Episode 11: Unpopular Opinions

This episode is all about unpopular opinions because I’ve got a few. This is kind of exciting because for a long time I did not have opinions at all. Well, I had them after you gave me yours, but overall – I just liked what you liked. If I did have an opinion about what I did not like, but it went counter to what you thought, I stuffed it down. I could not make sense of all of this until therapy and recovery in my 40s. It is simple people pleasing. As I started to loosen my grip on people pleasing and explore what I did like, an interesting thing happened – I identified things I had been acting like I enjoyed for decades. I discovered some of these were unpopular opinions.

My hope for this episode is that by revealing my unpopular opinions, you will hear acceptance of what I like and don’t like, and that this will help you figure out yourself a little bit more. This is how we discover what is truly productive for the REAL us – no sense continuing something long term if it does not serve us or bring us joy.

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

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

By |2023-04-17T04:39:45-04:00April 17th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

The Evolution of the Sustainable Productivity Triangle, Part 2

This is part 2 of the Sustainable Productivity Triangle origin story. You can find part 1 at this link.

In last week’s essay I introduced the geometry concepts, and this week I want to show you how they apply to a Sustainably Productive life.

Concept 1: “Each side of the triangle relies on the other sides for strength.”

A triangle by definition has three sides and three angles – just two sides doesn’t make a shape. If you have parallel lines they may run next to each other, but that is not how life works. Life is less like sleek parallel lines and more like spaghetti. We need the reliance on all three sides of the Sustainable Productivity triangle in order to make sure that the life we create can be sustained long term. Missing a side or having a weakness can cause collapse of the triangle, which shows up as burnout in our lives. Let’s review a few examples. To keep the high school math analogy, let’s look at each as an equation.

Example 1 = (Health and Fitness + Environmental Surroundings) – Mental Well-being

Imagine a woman who is fit and strong, kills it at work and has a penthouse apartment with a great view. Now imagine she is lonely – you don’t have to try hard, I think this is pretty much Tully Hart in Firefly Lane, right? Not sustainable. Not productive.

Example 2 = (Mental Well-being + Health and Fitness) – Environmental Surroundings

For this scenario our woman has created good stress management habits with a variety of hobbies. She shares her joy with friends by gifting her fiber crafts and painted landscape masterpieces. But what if there is a significant amount physical clutter that she has collected for these hobbies that prevents her from truly enjoying her home? Or worse yet – her home is not safe for her to live in. Not sustainable. Not productive.

Example 3 = (Environmental Surroundings + Mental Well-being) – Health and Fitness

Consider the woman who always has a house full of people. Hers is the gathering place for her kids and neighbors and she loves having relationships where people feel welcome and a house to make that possible. What she is missing is caring for herself as she does everyone else – the results of her annual wellness visit are a disaster. Not sustainable. Not productive.

While this might be productive – or appear productive, these scenarios can rarely be sustained long term. Each side of the Sustainability Triangle relies on the others for strength. While a weakness can be accommodated in the short term, this is not a long term solution for a life you can be fully engaged in.

Concept 2: “If force is applied to a corner of a triangle, the shape of the triangle automatically shifts to the other sides to carry the load.”

Imagine a triangle where each side is a Sustainable Productivity dimension. Life is not static – there are always stressors that are applied to us by external forces. If you have a Sustainably Productive life that includes all three dimensions, then when the force is applied to that corner, the opposite side shifts to take the stress. Shifting to accommodate that stress is how we can prevent or heal from burnout. Here are a few examples, of course in the format of an equation.

Example 1 = Force x (Environmental Surroundings + Health and Fitness)

Perhaps you have been sleeping poorly because there is a significant amount of physical clutter in your bedroom. Your Sustainable Productivity triangle shifts so Mental Well-being can shoulder the load and offer a solution of Time Management. For example, time blocking 30 minutes per day to get the space cleared up could relieve the stress. 

