How to Re-Energize Your Home and Life: The Simply Productive Method Explained

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the make time for success podcast. This is episode number 289. I am really riding high from this week's re energize your home five day challenge. This episode is airing a little bit after we have finished the challenge, but the challenge always has a very positive effect on me and the participants who go through it because what we focus on is releasing clutter. And that is really just a way to say we are learning to let go of what is holding us back. We learn how to let go of the past, resistance, limiting beliefs, things that block our healthy energy from flowing. And so I'm going to share with you inside this episode what I have taught these women who who have gone through my recent challenge. And I'm gonna teach you the simply productive method, the five step process that I have to help people with clutter and any other thing that you need to get out of your way.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:09]:
And I hope that this is a giant invitation for you to get going in a new way towards your big goals because they mean something to you. Because it is important for you to feel like you're thriving and to actually know what to do in order to get there. Okay, so let's go listen to this episode together now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:35]:
Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:41]:
I've helped thousands of people move past

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:43]:
procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:48]:
In this podcast, you're going to learn

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:50]:
powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:59]:
and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:05]:
power, you're going to see how being

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:07]:
productive can be easy and how you

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:10]:
can create success on demand. Welcome to the make time for Success podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:18]:
So at the time of the recording of this episode, I am deep inside the Re energize your home five day challenge, which actually runs for seven days. I run this challenge with thousands of women and a few men several times a year. So if you're interested in joining one of these challenges, I welcome you to get on my mailing list and you'll be notified of the next one as soon as I've scheduled it. It is a challenge that invites people from all around the world to figure out how to work with clutter. Instead of looking at it, we figure out how to actually put our hands on it and get it out of our precious home spaces, our cars, our pocketbooks, our bedrooms, our offices, our craft rooms, so that we can actually use these spaces for their original function, so that we can actually eat and dine and cook in our kitchens and so on and so forth. Every year that I do this, every round that I run this challenge, I feel refreshed myself because I know that I have shown people that they have the power within them to take care of things that they otherwise feel they are powerless against. I really feel like that's my mission in general, to show people that there is more where that came from, that we are really powerful, magical creatures and that we can get so much out of our time, our energy, and our lives than we have been thinking. So the general philosophy is to think bigger, to know that you can win and to know that you don't have to deplete yourself in chasing those wins, that sometimes the wins don't even have to be chased, they can just be created.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:23]:
So, because I'm riding high on the energy of this past challenge week, I thought I would bring that energy onto the podcast, too. I thought I would take this episode to share with you the characteristics of the women that I have been working with and the women that I serve and their common struggles and complaints and circumstances, and then the method that I teach. So we will go through those three segments today, and then we'll. We will move on all at once to get things done. I think this content will be inspiring to you, and I really hope it will be. Okay, so we'll start with who do I serve? The women and few men that tend to come to these challenges are women who are on the older side. They are 45 years on up. I have women in their 80s, many women in their 80s, and everywhere in between.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:27]:
And I call this phase of life midlife because we have done all the building, all the struggling, all the climbing, all the family creation business. It has largely been done and completed by the time we get into our mid to late 40s. And then we face a whole other phase of our lives, which, again, I'm calling midlife. But I think there is much less attention given to the midlife woman in terms of the changes in roles, in terms of the changes in responsibilities, in terms of the changes in energy and outlook. But I have really delighted in getting to know this very population because it is informing me about how I want to live the rest of my life and many years may I have them going forward, but also how I want to show up for women in this population 45 to 85 and beyond, what do we need to understand what do we need to learn about this period of life? Because we've used our best skills in the first half of our lives. But what do we need to really thrive in the second chapter of our lives? After all, we are all intelligent, we're capable, we are now wise because of the years that we have already gone through. And how do we avoid things that we don't want to call into our second chapter? We want to avoid the overwhelm, the exhaustion, the depletion, the feeling like we may be under supported. We want to decide what are our goals, how do we get rid of the stuff that didn't help us in the first chapter.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:21]:
And we want to get rid of the old stories, the old limiting beliefs that are telling us, you know, this rest of our lives, it's the boring chapter, or you're going to be much slower in this chapter, or you're not going to be able to fulfill those big goals of yours. I say that's hogwash because I've seen women in their later years be rock stars, be creative, be pioneering, be refreshed in their own lives, be clutter free. And I would like to be one of those role models myself. And as I continue to age and teach women in this phase of life. So if you see yourself in this phase of life, follow me for more. Follow me for some new belief systems that might help you to upgrade the ones that you already have. The common struggles of the women that tend to come into my circle, into my community and into this decluttering challenge include a lot of heavy stuff, a lot of heavy beliefs that they've been carrying for sometimes years. And some of them may sound familiar to you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:44]:
