Episode 21: Special Guest for Literary Life Lately!

Special guest alert! It’s that magical time of the season – time for a reading round up and all thing literary life lately. This installment is extra special since Susan’s sister will be joining her on the microphone. Before they offer up thoughts on who and what they have been reading lately, Elli and Susan chat about literary life NOT lately.

Here is what you can expect in this special guest episode:

  1. What memories around reading exist for the Edwards girls.
  2. How books and reading shaped their parenting.
  3. Differences between reading as a kid and reading as a parent.

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 |2023-06-26T09:22:06-04:00June 26th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Small Adjustments Matter

Short post today to illustrate that small adjustments matter. I used to think that I needed to run marathons to be fit. Today I don’t even run down the block and I am stronger than I have been since power lifting in the college varsity weight room.

Sure you might not be able to organize your home this weekend or even this year. But can you set an alarm on your phone to spend 10 minutes a day on the stacks of paper on your office chair?

By saying “this isn’t worth the effort” you are discounting the compounding momentum of the habit change fly wheel. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good – just start.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. 

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1758

And a little inside baseball? I want to be able to write long, meaningful, action item rich posts each week. But this is all I can do today. But it is something, and I am doing it.

You can too.

There is no part of habit change that is too small. Small adjustments matter.

Sustainable You Reflections

  • What habit change are you talking yourself out of?
  • Is it too big? Too hard? Too scary? What story are you telling yourself?
  • What small chunk can you break off to work on – just a piece, not the whole scary thing?

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

By |2023-06-20T07:39:15-04:00June 20th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments
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Episode 20: Why You Need to Celebrate

In honor of Susan’s 49th birthday, this episode is all about how to celebrate. We range from the woo woo to the practical and everything in between. Whether you are a reluctant or newbie or veteran celebrator you will find something for you in Episode 20.

Here is what you can expect in today’s episode:

  1. A walk down Susan’s memory lane in batches of 7 years (and why 7 years).
  2. Examples of small, but mighty ways real people celebrate themselves and others.
  3. Suggestions for adjustments to get celebrate yourself and others

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 |2023-06-19T08:33:34-04:00June 19th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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Word of the Year

Remember equanimity, my word of the year? How is your 2023 word or theme or goal going these days? We are almost halfway through the year, but it is never too late to commit – or recommit making life better for yourself. 

I had somewhat let my focus on equanimity slide in recent months. While I was reminded of the importance of it while in Italy where I could not speak the language or understand public transportation or time zones, when I returned home I wanted to return to the homeostasis of my routine. 

Refocus

A book I was reading brought my word of the year back into focus. That Phil Jackson has a way of doing that, I mean it worked for Michael Jordan so it can work for me too, right? 

In his book, 11 Rings: The Soul of Success, Jackson talks about a story he shared with the Bulls about a Zen teacher speaking to a group about Buddhism. Here is how Jackson translated it to his team: Everything is always in flux. Until you accept this, you won’t be able to find true equanimity. 

Oof. 

I have found that lack of acceptance just prolongs the pain. Accepting a situation for what it is can provide that equanimity. That does not mean you have to co-sign some nonsense. You can accept a person is going to act like a fool without having to change that person. A job may no longer be the right fit for you, and you can accept that while you decide if that means you should stay or find a new role. You can accept that you have time constraints that prevent you from fully immersing in a new hobby and decide what small part of it you could engage in.

Notice none of this is just lying down and being helpless, it is making small adjustments – sometimes the adjustment is in your attitude and mindset instead of massive actions or broad proclamations. 

It is ok to not take action, but to acknowledge that something is not working and you are aware. 

You don’t have to do it perfectly. In fact, because everything is always in flux, there is no way to do it perfectly. But you need to keep shifting and changing to stay true to yourself. 

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. 

Not to dare is to lose oneself. 

Soren Kierkegaard 

Sustainable You Reflections

  • How is your 2023 word / theme / goal going?
  • Where do you need to apply more acceptance to your life?
  • What small adjustment can you apply to your attitude or situation to facilitate this acceptance?
By |2023-05-30T08:19:32-04:00June 13th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments
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Episode 19: How to Get the Rest You Need

Rest is so important that it is a component of all three dimensions of Sustainable Productivity. In this episode Susan highlights the work from Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith in her book Sacred Rest and expands it to apply to Health and Fitness, Mental Well-being, and Environmental Surroundings.

