Overwhelmed AF? Read this.
Keep reading this post to learn:
⋒ How a season of overwhelm in my life became the foundation for The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely
⋒ What the 5 Keys are and who can benefit from implementing them
⋒ How you can implement the 5 Keys into your life to ditch overwhelm for good
“Jess, I’ve been following your content for years and I’ve always appreciated it but honestly I have never really taken the steps to apply what you teach. I was recently feeling incredibly overwhelmed so I decided to go ahead and give it a try and omg my life feels changed!”
I’ve had multiple conversations just like this in my DMs over the last month.
I fully believe that the stuff I teach can change your life if you take action and apply it because the stuff I teach revolves around designing your days and weeks to align with your priorities and the difference between living in alignment with your priorities versus not is MASSIVE. I’m speaking from experience here. I created Hustle Sanely and The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely because I needed them in my own life.
Pre-Hustle Sanely, I was in SLP grad school, working 2, sometimes 3 part-time jobs, and reporting to my practicum site a few days a week. I was also newly married and we were in the process of buying our first home. It was a very full season of life and I did not have the tools to accomplish all of that sanely – I was completely burned out, neglecting my mental health, and not nurturing the important relationships in my life. I was accomplishing my goals, sure, but I felt like a shell of a human.
I knew the way that I was living wasn’t sustainable and I was ready to do something about it.
This was around 2017. So I spent the next 2.5/3 years figuring out how I could live my life intentionally. How I could continue working toward big goals that mattered to me while prioritizing my mental health and relationships… I wanted to be peacefully productive.
Back during this time, I felt like the productivity space was mostly full of masculine energy and the majority of the systems and frameworks I found just didn’t feel like a good fit for me as a woman. After a few years of learning and trying things out, I created a system called The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely™ to help others achieve a peacefully productive life but in a way that was applicable to their season of life. The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely will help you build healthy habits + routines so you can stop the constant hustle and live with intention.
So let me ask you – does life have you feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or completely exhausted?
If yes, you are in the right place and together, we are going to move you out of that energy and into peace! My mission is to equip you to take ownership of your time + energy so you can live a peacefully productive life, working toward your dreams while prioritizing your mental health + relationships, no matter what season you’re in. It’s possible for you if you’re willing to do the work – I promise!
Living a peacefully productive life is being clear on what your vision is for your life, knowing what your priorities are, and designing your days intentionally so that those priorities get your best time and energy. It's about pursuing your goals while prioritizing your mental health and the important relationships in your life - because feeling constantly burned out and overwhelmed doesn't have to be your normal.
The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely™ is your tool for living a peacefully productive life. The 5 Keys framework is an inclusive approach to productivity that helps you take ownership of your life and radiate peace & intention no matter what season you’re in. The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely™ framework was designed to meet you right where you’re at. I use this example a lot – I teach you how to build the foundation of a peacefully productive life using the 5 Keys but you’re the one who has to build the house on top – and your house is going to look different than anyone else’s. You have different goals, desires, and values than anyone else so you have to take what I teach you and mold it a bit to fit your season of life.
The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely can be applied to your life if you’re:
~ A mom
~ An entrepreneur
~ A teacher
~ A content creator
~ Planning a wedding
~ Buying a home
~ Starting a business
And on and on and on – The 5 Keys are suitable for anyone and everyone who has the desire to live a peacefully productive life, giving their best time and energy to what matters most.
A few things about The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely before we get into each of them:
~ I designed the framework in a way that each key builds off of the next – so it supports you best if you apply the Keys to your life in order.
~ Applying The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely™ to your life isn’t a one-time thing that you check off as done – the 5 Keys help you create a certain type of lifestyle – and that means that as your season of life changes, you’ll have to check in with The 5 Keys and reflect/adjust things as necessary.
Key 01 to Hustling Sanely is: Get Your Mindset Right.
Why this key matters:
I’m just gonna leave this here: studies have found that the average person has 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% were negative, and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.
I say this often so you might be tired of hearing it BUT I want you to let your guard down and really listen with you heart – our thoughts are the foundation that our lives are built on. Really, really imagine this: our thoughts become our words, our words become our actions, our actions make up our life experiences.
