Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show Notes:
I deal with a lot of anxiety. Sometimes people don't know that because I usually appear calm. And I tend to get a lot done. I cope with my anxiety BY getting things done.
But my anxiety isn't only helpful. It's also kind of nasty.
I have an inner critic that speaks up when I'm anxious, and I don't like that. It hurts. Still, me and anxiety are such old friends, and we've gotten so much done together. My productivity is fueled by my anxiety.
How am I gonna give that up? Who would I be without anxiety? would I get anything done?
The work of Nancy Jane Smith has really helped me step out of this binary way of thinking about my anxiety and my productivity.
When I recorded this interview, I had just finished her book The Happier Approach. It's been a couple months now, I'm still using her concepts regularly, and they're helping. In fact the pandemic classification and shelter in place happened after we recorded this. So anxiety much? Yes! I'm glad to have read this book.
I appreciate how she shares her OWN journey with anxiety in this interview.
You'll also hear a lot about how she developed her unique message about high functioning anxiety and is building her company around that unique message.
Here's some of what we talked about:
Her realization that she wasn't using the tools she was teaching (and how she changed them)
Why starting and running your own business WILL bring up anxiety
How losing her father led to clarity about her unique message
Pivoting to working with "High Functioning Anxiety"
How she rebooted her podcast, stepping up the quality and the focus
Struggling with her own anxiety as she goes into the next stage of her business
How she increases her productivity using Voxer
Setting her schedule in a way that works best for her energy
Using the Pomodoro Technique for time management
Working through her blocks about getting paid well for providing what comes easily to her
Resources Discussed:
First We Make The Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson
