Kirsten Parker: Decision Making Coach For Overthinkers

Shows

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #161: How to Clear Mental Clutter with a Bottom-of-the-List Day (Close Those Open Loops!)Feeling overwhelmed? All the small tasks you keep putting off might be contributing (more than you think)! This week’s episode is your permission slip to hit pause on everything else and reclaim your peace — with a Bottom-of-the-List Day. Here's where we go: ✅ Why those “not urgent, not important” tasks mega-drain your energy ✅ How unfinished tasks create open loops and quiet anxiety ✅ A simple, satisfying way to restore capacity, build self-trust, and clear mental clutter You don’t need to “catch up” on everything — just close a few loops and feel the relief.

2025-06-2613 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #160: Mid-Year Reset: Reflect, Recalibrate, and Reclaim Your GoalsThis week, we’re throwing it back to one of my favorite episodes from 2023: the Midyear Reflect & Reset. It includes a free downloadable worksheet to help you do a simple, powerful reset no matter when you're listening. You'll walk away with: A guided framework for taking stock of your year so far Prompts to celebrate wins, honor hard stuff, and course-correct with clarity One crucial question to shape your next season on purpose Also in this episode: 👉 A quick personal life update 👉 A heads-up that Stop the...

2025-06-1921 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #159: When Does Thoughtful Become Overthinking?Are you actually overthinking… or just being thorough? And how do you tell the difference? In this quick episode, we’re digging into one of the biggest mindset traps I see with clients — and giving you super actionable ways to take your decision-making process off auto-pilot (without forcing yourself to "just go faster"). We’ll cover: ✅ How to tell if your decision process is a problem — or just your style ✅ The energy driving your decision-making (and why this matters more than how long a choice takes) ✅ How to stop defaulting to unhelpful pat...

2025-06-1214 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #158: The Costs of Overcomplicating Everything (and How to Stop)This week, we’re tackling one of the sneakiest habits high-functioning overthinkers fall into: making everything harder than it needs to be. From your day-to-day to your biggest goals, overcomplicating your plans might be costing you time, energy, and results — and today, I’m showing you how to stop. I’m walking you through two real-life examples (one goal-oriented, one daily-life related), and giving you the two HQQs (high-quality questions) I use with clients to simplify any decision or plan. Because yes: you can want high-quality results AND things to be easier at the same...

2025-06-0523 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #106: Detox Your Decision ProcessEver wish you could just detox the crap that makes decisions difficult outta your system? Well, ok, you may not have ever thought about it like that - but I bet it sounds pretty good all the same. This week, I introduce a Decision Mastery Fundamental: Decision Detox. We look at three specific behaviors that derail the decision process, spike your stress, and basically make it impossible to land on a choice you trust in any kind of efficient or clear-headed way. And we look at the pattern interrupts you're going t...

2024-06-0618 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #94: Why You Need to Change How You Think about GOALSDo you have clear, specific goals? Are they written down? Do you talk about them with anyone regularly – check in on your progress and plans for pursuing them? Does it surprise you that most people's answers to all of these questions are NO? In this episode, I'm breaking down "goals" in a way you might not have heard before. Because I don't just want you to achieve what you want in life. I want you to know WHY you want those things, and to set yourself up to thrive EVEN IF pl...

2024-03-1422 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #93: 4 (no, 5!) Things I Wish I'd Known about Emotions SoonerIf you're on a mission to understand yourself better, so you can both have more self-compassion and be more equipped to handle the heavy machinery that is YOU, this episode is spot on. I've pinpointed 5 things I've learned about emotions over the course of my 6+ years Coaching, during which there's constant ongoing education and training. These are 5 things I actually wish I'd known sooner — because of the impact they've had on aforementioned self-compassion, -understanding and -direction. Whatever your emotional literacy or level of awareness, I'm positive you'll hear something you need to hear today...