Example 2 = Force x (Health and Fitness + Mental Well-being)

What if you want to exercise and eat healthy, but you just cannot seem to find the time to make it happen? If this example resonates with you, consider looking to Environmental Surroundings for your solution. Set up your refrigerator and pantry with healthy foods that make it easy to meal prep (meal kits and precut veggies are great for this). What if you spent less on a gym membership and more on equipment you could use at home? Or even a membership to an online exercise program that led you through workouts with what you already have on hand?

Example 3 = Force x (Mental Well-being + Environmental Surroundings)

Although it may seem like social media use creates connection, the connection is not the same as in person (phone/video chat falls somewhere between those two). This loneliness can find a solution in the Health and Fitness dimension. Connect with others over a walk or hike. Invite your mother in law to cooking classes. Go out to dinner or coffee with friends instead of texting. 

Thus, the Sustainable Productivity Triangle

Clearly we as humans are not machines or architectural structures. Human beings are always changing – our insides and our outsides.  But what we have in common is that all three – humans, machines, and buildings – experience outer forces of change. A machine needs to be engineered, or re-engineered, to keep up with advances in technology and humanity, and a person needs to adjust to the impact these advances have on our lives as well. Just as a sky scraper needs to bend and flex with the seasons of nature, we need to bend and flex with the seasons of our lives.

Habit change is not just about doing the thing that maximizes efficiency and effectiveness. Habit change needs to be about what you can maintain. Maintenance could be a season of life or just until you change your mind about what “working for you” means. This is where sustainable habit change enters. We need habit change that is productive and that we can maintain over the long haul. Habit change that can withstand the impact of outside forces acted upon it.  The Sustainable Productivity triangle shows you how.

This was the birth of Sustainable Productivity. Stressing the system – even if it is on behalf of positive change – can lead to burnout, which leads to illness, addiction, and disengagement.

You are here because you want another way forward. A way that helps lead you to your goals yet does not make you want to escape your life.

Sustainable You Reflections

  • Which of the above examples felt most like the life you are leading right now?
  • What small adjustment can you make to remove something that would cause an improvement in this area?
  • What small adjustment can you make to add something that would cause an improvement in this area?

If you are not sure what to add or remove, I am open to hearing the scenario to help you identify a potential shift. You can reach me at Susan@SustainableSue.com or send a DM on Instagram.

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

By |2023-04-04T16:32:23-04:00April 11th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Episode 10: Reframing Sustainable and Productive

If we are lucky, we will live long enough to change and grow. What is considered productive today, will be different in five years. What used to be sustainable ten years ago is no longer tenable. Shifting perspective and reframing priorities are skills that we will all require as we go through life. No one can do reframing sustainable and productive better than today’s guest – Ainslie MacEachran.

Ainslie MacEachran is a former professional cyclist having competed all over the United Staes, Belgium, Holland, and Ireland. He owned and operated health and fitness facilities for 25 years and was a personal trainer and USA Cycling Level 2 Cycling Coach for 15 years. Ainslie now operates Source Fitness and Health, an online store for exercise equipment and lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife and two kids.

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

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

By |2023-08-22T09:00:09-04:00April 10th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

The Evolution of the Sustainable Productivity Triangle

As I draft the proposal for my book about Sustainable Productivity, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the evolution of the Sustainable Productivity Triangle. When I was in high school I dreaded going to Geometry class. I was terrible at it. Often tears would flow as I tried to wrap my brain around proofs and other geometric nonsense. Then there was my teacher. Mr O’Brien scared the crap out of me. He was really smart, really intense, and really did not understand my not understanding. It reminded me of how the Princess felt in War and Peace when Prince Andreyevich was teaching her geometry.

There was one lesson though. This lesson stuck out. Mr O’Brien showed slide after slide of triangles. Triangles in architecture. Triangles in nature. Triangles in construction. Triangles in anatomy. This man who loomed so large and scary waxed poetically for 50 minutes about the strength and beauty of triangles. 

