Break Free from Busy-ness: Tactical Steps to Clear Brain Fog and Become More Productive and Present

Ever felt like your life is an endless to-do list? Join me, Erin Olson, as I share my personal battle with the addiction to busyness in this episode of the Quality of Life podcast. Balancing roles as a wife, mother, and serial entrepreneur, I share all the details of how constant activity has wreaked havoc on my sleep, focus, and overall productivity. We’ll explore the four types of busy-ness, starting with the inability to sleep, and I’ll offer tangible steps and resources to help you break free from this cycle. This episode isn’t just a confessional; it’s a guide to finding balance, celebrating your wins, and living a more satisfying life.

Ever wondered how delegation could be your secret weapon against busyness? We discuss impactful strategies for managing tasks both at work and home. Learn how outsourcing to virtual assistants through Sphere Rocket and Fiverr can reclaim your time, and how using a time tracker can help eliminate energy-draining activities. On the home front, I share real-world examples of the importance of saying no and scheduling downtime. Plus, I dive into the mental toll of constant busyness and how practices like meditation and mind dumps can offer much-needed mental clarity. This episode is packed with practical advice to help busy moms, entrepreneurs, and achievers lead a balanced and less hectic life.

Resources:
Time Tracker PDF
SphererocketVA.com
Meditation for beginners by Jack Kornfield
Headspace
Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza
Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess by Dr. Caroline Leaf
CreateTodayTherapy.com Karen Stanley Rapid Transformational Therapy

Thanks for listening! I'm glad you're here.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, and share it with someone who could benefit from what you heard. Also, head over to https://theerinolson.com/links and sign up for the email list, and you can get all the downloadable PDFs and tools! News: We finally have a YouTube channel! Visit us HERE: https://youtube.com/@theerinolson?si=xPNSU1-C7Yt9zXgD

See ya next week!
Erin

Transcript

Erin Olson: 0:07

Welcome to the Quality of Life podcast. I'm Erin Olson, a wife, a mother and a serial entrepreneur. After starting three successful businesses, I've learned some hard lessons regarding the ins and the outs of starting and running a small business. My intention is to share my knowledge that I've learned from the School of Hard Knocks so you don't have to learn it the hard way like I did Each week. I hope, to guide you to the next level in your business or in the business that you work in. So let's go. Hey guys, welcome back to the show.

Erin Olson: 0:43

Erin here to take you from business idea to big business. Are you guys? Okay? I got a question. Are you guys addicted to being busy? Well, always doing, thinking or planning something If you are an achiever or an entrepreneur. I am guessing that you said yes to this question and that is so important and necessary to help you grow and reach those dreams and goals of big business.

Erin Olson: 1:13

But, like with anything, too much is not healthy or helpful. I am a recovering busy chick. I hate being busy, but with all the to-dos and projects, how can there be moderation? I have had so many people that I've had conversations with lately that are having such a hard time sleeping, relaxing, focusing and being all over productive when all we do is plan, worry, execute, repeating as necessary to get things done. Then, as we finish one thing and get that little dopamine hit of checking something off the list, we don't even take a beat to rest or celebrate because there's so much to do. So this week I am covering the four ways that most people, most commonly, are addicted to being busy and give you some tactical steps to overcome them and start to live a less busy life. This episode is going to be chock full of tips and resources to help you.

Erin Olson: 2:24

But first story time. So back in the day, I was a 20-something, new mom and newly married. And here's the deal I was working myself ragged trying to help support our family, with my husband being an entrepreneur himself, and I slowly had no. And I have told myself for years and it started way back then that I thrive under pressure. Now, I don't know if you're that kind of person, but I have told myself that as probably to make myself feel better, if we're being completely honest. But the thing is is that back then I was an insomniac. But the thing is is that back then I was an insomniac, I was so worried and stressed and so much of an overthinker that every time I closed my eyes to sleep at night, all I could think about was all of the things that I had to do, all of the conversations that I've had all day long as a bartender. That was many and all of the time, and all of the dreams and goals and worries of being a good mom, and everything. My mind just kept chattering on and on and on and I slowly started to tame that dragon, and I did so by putting a notebook by my bed and we'll get to more of that later. But I started to slowly tame that dragon somewhat.

