399: Stop Procrastination and Get What You Want with Dr. Christine Li

In this episode, Dr. Angie Brown welcomes Dr. Christine Li, a psychologist and procrastination coach, to discuss the roots of procrastination and the challenges of midlife, particularly for women. Dr. Li explains how fear and self-doubt are central to procrastination and the importance of self-kindness and mindfulness in overcoming these barriers. The discussion also delves into the unique challenges faced by women in midlife, including the energy drain from juggling multiple responsibilities and the physical changes associated with aging. Dr. Li introduces her 'Reenergize Your Home' challenge, aiming to help participants declutter their homes and, by extension, their lives. The conversation is insightful, providing practical advice for runners and non-runners alike on maintaining motivation, managing stress, and staying energized through life's transitions.

Dr. Christine Li is a clinical psychologist and Procrastination Coach with over 25 years of experience. She works with women in midlife to clear their mental and physical clutter to reclaim their energy, confidence, and joy. Featured in Oprah Magazine, she specializes in breaking cycles of perfectionism, procrastination, and overwhelm—guiding women to create momentum in their lives with ease. Through her signature program Simply Productive she empowers midlife women to simplify their spaces, habits, and mindset so they can fully step into their power.

She is the host of the Make Time for Success podcast, where she shares actionable strategies on productivity, mindset shifts, and decluttering both internally and externally.

If you want to connect with her, you can find her at the links below! 

procrastinationcoach@gmail.com
https://procrastinationcoach.com
https://instagram.com/procrastinationcoach
https://facebook.com/groups/procrastinationcoach

Sign up for Dr. Li's Decluttering Challenge here

00:36 Meet Dr. Christine Li: Procrastination Coach

02:40 Understanding Procrastination

02:53 The Role of Fear and Self-Doubt

04:16 Building Self-Trust and Overcoming Fear

08:12 Motivation vs. Self-Kindness

08:43 Coaching Strategies for Self-Kindness

11:47 The Importance of Kindness Over Judgment

23:32 Rewiring the Brain and Midlife Challenges

29:27 Ene

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Transcript

Angie: 0:00

Why do we procrastinate on the things that we want, and how can we start taking action to achieve those things? If that's something you've ever thought about, today's episode is perfect for you. Today I'm welcoming Dr. Christine Li to the podcast, who is a clinical psychologist and procrastination coach with over 25 years of experience. I had a great conversation with Dr. Christine Li, and we really talked about all the things that are getting in our way, the myths of motivation, why we procrastinate, and then really the key to overcome procrastination and. start taking action towards the things that we want because Christine is an expert. She works with women specifically in midlife to help clear their mental and physical clutter to reclaim their energy, confidence, and joy. And so today we talk about so many things that you can apply to all different areas of your life, especially your running. And we also, talk about the new upcoming decluttering challenge that Dr. Christine Li is running. So I want to invite you to join me in that challenge. It. It launches next week, the first week of March of 2025. If you want to join me and sign up for Dr. Christine Li's decluttering challenge, you can head over to procrastinationcoach. com forward slash Angie to sign up for her five day decluttering challenge. So let's jump to today's episode where we can talk to Dr. Christine Li. All right, everyone, I'm so excited to bring Dr. Christine Li here on the podcast today. Welcome, Christine. I'm so glad you're here.

Christine: 1:52

Thank you, Dr. Angie Brown. So good to be here. So good to see you again.

Angie: 1:57

Yes, definitely. So Christine, for those of our listeners that don't know you yet, please introduce yourself. Tell us who are you? What do you do? And who do you help?

Christine: 2:07

Hi, everyone, and thanks for being here. I am a psychologist by training. I live in New York. I've been a psychologist for about 25 years, and I've been online for about half of that time, promoting myself and my work as procrastination coach. It is a domain name that I found way back. Then and I just knew I had to snap that name up and it's been a pleasure to have this particular mission of helping people to avoid the suffering and the drama and the Unnecessariness of Procrastinating all the time. I really work with people who are Chronically stuck I would say and really have a lot of To learn when it comes to productivity strategies, mindset strategies, energy management strategies. And I've worked with so many different types of people and I've heard so many different stories and I've done so much of the procrastinating myself that this right now that I'm on the other side of that bridge, I feel like this is just a pure. Pleasure for me?"To get the message out, get people on their feet, get people moving again, and to keep learning about myself in the process. So I thank Angie for welcoming me on the show so we can talk about this stuff.