I have a vague recollection of him talking about something to do with the compression, fixed angles, and tensions – honestly, I was just looking at pretty pictures and marveling that I actually related to this geometry lecture for the first time. It seemed like the more Mr O’Brien got warmed up, the more slides he clicked through, the more he changed into a real person.

I started connecting with the different concepts:

“Triangles are the strongest structure.”

“Each side of the triangle relies on the other sides for strength.”

“What nature creates and enhances on its own, man drafts and erects in order for his structure to sustain all kinds of weather and hardship.”

Thirty Years Later

I loved this lecture and it has stuck with me for over 30 years. I notice triangles in nature and buildings and bridges. Then my noticing expanded to other trios. Triangles and groups of three are often referenced in literature, religion, astronomy, and mathematics.  The triangle is a symbol in groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Free Masons. Consider these groupings of three:

  • Three Stooges
  • The Holy Trinity
  • Delta, the mathematical symbol of change
  • Three branches of American government
  • Roman Triumvirate
  • The Brady Bunch Boys and The Brady Bunch Girls

Sustainable Sue and Triangles

Then I noticed triplets in my own work. After years of coaching women on habit change, a few common threads started coming together into the Sustainable Productivity Triangle. The women I worked with expressed a consistent desire to change habits in three different areas of their lives:  

  • Health and Fitness
  • Mental Well-being
  • Environmental Surroundings

We worked on a variety of components in each of these pillars. Fitness, nutrition, rest, stress management, physical clutter, social media use and more. I began to wonder if the concepts of Mr O’Brien’s lecture could apply to habit change to address burnout. The overall theory is that triangles are the strongest structure. Not rectangles or squares – these can be shoved and you get a rhombus or parallelogram – no one likes a leaning structure. Circles are not the strongest – a slight breeze and your structure rolls away. Triangles are the strongest because of how the angles and sides rely on and take up for each other. 

Next week’s essay will cover how each dimension of Sustainable Productivity acts as a buttress for the others in times of stress. Until then, your only homework is to look up and notice.

Sustainable Productivity Reflections

  • Where do you see triangles in nature, architecture, etc.?
  • What trios do you notice as you go about your day?
  • What three pain points keep appearing in your life?

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

By |2023-03-28T07:52:55-04:00April 4th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Episode 9: Habit Change Check-in When Habits Crash Around You

Habit change is easy when it can be done in a perfect world. But none of us lives in a vacuum. We are challenged by schedules, other people’s chaos, shifting priorities – you know the stuff that makes up life. And we don’t always want to avoid these things either – a friend coming to town is a good thing. A last minute cancellation in your schedule can be freeing. But it can impact the success of our habit change.

In this episode Susan walks through the results of the first quarter of 2023 – it is truly the tale of two halves. But this is life on life’s terms. You will hear a transparent and real scenario of habit change set back, questions to reflect – not ruminate – on what happened, and what this means for the long haul.

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

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

By |2023-08-22T09:01:34-04:00April 3rd, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

Key Learning From Behind the Scenes at the Sustainable Productivity Podcast

Learning from experiences is important to me. I come from a family of educators and married into a family of educators. Several friends are educators. Learning is highly valued in my social circles. One of my core values is curiosity. Yet it is hard to keep that beginner mind. As a recovering perfectionist and people pleaser, I want to knock it out of the park every time. 

Let’s find out how that is working by applying the Sustainable Productivity questions:

  • Is it Productive – Am I getting the result I want?
  • Is it Sustainable – Can I continue this as long as I want?

I was reminded of this as I launched the Sustainable Productivity podcast as a solo host. While I know for sure this was the right move for me at this time, there are challenges. Audio editing and all the technical stuff that goes with producing a podcast is a big challenge for me. Also working without another person to respond to sometimes feels like working without a net. All of this can trigger some imposter syndrome for sure.

Not every episode is a hit, but that helps to chip away at what is not the masterpiece. You might remember this concept  from a previous post – not every piece of art is a stunner. Nor should it be. Of the 44 statues Michelangelo sculpted, only 14 completed. 