Erin Olson: 3:43

But as life continued, I found myself becoming more and more busy. In fact, about two years ago, that dragon fully reared its head and tried to eat me again. That was when I sold my part of Haychix. Now, I had been a doer. I've always been a doer. If you want something done, you call me, because I'm your girl, right? And I'm pretty sure that if you are listening to this, you're probably the same kind of person, right? So here's the deal I sold my half of Haychix and I hadn't realized how busy I had made myself.

Erin Olson: 4:22

Now, as an entrepreneur, you will be busy. You have so many jobs that you have to wear all the different hats for, but here's the thing you can let it take control of your life and maybe not even have a life anymore. So that's actually why I started this podcast, because I was so addicted to being busy. I didn't know how to be still, I didn't know how to be quiet, I didn't know how to be comfortable without having to do something and, holy crap, I needed an outlet. So I started this podcast. I started this podcast just to help you guys and to try to get out some of the things that I've been meaning to tell people for so long, things that I've been meaning to tell people for so long. So, thank you, I guess, but this is definitely a side effect from being addicted to busy. And the thing is is that I have found that the more people I've talked to that are having problems with things like brain fog and lack of focus, attention deficit, it all stems back to being addicted to being busy.

Erin Olson: 5:26

So let's talk about the four types of busy. The first type of busy that you might be addicted to is the inability to sleep. Yeah, I know, those don't seem very like synonymous right, busy and sleeping. They're kind of opposites. But here's the deal when you close your eyes, are you able to fall asleep in just a few minutes? Or do the stresses of the day, do the worries, all those conversations like I was talking about earlier? Do they all just start chattering away in your head and you start amping up, and amping up, and amping up and pretty soon you're pretty much worked into a tizzy that you're afraid you're going to die and you can't go to sleep because there's just too much to do. Well, maybe that's just me, but here's the thing that is not relaxing, obviously, and that is no way to try to sleep. And sleep is one of the most important things that you can do for yourself. As an entrepreneur, sleep is very important. So how do we fix this? Well, there are a lot of things that I've implemented over the years, and some of them are way more helpful than others. Some you probably shouldn't even try, but I'm going to mention them because I tried them.

Erin Olson: 6:40

So in the very, very beginning, when I was an insomniac and 20-something years old, I don't feel like I needed as much sleep as I do now, but maybe that's just because I'm in my 40s, but I was always exhausted and running strictly on fumes. My body was just going because that's all it could do, and thank God for caffeine, because well, and cigarettes at the time because it kept me going. Well, back then, one of the things that I tried to implement that helped temporarily was the Fill it In games. So Fill it In is a game that's like a reverse crossword. Basically it has the crossword puzzle and you have have all the answers and there's no questions. So the amount of thinking is minimal, which is probably something you need when you're trying to go to sleep.

Erin Olson: 7:32

So the that you can buy at most gas stations and Walmart they all have a bookstores and stuff. That's one of the ways that I used to dull my brain, and that was way before the invention of Facebook and TikTok and Instagram and Reels and all the things that you can use that you're not supposed to use because you know screens make it so it's harder to sleep, right. So I don't know that I would suggest scrolling on your laptop or your phone because, honestly, that is going to disrupt your REM sleep and we need as much of that as we can get right. So other things that I've used in the past were reading just regular books. Those are great. I can't even tell you how many times I have gotten into a fiction novel and just woke up and maybe haven't even gotten two pages done. So if you need help, read a book Seriously. I know it sounds dumb, but you'd be amazed at how well you can nod off to sleep when you're in another world, right?