Angie: 3:30

Yes, absolutely. And it's so true. I it's procrastination, I think is something that. Every person suffers from in some way at some point in time, even if you don't necessarily consider yourself a procrastinator, which, maybe we can get into, putting that label on ourselves because I like to talk a lot about identity and the way that we view ourselves, and how much of an effect that has on our actions and how we show up in the world. But even if you don't consider yourself a press procrastinator per se, there's definitely times that we've all procrastinated on something. So can we just talk about procrastination first? let's just jump in. what is procrastination? it's obviously, it's, putting things off that we want to do, but why do we do it? why do we procrastinate on the things that we want?

Christine: 4:14

I used to have one answer to that question, and that answer was fear. And that makes sense, right? We're just afraid, even if we know we're talented enough, or we've already prepared enough, or we have the time and space enough, we might just still have this little, it might even be teeny tiny fear, but. A small amount of fear is enough to hold back a lot of people and then I did a few more years of work with clients and thinking about this stuff all the time. I'm really just someone who thinks about this stuff nonstop and I came to the realization that fear is a little more. To this closer to the surface and that the stuff that is really holding us back is self doubt. And that's something that I think is even deeper than fear because you can have a fear of other people judging you. You can have a fear of failure. You have so many different. It's like the spice cabinet, right? That there's a different fear for a different circumstance, but underlying that the cabinet that's holding everything together is that how you feel about yourself. And do you trust yourself and do you trust. Yeah. Trust yourself to get you through the next situation. Do you trust yourself that you're going to hold steady that you're going to be thoughtful that you're going to have the right answers? And that's a whole game that we play, I think. And it's something that we're constantly negotiating with sometimes. And I believe that the more you build that core. Self-trust up so that you're testing it, you are meeting challenges, you are taking risks, you are doing things that you think are maybe slightly insane, but really enjoying Like I'm thinking about you runners. I'm not a runner myself, but thinking about people, I read about you guys on social media and the things that you're doing right, running in the. Wilderness running certain distances that are double what you even thought was ever possible. This is, just a part and parcel of developing your self trust.

Angie: 6:16

That's so interesting that you say that because I think that makes a lot of sense now, right? Because there's a lot of runners. That come to work with us that, they know that they want to do something like say they want to train for a marathon or a half marathon, or maybe they've just been like falling off the running wagon and they want to get back on. They know that running is good for them. They know that it's something that they want to do, but for some reason there's something that just keeps getting in the way. And so you're saying that really. The root of all of that is this self doubt. And I think that is so interesting because when I try, when I coach and I work with these people, a lot of that is what comes out, it's that they, they doubt their ability to follow through with it. So I think, so is it, somewhere in the back of their mind, probably subconsciously, is it the question of, why should I even start if I'm not going to follow through?

Christine: 7:08

yeah, that could, that's certainly one angle. Absolutely. What are some other angles you think? I think fear really just without getting into the mood disorder area, it depresses our energy level. It just sinks us that much, maybe a step lower. Whenever we go a step lower with our mood slash mindset, I believe we're going to be a little less inclined to get to the starting. And that we actually need a sense of wellness, a sense of trust that everything is going to be okay. A sense that we have enough energy inside of us to get to the finish line. Like you're saying to do all the preparation, to make it worthwhile. And we're so busy oftentimes massaging all the fears, all the different, But our kids have a thing and the, I need. To make dinner and all the things of daily life can be clutter enough to prevent you from thinking, what about that feeling that I get when I successfully meet these big goals? And we, they tend to feel so far off. So not us so unattainable and maybe not as valuable as they really are. So we're really. Letting our fear take over our creative expansive of the part of us that really enjoys. accomplishment is one of my high values. Apparently, and I really think go get the thing that you want to build with your life, right? If it's running, let it be running, right? If it's cooking, let it be that, but always have your nose pointed towards. That direction instead of the fear direction, because the fear is always going to end up dampening your mood, dampening your spirit, dampening your ability to just say, okay, let's start. Let's take the first couple of steps.