2024-03-0724 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #92: Dealing with Fear in the Decision Process: The DO'sIf you could only pack 5 podcast episodes for a trip to a deserted island for the rest of forever, this would be one of them. How do you deal with fear in the decision process. Concerns, worries, anxieties, worst-case-scenario'ing, fear of people's opinions (FOPO)... From the smallest choice about how to phrase a text, to the biggest life decision about your career or relationship - Fear will make all the difference in you understanding and loving your choice...or not. This episode is a Masterclass in Conscious Decision Making. We...

2024-02-2934 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #91: Dealing with Fear in the Decision Process: The DON'TsIf you're an overthinker, people-pleaser, indecisive or anxious...guess what. Fear is getting in the way of a lot of your decisions. Don't worry, I'm here to help! Wouldn't it be nice to have a formula for dealing with fear? So when you went to make a decision and got worried, anxious, self-conscious, uncertain, or any other flavor of scared...it wasn't a big deal? What if you knew what do to when "fear happens" - and you could land on a clear, confident choice anyway? YES PLEASE. This is t...

2024-02-2219 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #90: How to Cut Decision Time in Half When You’re ConfusedHow to make a clear, confident decision when you're confused? Well, that might not be the most useful question to ask here...Lemme try a rephrase. How do you solve the problem of confusion? (Insert thinky emoji here) Feeling stuck in confusion is such a normal, human, no-need-to-judge situation. But there's an easier solution than a) waiting for the answer to suddenly become clear or b) forcing a choice through basically-random selection. It starts with asking a better question: What might I be afraid of here? T...

2024-02-1519 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #89: So You Decided to Do a Thing But You Aren't Doing It...Now What?The decision is DONE, hooray!...But wait. You're not doing the thing you decided to do. (Ruh-roh.) Whether it's sending a simple email or putting a large deposit down, implementing a choice can be the toughest part of this whole "deciding" process. Today we break down 3 specific issues that can contribute to this (super common) stall-out scenario, and how to get yourself into action. Listen in for how to: Make sure you truly ARE decided (and how to get there if you're not) Check if sneaky perfectionism is creating unnecessary obs...

2024-02-0821 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #88: How Self-Talk Impacts Your DecisionsYour inner dialogue is like a radio station that's always running. There are times you're super tuned into it and listening closely to your self-talk (usually when you're feeling really good or really bad about yourself!) But even when these messages aren't coming through loud 'n clear...the station's still broadcasting. Today I'm asking you to tune in on purpose, and find out what your Self-Talk Baseline is. Why? Because these messages you're consciously and subconsciously sending yourself all day long are the biggest contributor to your Self-Concept. And your...

2024-02-0120 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #87: 5 Secrets to Steal from Decisive PeopleWhat Kool-Aid are decisive people drinking, and where can we get some? Look no further my friend. Today we reveal the "secrets" that give decisive people their superpower. Spoiler alert, they ain't hard, surprising or even out of your wheel house! Let's dig into these 5 things you're already doing (yes, you!) that make it easy to make firm, confident decisions in certain areas of life. When you realize what you're already good at, you can transfer those skills to the choices that seem harder to nail down. H...

2024-01-2513 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #86: Part 2: The Problems You Really Need To Solve if You Always Feel BehindToday we're diving into what you can DO differently in order to experience different results. Specifically: The results of not feeling *behind* all the time. If you want to be on top of things, prioritize on purpose, and feel good about how you use your time - this is the episode for you! In Part 1 (Ep 85), we explored how you can THINK differently (so make sure to catch that, since half our problems can usually be solved in the mind!) For everything else though, we have to change our tactics.

2024-01-1828 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #85: Part 1: The Problems You Really Need To Solve if You Always Feel BehindGREAT. You're on board with the decision to stop living your life "feeling behind." Let's do it. This episode is a two-parter because calendars can feel chaotic enough — We need a simple framework to de-behind-ify them. So we're going to look at your schedule thusly: To change your results — in our case, not feeling behind anymore) — you can either change what you're thinking, change what you're doing, or both. Today's episode explores what you might need to THINK differently, in order to stop feeling constantly behind. I ask you to...

