Work + Life Harmony | Time Management, Organization and Planning for Overwhelmed Women

Megan Sumrell: Time Management and Productivity Coach

You wake up with a plan. By 10 AM, it's completely off the rails. By bedtime, you're mentally running through everything you didn't get to and wondering how tomorrow will be any different. Work + Life Harmony is the weekly podcast that teaches women a completely different approach to time management, weekly planning, and productivity. Hosted by Megan Sumrell, a time management expert with 20+ years in systems and planning, this show will change the way you think about your calendar, your to-do list, and how you spend your time. Megan covers everything from weekly planning strategies and daily routines to goal setting, organization, and how to handle the curveballs that throw your whole week off. Her approach was built specifically for women managing work, family, and the million things in between, not recycled advice from productivity systems designed for someone else's life. If you've been stuck in the cycle of overwhelm, guilt, and never-ending to-do lists, start here. New episodes every week.

  1. How I Plan My Entire Summer Around Two Types of Days

    1D AGO

    How I Plan My Entire Summer Around Two Types of Days

    Summer is coming, and if you've got kids at home, you already know the tension: you want the lazy pool days AND you need to get things done. This episode is the system that makes both possible. I'm revisiting one of my all-time favorite summer planning tools: A days, B days, and C days, and this year I'm going deeper than I have before. I'm also sharing the extra layer that business owners especially need to hear: how to figure out your true "have-tos" before summer hits so you're not scrambling all season long. This is one of those episodes that sounds simple and then changes how you plan every single week of summer. I hear from women inside the TOP program all the time who use this not just in summer, but year-round, and once you get the framework, you'll see why. What You'll Learn: What A days, B days, and C days actually are and how they're different from just "blocking time"How I structure an A day (family-forward) so I still get my work done without sacrificing the funWhat a B day looks like in my house, including how I talk through it with my teenage daughter ahead of timeWhy the family communication center is the thing that actually makes this workThe business owner layer: how to audit your recurring tasks before summer and decide what's a true have-to vs. what you can let go ofWhy I only apply A days and B days Monday through Friday and why protecting weekends matters more in summer than any other time of yearHow to use this framework even if you're not running a business (yes, it works for you too)How to look ahead at June, July, and August right now and start mapping it out________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    21 min
  2. A 3-Stage Plan for Moms to Stop Dreading Summer with Erin Port

    MAY 5

    A 3-Stage Plan for Moms to Stop Dreading Summer with Erin Port

    I have a total love-hate relationship with summer. I am always so ready for it to come, ready to ditch the alarm clocks and the get-ready-for-school morning routine, ready for more freedom and less structure. And then halfway through I find myself craving the structure back, caught in this endless tug of war between still having a company to run, wanting time for myself, and also actually enjoying summer with my daughter. I brought Erin Port on the show because she has a framework for summer that I think every mom needs to hear. She breaks the season into three distinct stages, each with its own rhythm and intention, and we get into exactly how to plan for each one so you're not white-knuckling it from June through August. In This Episode, You'll Discover: Why the transition from May into June is harder than it should be, and the simple "kickoff week" idea Erin uses to ease her family in without the frictionHow a "what matters" list with your kids can replace the overwhelming bucket list that leaves you feeling like you failed the summerA strategy to protect the end of summer so your whole family lands in September without running on emptyConnect with Erin: www.simplepurposefulliving.com www.instagram.com/simplepurposefulliving www.facebook.com/simplepurposefulliving ________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    30 min
  3. The Technology Shift That Quietly Created a New Kind of Mental Load for Default Parents

    APR 28

    The Technology Shift That Quietly Created a New Kind of Mental Load for Default Parents

    There was a time when staying on top of your family's schedule was actually pretty straightforward. A paper packet came home from school, the activity coordinator called the phone tree, and if you needed your partner to know something, you handed them the paper. Done. Information found you, and you could pass it along just as easily. Then came the apps, the portals, and the online enrollment systems, all with the promise that they would make things simpler, that you'd have everything right there on your phone. What actually happened is that you became the one who downloaded every app, created every login, and checked every portal, and now you're managing 10 different places just to know what's happening with your own kids this week. Technology didn't lighten the load. It just put it all in one person's pocket. In This Episode, I'll Cover: Why the shift from paper to portals quietly moved all the responsibility onto one personHow being the one who enrolled became the same as being the only one who ever knows anythingWhy simply sharing a login doesn't actually solve the problemMentioned in the Episode: To get 15% off your own Skylight Calendar go to www.megansumrell.com/skylight and use code THEPINKBEE. ________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    17 min
  4. How to Stop Managing Everyone When Your Family Has ADHD with Brooke Schnittman

    APR 21

    How to Stop Managing Everyone When Your Family Has ADHD with Brooke Schnittman

    Managing a household where brains work differently is genuinely one of the hardest things to navigate, and most families are figuring it out in real time without a lot of guidance. The systems that work for one person don't always work for another, the communication styles that feel natural to one family member can feel completely foreign to someone else, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, someone usually ends up carrying more than their share. In this episode, I'm joined by ADHD coach Brooke Schnittman, who has over 20 years of experience in the ADHD space and runs a boutique coaching practice that works with adults, students, and families navigating neurodivergence.  In this episode, we cover: What "time blindness" actually means and why it looks different for everyoneWhy the non-ADHD partner often ends up managing the whole householdTools that reduce the mental load without constant remindingHow to have age-appropriate conversations with kids about different brain typesConnect with Brooke: Website: www.coachingwithbrooke.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingwithbrooke/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@coachingwithbrookeMentioned in the episode:  To get 15% off your own Skylight Calendar go to www.megansumrell.com/skylight and use code THEPINKBEE. ________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    32 min
  5. Planning Will Finally Work for Your Life After You Do This First

