375: What Sustainable Productivity Looks Like During High-Stress Seasons

375: What Sustainable Productivity Looks Like During High-Stress Seasons

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[00:00:00] Today, I want to have a much more personal conversation than usual about what sustainable productivity can actually look like during high-stress seasons. Over the past several months, my family has been navigating ongoing medical challenges involving one of my children, and the last three weeks in particular have been especially challenging.

There have been multiple doctor appointments, ER visits, and we're also preparing my child to undergo surgery next month. As a parent, as a business owner, and as someone who teaches about sustainable productivity for a living, I've been thinking long and hard about what it really means to keep going during really hard, heavy, high-stress seasons where [00:01:00] your emotional, physical, and cognitive capacity are stretched very thin.

And one thing that I wanna share is that sustainable productivity during moments of high stress or crisis doesn't look like maintaining business as usual or a quote-unquote "normal pace." For me, sustainable productivity, that is doing work that promotes your long-term sustainability and long-term wellbeing, means focusing only on what is most essential to keep my business and my life afloat and so that I can protect my family and my own wellbeing.

This has meant pausing or canceling things that aren't absolutely essential. For example, one thing that I had to do this week was make the difficult [00:02:00] decision to cancel the next Compassionate Accountability Retreat. And this was primarily because of the time commitment involved. This is a two-day retreat, eight hours of live facilitation, plus prep time, and I just cannot afford that time right now.

At the same time, I have continued focusing on the parts of my work that feel most manageable and essential right now. That includes my one-on-one coaching client work, facilitating my group coaching program, and also facilitating my virtual workshops. I'm also still posting on social media to the extent that I can, but at a much slower frequency, and I'm also doing a lot of reposting of older posts as well.

I've been able to continue the podcast primarily because of the support systems I've set in place for it, and that does include having a [00:03:00] podcast editor. Her name is Yessi, and she has made this part of my work that much more manageable. So Yessi, this is a shout-out to you. I appreciate you so much. And if y'all wanna learn more about her, please know I credit her in the show notes.

You can access her LinkedIn profile from there if you wanna reach out to her to learn more. But in any case, I wanted to record today's episode because I know that many of you are also trying to navigate difficult seasons while also having to manage grad school or school in general, work, caregiving.

You might be dealing with financial stressors, grief, loss, health challenges, community obligations, or maybe you're just exhausted from this world being too much. So today I'm gonna walk you through what sustainable productivity can look like during high-stress seasons, and [00:04:00] this episode is especially for you if you too are first-gen, BIPOC, neurodivergent, disabled, or otherwise historically excluded.

I'm gonna talk about why stress can make executive functioning feel harder, how to identify what is actually essential right now, practical ways to reduce your load, and how to approach productivity with more compassion. So let's get into it.

Welcome to the award-winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast, the place where first-generation BIPOC students and professionals can listen in on inclusive grad school stories and gain practical tools for sustainable success. This is Doctora Yvette [00:05:00] Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, author, and speaker.

I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you thrive in grad school and beyond

Welcome back everyone to another episode of The Grad School Femtoring Podcast. This is your host, Doctora Yvette. One of the most important things to understand about stress is that it can change how our brains function in that chronic stress makes it harder to do things like plan, prioritize, make decisions, and regulate our emotions.

So if you're someone who is experiencing a high-stress period, that's likely why you clicked play on this episode today, and that means that you are probably finding it harder to do day-to-day things, like what I mentioned, the planning, the [00:06:00] prioritizing, decision-making, et cetera. If you are navigating prolonged stress in the form of extended caregiving, uncertainty, grief, burnout, discrimination, or maybe you've just been in survival mode for too long, your brain may be working harder just to get through the day.

This matters because a lot of us learned to internalize productivity struggles as a form of failure, or sometimes we shame ourselves into thinking that we are a failure when what you might actually be experiencing is just cognitive overload and/or a limited capacity. And for first generation and BIPOC individuals in particular, I talk about this all the time, how many of us are having to navigate additional burdens, additional layers of responsibility and pressure.