Let’s be clear: rest is not sleep. Rest is an active or passive activity you participate in so you can recharge and restore. Consider this quote by an anonymous source:

“When I am resting because my body is weak, I need to remember that I’m not wasting the day doing nothing. I am doing exactly what I need to do. I’m recovering.”

Think of rest as more of a “timeout,” rather than a “go home.”

Here is what you can expect in today’s episode:

  1. Why rest is a component of each of the Sustainable Productivity dimensions.
  2. Signs and symptoms of a rest deficit.
  3. Suggestions for adjustments to reduce this deficit.

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 |2023-06-12T08:27:52-04:00June 12th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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How to Do Get Things Done

For all the essays and podcast episodes I’ve done about doing less, knowing your why before you start something, and redefining productive, I do believe there is value in striving. Not fulfilling our life purpose, avoiding effort, and quitting out of fear does not lead to a Sustainably Productive life. In fact it is the exact opposite – it is checking out of the life you are intended to lead. While you are busy being busy, you might be missing the value. Missing the meat of the meal because you are making sure the silverware is set perfectly. (Apologies to the vegetarian readers). 

I have been thinking about this topic a lot in the last few weeks and am starting to get my thoughts to form sentences. I am going to make this a series over a longer period of time so I can workshop these ideas around striving with you. Let’s start where I often go when I am working through a complicated-for-me idea: the dictionary.

Striving has two definitions that I want to introduce you to.

Make great efforts to achieve or obtain something

and 

Struggle or fight vigorously

Using these definitions, I want to talk about striving in terms of activity and inactivity. 

Striving Can Be Doing

I bet most of you reading this related more to the striving as doing. Cake even wrote a song about it:

The arena is empty except for one man

Still driving and striving as fast as he can

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up

And long ago somebody left with the cup

But he’s driving and striving and hugging the turns

And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

Cake, The Distance

I believe the key is to consciously choose what you are striving for. I want to call this deliberate practice. This idea of deliberate practice takes a beginner mind. By checking your ego and need to be perfect at the door, you make more space to strive, fail, and learn. To be clear, this is hardly the American way. We don’t want to do or watch the work, we want to see the result.

“With everything perfect, we do not ask how it came to be. Instead we rejoice in the present fact as though it came out of the ground by magic.”

Nietzsche
  • We expected Michael Jordan to be a batting All Start just because he was an NBA All Star. Watching him work at it was boring to most people – we wanted the All Star performance. 
  • People often get frustrated at crafts because they can’t replicate the sample or perfect a technique the first (or tenth or hundredth) time they attempt it. We don’t even consider that by failing to copy the sample, we have created an original.
  • Time is considered wasted if the garden didn’t yield a massive harvest. We discount the joy at puttering around in nature and the lessons learned from a smaller than usual crop. 

Don’t miss the experience that striving gives – the effort to achieve or obtain something can be what makes life interesting, fun, productive, and sustainable. 

My Deliberate Practice

One of the ways I recently engaged in this idea of deliberate practice was with quilting. A shop in the mountains of North Carolina runs online classes, which I had not tried – all of my classes had been in person. I wanted to get better at a few techniques that this online class offered so I took the leap. Going into this experiment with a beginner mind was key. Knowing there would be challenges, imperfection, and a lot to learn were things I reminded myself often. I also knew that this quilt would be one I kept or donated (vs. having the gift recipient in mind while I made it like I usually do). This took the pressure off and freed me up to make mistakes. 

While I was not wrong about all of that, this deliberate practice was a challenge. I ripped out portions, resewing them to get it right. Watching the lessons multiple times on half speed became the norm. I have a list of things that are wrong with the quilt now that it is done. And my people use it daily. We can have both.

Which leads to the other half of striving. While striving is doing something, it can also be NOT doing something.

Striving Can Be Not Doing 

As I sit here striving to draft this essay, I just heard the washing machine finish and I desperately want to pop up and put the clothes in the dryer. Because I like the feeling of things flowing easily and getting stuff done, knocking out a chore quickly is a really attractive option. But I believe my purpose is not to just do chores, it is to share the Sustainable Sue message also. To learn to be a better writer – by writing. I know this all sounds woo woo, but the point I am trying to get across is that striving is not always about DOING something, it can also be about NOT doing something. To return to the definition – I am fighting vigorously to not pop up and turn over the laundry.

I wonder if you can relate? Do you want to say no, but instead do what seems easier and say yes to please the person in front of you? Maybe you are feeling some feelings and lash out at whoever is closest because that is easier than removing yourself from the situation and putting yourself in timeout. 

