210 Overwhelm Solved: Your New Productivity Superpower

Purpose Driven Life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide to unlocking your full potential. Dr Renee Paul Gauthier, today we're going to talk about conquering overwhelmed, and as we are finishing the year, as we're getting ready for a new year, this is a really great framework that I'm going to introduce today to help you tackle this overwhelm and really organize things in the way that allows

you to spend time on the things that truly matter to you. We're going to rethink prioritization for you and how to schedule things so inside of my group coaching program, the music mastery experience, we've been talking about planning for 2025 but we also want to finish the year strong, and we want to create a life for ourselves that is very intentional, that feels aligned, And that is definitely feeling less overwhelmed, more in control. December is a busy season. There's a lot of demands

on us, musicians. There's a lot of concerts, a lot of gigs, performances for our students, tons of rehearsals. We have holiday events, studio commitments, our children are fully booked with all sorts of activities at school. It's easy to feel overwhelmed in this month of December and to feel a lack of focus on the things that truly matter. But that's also not only for December. This is a cycle that might come back for

you as the year progresses. So today I'm going to introduce you to a really beautiful framework that you might have heard of before. Is the Eisenhower matrix, and if you've heard about it before, it's very popular, as I've said, I hope that this can be a good reminder of how to use it in your life, and I'm going to have lots of examples for you, so hopefully

there is some inspiration for you there. And if you don't know what the Eisenhower matrix, well, you're in for a treat, because this could really change things for you, it's a simple and powerful framework that's going to allow you to reclaim your time. It can be really life changing for people who've never really used it before. When you have busy schedules, a lot of performance preparation, a lot of performance repertoire to handle, maybe you have a full teaching load families and so

much more going on. This is not about doing more, but this is about doing the things that matter better. And as I said, it's about prioritization and reclaiming focus. So let's look at this matrix that could perhaps transform the way you approach your career and your life. Let's dive in. Why do we feel overwhelmed? Why? There's a lot of reasons, but one of the main reasons we feel overwhelmed is that we give each task on our to do list the same importance, they all feel equally urgent to

us. So we have these endless to do lists that create a lot of mental clutter and a lot of decision fatigue in our lives. So what we want to do is to start spending time on the things that matter. For example, for us musicians, sometimes we end up spending endless hours answering non urgent emails. Maybe there's a lot of little things to attend to with scheduling lessons and preparing for an audition and concert. How

does it work to organize all of this? This is what we're going to talk about today this matrix, the Eisenhower matrix, is going to help you make some decisions on how to organize. All of this is going to help you organize and categorize the tasks that you have based on urgency and importance. It was created. By the 34th president, President Eisenhower, and this is what he used to emphasize the tasks that were really important in his

busy schedule. One of the quotes that is attributed to him is that what is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important, so that framework helps us focus on what truly matters. Let's look at the framework. There are four categories, and the first one is this, high urgency, high

importance quadrant. This is the thing that we have to do right now, this is perhaps a little crisis, something that has a fast approaching deadline, so high urgency, high importance, it needs immediate attention, and it can have a significant impact. Those are the big deadlines, the big obligations and the things that only you can do. Let me give you some examples, learning repertoire for next week, or staying on top of solo performances that you have coming up. Maybe there are some

kids events that are happening in the next few days. Maybe you need to learn a challenging passage for a rehearsal tomorrow. Maybe, if you teach online, maybe there is a really important technical issue with your platform that you need to fix. Maybe you need an urgent repair on your instrument. Maybe you have a student that needs emergency support. So these things are important. They are urgent, and only you can do it.