You may have family obligations, social mobility pressure, all while [00:07:00] navigating career milestones that your own family members didn't get to experience and cannot offer direct guidance on. That's a lot to carry, and I say it, as I say it, I feel the heaviness in my body. I feel the heaviness in my shoulders because I'm right there with you.

You might be supporting family members financially or logistically. You might be helping siblings or parents or tias or uncles with navigating systems, maybe legal systems, educational systems. You may be caregiving for others. That might be your younger siblings, your own children, or even elderly parents.

You may feel pressure to over-perform and say yes to everything because you've had to fight so hard for opportunities that are finally opening up for you. Or maybe you learned that rest only comes after exhaustion, or that it's only something [00:08:00] that you earn. And when you combine all of that with things like neurodivergence, chronic illness, or other forms of disability, this can become incredibly destabilizing.

This is why sustainable productivity during these seasons needs to focus less on optimization and efficiency and more on doing less and stabilizing yourself and your circumstances. So now I'm gonna talk about what does sustainable productivity look like. And one of the biggest pivots that I've personally had to make recently is identifying what is truly essential versus what can wait.

And this is hard, y'all, especially if you're like me and you really care about your work and you want to be seen as someone who is trustworthy and reliable. [00:09:00] It can feel really uncomfortable to pause projects, to slow down in some areas, or to delegate or even turn down opportunities. But sustainable productivity, again, productivity that allows you to keep doing this work long term, requires a strong level of discernment.

Right now, I know I cannot sustainably do all the things I normally do while also supporting my child during a time that they're receiving ongoing medical care. So instead of trying to force myself to maintain the same output as usual, I'm having to adjust and continuously readjust too. And yes, this means that my family's being impacted financially because working less means I get paid less, and as an entrepreneur, I don't get paid time off or sick leave.

And so I'm having to juggle that part of it [00:10:00] too, which is a math problem, a tricky math problem. And I think this is one of the hardest but most important productivity skills during difficult seasons, the ability to adapt and keep adapting your expectations to your current reality, even if it means doing less or reaching out to ask for help.

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Together, we can create action plans that align with your capacity, your responsibilities, and your long-term vision. Clients often come to coaching when they are preparing for major milestones like qualifying exams, defending a [00:11:00] proposal, finishing dissertations, exploring new career paths, or building sustainable systems that work for them.

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I also wanna talk about your cognitive load and the importance of reducing it during high-stress periods, because during high-stress periods, even small decisions can feel exhausting. You may be noticing that when you're really stressed, all of your mental energy goes toward urgent concerns, leaving less time and space for things like planning, focus, or problem-solving.

So one thing that I've been focusing on is reducing unnecessary mental labor [00:12:00] wherever I can. This can look like simplifying your routine, using templates and standard operating procedures or checklists wherever possible, reducing your decision-making. So that might look like repeating the same old meals, repeating the same old outfits, automating your tasks, asking for help, or outsourcing anything that you can.

One example I mentioned earlier was that one of the ways that I've been reducing some of my labor is by having a podcast editor, because it means that I can simply plan my talking points and click record, and then I don't have to worry about the most time-intensive and cognitively draining step, which is the editing process.

And so for me, that's part of my support system, and support systems matter. And I do think that a lot of us underestimate how [00:13:00] much sustainable productivity depends on interdependence rather than individualism. Again, I'm not gonna say this is easy because if you live somewhere where you don't have friends or family nearby, or if you're disabled or find it hard to leave the house because of inaccessibility or flare-ups, it's not as easy, right, to just say, "Oh, just lean on community."

But we do need social support, we do need community, and we especially need it when we're feeling overwhelmed. This week, for instance, I've been reaching out to friends and letting them know about what's going on with me and my family, and I've been doing it primarily so that they can offer a listening ear.

