Episode 76: I couldn’t hear myself think

00:51 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast. You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started! I can be a very sensitive sausage sometimes so a few weeks ago i wandered into the living room where Tom was watching TV and I started to ask him something

01:41 I got part way through what i was saying before grabbing the remote in exasperation and hitting pause. Not because Tom wasn't listening to me, he was but because even over a not very loud TV I couldn't hear myself think and sensitivity to noise is definitely one of my tells when I need silence to concentrate on even the most banal of conversations it often means I'm teetering on the edge of overwhelm and I need a moment of quiet And sometimes that takes me by surprise as there's not always something stressful going on when I'm feeling like that. It can simply be a build-up of loads of decision making, too much laundry and not enough rest and when you're caught up in the day to day doing that is involved in being human on planet earth all of the responsibilities, the noise other people's expectations and the expectations we put on ourselves it can be hard to hear yourself think. Often we turn to escapism to drown out the noise

02:39 For me, that's Netflix and podcasts and all that kind of thing. But if your only options are being in the noise it's overwhelming you or escaping from it with yet more noise albeit carefully and intentionally chosen when do you actually get to sit quietly and pop your CEO hat on? When do you get a time out so that everything that has been rattling around in your head and perhaps also in your nervous system can settle It's hard to make important things happen if all your time is spent in doing mode, juggling all the things and taking care of who or what is shouting the loudest. If you get stuck in that place of relentless doing chances are you'll soon find yourself spinning your wheels! You might be super busy dashing about and doing all of the things but are you actually moving forward?

03:26 So next time you can't hear yourself think, next time you notice your tells whether it's the same as me that you get really sensitive to noise or there's something else that tells you might be tipping into that overwhelm. What might you do? Or what might you not do to quiet that noise and find a little breathing space? As always I hope this helps and look forward to seeing you again soon! Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast. If you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us! So thanks so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you next time