Angie: 9:00

Yeah. So how do you think we can Try to find that fear because if you ask people directly, why are you putting this off a lot of times? They're not like they don't answer. it's because of the fear. It's because I'm afraid it's because of this like sometimes They're not even aware of that and a lot of times when I talk to people and I ask, you know What's getting in your way a lot of them say motivation I just need more motivation. What do you have to say about motivation? do you think we need motivation? Do you think people lie to themselves? Is there a myth surrounding motivation? What is your take on that?

Christine: 9:34

I, motivation is not one of my chosen favorite words, because I think it's really, it can be a little bit judgmental when you think about it, right? oh, the super motivated people, they've got everything that kind of thing when really all of us have motivation. We're all motivated for things. It's just when we're not paying attention to how important that motivation is for us that we're feeling like we don't have enough to do things. Okay, so when I. Work with people. I always start with the end and say, that's question number one. I say, what are you hoping for? What is your wish? What is your desire? What have you been trying to build? And everybody will come up with something, even if they haven't done step 1 to do it, they know what their vision is. And then the 2nd question I ask. Is what has been holding you back and it, like you said, it might not be a straight up fear or they might not realize that, but they also know what is holding them back. And then my 3rd question is, what do you think is preventing you from dealing with that? Level that prevents you, right? And that's where you're getting into really a whole conversation. Each person is so different that I could not predict. I could guess, but I could never really know what a person is going through until I'm in a conversation with them about these 3 questions. Because we all know these things. I always say. We know when we're procrastinating, we may not want to do it, but we all know when we're doing it. There's no lie to yourself when it really comes down to it, but yet we still will. The thing that makes it even more complicated is when we start yelling at ourselves and being mean to ourselves because we are hesitating or because we're afraid or because we worry that we don't have enough motivation, stamina, energy, time and space to do it. That's, I think, I feel like that's my. Super specialty is being teaching people to be really kind to this themselves, no matter where they are on the achievement spectrum, right? Whether you've been stagnant for 4 years or 10 or 20, it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that I help you see yourself in a kinder light and that you see the parts of yourself that are really itching to get going that really know in your heart of hearts that you have enough to do that. 5k, 10k run that you really have it and all of these parts are in us at the same time, sometimes they're directly battling with each other, I would say most times that they're not, but I think because they're all there, you can access a new part of your identity at any. Point it helps to have coaching and helps to have support. It helps to feel safe and it helps to be well rested well fed and Exercised right keeping yourself in peak health really helps But we have to understand that all of us like you said Procrastinates sometimes all of us feel self doubting at times, maybe a lot. And I think the first layer that needs to just be tossed out the window is that judgment layer. because I think you'll find a lot of your missing motivation underneath that heavy, I'm not good enough. I'm never going to be worthy. Yeah. I need to. Run to prove my worthiness. I don't I'm sure you're dealing with some of that stuff.

Angie: 13:05

There

Christine: 13:05

are people. Yes.

Angie: 13:06

Yeah So why is that so important? Like why is kindness so important? like I love what you say there about being kind to yourself and removing that huge blanket of judgment that so many of us have because I think that there are some people out there that think that they need to be mean to themselves in order to Get into action, right? if I'm nice to myself, if I'm kind to myself, then I'll just stay right here. I won't do anything, but if I yell at myself and I mean to myself, then that will spur me into actions. And you're saying it is not that way at all. So can you go a little bit deeper on that? Like, why is kindness more effective than judgment?

