The Mental Offload Podcast Shawna Samuel

Women are more aware of the mental load of the household than at any time in the past.
The dynamics of domestic labor and parenting have historically been biased. The expectation: women would and should do the work of running the home and raising children.
Even for women who work outside the home, the mental load often ends up squarely on their shoulders.
Women put in 10 more hours of household labor than men each week (US data)
And this impacts their careers. 
57% of women feel that their careers are limited by their caregiving responsibilities at home (US data)
So many women want to rebalance the load at home.
But the advice that permeates so much of the social media sphere is blunt: there are “good guys” (who will willingly step up to the plate at home, if asked) and “garbage guys”. And if you’ve got one of the latter, you’re told your only option is to “throw the whole man away.”
As much as that phrase makes me chuckle, this way of thinking keeps a lot of women right where they started: shouldering an outsize burden at home.
It’s time to unpack our thinking about the mental load at home, and how we can drive more alignment with our partners.
What You'll Learn: 
Why the unequal division of labor at home is also an obstacle to women’s career ambitions
The “good guy” versus “garbage guy” binary thinking that permeates social media, and why more nuance is useful
4 partner stances to the mental load, and which ones are “good” or  “garbage”
The two underrated skills that drive more alignment on the mental load at home
 

“Put on your own oxygen mask first,” they say. 
But that’s easier said than done, right?!
How much time do you get each day completely for yourself?
Add it up: time with no work concerns to attend to, no little humans to take care of. Purely to do as you want… 
That’s probably some quick math.
For most women, the number is small. And women get less than men (thanks, patriarchy!).
And for that little bit that we do take, we hear harmful messages that it’s selfish. Or optional.
So, you end up putting yourself last.
Far from being frivolous or selfish, “me time” is essential time that we need to recharge. In a world of depleting demands on your time and attention, “me time” is a refueling stop.
What would happen if you treated time for yourself as a necessary component of each week? Critical to your ability to lead at work, and at home?
In this week’s episode of the Mental Offload Podcast, we blow the lid off the idea that “me time” is selfish. And we dive into ways to take time for yourself  in a society that makes it easy to keep putting yourself last.
Time for yourself isn’t selfish. It’s a strategic necessity in leadership (and life).
What You'll Learn: 
How “me time” is protective against burnout, and support mental and emotional well-being 
How much “me time” do you really need? We’ll look at the evidence.
The REAL costs of pouring from an empty cup, at work and at home
How to get over internalized guilt and cultural messages that discourage “me time”
A tactical plan to make more time for yourself happen
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload. 

Inbox zero is such a seductive proposition.
Inbox zero was popularized by productivity gurus as an efficient approach to email. The idea is that you want to maintain your inbox with zero - or as close to zero - messages as possible. 
For most people, this becomes a daily metric to track their own productivity.
And, I’d argue it’s a vanity metric. 
It’s seductive because it makes you think you’re being productive, efficient, and valuable at work. But it’s just a veneer of productivity.
Inbox zero comes with real costs. Namely, it takes away your focus from the work that really matters. (Which, in most jobs, is not responding to email.)
This week, we explore the lingering “productivity myth” of inbox zero, and better ways of managing your inbox.
What You'll Learn: 
Why  inbox zero seems so efficient
The real costs (and opportunity costs) of trying to maintain inbox zero
Take a page from domestic management - would you ever try to maintain laundry hamper zero?
Better ways to manage your inbox
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload. 
 

Presentation anxiety. It’s incredibly common, even amongst leaders.
There’s that oft-quoted statistic that suggests that most people’s biggest fear is public speaking.
And what are presentations, if not public speaking? Even when the scale is small (like leading a team meeting), the stakes rarely feel small.
As a leader, you might need to give dozens of presentations a year. In some roles, you might give dozens a week. 
What’s more, your presentation skills are part of your executive presence. You want to appear confident, calm, unflustered.
But how do you do that with your knees shaking?
In this episode, we’ll cover how you can conquer presentation anxiety, to show up with more confidence and more presence every time.
What You'll Learn: 
Why the typical advice, like “fake it til you make it” is unhelpful (or downright terrible) for presentation anxiety
The ABCs of anxiety - what’s really going on when you’re on stage?
How to create an “anxiety management protocol” to help you perform at your best
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload. 

Decisions, decisions, decisions.
We live in a world of plenty…and it’s overwhelming. 
There are so many options, and so much pressure to make the right choices.
And the sheer number of decisions that we need to make in a given week is mind-boggling.
Think about the time you spend in an average week researching, analyzing, and getting agreement on options. 
It’s exhausting.
But there is a way to win back some bandwidth and energy, too.
It’s the practice of decision constraint. 
And it’s incredibly effective for anyone feeling bogged down by the weight of the mental load at home (or stuck in analysis paralysis at work). 
Try it this week for better balance and more bandwidth.
What You'll Learn: 
Why having more options doesn’t necessarily make us happier or better off
What you need to know about how the brain operates, so you can reduce the cognitive load
What kinds of decisions benefit from constraint
How to implement decision constraint for better balance
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload. 

Is your work week best described as a daily grind?
Like, the kind of work where you are constantly working at max capacity, only to find yourself…slowly…grinding…down.
Most corporate jobs operate with a go-go-go mentality that keeps everyone in a permanent state of exhaustion.
This is disastrous for your stamina. 
And not just at work. The “hangover” of working like this usually carries straight into life at home.
Making you feel “wound up” and stressed, and less able to be present and relaxed.
You might be tempted to think this is just a side effect of a demanding job. But it doesn’t always have to be.
In this episode, we’ll discuss a technique for rebalancing your calendar, that can increase your stamina.
If you want more control over your calendar at work, and fewer evenings feeling drained, listen and apply this week’s episode.
What You'll Learn: 
How can “sprinting” not be draining?
The one trap you must avoid in setting up your work schedule (unless you like feeling fried)
Are you people-pleasing with your time?
Applying this to operational vs. strategic roles
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.