Just because there is less action in the decision, does not mean you are not striving. Not doing something can be harder than doing something. 

Sustainable Productivity Reflections

  • Where are you striving in your life?
  • How is that striving working for you? 
  • Do you relate more to striving while doing or not doing? Why is that?

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

By |2023-06-02T16:29:22-04:00June 6th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments
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Episode 18: What Does Burnout Have to Do With Nutrition?

Most of us grew up with nutrition messaging like the food guide pyramid and learning “You are what you eat!” Then life gets in the way, we numb out on unhealthy foods and eat our feelings so we can continue to RISE AND GRIND! Listen to this week’s episode to learn a new way forward when it comes to nutrition – a productive way forward that is sustainable long term. This is not about a diet. This is about fueling for the life you want to create for yourself so you can show up the way you want to, not just running on fumes.

Listen at the link below or search for “Sustainable Productivity with Susan Sanders” wherever you get your podcasts.

Links mentioned in the nutrition and Sustainable Productivity episode:

    By |2023-06-05T07:36:54-04:00June 5th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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    If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes

    When I want to give someone tough love, one of my favorite phrases is: If nothing changes… Nothing changes.

    Ouch, I know, right?!

    But this week I want to keep things more on the lighter side. If you listen to the Sustainably Productivity podcast, you know Bixby and I traveled to Italy to see our eldest in the second half of April. I felt such awe for the age, history, and culture of all of the cities we visited. I am still rolling that around in my head.

    Today I want to talk about how we are quite similar to the Italians who lived thousands of years ago. It reminded me of the Us Weekly Magazine segment: “Stars – They’re Just Like Us!”

    Let’s take a little tongue in cheek tour to see how when nothing changes, nothing changes.

    We All Have Unfinished Projects

    This is a statue of two children playing a game they invented. There is supposed to be a third child in the empty space on the platform. Sort of reminds me of all of the craft projects I have piled on my desk, waiting on the spare bed, and swirling in my brain. Can you relate?

    They Don’t Always Take Care of Their Books

    Libreria Acqua Alta is a bookstore in Venice that obviously has books that have not survived the floods there. They turned it into a tourist attraction of sorts (successfully – as you can see). I don’t know about you, but sometimes I put books face down on the table or bed. I have been known to dog ear pages – even in library books in an emergency and if it is a physical book I own, I mark it up as needed. Do you have a book confession?

    They are Extra About Their Pets

    At the same time we were looking at these incredible statues of greyhounds in the square in the Oltrarno neighborhood of Florence, Lucille was living her best life in a pet boarding place where she swam in a pool every day with other dogs and ended her day with a Frosty Paws before bed. How do you spoil your pet?

    They Screw Up on Large Projects

    Obviously, the photo above is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But did you know there is a different tower that actually leans MORE than this famous one? The photo below is the Garisenda in Bologna. It leans twice as much as the debacle in Pisa, yet it is seldom spoken of. We did not know about it until we walked past it on our visit.

    The wide open field and beautiful grounds in Pisa sure make for a prettier picture. I guess that is another way this ancient civilization was like us – the valuation of beauty and its photo op. Reading up on the cause and impact of these architectural and construction debacles has been interesting. And makes me feel a little better when I make a mistake at my job. What have you bungled today?

    They Dedicated Space for Hobbies

    This is the ancient writing space for royalty in ancient Italy. I love that there is a window nearby. Looks very similar to my writing nook. Do you have a dedicated space for your hobbies?

    Their Physicians Hated Them

    Check out the footgear on this dude in the painting. Looks very similar to the torture device Bixby has from his doctor (picture below) after all the exercises for his bad ankle failed him. I feel that way about some of the appliances, wraps, exercises, and devices I have been prescribed too. How is aging going for you?

    They Loved Family

    All joking aside, we had an incredible time learning about ancient and current culture. But the most important thing we did was see our eldest thriving in a situation we could never have imagined her in. This is one time I hope that if nothing changes… nothing changes.

    By |2023-05-26T05:47:17-04:00May 30th, 2023|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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    Episode 17: Sustainable Sue, the Book Bully

    One of the frequent questions that comes into the Sustainable Sue inbox is about where to find book recommendations. Susan does not mind being a bit of a book bully, pressing books into people’s hands and sending unsolicited recommendations at random. But her tastes may not line up with yours. Or you might be in a book rut and need to find a new book bully to tell you what to read.

