording this like mid July, my friends are with kids or like, you know, trying to figure out as schools in different places and obviously schools in different places go back at different times, like even in regular years.

  And so people are trying to navigate that, like, will school be starting on time? Will it be pushed back? Will it be in-person virtual half and half? Like, there's just so many things up in the air that I feel like it's, we're really in that prime time to be able to develop some new habits. Cause I think, I think when this first all started, it was like, okay, well we'll just like, make the best of it for a month.

  And then things will go back to normal, right? Like we can kinda wing it for a month. Um, might not be like the best month of your life, but like you can make it happen. Um, and now I think it's just the thing of like, things are sort of back to normal in the sense that like I'm hearing from a lot of people, you know, like people who are now working from home, like their jobs are, there's like no more leeway.

  It's like, you are just having to like all, all the projects that people were working on. Like they're right on track. Like companies aren't pushing out deadlines or anything. So like people who have, you might run your business from home, but. If you have kids and your partner works for a company and like, they don't have any flexibility in their schedule anymore because things kind of had to get back to like how they were at least in some way like that.

  I know that's really stressful and hard for, for a lot of families. So I feel like we can't, we can't just wing it anymore. Like even for me, like, I don't have any more things on the calendar for the year. So like, I can't pretend that. There will be any artificial deadlines. I just have to start making them for myself.

  Mridu Parikh: No, you're totally right. I think, yeah. I think there's a reality of we're in here for a bit. It's going to be a bit, it's going to be a more than a minute. Um, yeah, I think we've got to start if we haven't already, um, be a pivot and a pivot to big word right now, but pivoting businesses, but really pivoting like our lifestyles, the way we're thinking, you know, just really changing that and, um, you know, do what we can to make it work for us.

  Erika Tebbens: So, yeah, absolutely. Well, this was super, super fun and a really important conversation. I'm so grateful that you reached out to me to come on because I know that people are going to get just a ton from this episode and they should absolutely go check you out as well. So thank you Mridhu for being here. I really appreciate your time.

  Mridu Parikh: Well, thank you. I really appreciate you having me here and sharing me with your audience. Thanks so much.