2024-01-1124 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #84: Ditch the "I'm Behind" Mindset (for good)There are two main reasons I want you to consider unsubscribing from the "I'm Behind" mindset: #1: What it does to your self-concept. #2: How it distracts you from real problems worth solving! Here's what we're covering in the first of this series on never living in this "I'm behind" story again: How your Mindset Atmosphere works (what letting one belief in can do to the entire system) Why this is a decision you need to make BEFORE you reorg your schedule How to stop living in the cycle of feeling behind, burning out...

2024-01-0425 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #83: 3 Thoughts I'm Leaving in 2023 and My 2024 MindsetAs the chapter of 2023 comes to a close, you may feel compelled to reflect on the year — but if you're like me, you may also be too tired and forward-focused for a big "reflect sesh" to sound fun right now. So as to not miss out on any valuable lessons, but also to make reflection doable enough to, erm, DO...I'm offering a simple but powerful practice to look back and make a game plan for what's ahead. Listen in as I share 3 toxic, unhelpful thoughts I'm leaving behind (and how you can locate the beli...

2023-12-2827 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #82: How Coaching Works (+ a 3-Step Framework for Getting Help)Ever wondered what it's like to have a Coaching conversation? What do we talk about? How's it look to talk through an issue or goal? This is the episode for you! We talk a lot about the benefits of coaching (clearer head, easier decisions, less angst, yes please!) — but I haven't shared a behind-the-scenes look like this before. In this episode, I walk you through examples of coaching convos, to paint a clearer picture of what it looks like to work together. AND you get a 3-step Framework for hiring...

2023-12-2123 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #81: Achieving Goals Without a Perfect Routine or Going 110%I like to think of goals as mountains we wanna climb. An obstacle "at the trail head" for a lot of people is this big misunderstanding. That you need a perfect routine and/or to go 110% HAM in order to achieve a goal. If you've been frustrated at your lack of progress on a goal (or starting, period) - but you also can't (or don't want to!) get into systematized daily routine, or take a week off to laser-focus on one thing only, this episode's for you. We get into: Whe...

2023-12-1418 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #80: How to Make a Money Decision You TrustMONEY. Love it? Hate it? Prefer to ignore it? Today you're getting 4 Fundamental Tips to work through a money decision in a brand new way. So you don't have to a) wait 'til you find out later if it was a "good or bad" choice, b) keep making money decisions out of reactivity to fear, or c) limit yourself from things you really DO want to invest in. I'll walk you through: How to figure out what you want (and how to trust how much you think you want it) Wh...

2023-12-0717 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #79: EXPERT INTERVIEW! There's More than One Way to Career Pivot, with Coach Shyloh BrownThinking it might be time for a career change? Whether you're pretty happy but curious about venturing out of your Comfort Zone, or you're burnt out and one spicy interaction from quitting on the spot - this episode's for you. Listen in on my conversation with fellow Coach and Career Changer, Shyloh Brown, as we talk about: The messy, unsexy, real way a "pivot" usually looks (hint: it's not what you think and you may not like it) How to respond to real-life fears about paying bills and feeding your kids when you're contemplating ca...

2023-11-3043 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #78: From Stuck to Decided in 3 Simple QuestionsHere's the truth about STUCK: It's a form of indecision that can become a habit. We can get so used to not taking a step forward into "decided" that Stuck becomes a normal place to hang out! If you have an idea you really want to take action on (like...you're sick of hearing yourself talk about it and NEED to do the damn thing) -or- if you're worried the only way to get yourself into gear is to activate Ye Olde Burnout Methods of Yore, you're in luck. This episode's for you.

2023-11-1620 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #77: 3 Mistakes to Avoid, to Guarantee a Great Holiday SeasonAhhh, holidays. The time of year when otherwise confident, assertive, boundaried people tend to switch into some other gear. This is when we can all of sudden become wildly susceptible to stressful decision-making! NOT THIS YEAR, friend-o. I'm cluing you into 3 mistakes you may be at risk of making in these final weeks of the year, so instead, you can have the best. damn. season. of 2023. What's inside: What about this time of year makes stressful, disempowered decision-making easier How groupthink can cost you time, money and experiences you don't hav...