This is the first quadrant, and because the goal of this matrix is to help us plan our lives in the way where we reduce those crises this urgency, this is where we should spend about 5% of our time, but this is the first quadrant, high urgency, high importance. And I'm going to show you later how to all put that together the second quadrant. And if you put Eisenhower matrix through Google, you can see some really well illustrated examples of this matrix, and I highly

recommend that you do that. It really helps paint the picture of what that looks like. Let's look at that second quadrant. This is your low urgency but high importance quadrant. This is where you schedule. This is where your productivity is born, and this is where you should spend about 70% of your time. These are the things that matter long terms. They don't necessarily need to be done right now, but there are things that change our lives, things that we probably need to do

every day. This is where your values live. They live in this quadrant. This is your zone of genius. This is the area where you build the life that you want. This is the area of preparation and prevention. This is where you become who you want to become. This is where you attend to your health. This is where you take care of your relationships. So this is the planning scheduling quadrant. Let me give you some examples. For example, for me, time with my family is something that I

want to plan. I want to make sure there is time for this. Another example is taking care of my productivity by making sure my body is fit so, getting massages, getting physical therapy, if necessary, getting enough exercises. This is the quadrant where I plan for the mind over finger content. This is where I schedule the practicing that I need to stay top shape. So this is where you make the time to work on the fundamentals you need to maintain peak form in any area

of your life. Maybe you're preparing for an audition, maybe you need to plan your studio recital for next month. You need to perhaps, organize your billing system so these are important things that are not urgent. The deadline is not fast approaching, but this is something that you want to keep time for. A very simple example would be brushing your teeth.

It's rarely urgent in most cases, but this is something that if you brush your teeth regularly, and you build this hygiene, you end up with having really good teeth, good health. So keep that in mind. I. As you think about what your values are, how you see yourself, the things that truly matter in your life, they all live in quadrant two, and these are the things that you plan for. You put them in your schedule. You're very intentional about getting them done. Let's look at quadrant

three. This is the high urgency, but low importance. This is the area where you can start to delegate, because those things that need to be done don't require your specific expertise. I'm going to give you some example of that. There's so many, and again, I'm going to have a lot of examples throughout the episode. So it's December. I want some Christmas decoration, but I'm not the only person who knows how to do this,

and thankfully, my son, who's now 14, can help. So a few days ago, he helped his dad get out some Christmas decorations and put them around the yard while I was able to go to work or practice or maybe relax on Sunday morning, instead of putting that out before I had to go for a full day of performances. You see, I don't need to be out there putting these Christmas decorations. I can delegate that. For example,

you could outsource your studio invoicing. If you have a studio, you could ask your students to set up the chairs for your sidle Do you need help around the house? Could you order some food? Could you hire some help to clean the house? Could you delegate and enlist family members to help you with those things. So this area, again, high urgency, low importance. These are things that need to get done and are perhaps on the deadline, but they don't require you. They don't require your

expertise, and they can be delegated. So this is the delegation quadrant, and you should spend no more than 15% of your time on these type of tasks. And finally, the last quadrant is the low urgency, low importance quadrant. This is where you can delete tasks. This is the area where maybe you're wasting time, and you should not spend more than 5% of your time in this area. Those are the tasks or the things that don't

move the needle and can be eliminated. I'm going to give you some examples, and keep in mind, as I give you these examples, that all things are relative. Everyone is different, and everyone has different priorities. And also in different seasons of life, we have different priorities. So for example, this December is very busy, so I've decided to not bake for my book club and not participate in the cookie

exchange at work, which I love. I usually love doing those things, but this time, this season of life, is just not something that I have time for in therefore, I have decided to not bake for these events. Another example is obsessing over finding the perfect font for your website, you need to have the information up there that's important. Having the perfect font is not if you have time and you feel like it and it brings you great joy, by all means, do it. But when you're

short on time, this is the type of task that you can delete. How about responding to non essential social media DMS? That happens a lot, and we want to stay connected, but when we are in again a period of life where we need to preserve our energy and we make sure that our mental space is allocated to the things that truly matter. This is an area where maybe we can put things on pause for a little bit, or maybe you have some redundant meetings where you're not really required to be there.

