The Mental Offload Podcast Shawna Samuel

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. 

Albert Einstein allegedly said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” Wise words, whether they come from Einstein or not. 
But how do you actually develop higher-level thinking skills? 
One technique I use is Superthinking.
It puts the amazing power of your human brain as a problem-solving machine onto your biggest challenges, and guides your brain to solve them strategically.
Super thinking is a meta-skill. It asks you to observe and direct your own thinking at the same time. 
But we’re not taught this powerful skill. And that leaves us at the whims of our brain’s default mode. Which is riddled with biases and glitches.
Your brain is a bit like ChatGPT. Its output is only as good as the prompts you give it.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to “prompt” your brain more effectively. For better, more creative, more strategic problem solving. At home, and at work.
What You'll Learn: 
The value of Superthinking, and why it’s worth learning this meta-skill
Why your brain’s “default mode” results in biased thinking – and how to correct for it
How to conduct a Superthinking session
2 benefits of doing regular Superthinking in your life and work
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload. 

Women tend to disproportionately bear the weight of the mental load.
That translates into a “second shift” at home: more hours spent on parenting, housework, emotional caretaking, and more.
When it comes to managing that mental load, so often the advice to women is one of two things:
Delegate it. Or lower your standards.
And while there’s nothing wrong with either of those approaches, that’s not the only way to “offload” tasks.
I get on my soapbox a little bit this week, to talk about how the mental load ends up pigeon-holing women, the sexist taxes that (too often) go unchallenged, and why we deserve better.
It’s time to talk about what it really means to offload the mental load, and how we start to make that happen.
What You'll Learn: 
Why going part-time isn’t your only option for being a “good mom” in the paid workforce
The unchallenged assumptions that we need to rethink around the mental load of parenting.
The “isn’t that cute” version of women’s empowerment
The 3 sexist taxes that fall on you if you’re socialized as a woman
To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.