Christine: 13:43

I want to say my gut reaction is that I want to tell you my own life story, which is like yelling at yourself. It's not that complicated. Yourself nonstop really is a bad strategy. It really does. We don't have to go so many levels deeper because when you think about it, if I offered you Angie, you and I don't know each other. We meet at a. CVS, where some grocery store and I offer you a handful of praise, compliments and lovely words or a basket of me yelling at you and telling you that you didn't do enough and that you were wrong to even think that you could do it. Which one are you going to choose?

Angie: 14:29

it's definitely the first one.

Christine: 14:30

obvious answer. And yet, what do we spend all of our private, oftentimes private moments when we're feeling stressed or we're feeling worn out, those voices tend to be the ones that surface, I think it's the ones where we're not. Really just saying, like we're buttoned up and seats in the chair, ready to pay attention to the teacher. We're not like that. We're like yelling at ourselves. the training or the coaching that I like to do with people is to just catch those moments where you're saying, but, and you're arguing for that mean part of yourself for that part that doesn't feel right. Good enough. And again, that part lives in all of us. We're not going to get rid of that part because that's part of us, part of our history, part of how we see ourselves, but we're going to make that other part be the boss, be the dominant force, be the one who makes the decision, be the one who's driving the car. And yeah, we're going to pick the basket of kindness now, every time we have a choice, just because you've listened to me and Angie on this call, you're going to think, oh, yeah, I don't have to yell at myself for the hundredth time about the same thing. I could just think of a new plan. I can see myself as a new. person. It's perfectly fine to do that.

Angie: 15:43

Yeah. that makes a lot of sense because I know that when I have people in my life, if I have a friend that is, is doing things for me, it makes me even more, want to do things for that person as. As a, not as a payback, but like when you have someone that's helping you and being nice to you and being kind to you, your natural reaction is to want to do for that person versus if you have someone in your life that's constantly putting you down and constantly telling you, all the ways that you're screwing up, you're like, screw that person. I don't want to do that anymore. Like I'd much rather help the person that's always willing to help me and be, have more of that reciprocation. So it's so funny that it. And when you ask someone that they'd be like, yeah, of course, I'd want to help the nicer person. But then when it comes to ourselves, for some reason, there's like a disconnect there. And we think that it's going to be the other way versus that. So how. Can we develop more of that kindness with ourselves, I think that people are starting to say, okay, it is more important for me to be kind and to let go of that meanness and that judgment. But that's not, that's easier said than done, right? especially when those voices keep getting louder. so how, what are some ways that, you use to help your clients do those, do that kind of thing?

Christine: 16:57

One, I've already. given an example of which is the language, right? When we're saying, but I'm not good at right. We say something positive and then we say, but and then we give the real truth of what we're thinking about ourselves. But I always I'm always late. And that's cutting yourself down whenever we use. But in a sentence, we're. obliterating the first part of the sentence. we're turning it on its head. And we just want to watch how we're talking about ourselves to ourselves and to other people. Are you speaking about yourself with respect? Are you using words of trust? Are you holding yourself to your word? That's another whole category of, are you someone who lives? With integrity or attempts to live in integrity, where when you promise something you actually deliver and it's these small, these are micro moments in life. But these are the things that cause us to feel like we can trust ourselves. It's not the big speeches and all that. That's the big speeches and the big dramatic moments where you get literal awards are the culmination of. These little moments of trusting yourself and following through and doing the difficult work and proceeding, even when you don't want to. And that's accomplishment. I think it's really not the thing that you get or do at the end. It's that whole process. I just saw. On social media. Dan Levy, who wrote Schitt's Creek. I don't know if you saw. I love that show. I'm like, I'm

Angie: 18:28

on season four right now. So I'm late to the game, but I was literally watching that show last night. I love that show.