How about canceling those? Or how about not going another example is, this is the time of year where maybe you're asked to bake cupcakes for kids parties. How about buying them this time? How about skipping that PTO meeting or a bigger one? How about saying no to one gig that shows up but that maybe does not fit in your schedule. So this is an area, again, where, depending on where your values reside in the season of life you're in, how busy you are, these are the tasks that you might decide to

delete for now, nothing's wrong with them. It's just a matter of prioritization and what is the most important for you? So right now, how does that look? To put this in practice, let's look at this for a second. Here's the first thing you want to do. First you want to do a brain dump. So write down every task or responsibility you can think of on a piece of paper. Then step two, I want you to categorize ruthlessly all of these tasks in each of the four quadrant and then finally commit

to follow through on the framework. So you have your first quadrant of doing now that's high urgency. You do it now, you complete it immediately. Our second quadrant, you schedule. So put all of these things in your calendar. Our third quadrant, you delegate. What are the tasks that someone else could do? So find someone else to handle it. And then finally, our fourth quadrant, your Delete quadrant, just cross it off your list. Let's look at a little bit more examples. Let's say you're

preparing for an important audition. Something's coming up very soon in your first quadrant in your do now quadrant, practicing the audition pieces would definitely belong in this quadrant in our schedule. Quadrant, you could be researching the orchestra's history and the repertoire that is also important and helpful. You could listen to the music you continue to practice. You set up different things in your performance preparation. So you plan for these things. Our third

quadrant, the delegate quadrant. So as you're preparing for this important audition, what are the things that need to get done? Right? So still urgency, but not important. What are the things that need to get done, but that could be done by someone else? Could you delegate some chores? Could you order out instead of cooking? Where can you save some time? What are the tasks that someone else in your life can do? And then finally, that last delete quadrant. How about not working on this website as

you're preparing for the audition? Another example, let's say you're managing a private studio in your first quadrant, you might want to do things like addressing a billing issue for a parent that got in touch with you. So this high urgency in your schedule quadrant. This is your high importance quadrant. Maybe you need to spend time updating your studio policies for next semester so all the families are clear on what's

happening next. The delegate. Maybe you can hire a virtual assistant or a local assistant to help you handle the scheduling inquiries. And then finally, in that delete quadrant, maybe you can forget about the idea of preparing a a beautiful, intricate recital program. But rather, you decide to just have a simple print out, and there you go, save two hours right there. Let's look at another example, and this, I

think everyone can relate to. So let's say you're juggling a lot of obligations and gigs and family responsibilities as a busy parent in your first quadrant, and your urgency quadrant, your do now, maybe you need to finish learning the notes for the performance this weekend, right? Fast approaching deadline. Gotta get those notes learned. But the things that you want to schedule, the important things, are your practice sessions. You want to maybe plan for child care, for the

rehearsal for this gig. Maybe you want to plan family activities, quality time with your children and spouse. Maybe

you need to plan to attend their school concert. These are the important things that you want to save time for, so that as time goes, you have fewer and fewer elements in this first quadrant, this crisis quadrant, in your third quadrant, the delegate quadrant, how about you ask for your partner to pick up the kids from school or grab some chores they don't usually do to help you maintain your sanity until those gigs are over. How about ordering groceries instead of going

yourself? Or maybe, if you have older kids, get them involved in cleaning up and tidying up the house for. Finally, what are the things that you can delete and let go of? So how about over practicing that piece that you already know? How about, as I've shared earlier, maybe you buy some baked treats for your child's class party or skip that PTO meeting. So what are the activities that you can cancel or delete from your to do list?

And now I want to talk about the pitfalls, because there are few things and stumbling blocks are in the show up as we're trying to go through this matrix, this way of organizing things. Let's talk about them. The biggest pitfall, in my opinion, is our struggle to delete this often comes from a perfectionist tendency in this thinking that everything matters equally, that we need to be able to handle everything equally well at all times. We have a hard time saying no to things and deleting

things. But I want to tell you that it's okay to delete. It's not laziness. Rather, think of it as being intentional in the way you live your life. You decide what matters to you, and those are the things that you spend your energy on, your mental energy, your emotional energy, your physical energy, and when you delete those tasks that don't matter, you reclaim that energy. You have time for your family, you have time for your career, and you have time for your personal growth and