    Here is what you can expect in today’s episode:

    1. The Sustainably Productive adjustment that took Susan 48 years to start and only took 60 seconds to complete
    2. Where Susan finds her recommendations
    3. Why anti-recommendations have value and how to use them to your advantage

    As always, even if you are not a book lover, this guidance applies to whatever your hobby is. If you love to lift weights, where do you get inspiration and recommendations for exercises and routines? Travelers don’t know where to go before they actually travel – if this is you, how do you learn the best places to hit in a new city? Maybe instead of a book bully, you wish you had a foodie bully – someone to recommend recipes, restaurants, and techniques to improve your food experience. 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 |2023-05-29T08:21:30-04:00May 29th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments
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    How to Get What You Want

    Assuming you already know what you want, I want to tell you how to now get what you want. 

    Ask for it.

    Ask for what you want. It is unreasonable to be angry with someone for not doing something you did not tell them you expected them to do. Expectations are pre-meditated resentments. Here is an example from my life. I expected my kids to put their dishes in the dishwasher after dinner. I never asked them to do this – I just expected it. Every time we got up from dinner, they put their plates on the kitchen counter and I put my anger into slamming the kitchen cabinets. See, I had an expectation – an unvoiced request. Once I say my expectation, if they agree – then we have an agreement. If they agree to put their plate in the dishwasher and don’t, then we can have a discussion. But if you don’t ask for what you want, how can you expect people to give it to you?

    Ask for it – that is how you get what you want. It is that easy. And yet.

    Surface Level Example

    I was recently felt like I wanted a little more attention from Bixby and requested a bouquet of flowers from him. Of course I did this in a very efficient, Enneagram 1 manner – I put it on the grocery list before he went to the store. I was very specific in my ask. Here is my verbatim entry on our grocery list app:

    Bouquet of flowers for Susan – include sunflowers, but not just sunflowers. 

    Lordy we are romantic, aren’t we? But check it out – it worked! It helped me to get what I want!  

    <<flower pic>>

    A Layer Deeper

    I have a three strike rule. When something comes to my attention three times, I do it if at all humanly possible. 

    • After a movie or TV show comes to my awareness three times, I add it to the queue. 
    • If I needed a certain fabric or thread three times, I break down and buy it instead of looking for a different project. 
    • When I was on the fence about whether or not a Subaru was the right car for me, I saw it everywhere – way more than three times. 
    • If a book is discussed in something I am listening to or reading on three different occasions, I add it to my TBR. 

    I think this is the way the universe says, OK, Sue, let me help you get what you want. 

    This happened to a quote recently. The main character in a fiction book read the quote in his school textbook, then I saw it on social media, then it was the quote of the day in one of my daily devotionals. I give in! I accept this sign that action is needed to get what you want. 

    Here is the quote:

    And then the day came

    when the risk to remain

    tight in a bud was

    more painful than the

    risk to bloom.

    Anais Nin  

     It takes courage to make the ask. But that ask is how you get what you want. Which leads me to my next ask. 

    The Ask

    I want to bloom. Specifically, I want to grow the Sustainable Sue business. I have been afraid to swing for the fences and I believe the universe has sent me this message so I can acknowledge that if I stay tight in this small space, it will keep being not what I want. So here I go:

    I want to double my podcast listeners by August 1st and my email subscribers by September 1st. I need your help to do that. 

    Will you share the Sustainable Productivity podcast and the Sustainable Sue weekly essay with a friend? Here are a couple ways this could look:

    1. Hey – you know how I was struggling with cleaning the kitchen? I heard this great episode of a podcast my friend hosts. Here is the link – maybe it will help with your garage project?!
      • Link: https://sustainablesue.com/14-2/
    2. A friend of mine is trying to grow her small business. Here is the link to her podcast and blog. Check it out and subscribe if you think it is helpful for you. 
      • Podcast link: https://sustainablesue.com/podcast/
      • Essay link: https://sustainablesue.com/blog/
    3. Maybe this bad thing in your life is actually an opportunity to take advantage of extra time to help recover from the burnout you have. Running on empty, burning the candle at both ends is not something you can continue long term. Check out my friend’s website – she has great messages and resources that can help you. 
      • Website link: https://sustainablesue.com

    Thank you for being a supporter of the Sustainable Sue business. Now let’s go get what we want – a life we don’t need to escape!

    By |2023-05-16T10:09:14-04:00May 23rd, 2023|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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