One friend even offered to fly out to help me and my family, which was so incredibly kind of her. And another thing to keep in mind, aside from reducing your cognitive load, is to consider [00:14:00] what your actual capacity is right now and make changes accordingly. Which again may mean doing less, doing good enough work, or delegating and saying no to things.

Because I notice that in my work that many of my clients expect themselves to show up in the exact same way each week, even when they're in high-stress seasons in their life. And right now I'm actually thinking about a specific client who is navigating a new job and didn't account for how much added bandwidth it would take simply to transition and learn that new job.

And so they're trying to show up to all the things just as they did before and quickly realized that their new job was gonna take more time and energy, and so they need to slow down with all the other commitments. All of this to say that your ideal capacity might reflect what you can do during a calm season, but your actual capacity reflects the reality of your current life right now, and [00:15:00] that just might be a busy or stressful season.

So I want you to ask yourself, what can I realistically sustain right now without unintentionally harming myself or others in the process? Because again, a lot of us will continue operating from old expectations long after our circumstances have changed, and this often leads to burnout, shutdown, resentment, or cycles of overextension followed by collapse. And we don't want that.

Now I'm gonna share a few more practical strategies that may help you if you are also navigating a difficult or very stressful season right now. First, I want you to create what I call a minimum viable week. Ask yourself, what is the smallest version of success I can maintain right now?

[00:16:00] Or maybe it might look like you create a schedule of what your life looks like when you're doing only what's essential. Maybe that means attending a class and responding to essential emails because you want to, at the very least, survive coursework right now. Maybe it means focusing only on your nine-to-five work because it's a stressful semester.

Maybe it means focusing only on your teaching because that's what's paying the bills. Maybe it means showing up to doctor appointments because your body is, as someone mentioned to me recently, screaming at you to slow down. The goal is to sustain what is most essential for you in this moment, and again, that might be school, work, your health, or a combination of these and other areas of your life.

Second, you can create a pause list. Write down everything you are intentionally postponing, pausing, or [00:17:00] turning down during the season. This is important because pausing or saying no to things is different than failing at it. A pause list helps you to reduce your mental clutter of trying to keep everything going all at once.

Another thing you can do is reduce any pressure to remain visible and active. You don't need to maintain constant visibility. You don't need to show up to all the things during survival seasons. Of course, you wanna reach out and be available for those that matter and can offer you support, but everything else can be paused. And again, for me, that has meant reducing my posting frequency on social media while still maintaining a small level of connection and visibility.

And who knows, if things don't get better, I might pause social media posting altogether. That's something that only time will tell, right? I will [00:18:00] reiterate and reconsider as things change. Fourth, rely on your external supports. And external supports doesn't always have to be a person, although it can be.

It could be reminders, it could be templates, it could be calendars, it could be an assistant or a helper or any other community support. Why is this helpful? Because your executive functioning skills will be easier to manage when you have support, especially during stressful seasons. And then the last thing I wanna share as a potential strategy is to do a weekly capacity check-in.

It could be any time. It could be at the beginning of a new week or at the end of a week. You ask yourself, "What is draining me right now? What is sustaining or restorative for me right now? What needs to be simplified? And what expectations need to [00:19:00] change right now?" How you do your work and manage your life should evolve over time to match what's showing up in your life right now.

So before I go, I wanna remind you that if you're dealing with serious burnout or mental and physical health issues, please know that it's important to get additional professional support from a licensed professional or a medical provider. As always, my caveat is that the info that I share on this podcast is for educational purposes only, so please reach out and get help if you need it.

Sometimes the most sustainable thing you can do is lower the bar, narrow your focus, and let whatever supports you can access carry part of your load. Thank you for being here. I hope this episode reminds you to keep taking care of yourself during this stressful time. And as always, I'll talk to you all [00:20:00] next time.

Thanks so much for listening. If you liked what you heard, here are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, worksheets, and curated podcast playlists to guide you through applying to and navigating grad school.

The third way to support my show is by joining my email newsletter where I share key takeaways and additional resources. Thanks again for listening, and until next time.