Christine: 18:35

it's a fun coincidence, but one of my favorite shows of all time, favorite experiences. And he just got on social media and he's, I don't, I haven't figured him out necessarily, but. He was just very somber and just was giving a message to creatives out there that it's easy to admire people on social media or the people, the artists and creatives that you like their work. And you think, wow, it's something magical that's happened, but he really pointed to the middle part that nobody sees and the part where you're making decisions and you're doubting and you're struggling. You're both inspired, but you're also Weighted down by how complicated and where's this going and is this particular thing going to be something for the world to enjoy? we're not. I'm not sure of it, but yet we're being creative in it. So when I think there's a little bit of Dan Levy in all of us, I hope, that we enjoy the creativity. We'll do it even though we're struggling and we feel like it's a little icky, but that in the end, you might get every word out there and cure millions of people from their misery during the COVID era, which is when that show came out because of your light, because of your individual. Gifts that people should see. So I think it's like that kindness, that watching your language so that you're always nurturing yourself and going for what you value, right? Like I told you that I value accomplishment, but you don't have to value accomplishment. You could value anything else in the world, right? Which is, it could be service. It could be health, right? It could be joy, right? It might be your life's mission to create. Joyful experiences for kids. Great. Do that, know that, but then go full out for it because procrastination really never got you that kind of joy. It really exacerbates the negative feelings that might already exist. And so let's go the other direction and say, what do you want? What do you want to experience? What is healthy for you? What gives you the feeling that you are whole? W. H. O. L. E. What gives you the feeling that you're significant and that you're loved? these are big questions to ask, in midlife. Typically, I think when we're done with formal schooling and we're, watching the birthdays rack up and there's a lot. More that we can produce and there's a lot more that we can experience in the process as well. It's not all about productivity. Although I happen to be a big fan.

Angie: 21:18

Yeah, absolutely. But, I love that. And I think that, what you're saying, definitely. is in line with what I'm seeing as far as running and the people that are being attracted into running at a later age, a lot of people think, Oh, running's something for a 20 year olds or something like I'm too old to, to start running now, but more and more, we're seeing people start running in their forties, their fifties, their sixties, and. Think that, hey, you know what, this is something that maybe I've always wanted to do and I never really thought that I could do it, but now maybe I can, or now, maybe I went to my doctor and the doctor told me I needed to get healthier and running seems like the most simple way for me to do that. I could just put some shoes on and head out the door. And so we are seeing more of that migration of the quote unquote older population that's starting to get into running, which I think is such a beautiful thing. We just have to approach running a lot differently and I really love what you said there that I want to highlight, about staying true to yourself and being in integrity with Your word and with what you say you're going to do right and I think that's really the way That we can build that self trust within ourselves is when you say you're gonna go for a run go for a run and it doesn't have to be the fastest run It doesn't even have to be the length of the run that you have on your plan But do something right get out the door get yourself At least, going through some of the motions, especially at the beginning because when you start to go through the motions, when you start to do the things that's going to create the momentum and that's going to create the quote unquote motivation that a lot of people need because when you start to see results, you're going to be more motivated to continue. You're going to want to continue with that momentum. so I love all of that. I want to shift now. because did you have something to say on that? Okay.

Christine: 23:07

I, first of all, I want to say that's fantastic that you're noticing a shift towards older. Beginner runners. I love that. And also, I had something else to say, but somebody's running the microwave in the other room, but there you go. the idea. So what was I thinking? I might have lost the, I apologize for that distraction. But I think there's something about fear and not what I was thinking about was not looking at the fear and giving yourself the experience of a new view, but also training your brain. This is the thought. It did come back to me that your brain, if. If we leave it alone, it's going to pay attention to the fear and when you start to direct your brain's attention to what you're interested in, to what you desire, you're going to heal that fear. So it's not just a process of productivity or becoming a runner. Brand new at 50. It is healing your whole system of processing stress is going to improve because you're, you've started running because you've taken the initiative, you've trained your brain. Oh, you know what? I'm happy when I, and the brain records that the brain then knows, oh, she likes doing this more than. Sitting in bed fretting about X, Y, and Z that she has no control over. Because the brain will give you that X, Y, and Z worry. If you allow it. And so this really is, everything feeds into everything else, but you are the agent of control. You have control over this system. And that is what I wanted to share,

