00:39

Hey, everyone.

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00:40

Welcome to this week's episode of Life, Mastered the Podcast. What an honor it is to be here with you. You know, I mean, I will admit that I worry probably more than I should about what should I teach?

 

00:52

What should I speak about? How am I going to organize it? And despite that, it is, I just want to say what a gift and an honor it is to be able to speak with you each week and to teach you each week.

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01:04

What a gift for me to continue to be able to attune to your needs and really have a pulse on what's hard for you emotionally, how you're feeling mentally, what it is that you're really needing to navigate life in a more powerful way.

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01:21

And it's kind of like the blessing and the curse of this, I guess, if you want to put it that way, is how life continues to teach me and how life continues to offer me so many opportunities to lean into this work personally that I can be there for you as well.

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01:35

So thank you for being here. It just means the world to me. And by the way, I'm so excited about our topic this week. So we are going to be talking about the productivity trap. We are going to be talking about how, as achievers, as ambitious souls, as those who are goal-setting and trying to better our life, we can bring both meaning and hope and excitement and creativity to that.

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01:59

And also, we can bring in a bit of an addiction to the achievement, to the productivity. And we're going to sort through this today. And it's going to be a fantastic topic. And I want to make sure you know this.

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02:11

I am doing a full interactive live training on the productivity trap next week. So October 30th, 2025, this is a Thursday. We are going to be doing a live productivity trap workshop. So especially if today's episode resonates with you, make sure to come to that.

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02:32

There is a sign up link in the show notes and also at mollyclare.com where you can come live. You can ask me your questions and we can really start to untangle this trap for you. So if you find yourself feeling like you are always doing and it feels like never enough or you're burned out, you're exhausted and you can just feel that something is missing and you're not in alignment, this is for you.

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02:53

Okay. So more on that in just a minute. Before we dive into the productivity trap episode, can we share a few wins? I want to just take a few minutes and pause and say, there's a reason why it's important that we pause to celebrate wins.

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03:11

So every time you set out to do something and you do in fact do that thing, especially when you set out to achieve a dream, right? When you move towards something meaningful, that's powerful, that is, takes a leap of faith.

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03:27

Every time you acknowledge that it actually came to fruition and you celebrate it, you are reinforcing to yourself that the impossible is possible. You are reminding yourself of your capability, of your power.

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03:46

And think about the opposite. And we do this by default more often, right? We don't accomplish something we said we were going to do, and then we notice that we didn't, and then we reinforce that we can't, right?

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03:57

So it's interesting how we're often doing that automatically on autopilot. But how often do we intentionally create the other pattern in our mind and in our body? Where we're saying, yes, when I want something, when something matters to me, when I have a dream and I believe and I go for it, I'm able to create the very thing that I want.

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04:18

So we've got to do this. We've got to do it more often. And besides, I just want to share and celebrate with you today. So there's a lot of power in celebrating in community. So a few quick things. Number one, the launch of She Rises.

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04:31

I know I've already said this, but I have to tell you that She Rises became an international bestseller. I co-authored this book with 12 of my master level coaches, incredible women. We came together, we launched this book.

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04:44

It became a number one bestseller in 10 different categories across three countries. We were blown away by the support. It has been such an honor to see these women who I have worked with personally, that I have trained, that I have mentored, watching them to fully step into their gifts and their abilities to help the world, and already seeing the ripple effect.

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05:08

So we've had fantastic response, fantastic reviews, fantastic feedback coming in. My co-authors and coaches in this book are having people coming into their world and learning more. And the ripple effect is just mind-blowing.

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05:21

So thank you. Thank you so much for your beautiful support of that. Another big win I want to celebrate, actually, as I am recording this podcast in this very moment, I am preparing to leave for the deep reset retreat tomorrow.

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05:34

And I want to share a little bit about this with you. You've been hearing me talk about it. And this, this reset is, it's such a big deal for so many reasons. And this is, I'm going to go off on a little bit of a tangent here, but it really is relevant for you as someone who is a dreamer, an achiever, a go-getter.

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05:50

This experience has been on my heart and on my mind for about the past five years. And in fact, I was in the process of purchasing a property to have a cabin for the purpose of retreats. And as things often go in life, circumstances changed in the market, in the, you know, the area where we were, and in interest rates, and in product supplies, and in my own life.

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06:14

And things didn't work out the way that I thought they would. And yet what I will say to you is that I have felt in my heart, in my mind, in my soul, the power of more of these in-person experiences to cultivate within you your own self-knowing, your own self-trust, your own alignment in the direction of your life.

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06:38

And I've experienced firsthand the power of these in-person retreats. And as we are prepping to go into the deep reset retreat tomorrow, me and Melanie Faye, I just want to share with you what a gift it is to be able to have something that is meaningful and see it come to fruition.

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06:54

And how fun is this? You've heard me talk about Melanie Faye. You've heard her on the podcast. I have personally worked with her for years. She has had a huge impact on my community and on my clients.

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07:03

And I get to meet her for the first time in person. So I get to meet Melanie. I get to be with my clients, with my master coaches, with my new clients. And what a gift it's going to be. And I even get to have my dear cousin with me on this retreat.

