In Awe of Awe

October is such a beautiful month. I was reminded of that again this year as I spent half in Indiana and half in North Carolina. It truly struck me with awe to see not only the colors of the leaves, but how blue the sky gets and how the particular angle of the sun this time of year hits juuuuust right.

The trees in the above photo are on our daily dog walk. When we are on schedule, the return walk home coincides with the sun coming up across the field to the left. The leaves are stunning, of course the photo barely does it justice.

“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

Mary Oliver

The above photo is the view from my dad’s back porch in Indiana. I was sitting inside working on my laptop and the sun came through the window with a piercing brightness. I went to look out the window at the sun off the fountain in the middle of the pond and saw this spectacular view.

Luckily with a new puppy we are getting LOTS of time to spend in nature looking at all of this gorgeous scenery. Its good to take time to look around and appreciate what you see around you – even if it is the same thing you pass every day, multiple times per day.

What if you considered the same about yourself? You live in your own mind and body, but what happens when you look back at how far you have come. Sort of like when you feel fat and ugly, then look back at photos from 15 years ago when you felt fat and ugly. All of a sudden more is revealed and you love what you see and remember.

Be in awe of who you are today, how far you have come. And in awe of what more could be revealed.

By |2023-10-22T12:55:28-04:00October 31st, 2023|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Episode 39: Three Tools to Prevent Holiday Burnout

Imagine a holiday season that is productive – you enjoy the activities that are meaningful to you with the people who are meaningful to you. 

Now imagine that same holiday season is one you actually want to repeat or even continue long term. 

Here at Sustainable Sue, our wish for you is to create a holiday season that you can wrap up without feeling glad it is over and that you need a vacation to recover from. Or worse, a holiday season that you cannot get through without numbing out on the ever present excess of food, drink, spending, and general over-doing it. 

Learn three strategies you can use now to avoid holiday burnout!

Here is what you can expect to hear on the episode:

  1. Susan climbs on her time management soap box
  2. How holidays amp up unvoiced expectations leading to premeditated resentments
  3. How to choose yourself over others to prevent holiday burnout

Listen at the link below or search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” everywhere podcasts are available.

Links to Learn More

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback on the episode, suggestions for future show topics or guests, and anything else to Susan@SustainableSue.com or in a DM on Instagram.

By |2023-10-30T17:45:49-04:00October 30th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Episode 38: Stress Resilience = Immunity Shield

You cannot remove all stress from your life. Nor can you manage stress – that is like pinning jello to a tree. But you can change how you respond to stress – this is stress resilience. Since there is no right or wrong way to approach stress resilience, each person can have a unique way of designing a life that increases stress resilience. Don’t accept that voice in your head that says you don’t have time for one more thing. Stress research has proven over and over that if you don’t take time for stress resilience, your body will force a break on you with injury or illness.

Here is what you can expect to hear on the episode:

  1. A $15 glimmer Susan resisted for weeks
  2. Mistakes 20-something Sue made regarding stress prevention and stress management, plus a story that is guaranteed to make you laugh
  3. Why you need to increase stress resilience starting today

Search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” everywhere podcasts are available.

Links to Learn More

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback on the episode, suggestions for future show topics or guests, and anything else to Susan@SustainableSue.com or in a DM on Instagram.

PS – I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

By |2023-11-12T17:53:07-05:00October 23rd, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Redefine Success

In order to keep my Sustainable Sue hat on I need to redefine success this season. This fall is very different from last year when I was planning fun outings and such (link). These days are all about transitions. I did a couple podcast episodes about it as I was heading into the season (Managing Transitions and Sustainable Sue Takes a Sabbatical). These served as more of a pep talk for Future Sue because I know my patterns. I often fall into overwhelm because I don’t give myself the grace to let things fall by the wayside. 

While I am figuring out a revised Sustainable Sue routine to work around my new day job, hobbies are falling away. While I visit my dad for a few weeks, my exercise routine drops off. It is really obvious when I look at my habit tracker for a month or two. But I have been tracking my habits for over six years and have learned some lessons that help redefine success. 