attending to your well being. You want to say yes to the thing that are meaningful, because when you say yes to something that is unimportant. You're saying no to something that could be meaningful for you. Keep that in mind so you want to let go of these low impact, low urgency tasks and prioritize what makes the biggest difference in your life. And think about it this way, deleting a task, canceling a

task, letting go of a task, is a strategy. So we want to acknowledge three things, not everything deserves your attention. Number two, you can't do it all, and that's okay. And number three, your time is valuable in finite So deleting letting go of a task is not giving up. You're letting go of what doesn't deserve your time what doesn't serve your bigger goals. So you can focus on what does. So how do we delete with confidence? And I have a great episode on making decisions that that's

Episode 208, you can go and listen to that if you want. It's going to help you. But here are some strategies to help you. Start deleting some tasks with confidence. You're going to ask yourself three questions. Question number one, does this task truly matter to my long term goals, does this task truly matter to my long term goals? Question number two, will anyone's life or well being suffer if I don't do it? Will

anyone's life or well being suffer if I don't do it? And then number 3am, I holding on to this out of guilt or perfectionism? So if you're saying no to the first two or you're saying yes to that last one, it's time to delete. Let me repeat those questions again. Number one, thus, does this task truly matter to my long term goals. Will anyone's life or well being suffer if I don't do it? And number 3am, I holding on to this out of guilt or perfectionism? Keep that in mind

as you're trying to decide what tasks to delete. And then finally, don't forget that deleting frees you to thrive. So skip the hours get you're going to spend perfecting a flyer design and use that to prepare for an audition, or, for example, maybe say no to a non essential. Old coffee chat and go get a therapeutic massage or go to that PT session to attend to that shoulder injury. The leading tasks is going to be a huge win for your focus, your productivity, your peace of mind

and your well being. So be very strategic about it and rather liberal about it as well. I would say the pitfall number two is also a big one, is having a scarcity mentality, about costs, about what it's costing us to do or not do something. And here's the first thing I want to say about this, there's always a cost. There's a cost to everything. It might be a financial cost, an emotional cost, a mental cost or an energy cost, but there's going to be a cost for everything, and it's up

to decide. It's up to you to decide how you want to spend your energy, your emotions, your mental strength. So when you delegate or you delete a task that might involve a financial expense, and ask yourself, is the expense worth it, emotionally, intellectually and energetically? I'm going to give you some examples. If you're like me, you like to have clean concert clothes, and what I like to do regularly is take all of my concert clothes, give them a wash, let them air dry, and then

steam everything. It's very nice. It's free, but it is time consuming. So if you're in particularly busy period of time, it might be worth it for you to send all of that to the dry cleaners. Now it's expensive, yes, but what are the things that you could do with that time that you saved? Could you take on another gig? Could you rest, especially if you're feeling overwhelmed, making room for rest, making room for self care, might be a really great way of spending your money.

Another example is kind of similar. Is how about hiring help with the household chores, like a cleaning service, for example, it's expensive, and it might save you time, save you energy, save your mental strength and allow you to show up strong as a musician, as a parent, as a community member. Would that be worth it for you? What would it be worth for you to show up strong, show up, ready, show up positively because you have time to be aligned. Think about that. How

about ordering takeout to save time and energy? Now, yes, it may be not as healthy as homemade food, but when you're facing a situation where time becomes your ally. Maybe the expense is worth it temporarily. So consider the value of time, energy and peace of mind gained versus the financial cost. Now the biggest elite of all, is going to be saying no to gigs, and that's when I hear about a lot from clients, and it's very challenging to say no. We have this fear of missing out on

opportunities. We have worry about a financial loss, and sometimes we feel that if we say no to a gig that's going to close a door that will never open later, I understand. I get it Yes, but I want you to think about the other costs that's saying yes to this mean and remember saying yes to something means you're saying no to something else. Saying yes to everything can really drain your energy and prevent you to focus