If one of the greatest sculptors in history is working on a 32% completion rate, I feel good about my current rate of consistently posting an episode each week. Even if that means I have to re-record a couple weeks in a row because I deleted segments as I was editing. Things happen, move on. Learn from misses. They are not failures, and maybe not even mistakes. Just data points to move forward in a different way.

Pep Talk

So here is a pep talk for the next time you have one of those days where you think, “What in the world am I doing?!” 

I am right here with you learning, being curious, and striking out sometimes. I am next to you in the mud wrestling with ideas, technology, time, and my crabby inner voice that just needs a snack so she can speak nicer to me. 

Here are a few behind the scenes peeks and the making of the Sustainable Productivity podcast to let you see that it truly is as Thomas Hughes said in the mid 1800s:

Its not all beer and skittles. 

No fancy recording studio. Behind me is the ironing board and iron for pressing quilt squares. On the desk in front of me is the computer hardware that is my day job. We make do with what we have!
As prep work to interview guests on the podcast, I am learning how to pull audio out of a Zoom call. This is Bixby testing the set up. Super helpful.

Learning to Ask for Help

In lieu of the Sustainable You Reflections, I would humbly like to make a request as we wrap up this weekly essay. Subscribe to and give a 5-star rating to the Sustainable Productivity podcast. Here are some tips:

  • Go here for how to listen to and rate a podcast
  • When searching for the podcast in your app, type “Sustainable Productivity Susan Sanders” into the search
  • Bonus points for those of you who are willing to share the podcast with a friend.

I have 6-month and 12-month goals for podcast growth, and word of mouth is the single biggest way podcasts grow. If you have topics you would like to hear about, send an email to Susan@SustainableSue.com or DM me on Instagram

I am still learning.

Michelangelo

Me too, Michelangelo. Me too. 

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

By |2023-03-21T11:18:57-04:00March 28th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Episode 8: Three Strategies to Improve Your Routines

Your life is made up of routines whether you like it or not. The Sustainable Productivity question for you is – How are those routines working for you? On this episode Susan teaches about the difference between schedules and routines and a theory she relies on to keep routines consistent. After walking through some real life examples, Susan will provide three practical strategies you can use to improve your morning routine, evening routine, clean up routine – ANY routine! Don’t let another day go by with your day running you.

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

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

By |2023-03-27T08:34:45-04:00March 27th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

3 Sustainable Productivity Lessons From Life This Week

I want to share a few Sustainable Productivity lessons I learned from life this past week. As I general rule I try to keep life consistent, boring, and predictable – that is how I define Sustainable Productivity for me right now. But as we know from poet Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

The past several weeks have been a season of life on a banana peel. Maybe you can relate? I have really had to lean on the concept of Real Me vs Ideal Me to focus on the one thing in front of me or to regularly change the one thing in front of me.

I want to share a few of the Sustainable Productivity lessons that I’ve learned from the banana peel. They relate to different dimensions of Sustainable Productivity and have broader implications (as most life lessons do).

Health and Fitness Lesson

Lesson 1: Take Care of Your Health

As I write this we are in the middle of the 2023 NCAA basketball tournament. My bracket is busted after day 2 (I’m looking at you, Purdue) and my rear is tired from all the time on the couch watching games (sorry, not sorry). One of the biggest stories is that the Kansas coach, Bill Self, is not on the bench. He was having chest pains a couple weeks ago, got checked out, and had stents placed.

Generally I don’t multitask as I write, but banana peel living has put me behind on all my deadlines so here I am drafting this post while watching Kansas take on Arkansas.

Back to business as usual, right? NO. This is where the lesson comes in. He is taking his doctor’s recommendations seriously and letting his assistant’s coach right now. Although he is connect to the team in practice and such, he is not on the bench for games – during THE TOURNAMENT. This is a big damn deal in college coaching. I love this. In a time where athletes are called “warriors” who “do battle” and “go to war,” this puts sports in perspective.