In the BFF Membership this quarter, our topic is reframing limiting beliefs and creating a healthy mindset – I shared this example in our workbook and I want to share it here because it makes what I just said clear.
Imagine someone works full-time and is a mom but wants to start an online business teaching others how to hand letter:
Thought process 1 -
Thought: Pursuing my dream will take way too much time.
Words: I don’t have time to pursue my dream.
Actions: Choosing not to pursue the dream.
Life experience: Feeling unfulfilled by your life and resentful toward people who are pursuing their dreams.
Thought process 2-
Thought: Pursuing my dream will take a lot of time.
Words: I’m excited to slowly work on my dream over the next few months.
Actions: Choosing to spend 5 intentional hours a week working toward making your dream happen.
Life experience: Feeling fulfilled because you’re proud of yourself for showing up for your dream consistently and launching it into the world.
Our thoughts have the power to create our reality. Same circumstance both times but the thoughts drove different outcomes.
Key 01 to Hustling Sanely is get your mindset right because it is the driving force behind everything that we do – your thoughts create a strong base for the other 4 keys.
Action steps to get your mindset right:
01. Identify limiting beliefs that you have and challenge those limiting beliefs with positive affirmations.
02. Create morning and evening routines that promote mental health hygiene - aka you’re intentionally nurturing a healthy mindset every day through habits like journaling, prayer, meditation, etc.
Hustle Sanely Tools to Help:
+ Peacefully Productive Journal
+ Positive Affirmations E-book
+ Hustle Sanely Kickstart Course
Key 02 to Hustling Sanely is: Get Clear On Your Vision.
Why this key matters:
What does it mean to be clear on your vision? It means knowing how you want to show up for your days. Knowing what your values are. Knowing what you want your life to look and feel like. Knowing what goals you’re working toward. If you don’t know what you're working toward or what kind of life you desire, then how do you expect to live it out?
A clear vision of what you want your life to be is your map. If you don’t have clarity, you’ll wander around aimlessly, going through the motions of life without intention. People often feel overwhelmed by life because they lack clarity. Knowing what you’re working toward gives you a sense of purpose every day. When we’re clear on our vision, we know what matters most to us in each season and that positions us to spend our time and energy on our actual priorities.
Notice I said “in each season” – it’s normal for your vision to shift as your season does. As your life changes, so will your desires. Your values will typically remain the same but how you live them out will look different depending on what season you're in.
Action steps to get clear on your vision:
01. VISION REFLECTION: Reflect on what feels good and what needs to change. Where are you at in life right now?
02. VISION PLANNING: Determine what's important to you in this season for each life category:
~ Relationships & Family
~ Health & Wellness
~ Personal Growth & Self-Care
~ Work & Education
~ Finances & Giving
~ Home & Living Spaces
Where do you want to go in each of these areas? Imagine your ideal day/week – what kinds of things are you doing? What are you not doing? How do you feel?
03. GOAL SETTING: Create intentional goals that move you toward that vision using the Hustle Sanely S.W.I.T.C.H. Goal Mapping Method™ (I teach this in detail in the Dream It. Do It. Workshop).
Hustle Sanely Tools to Help:
+ Peacefully Productive Planner
+ Dream It. Do It. Workshop
+ Hustle Sanely Kickstart Course
Key 03 to Hustling Sanely is: Define Your Priorities.
Why this key matters:
Once you’re clear on your vision, you can define what priorities support it. Think of your priorities as your action steps to make your vision a reality.
Your priorities are the most important things in your life – your non-negotiables. Less is more when it comes to priorities because if everything is important, nothing is important. Part of defining your priorities is regularly auditing and decluttering your priority list. As your season of life changes, your priorities will shift to match. How you spend your time reveals what your priorities are right now.
Ask yourself, “Does how I spend my time match up with what I say my priorities are?” Intentionally defining your priorities helps you fill your days with things that actually matter to you so you’re not just going through the motions or pushing off the important stuff for “someday.”
Action steps to define your priorities:
01. Decide what your daily, weekly, & monthly non-negotiables are - ask yourself, "What things in my life are the most important for me to show up for in this season?"