on meaningful projects. So if your schedule is already booked, if you're already overwhelmed, if you feel like you already have a hard time handling everything that's on your schedule, what is the cost of adding one more thing. Now, if you're really excited about it and you really want it and it's fun and the money is great, and you feel capable of handling it, by all means, go for it. But I so often see people on. Able to say no, and they get themselves sick over this inability to say

no. So I want you to think about this. So when you're trying to evaluate an opportunity or a gig that's coming your way, a project, a concert offer, ask yourself these questions, three questions. Again, I like my three questions, how much energy will this task or gig cost me? Remember, there's a cost for everything. Question number two, do I genuinely want to do it? And then question number three, does it align with my ultimate goals and bigger life vision. So again, how much energy will this

task or gig cost me? Are you going to lose sleep over it? Is this going to jeopardize the work that you're going to put in other work? How about the time is going to take away from your family, from you resting. Do you genuinely want to do it? If you want to do it, the energy you're going to have will be different.

You'll have this motivation of desire. If you don't really want to do it, it's going to feel like a dragon that might negatively impact everything else you're trying to tackle, and then finally, does it align with your ultimate goals in

bigger life vision? Another example, you're preparing for a big concert or a big audition, and a gig shows up, does the time you're going to spend on this gig, time that you're going to spend away from preparing for the audition or that big performance, is that in alignment with the ultimate goal and the bigger life vision? So always keep these things in consideration. So is this a quick cash versus long term

purpose? Will this task or gig provide short term financial benefit but sabotage more important long term projects, or does it serve a larger purpose and align with your bigger goals? That happens at times when we want to squeeze that in, because learning that specific piece or working with these specific people playing in this one hall with that group fits the vision that we have for our future. Then, then it's

different. But consider all of this, and I'm not saying you have to say no to gigs, but I want you to become very intentional to what you say yes to, and finally, make sure that the actions you take align with your bigger life. So whatever you say yes to, whatever you end up deleting or delegating, do they drain your energy and do they align with your bigger goals? So make sure you spend time, money and energy where it creates the most value for your career, in your personal fulfillment.

Here's another pitfall, when you micromanage the Delete delegated tasks. When you delegate a task, if you spend a lot of mental energy micromanaging it, what you're going to get the same effect as if you've done it yourself. So trust the person you delegated the task to and focus on your high impact work. Stay in your zone of genius and let other people operate in theirs. And finally, the pitfall number four is to overload the

do now category. So be honest about what is truly urgent and important, and don't overload that very first category of urgent and important. And I wanted to bring you some examples from my clients. I'm I work with a freelance musician who has a really, really busy month. She's a freelance violinist. She has multi projects in December. She has performances, private students, administrative work and a lot of lessons to schedule all of that, so she feels overwhelmed and

unsure of where to focus her limited time and energy. So we are using the matrix, and I wanted to show you how she's using it to maximize her time and energy. Not only is in this busy month of December, but as she's contemplating all of the things that she wants to tackle in the coming year, so of course, first we have her write down all of her current tasks and sort them into the four quadrants in her do now category

her high urge. C, high importance quadrant, she decided that she would finalize the music program for her students concerts, and the rehearsals are starting soon, so that is urgent and very important. And she decided that in that category, belong submitting a recording for a competition that's due

very soon. In her second quadrant, her schedule quadrant, which is our again, low urgency, but high importance, she plans next semester's schedule for her students, and she wants to make sure she schedules time to practice the repertoire for a

solo recital that she has in January. In her delegation quadrant, her high urgency but low importance, she decided to ask one of her students to help her with some administrative work, and she's going to help with handling some emails that she's got, responding to parents and also answering to some gig requests, and she's asked her partner to also help with some

chores around the house. Now, in the delete a low urgency, low importance area, she gave up on the idea of tweaking her website for now, and she was also wanting to sort through all of her digital music because she wanted to feel more organized, but she realized that this was kind of a just because desire, and decided to postpone organizing her digital library until it's a better time. So the outcome that this will give her is by ruthlessly sorting through her tasks, that clears up the