2023-11-0916 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #76: Decision Style #4: The People-PleaserWhen it comes to Decision Styles, People-Pleaser might be the one with the most judgment attached to it. In this series on the Decision Styles, and with the Decision Style Quiz, my goal is to help you make the MOST of how you operate. And in that spirit, I don't want to simply accept all the historical & societal criticisms we can assume about what it means to "be a people-pleaser." In my opinion, the world would lose a lot of its brightness without people making decisions that take others' happiness and comfort into account. So...

2023-11-0219 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #75: Decision Style #3: The PerfectionistHow often have you put yourself down for your Perfectionism? "UGH there I go again, needing everything to be perfect, SIGH." Ok, yes I agree sometimes this habit feels like a runaway train that costs you hours you never wanted to give to a project because who even is gonna notice that the background color of the PowerPoint is 4% off your normal brand colors........ But I want to help you look beyond the obvious hiccups of Perfectionism and embrace what's AMAZING about it. Today we're talking about: What's embrace-able about P...

2023-10-2615 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #74: EXPERT INTERVIEW! Embracing Experiments, Imperfection and the Ivy Identity with Lauren BalukjianIf you like raw, real and inspirational AF, this interview's for you. I'm joined by Lauren Balukjian, fellow Ivy grad and founder of the Ivy Sisters. She's the mastermind behind the Global Virtual Summit (that I'm lucky enough to be a Panelist for - see below). It's all about dropping the veil of perfection and getting real & raw about success, vulnerability, imposter syndrome and so much more. She also shares the personal, powerful story of her career pivot (preview: a surprise pregnancy, a surprise divorce and a giant leap of faith - read: Experiment - make...

2023-10-1933 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #73: Decision Style #2: The ProcrastinatorHave you taken the Decision Style Quiz yet? It'll tell you your default Decision Style, how to avoid its most common (most annoying) pitfalls, AND how you can use it to your advantage. Welcome to Decision Style #2: The Procrastinator! Wait, Kirsten, procrastinating is bad, evil, and actually any human's most condemnable character flaw...Isn't it??? NOPE. Just because we have a default way of thinking that feels like a a problem, that doesn't mean it has to stay a problem. In this episode, you'll hear: What "proc...

2023-10-1215 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #72: Decision Style #1: The OverthinkerHave you taken the Decision Style Quiz yet? It'll tell you your default Decision Style, how to avoid its most common (most annoying) pitfalls, AND how you can use it to your advantage. Today we're delving into Decision Style #1, which happens to be my personal default: The Overthinker. Wait, Kirsten, are you telling me it doesn't have to be a completely bad thing that I overthink stuff? EXACTLY. Just because we have a default way of thinking that feels like a a problem, that doesn't mean it has to st...

2023-10-0515 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #71: Motivation Doesn't Work How You ThinkHow do we get ourselves to DO the things we wanna do? Today's episode asks you to stop looking at motivation as gasoline in a tank (is there enough to get where we want?) and instead, as an emotion. It's easy to forget that motivated is a feeling, just like grateful and irritated. And too often, we expect this emotion to show up on cue when it's time to do the things we've planned. But what happens when you don't feel motivated? Do you abandon your plans? Leave the thi...

2023-09-2813 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #70: The Antidote for "I Don't Have a Choice" "I don't have a choice" is one of the most toxic ideas out there. And we believe it...even when we're not talking about impossibilities born of the laws of physics! In this episode, we talk about: How to detox this poison from your mindset What that means about "liking your decisions" And exactly what to do when this thought comes up, to make sure you land on an empowered choice More links! Ready for FOPO to stop making your choices for you? Download the FREE Crash...