Erin Olson: 8:33

Another thing that really helped me back then and I believe this is the game changer is all of those thoughts kept coming over and over and over. So how do you like relax your mind? Because that's what we're trying to do, right? So I kept a notebook and a pencil by my bed for years. In fact, I still have a notebook and pencil in my nightstand, and the reason why is because when I would have those reoccurring thoughts that are just spooling and marinating and rolling over and over in my head, I would get up and usually I could figure out a light. Or even if I didn't, I could just write it in the dark and I could usually figure it out the next day. But the notebook next to my bed really helped me to get whatever was in here on there. And when I put it in that notebook and I put it down, I told myself I'm putting it to bed, I'm going to deal with it tomorrow. And yeah, it was hard at first, but the more I did that, the better I got, and so when I started to, so when I started to use that notebook, it really helped me to take control of my brain so that I could actually sleep.

Erin Olson: 9:38

So another thing that I've implemented over the years, which most people all know, is melatonin. I'm not a big fan of melatonin. In fact, I hate the flavor of it and the smell of it. So there is that, but it does help. It can cause an addiction, so I don't know if I'd go that route. Wine and you know, just like the song, red red wine, yep, that, yeah, yep. Red wine can help calm all of those voices just enough so that you can actually breathe and not be quite so uptight. I know that there's a lot of other things you can use, like CBD and THC and there's all so many things, but they're actually just crutches. You have to learn to figure out how to handle not thinking right.

Erin Olson: 10:29

Another thing that people use white noise machines, visualization, binaural beats is something that a lot of people know and don't get hung up on all these things. I'm going to put all of these resources in the show notes, so you don't have to write notes now. But binaural beats are something that you can find on Spotify and YouTube, and what it is is it's two altering frequencies and you put your headphones on and those frequencies depending upon how you know how big the sound wave difference is those will actually cause your brain to be in theta state, alpha state, beta state, and it can really. There's different frequencies for different intentions, so find one that's for sleep, pop in your earbuds and drift off to dreamland. There's a ton of also visualizations and meditations on YouTube that you can use as well. Those all are good, helpful tools, and if you find one that helps put certain affirmations in your mind, that's a bonus. All right, enough about sleep, right, I'm about ready. I'm about ready to fall asleep myself with this conversation.

Erin Olson: 11:36

So the second type of way that people are addicted to being busy is at work. This one, I believe, is probably the most rampant in society and, as a business owner, I think this is the one that most of you guys are probably dealing with Working late, working too much, coming home from work and continuing to work. I just remember my husband coming home and being like why are you always sitting at your desk, like you're always there? And I said, well, because there's always stuff to do, and if nobody's here then I might as well keep working. Same thing goes when my son or my husband were out of town. All I did was work because I could focus on it and knock so many things off my list, which is really nice. But it's another thing that helps keep you addicted to being busy with work.

Erin Olson: 12:25

It is very necessary, like I said earlier, when you're starting a business, to hustle to work your evening hours, your weekend hours, early in the morning hours before everybody wakes up, just so that you can prioritize things that are most important to you. But you have to shut it off at some time, and I know that most people would say to set up boundaries. But you have to shut it off at some time. And I know that most people would say to set up boundaries. But boundaries to me are like an electric fence If you hit it, you get zapped, it hurts and then you go back. So I like to say to make it more like a guideline. Guidelines are a better thing visually for me, because a guideline can be bent, as long as the intention is made clear and that you try to stick to it as much as possible.

Erin Olson: 13:08

This is one thing that setting a stop time when you schedule your day. Let me just tell you, one of the most important things you can schedule is when you're going to stop working. Really, I fought with that for years because I could always do more and I started to promise myself. I started to promise myself that I was going to stop working at a certain time each day, and each day was different, but I promised myself and I scheduled it, and by the time that I was ready to be done, I always had more to do. But I forced myself to stop, write down all of the things that I didn't get to at the top of my to-do list for the next day. And there I had it. I shut my notebook, I shut my laptop, I turned off my lights and I left my office and I decided to live the rest of my life, which is what we are all trying to do right.