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07:17

So thanks for celebrating these wins with me. And it's just, it's such a gift. It's such a joy to be able to have all of you here as a witness to dreams coming to fruition. And I hope that as you're here witnessing it, that you feel it for you as well.

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07:33

That's my hope for you. And by the way, I know some of you will be interested in doing a retreat. We are going to be putting dates out there. We're going to be doing another retreat the end of April.

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07:41

So don't miss it. We're already taking deposits on it so that you can be the first to know and get in there. It's going to sell out for sure. And it's going to be an unmatched experience. So more to come.

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07:51

We'll update you on how the retreat goes. Okay. Let's dive into the productivity trap. So I'm going to share some personal stories. And as I do, I want you to think about you. And my first question is to you.

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08:06

Where do you see yourself achieving, trying to meet the goals and check the boxes? And you notice that when you think about that area of checking the boxes, that it automatically feels a little exhausting, a little depleting.

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08:28

And maybe there's a little buzz of angst or excitement around it. And yet, at the same time, you can feel the sense that it's not really getting you anywhere. Can you relate to that feeling? So I'll tell you a quick story.

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08:48

When I was in high school, I was 16, maybe 17, and it was one of the, you know, dozens of group meetings they had about going to college. And I remember where I was sitting in this room. It was this huge room.

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09:04

It was the room I took driver's ed in. And it was one of the biggest classrooms. And we were all just shoved in this room. And I was sitting on the floor in the back corner of the room. And something about this time struck me.

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09:18

And I remember looking around the room at all of these other students that at least I perceived had a leg up on me. I saw all of these people around me that had a lot of extra parental support. I saw people all around me who had had extra tutoring, extra help getting their grades to a certain point, extra guidance on things.

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09:46

And also, and this is an interesting one to think about, also, all of these people that I perceived were just more capable than me, were smarter than me, were more organized than me, had more potential than me.

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10:03

And I remember as I sat there and I looked around the room and I heard them talking about our future, I remember thinking, if I'm going to make my life what I want it to be, I'm the only one that can do that.

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10:23

No one is going to do it for me. And I have got to figure this out. And in that moment, I remember thinking about the type of family life that I wanted, a beautiful connected marriage with kids where I had plenty of time to be with my kids.

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10:38

I wanted a life where I didn't always struggle financially. It's like I had this picture in my mind of what I wanted my life to be that felt very different than my experience. And in that moment, I became extremely determined to figure out how to make it happen.

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10:55

And I will tell you, this was a beautiful moment for me in that it really was a moment that I zeroed in that I did want something better and I took ownership of making it happen. I could see and feel that I needed to take ownership.

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11:09

No one was going to do it for me. And right beside this powerful piece of this, became the beginnings of my addiction to achievement, to success, and to productivity. And I say this because I think it can be very easy for us to think in black and white as if achievement and checking boxes and the adrenaline from it is bad and we don't want to do that.

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11:32

And that's not true. And there are many good things about seeking achievement. And as we can look at this with a nuanced view and understand the different threads, that's how you, as someone who is ambitious and driven and wants to create a great life, can continue to achieve and be productive from a place of meaning, from a place of creativity, from a place of healthiness and wholeness versus burnout and exhaustion and that empty feeling.

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12:03

Okay. So from that time, I got very serious. I figured out I studied a lot more than my friends because I noticed for me and the way that my brain worked, it was like I had to repeat things in my mind over and over again.

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12:16

I had to study a little more. I had to work a little harder to pay attention. And if I didn't pay attention, I knew that I needed to go back and figure out how to learn it. And I got pretty serious about getting into college, about getting scholarships, about saving my money.

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12:30

I just, I just like really got serious about everything. And throughout my life, and actually I want to pause and I want you to think about for you, can you identify the moment in your life when you started to maybe get a little more serious and become a little more addicted to that?

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12:47

Or maybe your story's totally different. But regardless, I want you to think about, you know, when and where and how you started to find yourself relying on those successes and that good feedback in order to feel good, in order to feel good about yourself, in order to feel successful.

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13:07

So fast forward, and if we were just to scan the experience that I had, right, as I became a mom, it was doing all the things for my kids, all the things with my kids. And granted, there are beautiful parts about this, right?

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13:20

I wanted to teach my kids well. I wanted to help develop their minds. I wanted to develop healthy habits. And the sad thing for me is, as I look back, is how much of that experience could have been so much more joyful, so much more fulfillment, so much more creative than it was.

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13:38

And it was all of that. And also, it was just riddled with pressure and trying to do a good job and trying to feel like, okay, what can I do to feel okay about myself as a mom, right? And so I saw this academically.

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13:53

I saw this in my personal life and I've seen this in my professional life. So I want to just pause here and I want you to take a minute to think about where in your life could you stand to drop a little bit of pressure?

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14:12

Where in your life would you really appreciate the opportunity to actually enjoy connecting with your achievement and what you're bringing to fruition rather than feeling like you always need to do more and chase more.