    APR 14

    Planning Will Finally Work for Your Life After You Do This First

    Today's topic is not sexy. It is not glamorous. But I promise you this... if you do this one thing, it is going to be what makes any planning strategy you want to implement actually work. The chances are you have been avoiding this one thing because you misunderstand the intent of it. And once you understand why you're doing it, everything changes. In this episode, I'm breaking down the one foundational step I have every single person start with inside the TOP Program, and why it is the thing that finally helps you stop guessing about what you're going to do, when you're going to do it, and how much time things are actually going to take. In This Episode, I'll Cover: What the foundational first step is and why most women avoid doing itHow taking this step releases the guilt of never feeling like you're doing enoughHow starting here moves you out of reactive living and into proactive planning________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    17 min
  6. The Difference Between Planning and Decision Making on Big Projects

    APR 7

    The Difference Between Planning and Decision Making on Big Projects

    You've got a big project on your plate, maybe more than one, and the stress is already building before you've even taken the first step. You're researching, overthinking, trying to map out every possible outcome and contingency plan. And the more you try to figure it all out upfront, the more paralyzed you feel. What if the reason you're so stressed isn't the project itself? What if it's because you're treating planning and decision making as the same thing, when they're actually two completely different activities with two completely different jobs? In this episode, I break down the distinction that changed how my own family navigates multiple high-stakes projects at once, and show you how to build a plan that actually brings relief instead of more overwhelm.  In This Episode, I'll Cover: Why trying to have all the answers before you start is the fastest path to overwhelmThe subtle way most people confuse planning with something else entirelyA simple visual tool that turns chaos into "okay, I know what to do next"How to figure out which decisions actually need your attention right now and which ones don't ________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    26 min
  7. How I Use My Paper Planner and Digital Calendar Together

    MAR 31

    How I Use My Paper Planner and Digital Calendar Together

    If you use a paper planner and a digital calendar, you've probably had that moment where you wonder if you're doing something wrong. You're writing things down in two places, and everything in our tech-obsessed world is telling you to just pick one and streamline. Maybe you've even thought about giving up your planner altogether because it feels like you're wasting time. I used to wrestle with this too, and I actually got made fun of for using a paper planner at a coffee shop not that long ago. But after years of testing both fully digital and fully paper systems in different seasons of life, I've landed on a hybrid approach that I'm breaking down in full detail in this episode. In This Episode, I'll Cover: Why the "just pick one system" advice doesn't always workThe question I ask every person who's torn between paper and digitalWhat your digital calendar should actually be doing for you and what it shouldn't)Where most paper planner users go wrong with duplicationThe simple boundary setup that keeps your calendar from being hijacked________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    23 min
  8. What to Do When Your Values and Boundaries Collide with Mindi Huebner

    MAR 24

    What to Do When Your Values and Boundaries Collide with Mindi Huebner

    You've got a boundary you've worked hard to protect, and then life throws something at you that matters just as much. So now what? This is something that's been coming up again and again in our community, and honestly, it came up in my own life recently too. I brought back one of my favorite returning guests, Mindi Huebner, subconscious identity coach, to walk us through a concept called seasonal core values. It is such a practical, no-guilt way to get clear on what actually matters right now, and what you can intentionally set down for this season without feeling like you're failing. In This Episode, We'll Cover: What seasonal core values are and how they're different from your everyday boundariesHow to get honest about the season you're actually in right nowA simple exercise to stop the internal tug-of-war for good ________________________________ 💻 Free Training Overwhelmed? Frazzled? Tired of your calendar controlling you?  You’re in the right place. Sign up for my free, on-demand training and learn how to take control of your time—no matter what life throws at you.  👉 https://www.megansumrell.com/freetraining ________________________________ 📱 Get The Pink Bee App Access planning tools, trainings, and support all in one place.  👉 https://www.onelink.to/qxdcwu ________________________________ Thanks for tuning in! Megan 🩷🐝 www.megansumrell.com www.instagram.com/megansumrell www.youtube.com/@the_pink_bee www.facebook.com/megansumrell

    41 min
5
out of 5
248 Ratings

About

You wake up with a plan. By 10 AM, it's completely off the rails. By bedtime, you're mentally running through everything you didn't get to and wondering how tomorrow will be any different. Work + Life Harmony is the weekly podcast that teaches women a completely different approach to time management, weekly planning, and productivity. Hosted by Megan Sumrell, a time management expert with 20+ years in systems and planning, this show will change the way you think about your calendar, your to-do list, and how you spend your time. Megan covers everything from weekly planning strategies and daily routines to goal setting, organization, and how to handle the curveballs that throw your whole week off. Her approach was built specifically for women managing work, family, and the million things in between, not recycled advice from productivity systems designed for someone else's life. If you've been stuck in the cycle of overwhelm, guilt, and never-ending to-do lists, start here. New episodes every week.

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