Erin Olson: 14:00

Another thing that you can do to keep you from being so busy and addicted to being busy at work is to delegate what you can. And delegation, I know, is the most hardest thing in the world to do, especially when there's so much and nobody can do it as well as you can and nobody loves your business as well as you can. But here's the thing delegate Certain things that you hate or that you spend so much time doing that are actually pretty simple. You should probably delegate. So the ways that you can delegate if you don't have any employees is you can sub out work, things like bookkeeping, doing sales tax reports, shipping. I know shipping is a tough one because I love sending out orders, but shipping can be something that you can sub out. There are so many ways that you can get a virtual assistant to go through your emails, to respond to emails, make sales calls. There's so many ways that virtual assistants can help and I've been looking all day. There's a lot of places where you can go to get one Sphere Rocket, vacom is one of those. Fiverr is another one there's.

Erin Olson: 15:08

I will, like I said, link all these in the show notes, but these are places where you can go to find people who can do these tasks that just stump your creativity and just keep you busy and not really moving the needle at all. Another thing you can do to help you figure out what tasks you can sub out would be to do the time tracker that I talked about in episode number 13. And I will link the PDF here as well. But if you follow and you go for a week or two and write down everything that you do at work at home, there's amazing how much time you can be found by stacking certain things instead of starting something and starting another thing and then going back to it and back and forth, whatever. But a time tracker sheet where you write down everything you do for one to two weeks and I tell you it is so eye opening and it also can help you say, like, when you look at it and how you feel about doing certain things. It will help you to be able to eliminate those things that don't serve you, that just drain you of your energy and, like I said, your creativity. So those are great tactics and tools that you can use to fight busyness at work, that you can use to fight busyness at work.

Erin Olson: 16:28

Now, the third type of busyness that people are addicted to is busyness at home the honey-do list, okay. So this really came into my attention when I did quit working at HX and I had so many projects that I wanted to get done over the years that I just never had time to do. And the thing is is that I started just knocking off projects and I'm telling you, it's great, it's just super good to get those projects done. But let me tell you, you can be addicted to doing projects and not actually living your life. Most of the people that run into this are people that are sick, people that are retired, people in between jobs and you know what Moms or dads.

Erin Olson: 17:09

There's so many things at home that you can be addicted to or that you can be obligated to do. If you have a kid that's in sports or hobbies and you have to cart their butt all over the cities all over the Midwest doing those things, that is something that is a huge time sucker. Another thing is all those family and social obligations birthday parties, dinner with the girls or wine with the girls. You know it's very hard as a people pleaser recovering, to try to say no when you know you have other things that are way more important and nobody is even going to miss you when you're not there. But I'm telling you, it's hard to say no. So you've got to get better at saying no without using the excuse of being busy, because I'm telling you, if you say it, it happens right.

Erin Olson: 18:06

So how do we fix this? Well, the first thing I would do would be to not stack one after another. Leave a little space for margin when planning your trips, when planning carting the kids around to school and other things. When planning your trips, when planning carting the kids around to school and other things, when planning your projects, Schedule downtime, schedule, gaps in between, and see if there's ways that you can actually do more than one thing at a time. If you need to listen to an audiobook or watch a video on how to research something in your business, you can do that while you're driving. But I'm telling you that drive time is like the best time you can spend with your kids. I'm just saying my son used to become so chatty. My son used to become so chatty when I would actually turn off the radio and just ask him how his life. So schedule some downtime, schedule some margin in between downtime schedule some margin in between.

Erin Olson: 19:06

And you know, guys, like I said before, in being addicted to work, you need to delegate or ask for help. This is so hard as a mom, let me tell you, because you want to be the one to do it all, but I will say that one of the best things I ever did was I hired a housekeeper. Really, that was so huge for me, so scary, and I thought it was going to be way more expensive than it was. But, holy crap, when you have somebody who can come in and do your dishes, your laundry if you want them to do all of the deep cleaning stuff that you would normally spend a whole Sunday doing instead of hanging out with the family for like $170 every two weeks or less, man, is that awesome. Another thing that can really help is to maybe ride share with other moms, where you can one day go pick up all the kids and bring them to the soccer or to school while they get some of their stuff done, and then you swap for another day. It's amazing how much you can get done doing that. Plus, if you ask for help, you then let other people know that it's normal to have so much to do, and checklists and to-do lists are great and they can help free your mind a little bit. But I'm telling you there are other women, other men that are in the same situation that you are, and if you get together and chat with somebody and be like dude I need some help here it is amazing who will start to step up and offer their help, and then all you have to do is accept it. All right.