Angie: 24:49

Yeah. And that's such a beautiful thing. And it's so true. And we all have that choice. And so what I'm hearing you say is we can rewire. some of those neural pathways. We can start to rewire our brain away from that fear that's holding us back, that's keeping us stuck in procrastination and moving us more toward the life that we want to live. Yes. Perfect. I love that. So I want to shift now specifically to talk more about women in midlife because I know this is a population that you work with. This is a population that I've definitely started to work a lot more with. And so both of us share this. Passion for helping women in midlife during this time, and I would love to hear your perspective on, how, as a woman in midlife, how does this change? Like when we start to get into midlife, and maybe, the first half of our life, we're like, okay, we're productive, and we're moving up the corporate ladder, and we're running, and I've got marathons under my belt, and everything is going well, and we're doing great, and then all of a sudden, we get to, Midlife right where we start to hit perimenopause our hormones start to shift We maybe we go through menopause and we're noticing that our body is not the same I talk a lot about physiologically what's happening in the body But I know you talk a lot to your clients and help them with stress and decluttering and energy What's going on here? what is happening in midlife that so many women are finding, their energy levels are just tanking, when it comes to this whole area of stress and productivity?

Christine: 26:18

one thought. Thanks for the questions. And it's a big, it's a big topic, right? A big collection of topics. One thing that I have thought is that there, there is no positive reinforcement system for women in midlife. So that may not be what I, what you're expecting to hear from me. That's

Angie: 26:39

okay. Let's get into

Christine: 26:40

it. I love it. Tell me more. you go through, let's say you did do corporate ladder stuff, there was a ladder that you got rewards every time you climbed, presumably, and the same with formal schooling and the same for maybe birthing children and the same for purchasing a home or your first place or your first something. There was that reward, a cheap building, trying, you go through, let's say you did do corporate ladder stuff, there was a ladder that you got rewards every time you climbed, presumably, and the same for purchasing a home or your Achieving then the feedback and then you feel like I'm at a safer, maybe more fun, maybe more stable, whatever you read into it space. And then that reinforcement stuff kind of disappears where all of a sudden, in quotes, all of a sudden, because it took maybe a decade to build. To that spot where you're not thinking about purchasing stuff so much anymore or birthing children or changing careers or adding another degree. And then all of a sudden you are responsible for all of these worlds that you had a hand in creating, which is your career, your family, your home, your future life, which you are responsible for. Your aging parents, should you be lucky enough to have them unseen and be connected with them? And the kids changing needs and your own changing needs. And I think that is something that is Oftentimes forgotten overlooked. There's no time to pay attention to yourself. Then we have a crisis of people not paying attention to their wellbeing. And I think that is oftentimes a midlife issue where you're getting that. And then you're I have a kind of. bum right shoulder, I would say. And some of it is a little bit from overwork and actually a little bit being too much of a desk jockey. But when I told a friend of mine about it, she said, Oh, you have 50 shoulder. And I said, what's 50 shoulder. And apparently this is Japanese term, 50 shoulder that your hormones are changing and you're going to be more likely to experience a certain type of pain in the shoulder, apparently. And, you've heard of that before? Yes.

Angie: 28:49

Frozen shoulder is actually much more common in women, around, before and after menopause.

Christine: 28:54

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And boy, if you've ever had frozen shoulder, it's, it is a big deal, right? It is a, it's a game stopper. Yeah. It affects

Angie: 29:04

everything. Yeah.

Christine: 29:05

Yeah. I've had it once and I do not recommend it to anyone. But, so I think it's kind of time to return to positive reinforcement where you're saying I'm going for the good choices, for the good feelings, for the feelings like I am really taking care of myself at the deepest level, no excuses, because excuses lead to physical breakdown. Stress attacks, panic, anxiety, not being able to sleep just when you need a lot of it, or enough of it, good quality sleep, right? This is so interesting. Little tools like my beautiful aura ring that helps me keep track of these basic things that I need to keep track of so sorry I interrupted.