mental clutter. It helps us, it helps her stay focused on what's critical, and it's going to create space for the meaningful work she wants to do, like preparing for her recital and also enjoying the holidays. Right? Here's another example. So I have a college professor that's trying to balance teaching and performing. He's got a really active performing career. He's been invited to perform with a high profile

quartet, and he's great. He has a grading deadline and is preparing for a master class, and he feels torn between the responsibilities he has and the opportunities in front of him. So here's how we're using the framework. So our our high urgency, high importance. Quadrant, our do now quadrant, he has to grade the final exams for his students. Yes, because the deadline is next week, and then he has to prepare and send rehearsal notes to the quartet in preparation for the

rehearsals and the performances that are coming up. Low urgency, high importance, quadrant our schedule. Remember, this is high important. These are the things that create big change over time. So he's going to be preparing the material for the upcoming master class in two weeks. So he is putting that in his schedule, and he's drafting a proposal for a summer music festival residency. This also goes in the schedule. Now the delegating quadrant, the high urgency, but low importance.

Again, he is deciding to use his teaching assistant to send reminders to students about deadlines. This is something that has to get done, but he doesn't have to do it, so he's delegating that. And also, he's asked the quartets manager to handle the writing for social media copy instead of doing it himself. Do you see how that works? That allows him to take back control of your time? And this is what this framework is

going to help you do. Let's recap the framework again. So the first quadrant is the do now what is urgent and important. The sketch. The second quadrant is your schedule quadrant. What is important but not urgent. This is where your values live. The third quadrant is your delegation quadrant. So these are the things that are urgent. They need to get done, but not necessarily by you. They could be done by someone else. So they're urgent, but not important to you, and then your

Delete quadrant. Those are neither urgent nor important tasks. They can be done later or never. So the key takeaway is that this isn't about doing more. It's about doing what truly matters to you with focus and intention. And when you prioritize this way, when you prioritize effectively, you make space for the things that move your life and career forward. Okay? So here's my actionable challenge for you. I want you to try it today. I want you to write down your current task

list, everything that comes to mind, put it down on paper. Then I want you to use this Eisenhower matrix to categorize each item, and I'm going to repeat those quadrants again, urgent and important. Those are the things that you do now, important but not urgent. Those are the things you schedule. These are the things that help you live a healthy, fulfilling life, your health, your relationships, you being in a

good shape to be able to execute all of the things you want. Then your urgent but not important quadrants, these are the things that you're going to delegate. And finally, the things that are neither urgent nor important, and these are the things that you will ruthlessly delete so you write down your current task list. You use the matrix to categorize each item, and then you're going to take one do now action today. You're going to schedule one task, you're going to delete delegate one task, and

you're going to delete one item from your list. So again, you're going to take one do now action, and you're going to do it today. You're going to schedule one task, you're going to delegate something, and you're going to delete one item. And in closing, I want you to stop treating everything as a priority. You want to make room for what truly matters. You've heard me say this many times today, but it cannot be said enough, and I want you to start doing that today by taking one small step

toward clarity and purpose. I hope all of this is really helpful for you. Please let me know how it works, how this Eisenhower matrix works for you, if it's helpful, and if you feel like you need some support in putting all of this together. If you feel like you cannot handle the overwhelm that you're experiencing and you need some support through this, please

don't hesitate to book a call. I'll be happy to chat with you, and together, we're going to look at what is happening in your life, how we can prioritize things better for you, and you're going to walk away with clarity and a blueprint on how to get moving forward. So this is what I have for you today. I hope you have a lot of fun with this matrix. I send you all the best, and I say abietu,

and there you have it. Thank you so much for joining me today. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and fellow musicians. Grab a screenshot, share it on social media and tag me. I'm mind overfinger on all platforms, and I would love to hear what your favorite takeaways were. Don't forget to follow the podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts, and if you're enjoying and learning from the show, leaving a five star review

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