Erin Olson: 20:34

The fourth and most insidious way to be addicted to being busy is in your mind. All right, this one, this is the one that's responsible for memory fog, for losing your memory, not being able to remember crap, for losing your focus, for being less productive. I know there is so much to do and so much to think about, and those two just kind of cycle back and forth, back and forth that your brain, if it's anything like mine, is constantly just yacking away, yacking away about all of the things. Right, so that is actually a form of being addicted to thinking, and I know how to help. I'm still a student, so I'm still in practice myself, but I have some tips for that that might just change everything. Number one is the most woohoo meditation. Yep, meditation. We all know we're supposed to meditate, but how do you sit and go om for 5, 10, 15, 20? And some of those people meditate for like eight hours. Who has time for that? Not me, but I will say that it has helped me so much.

Erin Olson: 21:45

Meditation for Beginners is a great book by Jack Kornfield. I'll put it in the show notes. He even has links to meditations that you can like, audio clips that you can download and use, and it's a guided meditation. There are so many apps and so many videos on YouTube that can help with this as well. But I will tell you, headspace is a great one, and Joe Dispenza has a great book called Becoming Supernatural. He has some great meditations and he explains how it physiologically works and why it works. It's mind-blowing, let me tell you. I will link that too. And Dr Caroline Leith has a book called Cleaning Up your Mental Mess. If I've never heard a book with a better title, that is it mental mess. If I've never heard a book with a better title, that is it. So her book is great about how to let go of these things that just keep going around and around and around, and she actually has an app called the NeuroCycle that you can download as well that can help you do that stuff and just take control of your mind.

Erin Olson: 22:44

So why do we need to meditate? Well, meditation is a skill. It is not something that anybody is good at, let me tell you. It is something you have to work towards. So what meditation does is it strengthens your ability to control your mind, instead of letting your mind just do whatever it pleases, and that's what most people end up doing.

Erin Olson: 23:04

Me, I am one of those people that has just so many thoughts going all over my head all the time that I have to be very, very focused on controlling what goes on in here so that I can not become a victim to it, because, I'll tell you, my mind is a liar. So you strengthen your ability to choose what you think about. Your brain gets a break, and when your brain gets a break, oh, it's like quiet. You know, I ask my husband all the time what are you thinking of? And he's like nothing. Man, does that make me feel so jealous? I have very few times where I think of nothing and, like I said, meditation is a skill. You have to learn to get better at All right. So another way that meditation helps is that it gives you a break from all those thoughts without the crutches of wine, cbd, thc, wine, cbd. There's so many crutches that people use Heck, I've even used listening to audiobooks and podcasts as a crutch to not have to think and deal with my own crap, if I'm being completely honest. So it gives you a mental break without the crutches, without the constant stuff going in.

Erin Olson: 24:17

A couple other ways that you can help becoming less addicted to things going on in your mind is to do the notebook. Now I think it was. My third episode was Free your Mind, and I talk all about how I started carrying around a notebook and, yes, most people have seen me with it. I always have it with me and I fill it up very quickly because I do mind dumps. In the mornings I will go and spend just a couple minutes writing down all the thoughts that are in my mind, or even the night before it, like when I go to bed, I will do a brain dump of all of the things that I feel like just need to come out, and it really leaves a little bit of room and I promise myself, like I said earlier, to go and deal with it the next day or that day, and it really helps you to keep what you need to in front of you and to scratch out all the things that you can't control. Literally, I will go through my list and I will scratch out everything that I can't control and I will say hey, you know what, I can't do it. And here's the deal If you can't do something about it, if you cannot control the outcome, or if you can't control the situation, then what you have to do is you have to scratch it out and give it to God right.