One is I want a tidy home, but I'm too overwhelmed to know how to start. Another is I find myself resisting tasks. And even when I really feel like I should be doing them, it's this procrastination, even though we know that the task is a worthy task. A third struggle that I see is women who are saying, I have run out of energy and I don't have the energy to complete the tasks that I start. So that is what I will call middle procrastination. You know how to start, but then you find yourself bored or just depleted by the time you get to the middle and you've made some sort of mess of things naturally without judgment, but that mess makes you feel like you can't continue. A fourth struggle that I hear is the limiting belief of I'm too old or I'm too behind or I'm too stuck to change the belief that there is nowhere further to go, that we've reached the dead end. And of course, that's just a limiting belief.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:54]:
We can absolutely correct those limiting beliefs and get them out of our way. The fifth struggle that I tend to hear from my new clients is I don't know what to do first. There is this feeling like there is so much to do that it's overwhelming just to think about how we would begin. So there is then the beginning. Procrastination. You don't even get the chance to start a project because the overwhelm comes in and takes over the space before you even get started. And finally there is the struggle of the fear of lack of progress where the women will say, I'll just end up right where I started. So there is the feeling like no effort is really going to be worth while.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:42]:
And that kind of defeatist attitude you can understand. If you're tired and you have a negative perspective, you're going to come up with that as a perception of what is going on. But as you can hear from even the tone in my voice, there is always a positive option. If we're going to call our situation a problem that by definition means there is a solution to the issue at hand. So no matter how old you are, no matter how stuck you are, no matter how much clutter you might have in your home or in your life, there is definitely going to be a better way for you to travel, to traverse, to move forward. And I intend to help you find that path. Now it's time to go through the method that I teach. I will call it the Simply Productive Method because my method and my principles that I draw from are all about making action a lot simpler and making our results a lot easier to attain and to see and to enjoy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:52]:
So that's why I use the phrase often Simply Productive. And actually, Simply Productive is the Name of the 7 Week Live group coaching program that I run also periodically throughout the year. Again, it's called Simply Productive and you are welcome to explore that program and to join. All you need to do is go to the Show Notes for this podcast episode and you'll be able to read more about this wonderful program that I get to host often throughout the year. I'm going to share with you five essential pieces of the Simply Productive Method. And I think you will understand right from hearing these five core pieces why this method can be very inspirational and transformational for the women and men who tend to go through my programs, the challenge and Simply Productive So the first core piece of the Simply Productive method is that you need to set a goal for yourself without deciding upon an area of focus. It is no wonder people get overwhelmed, because there's so much we want to do, there's so much we feel like we need to do, there's so much we feel like we haven't attended to yet, that it just ends up being a pile of overdue and wish lists and to do lists. And it's just never ending, right? It feels like it's never ending until you decide.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:25]:
I'm going to pick one goal to start with. I tend to call this first goal a rocket goal because it gets people focused. It gets people to feel like, oh, I actually have something I can aim for. I have something I could finally finish. And that gives people a feeling of renewed energy. And that's what we want to grab. We want to grab energy that we can find, replenish, restore, and rebuild. So build your rocket goal first.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:57]:
Don't clean first. Don't jump. Head into something that you don't know what the goal looks like and what your end goal feels like and what you actually want to see. Take a moment and decide for yourself, where am I headed anyway? Why is this important to me? Why would I choose this over other things? Don't get yourself worked up about it. Simply pick something that makes sense for the energy that you have at the current moment. And it can be very small and limited. No judgment again, but we do want to say this is a specific, doable, limited goal, and we're going to call it the rocket goal. The second core piece of the Simply Productive method is we're going to learn how to face our resistance.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:47]:
Now, what is resistance? Resistance is anything that would hold you back from getting your rocket goal accomplished. So resistance can really be anything. It could be a false belief you have about how difficult the task is. It could be a true belief about how difficult the task ahead might be. It could. It could be the Internet calling you every five minutes to open up Instagram or TikTok again. I know that is something that I sometimes struggle with. It can be the thought that I don't actually want to be active right now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:24]:
So it could be things that are telling you that you don't want to use your energy towards productivity right now. Again, resistance can take any and all shapes and forms. But in order to be simply productive, we have to be smarter than our resistance. Since resistance can come from any and all angles, we have to stay centered and focused on our rocket goal. We have to understand that resistance is going to be a part of the picture. And then we have to decide we're the boss of the whole picture. We are in charge of identifying the resistance. Resistance.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:05]:
Identifying the resistance and then making sure it stays clear out of our way. Right? Just because something's in your way doesn't mean that you have to stay stuck. It doesn't mean that the resistance has to stay there. You either move around the resistance or you move the resistance out of your way. You have two options, but figure that out and face your. Your resistance. We never let the resistance win. The third part of the simply productive method is we want to learn how to work with our energy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:41]:
So often I hear the people that I work with explain that their energy is really low. And I empathize because I have been there. I have felt burnout before. I have felt energy depletion before. Sometimes I feel that every day or. But I know how to re find my energy at this point in my life. Because there are things that really get me energized. Things like good rest, good exercise, good meals, healthy eating, feeling like I've got purpose in my life and in my career and in my work.