2023-09-2115 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #69: When you’re afraid how someone will react (What’s REALLY going on)So many choices are influenced by our fear of eliciting certain reactions from other people. This is FOPO in action, right? Fear of people’s opinions swooping in to compel us to not say what we mean, not advocate for what we want, agree to stuff we don’t want to do... This mostly happens on a small scale. But when it becomes a decision-making habit, it can result in BIG life choices (where you live, work you do, who you spend your time with). Obviously, you don't want to base your b...

2023-09-1414 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #68: How to make authentic choices when you have FOPO (fear of people’s opinions)How do you tell the difference between "being polite / professional / etc" vs. making an inauthentic choice out of fear of people's opinions? Short answer? You either feel in charge of your decision or you don't. Even if the choice LOOKS the same (i.e...you agree to meet your weirdest family members in Vegas for Thanksgiving)... Your decision's motivation impacts the energy it takes to follow-through, your mood & mindset, your sense of agency, the experience you have. In short, knowing if your choice to pack your sunscreen & book the flight is AUTH...

2023-09-0719 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #67: How is FOPO (fear of people’s opinions) costing you your agency?FOPO: Fear of people's opinions. Not just super annoying and we wish we were over it by now...but also, a huge influence on your decision-making. Specifically? How empowered you do (or don't) feel in the choices you make. This episode will tell you how to spot (often sneaky, subtle) signs that FOPO is costing you some of your agency — and how to get it back! More Links! Download the Free Crash Course: How to Say NO to a Request or Invite (without being a terrible person, ruining a relations...

2023-08-3115 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #66: The Etymological Reason “Deciding” is Hard (+ 4 Steps to Freedom From Indecision)Why does the act of deciding inspire such feelings of fear & finality? Well, turns out it's not just you being dramatic and/or indecisive...! Etymologically speaking, it actually makes a lot of sense that we take decisions so dang seriously. This episode explains why "deciding" really does inspire fear, and how indecision becomes the norm when FEAR is your decision-making baseline. To get free from indecision, you have to shift your baseline out of fear. We explore 4 steps to do just that in this episode! More links! D...

2023-08-2418 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #65: Food Decisions & Thoughts About Your Body w/Victoria Yates, Intuitive Eating CoachHow do we make easier, better, more self-honoring decisions when it comes to FOOD and how we think about our bodies? Well, if you're like me, you have a lifetime of influences that makes this a complicated question. This year though, I decided I wanted answers (and good ones), so I hired Intuitive Eating Coach Victoria Yates! I gotta be honest - I had no idea what "intuitive eating" was (and frankly didn't really care). I just wanted to clean up this drama that wasn't going away on its own. Listen in for:

2023-08-1747 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #64: How to Prioritize When You’re Unclear On Your GoalsYou're unclear on your goals — but you still have time & energy you have to...use up on stuff. WHAT NOW. This episode gives you actionable guidance for when you're in this super common, usually uncomfortable place. We go into detail on how to: 1. Remove the pressure to know ALL the answers RIGHT now 2. Use this sneaky question to get unstuck: “If you did know what you were going to do next, what would you say?” 3. Identify your Vision, Goals & Values to get clear on what you want

2023-08-1022 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #63: How to Prioritize When You Have Competing IntentionsSometimes, there really is no tidy, perfect solution where everyone’s happy and you get everything exactly how you wanted it...😬 BUT that doesn’t mean you can’t still feel totally in charge of your choices and be intentional about what you do. If you feel backed into a corner, like you can't have one thing without sacrificing another — or like you have to give up one possibility to pursue the other — this episode is for you. These strategies'll help you see: How your intentions/desires/goals are NOT competing after all How they’re more...

2023-08-0323 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #62: How to Prioritize When You Don’t Know Where to Starta) This episode was inspired by conversations on TikTok — come hang out with me if you’re over there! @thedecisioncoach And b) if you’re getting any value out of this podcast, I would love love to hear about it. If you have the bandwidth & inclination, you can leave a rating and review to let me know what’s resonating, what you’re trying out, what’s helpful. (Thank you!) A lot of what I’ve heard from people lately is about “prioritizing.” How do I choose what to do first, how do I feel ok about what’s...