Angie: 29:53

No, I interrupted you. I apologize But this is so interesting because what you're talking about right now just reminded me of a concept called the arrival fallacy Which I'm not sure if you're familiar with but essentially it's this idea. Basically what you're saying is You know, for our whole life, we've been working right as women. We've been working towards something. We've been working towards a family, towards a home, towards a career, and then all of a sudden when we get to midlife, we have it. We've arrived. And so there's this fallacy that people think that oh, when I get there, it will be better than it is here. But then you get there and you realize it's no better. It's just, it's different. And so what I'm hearing you say is that we've been working our whole lives and now we get to midlife and we have the things. And now we don't know what to do with ourselves,

Christine: 30:43

or there's too much to do for ourselves or with ourselves or through our energy. And so energy is actually what we need to also come back to and talk about with big letters, big highlights, because we, it's only a few years that I've been educated that we are actually all energy. We're all right. Balls of energy, the energy that we possess extends beyond our physical body. So we're emitting energy that other people can connect to and sense and sometimes maybe even see. And when we are experiencing lots of energy leaks, and that might be overperforming, over committing, over promising, those kinds of things that women in midlife are. Doing oftentimes, then we need some sort of replenishment. We need some sort of right. Let's turn off that valve because there's too much energy leaking out that way. And we need a process of tending to that. So we are not completely depleted and thinking it's us. It's a problem with us because it's not a problem with you. There was never a problem with you. there might be some issues with mindset that temporarily are. and I think that's a really important thing to think about when you're thinking about, Beyond midlife by a couple decades, and I want to be like them, I'm very happy to be working with them. And I feel wow, I hope I'm like them 30 years from now, so it's just we need to invest in ourselves and on all the levels there. There's nothing that you should be. Shying away from I would say that's where I've come after a few years of doing this with Midlife Women's is really saying there's nothing too small, if it helps you, right? There's nothing too big, if it helps you, because what you're given, you're just going to give right out in a beautiful way, right? Whenever we make a change, there is a ripple effect. Angie knows that I know that Angie and I met many years ago, I think Not like decades ago, but a while ago and like that one meeting, we've been connected since then. And, and I'm so glad. And it's just think about the impact that you're having when you are well, when you're able to give of yourself, when you're able to run those runs, when you're able to see, Oh, you know what? I have that thought. Let me act on it. And it's not so complicated and it doesn't drain your shoulder or your body or your mind or Your sense of resilience that we're actually really building this resilience and saying, you know what? Yeah, things are different in midlife. But yeah, so am I

Angie: 33:33

right? And it's okay. Absolutely. That's such a beautiful thing. And I think that, so much of what you're saying, I totally resonate with both for myself personally, and also what I see in my clients. And this whole idea of like energy leakage is definitely I think what's so many of us are suffering from, right? We have these ideas and you mentioned that mindset's a piece of it. I think it's a huge piece of it because we are told that we need to be doing all of these things, right? Like we have to be the best mother. We have to be the best career person. We have to be the best entrepreneur. We have to be the best daughter. We have to be like, and so our energy is going in all of these different directions and If we're not putting more energy into our bucket, like I'm like visualizing a bucket right now that has like holes all over. If we're not putting more energy into our bucket, so there's like a couple of ways that we have to look at it, right? We have to be able to put more energy in by doing the things that are going to fill us up, taking care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically doing those things that are. Going to really, light us up and give us energy and give us purpose. And also we have to start plugging some of those holes, right? And really being aware of who we're giving our energy to, how we're spending this energy, because it's not infinite. And all of us, I think in midlife start to realize that even more. Like we don't have, like we're not the energizer bunnies that maybe we used to be when we were 22. but. I think that's so important that, all of the, there's a lot of things that we're dealing with and. Just being more intentional with what we say yes to what we say no to and how we're taking care of ourselves Can make a huge difference in how we feel and how much energy we have for our life

Christine: 35:18

Absolutely, and you make me laugh with the 22 because do you remember how much energy? My gosh, I know how much spirit we had at 22. It's amazing. Oh,

Angie: 35:28

you could do anything And like you could just come right back the next day and do it all again, like It's so funny. but yeah, so I love all of this, Christine. Thank you so much. I know that you've got a challenge coming up, and I want our listeners to be able to connect with you, because you've got a cool challenge coming up called re energize your home, right? Which is all about decluttering. Now. Tell us just a little bit. I want to hear all about the challenge, but why decluttering? why are we focused on focusing on decluttering? And, why is it problematic when there's just clutter all around us when it comes to energy and all of that?

