248. What If Your To-Do List Is Keeping You Overwhelmed?

248. What If Your To-Do List Is Keeping You Overwhelmed?

Your desk is covered in sticky notes. There are reminders on your phone, notes in a notebook somewhere, and a running mental list that never seems to stop. Crossing things off feels productive. It feels responsible. It feels like you're staying on top of everything. But what if your to do list is helping create the very overwhelm you're trying to escape? This conversation looks at the hidden comfort of staying busy, why empty space can feel surprisingly uncomfortable, and what might actually be underneath the constant need to keep doing. If you've been telling yourself things will finally calm down once the list is shorter, this episode invites you to consider a different possibility. Maybe the list isn't the problem. Maybe it's what the list is helping you avoid. RESOURCES MENTIONED: * The Should Session: To Stop you from bringing work stress home! Find out exactly what belief is keeping you stuck in should energy [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/gzhFT9F5/checkout]. Only 5 spots available, expiring on 10/6/2026. WORK WITH ME: 1. Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94] 2. Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching] Connect with Sam: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/samantha.s.says] | Facebook [https://www.fb.com/coachsamanthahawley]

247. Journal With Me: What Feels Safe About Staying Stuck?

You keep thinking about making the change. Setting the boundary. Starting the thing. Having the hard conversation. But somehow, you keep ending up back in the same place. Not because you don’t care. Because some part of your current life still feels safer than the unknown. This episode is an invitation to stop overthinking and start getting honest about what your comfort zone is protecting you from. JOURNAL PROMPTS: * What is the one thing you keep circling back to but haven't fully committed to yet? What is it that you want to feel, create, or do? * If you fully committed to that decision or vision, what are you afraid of? What do you think you'd be risking? * If you just stayed where you are, claiming it might get easier or a sign will come, what feels safe and comfy cozy about right now? The journaling prompts in this session will help you uncover what you’ve been avoiding, what you’re afraid could happen if you actually moved forward, and what staying where you are has been giving you emotionally. Because sometimes the hardest part isn’t making the change. It’s admitting that a part of you still feels safe staying the same. RESOURCES MENTIONED: * The Should Session: To Stop you from bringing work stress home! Find out exactly what belief is keeping you stuck in should energy [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/gzhFT9F5 ]. Only 5 spots available, open for 2 weeks only. WORK WITH ME: 1. The Leaders Table: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table] 2. Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94] 3. Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching] Connect with Sam: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/samantha.s.says] | Facebook [https://www.fb.com/coachsamanthahawley]

246. Why “Doing It All” Still Never Feels Like Enough

I’ve noticed that so many women already know they’re overwhelmed. We know we’re carrying too much. We know we’re stuck in “I should” thoughts all day long. But what actually changes things is understanding the belief underneath those thoughts. Because underneath “I should be doing more” is usually something deeper. If I rest, I’m lazy. If I need help, I’m failing. If I’m not the one holding everything together, I’m not enough. In this episode, I talk about the guilt, pressure, and all or nothing mindset that keeps so many women stuck in overfunctioning at work, at home, and inside their own minds. I also walk through the deeper work that has to happen before real change can actually stick. Not just replacing thoughts with positive affirmations, but questioning the standards, expectations, and beliefs that have been running the show for years. This conversation includes real examples from coaching women through motherhood, leadership, rest, productivity, and the fear of slowing down. If this episode resonates, I want you to pay attention to the questions that come up while listening. Your answers will tell you far more than your to do list ever will. RESOURCES MENTIONED: * The Should Session: To Stop you from bringing work stress home! Find out exactly what belief is keeping you stuck in should energy [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/gzhFT9F5]. Only 5 spots available, open for 2 weeks only. WORK WITH ME: 1. The Leaders Table: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table] 2. Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94] 3. Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching] Connect with Sam: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/samantha.s.says] | Facebook [https://www.fb.com/coachsamanthahawley]

245. Journal With Me: From Fear of Change to Trusting What’s Pulling You Forward

Something in life isn’t fitting the way it used to. The path that once made sense now feels heavy, forced, or disconnected from who you actually are. But walking away from it brings up its own fear. Fear of disappointing people. Fear of losing the identity attached to it. Fear of not knowing what comes next. This journaling episode is about looking underneath that hesitation and getting honest about what’s really keeping you stuck. Sam walks through four prompts around change, identity, grief, and the patterns that have quietly been there all along. JOURNAL PROMPTS * Think back to a time in your life when you navigated significant change. Maybe it was having kids, changing jobs, moving, ending a relationship, whatever it might be. What did you figure out? What strengths did you use? If you did that then, what does that tell you about what you’re capable of now? * Picture the path you’re “supposed” to be on right now. The promotion. The title. The next milestone everyone expects from you. Maybe even the one you expect from yourself. What does your day look like? How do you feel by the end of it? What lights you up? What drains you? What does your family dynamic look like? Not what it should feel like. What it would actually feel like based on your current trajectory. * If you walked away from what you’re doing now, what would you be grieving? Maybe it’s the identity. The validation. The security. The stability. The path you thought your life would take. Or where you thought you’d be by now. Then ask yourself: what would I be moving toward? What keeps calling me that I continue to ignore? * Think about the last time you felt fully in your zone. When work didn’t feel like work. When conversations felt energizing. When something came naturally to you and you felt good doing it. Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with? What kind of work were you helping people with? Then look back across your life. Where else has that feeling shown up before? What’s the pattern that’s been there all along? This episode is a space to uncover resistance, reconnect with yourself, and start creating a life that actually fits instead of forcing yourself to stay attached to a version of life that no longer does. WORK WITH ME: 1. The Leaders Table: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table] 2. Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94] 3. Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching] Connect with Sam: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/samantha.s.says] | Facebook [https://www.fb.com/coachsamanthahawley]

244. How to Reinvent Yourself After Outgrowing the Life You Built

Closing your laptop at the end of the day but still feeling emotionally tied to a life that no longer fits. Looking around at everything you’ve built and quietly thinking, “Why doesn’t this feel right anymore?” There’s grief in outgrowing a version of yourself that once made sense. Grief in realizing the career, identity, or path you worked so hard for might not be the one you want to carry into your next season of life. This episode explores what it looks like to reinvent yourself without losing yourself in the process. Dr. Diane Van Staden shares her experience of leaving behind a successful academic career after immigrating from South Africa to Canada and the identity shift that came with starting over professionally. The conversation moves through the fear of uncertainty, the pressure of other people’s expectations, comparison, purpose, self trust, and the emotional process of letting go of who you used to be. There’s also a powerful conversation around grieving identities that no longer fit and learning how to build a life that feels aligned instead of simply impressive. This one is for the woman who knows she’s changing but keeps wondering if she’s allowed to want something different now. RESOURCES MENTIONED: Connect with Dr. Diane on IG: drdianevanstaden [https://www.instagram.com/drdianevanstaden?igsh=N214MDZiYzBzM2Vj] Dr. Diane's podcast: Life beyond clinicalpractice [https://lifebeyondclinicalpractice.podbean.com/] Episode 186: How to Grieve The Life You Expected [https://pod.link/1817436994/episode/ZWU1M2JjNjMtMDU0Zi00YTBkLTg4NjQtM2ZhZGY5N2JmZWI0] WORK WITH ME: 1. The Leaders Table: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table] 2. Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94] 3. Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me [https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching] Connect with Sam: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/samantha.s.says] | Facebook [https://www.fb.com/coachsamanthahawley]