02. Create boundaries that protect your non-negotiable priorities and help you show up for them
Hustle Sanely Tools to Help:
+ Peacefully Productive Planner
+ Hustle Sanely Kickstart Course
Key 04 to Hustling Sanely is: Create your routines and schedule.
Why this key matters:
I feel like a lot of people tense up when they hear the word routine or schedule because they automatically think that means rigidity. But to me, routines actually offer us freedom because in the long run they save us time and energy. When we have routines, we aren’t having to spend as much brain power thinking about what needs to be done or how we’re going to get everything done. We can just show up and do what needs to be done and then we can pour that saved time and energy into other things that matter like self-care, spending time with our loved ones, and working on our dreams.
Your schedule and routines are tools, not chains. Use them as guides, not as anchors. Together, our habits and routines make up the foundation of our schedule. Make your schedule and routines work for you. Use them to empower you to be the best steward you can be of your time and energy. Know that you are allowed to shift and change your schedule and routines from season to season and even from day to day based on your energy and priorities.
Action steps to create your routines and schedule:
01. Track your time for a week so you can audit and declutter your calendar.
02. Create a weekly routine outline aka a weekly skeleton based on your non-negotiable priorities using The 5-Step Hustle Sanely Schedule Building Framework™. Episode 170 of the podcast takes you through how to do this!
03. Design yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, & daily routines to help you live in alignment with your vision, using the 7 Hustle Sanely Habits: Yearly Vision Meeting, Quarterly Check-In Meeting, Monthly Check-In Meeting, Weekly Prep Meeting, Hustle Sanely 5, Mindful Morning Routine, Wind Down Evening Routine
Hustle Sanely Tools to Help:
+ Episode 170 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast
+ Peacefully Productive Planner
+ Peacefully Productive Schedule Course
Key 05 to Hustling Sanely is: Implement Hustle Sanely 5 (HS5) every day.
Why this key matters:
I like to think of Hustle Sanely 5 as your daily action steps for Hustling Sanely.
Hustle Sanely 5™ is a list of 5 intentional habits to help you ditch overwhelm, clear the clutter, and focus your best time and energy on things that align with your vision so you can make consistent progress on your goals while prioritizing your mental health and the important relationships in your life.
The 5 habits are:
01. Complete Focus 3.
02. Move for 30 minutes.
03. Tidy for 15 minutes.
04. Say or do one kind thing for yourself.
05. Say or do one kind thing for someone else.
Hustle Sanely 5™ isn’t meant to cause you stress. It’s not another thing that you have to add to your to-do list but a tool to help you weave consistent daily routines into your life while giving you the space and flexibility to do different habits every day.
HS5 is a way to help you structure your day so that you’re not living in this go, go, go mode that leaves your head spinning at the end of the day and feeling like you don’t even know what just happened or how the day is over but you feel like you got nothing done even though you feel exhausted AF.
HS5 is less about the habits themselves and more about your posture and intention in doing them. They are there to support you and ground you throughout the day. To help you create intentional pockets of pausing and peace so that the days don’t speed by you, leaving you wondering what just happened at the end of the day. Hustle Sanely 5™ is a guide, not something to box you in.
Action steps to implement Hustle Sanely 5 every day:
Go listen to episode 169 to learn how to weave the HS5 habits in to your days.
Hustle Sanely Tools to Help:
+ Episode 169 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast
+ Peacefully Productive Planner
+ Daily Planning Notepad
+ Hustle Sanely Kickstart Course
Below is a text that my friend and fellow mama/business owner, Kate, sent me not too long ago:
“Just here to tell you that today was the first time in a very long time that I’ve gotten all my work done for both my clients and myself by 3 PM. It was also only a 4-hour workday. And it’s not that I had less to do than usual, it’s just that I am truly implementing routines and systems that I’ve learned from you and wow, it feels good.”
She’s actually on Team Hustle Sanely and getting this text just lit me up and reminded me that the work that I do is so important and that it can work for ANYONE who is willing to do the work. You can listen to what I teach all day long and say that it won’t work for you or help you because your life is just too crazy but you won’t really know if you don’t try, ya know?
Looking for a complete lifestyle overhaul because everything feels overwhelming right now? This is the course for you!
Use code 5KEYSPODCAST will take the price of the course from $397 to $300!
Loved this blog post? Tune into the full podcast episode below!