Erin Olson: 25:26

Another technique that you can do to help yourself be less busy in your mind is RTT rapid transformational therapy. I have a friend named Karen Stanley, who has createtodaytherapycom, and she uses hypnotherapy a very specific type of hypnotherapy, to help you to get past roadblocks, to help you to think clearer, to calm your mind, and you can check her out. I'll put her in the show notes as well, because, let me tell you, I have had so many good things come from doing a few sessions with her, and I bet you will do well too. So check her out. But I'm telling you, the most important thing that you can do is that when you're writing down all of these things that you are worried or anxious about and you can't do anything about them, you can't control the outcomes, or even that it's even happening to you.

Erin Olson: 26:18

What you need to do is pray, and even if you're not a Christian there are so many different texts that I'll talk about prayer and how it can help calm you down and clear your mind. But I am a Christian, and so what I know is that in 1 Peter 5, 7, it says to cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Now, how do we do that? Well, in Philippians 4, 6, it says do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. So pray about it, thank him for a solution and let him deal with it. You know, there's so much time that we are trying to fix it and do it all ourselves that it leaves no room for God to work, and so sometimes we just have to give him the control that he has, even though we don't like it. But here's the deal Letting it go can be a weight off of your shoulders like nothing else, and you'll be surprised how many things tend to resolve themselves if you just let God handle it.

Erin Olson: 27:27

Even Jesus needed to go to the mountains or out to the wilderness to be alone and to be able to clear his mind. Then he could speak to God when his mind was clear. He needed to do it to renew his strength. He created space for God to work. So here are some tactical ways to do that Spend some time that's quiet, without music, without podcasts, and go be outside. I am telling you, some sunshine, even some rain on your skin, can be a miracle in calming down all that's going along up in here, all that's going on up in here. Another thing that I've used is just going for a walk Again. Go for a walk out in nature, without earbuds in and without podcast plan and without another person, just you yourself, maybe a dog, if you don't have to yell at them all the time. But ask yourself the question and keep repeating it over and over until ideas come. When non-constructive thoughts come in or things like worries and anxiety come in, let them go, pay attention to them for just a second, but then let them go and ask yourself again the question. For me, just recently I went on a walk where I asked myself over and over and over again what do I want? So that I could get clear on my goals and create a new vision board. So I did that and I walked for a couple miles, and it's amazing when you just let go of the thoughts that aren't serving you and you ask yourself what you really want, the pictures and the thoughts that come into your head. I was so amazed at the things that I thought of that I hadn't even thought of for years. Now, one thing to remember when you go on these walks, or when you start trying to pray and let God have control, or start with a notebook or journal, or even if you're going to start trying to meditate. This is new and you have to be nice to yourself, because this is like going to the gym You're going to get tired, you're going to get sore mentally and you're not going to be good at it at first. Really, the first time I did a squat, I almost fell over. So this is no different. When you start to try to meditate or try to take care of any of these ways of stopping busyness, you are going to have some resistance to it, because that's not what you are, that's not what you're used to. So, be nice to yourself. You're not going to be good at it. But here's the deal be persistent, be persistent, build those muscles and, my friends, things are gonna start coming together and busyness is going to be less and less of a stronghold in your life. All right. So, guys, if you are one of those that are addicted to busyness, there are some things that can help. First, determine your type of busy. And if you are experiencing all four types of busy, don't worry about it, because pretty much everybody is. That's a high achiever. Don't worry and pick one and just start there. As you get better, then move on to the next type of busy. Once you conquer all four dragons, you will be able to have way more presence, way more focus and way more productivity. Kiss brain fog. Kiss brain fog. Goodbye, my friends. Then your business idea has the ability to become big business. Thank you, guys. Please share the show and let me know if there's anything that I can help you, or even if this helped. I appreciate you guys all, and I will see you next week on the Quality of Life podcast, see ya. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Be sure to check us out on the Quality of Life podcast Facebook and Instagram pages and our website, theerinolson. com, for downloads and more information. That is T-H-E-E-R-I-N-O-L-S-O-Ncom. Stay up to date by joining our email newsletter. Together, we can improve all of our quality of life.