Widen the Time Period

Lesson one is that success happens over longer periods of time than today’s culture defaults to. I may not average 10 miles of walking each week during October 2023. But if I look back at the whole year of 2023, I likely will meet or exceed that target. 

“The years teach much which the days never know.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you start to feel the hours and days closing in around you, take a few deep breaths and zoom out your perspective of time. If you don’t see or feel any white space in the next foreseeable future, you might need to make some hard decisions. Last month when I was feeling that constricted feeling I had to cancel two volunteer commitments. Guess what – no one cared. Except for me who had a couple hours back to restore. That was everything. And in the scope of a year, those couple hours did not matter one bit to the volunteer agency.

Long Haul

Lesson two is that life will ebb and flow like the tides. To a certain extent, you have control over your to do list and calendar, but the fact of life is there are seasons that are busier than others. Allow yourself to balance work and rest today and more importantly – over long haul.

It seems counterintuitive to schedule rest in a hectic time. If you have a free hour you should accomplish a task while you have a free second. Consider that the task should be to restore yourself to sanity. Because running on empty is insane, non-productive, and not sustainable. Ask me how I know.

Defining Worthiness

Lesson three is that your worth as a person is not defined by miles on a treadmill, hours in your office or emails in your inbox. Each of us has the ability to let go of the messages we are clinging to that tell us we need to earn worthiness and love. 

By definition, habits that are Sustainably Productive need to have well-defined time parameters that take the current season into account. Shift your mindset to accept that there will be seasons of life that are busier than others, knowing that over time it balances out. 

Sustainable You Reflections

  1. Which of these three lessons resonated most with you? What action item can you consider to enforce that lesson?
  2. Which of these three lessons felt most prickly to you? Why do you think that is?

Until next time remember to create productive results in a way that you can sustain and that work for you. 

By |2023-09-12T10:10:07-04:00October 17th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments
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Episode 37: Digital Clutter Deep Dive

As recent at 20 years ago “digital clutter” would not even have been on our radar, let alone a component of a Sustainably Productive life. Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and digital assistants are set up for home or work or both. Kids are getting devices at younger ages and schools are embracing digital learning environments. Episode 24 took a deeper look at physical clutter and this episode will take the same deeper look at digital clutter.

Here is what you can expect to hear on the episode:

  1. Sustainable Sue vs. 50-foot smoking hot Margot Robbie
  2. The rise of data obesity and why it matters
  3. Practical suggestions to start to tame the digital clutter

Search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” everywhere podcasts are available.

Links to Learn More

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback on the episode, suggestions for future show topics or guests, and anything else to Susan@SustainableSue.com or in a DM on Instagram.

By |2023-10-16T12:22:53-04:00October 16th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Episode 36: The Most Productive Thing I Do Each Week

A productive weekly review is part planning session and part retrospective. There are a zillion ways to do a weekly review, of course, but this episode represents the Sustainable Sue-specific steps so that you can start somewhere. It is about consistency and progress – not about perfection. 

Here is what you can expect in this episode:

  1. Why Susan has not showered in way too many days
  2. Why a weekly review is important
  3. Specific steps and questions to guide you through the weekly review process

Listen at the link below or search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” everywhere podcasts are available.

Links to Learn More

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback on the episode, suggestions for future show topics or guests, and anything else to Susan@SustainableSue.com or in a DM on Instagram.

PS: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

By |2023-10-09T11:54:58-04:00October 9th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Value in the “Circle Back”

Let’s take a moment this week to circle back on some topics we covered earlier this year. “Circle back” is one of those corporate buzz words that makes us cringe, roll our eyes or both. But there is some value in revisiting, closing the loop or general follow up. 

How many times do we hear the phrase “circle back” compared to how often we actually do it? I bet the result is not a ratio we would be really excited to publish. This is often a byproduct of busyness. 

Cultivating Relationships

We are going full throttle on the next thing, barely acknowledging or celebrating past accomplishments. We contribute to the meal train when someone has a death in their family, but do we come back the next month – when things get really quiet for them after the funeral rush is over? Or a lighter example, we recommend a book or TV show to a friend, but then don’t every ask if they liked it or not. 