Dr. Christine Li [00:17:18]:
There are all sorts of things that can cause me to feel re energized. So always know that even though you might feel depleted in your energy, there are other sources of energy for you to draw from. So never fool yourself into thinking that you're done, you're at the end of the road of your energy. Because guess what? Your goals need you. They need you to show up. Your bright future needs you to be the best you you could be today so that the future is even better, brighter, healthier, more energized. All of your choices today feed that future self of yours. So take care of your energy in the moment, grab whatever energy you can to spare, and then use it wisely.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:08]:
Right? That might mean scheduling things at certain times of the day when you know you have lots of energy and then doing the same with the stuff that you want to avoid doing when you're at risk of feeling depleted. So schedule wisely, choose your goals wisely, and use your energy beautifully. The fourth component of the simply productive method is we want to dismantle our limiting beliefs. Any internal story or belief that you have. Maybe it's from fifth grade, maybe it's from 11th grade. You. Maybe it's from yesterday. Any thought or belief that tears you up, tears you down, makes you feel less than somebody else, makes you feel less than your best self.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:59]:
Those limiting Beliefs need to leave you alone, first of all, but you also need to stop listening to them. These beliefs were implanted for a reason. They touched you in some way. They caused an emotional reaction in some way. Oftentimes these beliefs are stored and created because they were memorabilia from important moments in your life, ones that you didn't want to repeat, or ones that you absolutely wanted to remember so that you could avoid them in the future. So it's those scary moments where you lost your words when you were on stage and you needed to present something, or when somebody made fun of you and you just really wanted to feel just okay in that moment. And it's those things that might have shaped your limiting beliefs that might sound like, oh, I'm never going to finish this, or oh, I'm too old for this. Or oh, I'm always slow when I try to get things done.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:00]:
Those are limiting beliefs. And all beliefs can be reshaped and re shifted because after all, they're just beliefs. So know that you need to clear these limiting beliefs out of your way because they cause resistance too. Because when we feel like we're not good enough, then we resist starting. We don't feel like it's going to be worth it to use energy for any reason. So know that the things that you choose as purposeful goals are worth it. That your life is worth it. Your advancement and growth and enjoyment and fulfillment.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:38]:
They're all so worth it that we don't want to let any small, old, worn out, limiting belief to get in our way. And finally, the fifth core component of the simply productive method is that we are building our habits and our self belief for life. All of this work, all of the things that I'm teaching you are in the direction of you living your most powerful, empowered, successful and brilliant self. We want all of your neurons firing in the best way. We want your body to be healthy and vibrant and glistening with energy and purpose and joy. And you really can have this in your life again. No matter what age, no matter what you have been through. I do feel we can recover from, from pain, injury, trauma, heartbreak, heartache, failures.

Dr. Christine Li [00:21:40]:
Because those things happened in the past. They have shaped us, they have formed us, they have built us, they have made us stronger. They've also caused us grief and sadness and pain. But we get to move on and up from here. It is really our birthright to decide. We've got goals, we've got purpose, we've got time. And we've now got a simply productive method to keep ourselves steady and positive. And productive for the rest of our lives.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:16]:
So just to review the simply productive method, the five components are 1. You need to set your rocket goal and know where you're headed. 2. You need to face your resistance because resistance is just stuff that threatens to slow you down. It's not really, really scary. It's just something you need to move out of your way. 3. You need to learn how to work with your energy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:39]:
And that just takes patience and experimentation and some action on your part. But you can do all three. And then four. You need to learn how to dismantle your limiting beliefs instead of doubling down on those beliefs that hold you back. You want to say, you know what, thank you for helping me out up to this point. I'm done with you. Now. Let's build some better, brighter beliefs about ourselves.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:05]:
And then finally, you want to understand that all the effort, all the changes, all the new actions that you are about to embark upon are for you. They are for the betterment of you. So let's not talk about waste or clutter or dejection or depletion anymore. Those are all negative terms and negative concepts. We are now headed towards pure positivity, pure light and pure ease. I hope you have enjoyed this session as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you. Remember to always think positively about yourself. It really does help to have that extra edge when you're thinking about things, when you're considering what you're going to do next.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:54]:
It really does help to be the boss of the whole system and to know that you are going to succeed. If you would like a free download and worksheet for this episode on being Simply Productive, please go to maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/method Again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/method. I hope that you'll enjoy working through your thoughts, your beliefs, your goals, and then moving right on along your merry way into being simply productive. I will see you next week on the Make Time for Success Podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:36]:
Take care.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:36]:
Bye bye.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:39]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success Podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:43]:
If you enjoyed what you've heard, you

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:45]:
can subscribe to make sure you get

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:47]:
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Dr. Christine Li [00:24:49]:
You can also Visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mention on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to and let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show.

Dr. Christine Li [00:25:15]:
I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success.

Dr. Christine Li [00:25:19]:
Talk to you soon.