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14:32

Okay, and as you think about this, I want to share a few really important things about your brain. Okay? So we've really been given the cultural message that being productive means we're successful, valuable, and disciplined, right?

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14:48

We chase the next thing one after another, the next goal, hoping we'll feel satisfied. And many of us find that we are just, it's like we're on this treadmill, right? Always chasing, but never feeling like we're there.

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15:00

So a few things about your brain. There is a biological reason that we become addicted to productivity and that it is so draining. Okay, so think about this, dopamine. Every time you check that box on your list, you get a hit of dopamine and it feels good, right?

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15:20

So your brain wants more. How many of you finish something and you see that it wasn't on your to-do list? So you write it down and check it off. I do that. I 100% do that, right? So dopamine, it feels good.

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15:31

Let's talk about adrenaline and cortisol. Constant busyness keeps our mind in a mild state of stress, fight or flight mode. So we're alert, but we're also getting a little bit depleted. And I want to be clear that adrenaline and cortisol are also useful for us, right?

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15:52

And having some of that activation is helpful, but when does it go too far, right? That's the question we want to ask. And so really noticing and thinking about that if we are always chasing, always checking these boxes and looking for that dopamine hit, the adrenaline is high, the cortisol is high.

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16:12

We're in this mild state of stress constantly without the pause. Okay. And what this also means is that your nervous system learns that stillness is danger. You literally feel unsafe when you slow down.

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16:27

You feel restless. It feels uncomfortable. How many of you relate to that? I definitely relate to that. This has been like is continues to be my life's work, right? So it's like we stay in motion, thinking it's progress, but really what we're doing too often is chasing a chemical hit that leaves us a little emptier every time.

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16:49

Okay. And I want to be clear, this is not just mental, this is emotional and spiritual as well. So we often start to confuse our worth with our output. I've talked about this in a recent episode, right?

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17:04

Where is my worth? Is my worth negotiable? Is my worth made better if I do more? This is the question, right? And then when we feel productive, we feel proud. And when we are still, we feel anxious. We feel guilty.

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17:22

How many of you can relate to this? And it's sort of like the more we chase, the less we connect. The less we connect to ourselves and to our purpose and to our joy. So I want you to think about this.

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17:38

If you've ever found yourself restless during downtime or feeling like you're failing when you're not accomplishing something, this is kind of the emotional side of the productivity trap. So I want to talk just a little bit about the solution to this.

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17:54

And mostly, I really want you to be mindful of this. And then we're going to dive much more into the solutions in the master class, of course. But escaping this trap isn't about doing less. It's about doing from a different state.

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18:07

That's the key. Doing from a different state. Because the opposite of burnout isn't necessarily balance. Some people love that word. Some people don't like that word. Balance or not. What I believe is more the opposite of burnout is alignment.

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18:24

And when I'm talking about alignment, I'm talking in part about being connected with why you are doing what you are doing. And, you know, as I'm preparing to go to this retreat, I will tell you, there have been more than a few times that a part of my brain has wanted to hijack this experience and turn it into something where I'm checking boxes and doing a good job and doing a good enough job with the food and doing a good enough job with what people are getting.

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18:50

And then guess what? I have to go back into alignment and remember, no, like this retreat has come from my heart and soul. This has come from feeling called and pulled to support women in deep rest, in deep transformation, in the knowing of self, in the unfolding of potential.

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19:09

That's what it's about. And when I'm able to connect with that, let me tell you, not only am I so much more productive, am I so much more effective, am I so much more creative, but I am full of life.

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19:23

And so that's what it is about. I'm not telling any of you that you need to do less or you need to have a shorter list, although oftentimes some of the things on the list do go away when we get out of the productivity trap.

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19:33

But what I'm saying to you is, can you tune into being more aligned? Can you be in a state of creativity, of growth, and of fulfillment so that the things you're doing are actually filling your tank, right?

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19:52

And a part of this is that when your nervous system is regulated and your emotions are more steady and more, you're more in connection with those, right? And your actions are then guided by meaning instead of pressure.

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20:08

What a difference. Right. So productivity becomes peaceful. Productivity is now expressive. Productivity is now nurturing. Right. And so, and this is really the deeper work that I do with my clients is we're shifting from this hustle-driven, adrenaline-fed way of producing into more of an aligned, grounded, and truly fulfilling way of creating results.

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20:34

So I'm going to leave it right here. I want you to think about this. Where in your life are you addicted to the dopamine, to the adrenaline, to the cortisol? And where are you just staying in motion?

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20:44

Because that's how you believe you're finally going to feel better. And what will be different? And I'm not even going to say what would be different. I'm just going to assume that we're all leaning into this.

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20:54

What will be different when you can be more connected with who you are and your values and what matters to you? And all of the actions that you are taking are driven from meaning, from creativity, and from expansion of yourself.

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21:14

And that by so doing, you are able to be a stronger, brighter presence in the world. This is what it's all about. All right. Until next time, have a fantastic week ahead. I cannot wait to experience this workshop with so many of you on the 30th.

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21:33

So make sure to join. And I will talk with you next week. Have a good one.