A benefit of the circle back is to create connection with others. Relationships are a component of the Mental Well-being dimension of Sustainable Productivity. Who cares if we have a bright shiny life if we are disconnected from all the people in our lives? 

Some experts say that addiction is partly caused by disconnection and disengagement. Numbing out and escaping your life is also disconnection and disengagement. The antidote for this is connection – the circle back. 

Closure

I wonder if you are like me, making up stories when I don’t have all the details. 

  • Someone does not call me back so I assume they are mad at me (or dead in a car wreck if it is one of my kids). 
  • Silence after applying for a freelance opportunity means either my email is broken or they hate my writing. 
  • Delayed results from the doctor’s office means catastrophic news that they needed to run by another team before breaking to me.

While these are all pretty extreme examples, it demonstrates clearly that the open loops leave room for confusion and chaos at best. Getting in the habit of closing the loop with people can help manage that stress. Surrounding yourself with people who do that for you can help you feel more connected. 

It does not have to be a big hairy deal. Which is what I want to show today with a few follow ups of my own.

Podcast Set up

A few weeks ago I presented a case study on environmental productivity, which showed me podcasting from the floor. I looked on Facebook Marketplace and our local buy nothing group and made the decision to buy new from Target. The price was not going to be much more than what I saw on Marketplace, plus I got what I wanted instead of settling. 

Of course I kept the toy box. Now it is the on deck circle for the next couple craft projects in line. 

Word of the Year 

Next let’s circle back to the word of the year. Oh yeahhh!!!! Remember that? Mine is equanimity, and I have received several opportunities to practice this. Sometimes that has been literally, like the inversions workshop I took and the headstand/handstand practice sessions at home now. 

Sometimes this year equanimity has been more of a figurative approach. Sending our daughter to Italy for study abroad or adjusting to be a single income family were major adjustments that our family has had so far in 2023. I bet with about a quarter of the year left, there will be more um, “opportunities” to practice this mindset. 

Plastic storage containers

Back in February of this year, I was so pleased with myself for overhauling our plastic storage containers. It was such a beautiful results. Well, as we circle back on this one, cue the sad music.

Womp, wommmmmp.

It is again out of control in the drawer. The system for putting away as I unload the dishwasher was not sustainable. I will take a crack at it again this winter probably. But you know what DID work from that exercise? Separating out the to go containers. There have been several times when our young adult kids and their friends came for lunch or dinner. We were able to easily pack up leftovers for them. By re-using these take out containers, it is no big deal if they never make it back to our house (the containers, not the kids).

Those are a few of the circle back items I wanted to share with you today. There is value in revisiting hits and misses. Misses don’t mean the decision was wrong necessarily, just not quite a hit. It just gives us data on where else we might be able to make adjustments. But without that feedback loop that naturally happens with a circle back, we don’t get that data and we blindly stumble along. That is what can lead to frustration and the need to numb out of our lives. 

Sustainable You Reflections

  1. When is the last time you followed up or revisited a goal or decision?
  2. What was your word of the year? It is not too late to resurrect it. Or if it is no longer serving you, let it go.
  3. How can circling back on people, places, things, decisions serve you where you are in life right now?

Until next time remember to create results in a way that you can sustain and that are productive for you. 

By |2023-09-05T10:31:42-04:00October 3rd, 2023|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Episode 35: 15 Health and Fitness Habit Change Tips

Previous episodes gave you the background about why each component of the Health and Fitness dimension helps you prevent and recover from burnout. Now get more small adjustments you can make in each area. If you have been struggling to gain traction in any of these areas, this episode is for you. It may just spark an idea that help unlock a new way forward for you!

Here is what you can expect to hear:

  1. How the SPM became a glimmer.
  2. Practical adjustments that you can start today to improve your health and fitness habits.
  3. Free resources to support your habit change efforts.

Download the companion cheat sheet at this link. It includes 15 tips, plus room to add your own ideas.

Listen at the link below or search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” everywhere podcasts are available.

Links to Learn More

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback on the episode, suggestions for future show topics or guests, and anything else to Susan@SustainableSue.com or in a DM on Instagram.

PS: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

By |2023-10-02T11:34:17-04:00October 2nd, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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