Christine: 36:01

I think I have a feeling that everyone who's listening to us already knows. That's true. Because I thought to myself the other day. There's no such thing as good clutter, right? There's not, we don't talk about clutter as a positive event or occurrence and clutter. Therefore, and the research has shown is a block to our focus and a block oftentimes to our wellbeing or feeling of wellness. And as women who are oftentimes managers of the home as well and people who just prefer to love their spaces, I think clutter can be really. a constant block to that greater gratitude, positive energy, that feeling of I can get to the starting line, it can literally be a literal block and I just think, plug those holes in that leaky bucket. Let's get to the clutter. This was not my original idea because clutter is something that I tend to avoid myself as well. But my clients came to me with the concept of maybe we can get some material about how to handle our clutter and when you, I think. It's like with exercise, there's no such thing as like a, I think a downside to starting exercise the same with decluttering when you start and when you get some stuff, even five items out of your space,

Angie: 37:19

you're

Christine: 37:20

going to feel like it's a plus.

Angie: 37:22

I so agree. I love throwing things away now, which is so funny because when I was growing up, I was like, I wasn't definitely not a hoarder, but I loved keeping things. I liked keeping the knickknacks and the ticket stubs and the notes from my friends and I had boxes of all this stuff and now, I'm like, oh. It makes me so happy to just get rid of stuff. It's just, it's so cleansing, I did a whole, the day after Christmas, I went through and just, purged a whole bunch of things, and it's just, it's so refreshing, it fills my bucket so much, so I totally agree, and I think that most people would probably feel that way, but it's very hard sometimes to let go of certain things, and I think that's probably what you're gonna, Help us with in the challenge. I

Christine: 38:02

hope and the fact that there are hundreds upon hundreds of women who will join us and a few men makes it even more fun and more Simple and quick and so you will see the transformations in the group. We do before and after photos, which are

Angie: 38:15

fun Oh, that's super fun. Okay, cool So when is your challenge tell us a little bit more about it? And then of course, we'll put all of the information in the show notes for everybody. So if you guys want to join, christine's challenge you will be able to there's the There will be a link in the show notes. I'll be sending it out via email as well so that you can get signed up for this challenge. But when do we start?

Christine: 38:35

Okay. it, again, it's called reenergize your home. We start pretty soon. It's coming up Monday, March 3rd. It's inside a Facebook group, but you actually don't need Facebook. If you're anti Facebook for some reason, or don't like it, you can still participate. And it's, I've made it very simple for everybody to participate. It's 15 minutes a day. You'll meet lots of people. It's really fun. I actually have a link that I can share now. It is procrastinationcoach. com slash Angie, A N G I E. And you can use that link and you'll get all the information, all the details, and you can register there too.

Angie: 39:11

Oh, that's so fun. I have my own little like URL now. I love it. There you

Christine: 39:16

go. Oh,

Angie: 39:16

that's so cool. All right, you guys. So I am definitely going to be joining Dr. Christine Li's challenge here. That will be fun. So join me, to declutter. Cause why not? let's make more space in our homes to also make more space in our life and in our. Mind and in our energy, so that we can just feel better. And I love that so much. Christina, there, are there any final words that you want to leave us with? I think we've talked about so many great things today and I just thank you so much for coming on.

Christine: 39:43

Thank you, Angie. It was an amazing conversation. You're amazing. Love the conversation. And my thought right now is that anything can be your first step. It doesn't have to be well thought out a big deal or a big lift. So just pick your starting point and just run with it. Just get started.

Angie: 40:00

Yes, just run with it. I love it. Pun intended, right? Exactly. All right. Awesome. Thank you so much for being here.

Christine: 40:07

Thank you. Bye, everyone.