Perspective that we could all stand a little dose of because without your health you don’t have anything else. Not money, a hot spouse, overachieving kids, a C-suite job. Nothing.

Mental Well-being Lesson

Lesson 2: We need to be more evolved than trees

This year I have started taking classes towards being a certified Master Gardener. Right now that means classroom lectures and textbook reading. Because of a long trip for my day job the week before, I was distracted, jet lagged, and feeling like I should be five other places. Then this slide came up.

They will always have that wound although the tree may grow around it. The tree can live and thrive if there is nothing infecting the area when the would closes up, but it will always have that wound.

I sat right up and took some notes. I love this so much – we need to be more evolved than trees. Heal your wounds, don’t just stuff them down. Look at those scars in the cross section of the trunk. If a lightning bolt cuts into this tree and exposes this wound, it puts the whole tree at risk.

The parable here is pretty clear. If you have a wound from your childhood, a previous relationship, or even a misunderstanding with your boss last week – don’t stuff that shit down. If you just compartmentalize and trudge along, the next storm will open you back up. The fallout could be exponential to the original wound. Whether it is therapy, a trusted friend, recovery, or a support group, find a way through your wound. You are not a tree.

Trees don’t heal, they compartmentalize.

NC Agriculture Extension

A better writer than me would have tied this all together with a lesson from the Environmental Surroundings dimension to nicely cover all three dimensions of Sustainable Productivity, but well… see previous banana peel. This one is critical. This is the lesson I want to leave you with: Ask for help.

Sustainable Productivity Lesson

Lesson 3: Ask for help

I usually am the person in our family that handles supply chain and logistics. I make sure there is a plan B, supplies to pivot to plan C, and humor for plan D. When I was traveling for my day job last week, I had slept about 4 hours each night, spent 12 -15 hours a day with people, and was on day 6 of my 7 day trip. I was so ready to be home. As I sat in a very loud room with 75 people (who had just come off an hour of an open bar whilst I drank my club soda) waiting for dinner, America Airlines cancelled my flight home. No rebooking, just a no thank you – do not board, do not collect $200.

I went to refill my club soda to take a time out. By the time I got back, American Airlines had rebooked me OUT OF ANOTHER AIRPORT THAT HERTZ WOULD NOT LET ME RETURN MY CAR TO.

I almost cried. Which would have been the go to for Stressed Out Sue.

But I am healing into Sustainable Sue! I went against my nature and asked for help. Bixby rebooked my flight and my boss suggested a co-worker to return my car. Boom solved. Dinner enjoyed.

I know many of you struggle asking for help. I see you and I am you.

And I am suggesting there is another way forward.

Sustainable You Reflections

  1. What can you do today to take care of your health?
  2. What can you do today to take care of your mental well-being?
  3. What small thing can you ask for help with today?

I would love to hear the responses to these reflections. If you need a safe space to process or just want an accountability buddy, you can reach me at Susan@SustainableSue.com or find me on Instagram or Facebook

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

By |2023-03-18T20:33:54-04:00March 21st, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Episode 7: How Susan Reads 200 Books a Year – and What This Means for YOUR Hobbies

In this episode Susan shares how she reads about 200 books each year. Although books might not be your thing, the suggestions she shares about different ways she fits reading into her schedule during different seasons of life might work for your hobby of choice. Listen to learn some tools and tricks that might help you find more time to read, craft, exercise, sing, or whatever brings you joy.

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

Links mentioned in this episode of the Sustainable Productivity podcast:

  • Sign up for episode emails, weekly essays, and links so you never miss a thing!
  • To hear more book talk from Susan, check out Episode 4: February Reading Roundup
  • If you feel like you don’t have time for hobbies, listen to Episode 5 to hear how Susan found out how much time she was really spending on her phone
  • Sign up at this link for the Sustainable Sue Bookmobile to be notified every time Susan finishes a 5-star reads. Your To Be Read list will thank you!
  • Follow Susan on Goodreads at this link to see what she has read, what she is currently reading, and the hundreds of books she plans to read next.
By |2023-03-20T07:41:42-04:00March 20th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

Equanimity in Setbacks

Equanimity is my word of the year for 2023 and I sure have had a chance to practice it lately. Quick refresher on the definition:

I have a visualization for equanimity that is a tall, solid tree in a fierce wind storm. The outside stress of the wind is bending the tops of the tree. The tree is visually swaying with and resisting the force of the wind. Yet it remains steadfast and grounded by its strong, deep roots in the earth. Roots that have been tended to in times of calm to prepare it to withstand the inevitable storm.

And boy did that storm come for me. 

The specific circumstances don’t matter, but generally life has not been smooth sailing lately. Nothing catastrophic, just those nagging things that life brings:

  • Schedule too full (even with good, fun things)
  • Learning curves
  • Challenging relationships
  • Rain (and other bad weather)
  • Work demands
  • Medical appointments

How these nagging things came together to create chaos for me will surely look different for you, but the resulting feelings are what might be more familiar.

I wanted to just crawl in bed and pull up the covers. I felt like a failure because I could not get everything (or anything) done that I had planned. It felt like everything I had been working on would suffer from this setback. 

Have you ever felt this way? Are you feeling this way right now? It was like complete overstimulation on life. It was neither sustainable nor productive, which is the signal for me that adjustments needed to be made. 

These adjustments took on two different views. This was not a case where I needed to work on habit change so that in six months I would feel less pressure. I needed immediate relief too. Luckily I have this snazzy word of the year to lean on. 

Short Term Adjustments

The first thing I did was triage and made adjustments to the plans for that weekend. Basically I cleared the decks. Cancelled two activities and modified a third to not have to leave the house. The only chores I got done were the truly necessary ones. 

I want to acknowledge that I am really privileged to be able to do this. I did not have work on these days, and I did not have kids depending on me. The lesson that we might be able expand on though is that if we as adults are feeling this burnout, I wonder if our kids are too? If we are feeling overwhelmed at work, maybe our co workers would appreciate a softer foot on the gas pedal too?

This short term fix helped restore some equanimity but I still needed to do more work. 

Mid Term Adjustments

A major part of my spin out was being overcommitted. The adjustment I needed to make was not a fun one. I had to reschedule somethings, cancel others, and not take on some really fun things that I wanted to. Inevitably, I disappointed people, which of course made me feel badly. I am working on reframing this – I would rather disappoint you than make myself sick with overcommitment. People who really care about me will understand.

I sure want to be the person who can fit ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag and skip happily though life but I am not. Living life in reality vs. fantasy is what will make my choices sustainable. 

Dance with the one that brung ya, am I right?!

Life will continue to keep coming and while I am through this particular patch of overwhelm, it will happen again. This is what life is made of. There is a such thing as good stress. Science calls it eustress. Having a baby is a good kind of stress. Getting married is eustress. We don’t want to live a bland life without any stimulation. Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist spiritual leader, has said (and had a book with this title, “No mud, no lotus.” Without suffering through the mud, you cannot find the happiness of the lotus. Without grit, there is no pearl.

I want the pearl and the lotus. And I know that to do that – and be able to enjoy it when I have it – I need to feed my roots to create a life that is Sustainably Productive. To go back to my equanimity visualization, I need to accept where I am and feed the roots to be able to withstand the future storms.

Sustainable You Reflections

  1. Write down the last time or two where you wished for a snow day to cancel plans or that you could just hide from your schedule. How would it have felt to have a chunk of time freed up for you?
  2. Looking at your calendar for the next week or month, what 1-2 things can you cancel or reschedule to create that space?
  3. Take a 30-day reprieve from taking on new things. No new classes, dinner dates, travel, etc. 

Let’s check in. How are you doing? No, like really – how are you? You can reach me at Susan@SustainableSue.com or find me on Instagram or Facebook

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

By |2023-02-28T08:14:29-05:00March 14th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments
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