2023-07-2723 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #61: How to Escape the Productivity Police (and still get stuff done)If the idea that "You don't have to be productive all the time" sounds scary AND wonderful, this episode is for you. Hard-working high-achievers learn the mindset that To work is to succeed & earn value...To rest is to quit, fail and basically be worthless. It's no suprise that, at some point, we get sick of this mindset and realize we'd love to rest AND get stuff done — and stop feeling so crappy about ourselves. This episode gives you 3 things to do to start implementing this new way of being. 3 ways to escap...

2023-07-2017 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #60: Mid-Year Reflect & Reset (Downloadable Exercise!)There's a LOT of potential in the year ahead. But diving straight into a Goal Game Plan can set you up for burnout & misalignment if you don't take the time to reflect on the year so far! This guided exercise is designed to help you reflect & reset in a structured, intentional, doable way. Download your free REFLECT + RESET GUIDE here (or visit kirstenparker.com/60) Have fun envisioning the year you want — and seeing how it's so possible for you! If you use all the information of where you're coming from and...

2023-07-1320 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #59: 4 Things To STOP Talking Yourself Out OfIf you're a hard-working high-achiever who's "a bit too hard on yourself"...you may be talking yourself out of one or more of these 4 things on a daily basis without even knowing it. Which matters because these 4 things are VITAL to a fulfilling, whole, happy, authentic life.🚨 And we can get in the habit of automatically depriving ourselves of them. This episode walks you through how to spot it if it's happening (it can be SO subtle) — what the ripple effects are (and will be) if you keep on doing it — and simple things to t...

2023-07-0627 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #58: How to Cut Your Frustration in Half (The Resistance Scale)How much of your daily frustration comes from dealing with stuff not being the way you want? 😤 95...maybe 96% minimum? This is real! At some point, it stops mattering if it's a broken dishwasher or a severed finger (not to be gross) — but frustration can become the go-to reaction to almost ANYTHING not going "our way." And while this often seems justified (or at least unavoidable), it's wasting a TON of your time & energy. Getting so worked up...potentially judging/shaming yourself for it...then needing to cool off and deal with...

2023-06-2919 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #57: "I'm so behind"This week, we're NOT talking about how to catch up on the mountains of stuff you're behind on. No time management — No delegating — No uber-efficient productivity plans. In reality, those are all Tylenol. 💊 Sometimes they help make the pain go away. But they never address the root cause of the problem. Which means it has full permission to keep showing up, for the rest of time. And we really don't want that because...thinking "I'M BEHIND" every second of the day feels terrible. So in this episode, I challenge the...

2023-06-2216 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #56: 2-CLIENT INTERVIEW! The Best Coaching Tools for EntrepreneursAre you paving your own path? Running a business or side-hustle, working multiple jobs, crafting your own career?? This is the episode for you! I talk with two clients who've both changed careers and are now in charge of their own work — and how they each use Coaching to improve their work AND their lives. Kelsea is a Co-Founder of a Tech Startup, and Diana is a Voiceover Actor. YES. 🙌 Here's what you'll get in this interview: How much time & energy decisions consume (And how to get efficient with 'em) Ov...

2023-06-1528 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #55: Manage Your Self-ExpectationsAre you walking around your life with ridiculously high expectations of yourself in everything you do? My guess is...probably. 😬 'Cause even though it's exhausting to always go "above & beyond" - that's also how you've created a TON of success for yourself. So how do you manage it? How do you balance "high standards" with "I want to actually rest sometimes and not burn myself out doing A+++ work on even the tiniest thing that I know doesn't really matter!"..?? That's what this episode is all about! 🙌 How to life the C...

2023-06-0816 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #54: Guilt! Let it Serve You or Let it GO.We think about guilt in a couple of backwards ways. Either we feel it ALL the time, and think we "should" / deserve to... Or we think we're WRONG for feeling it at all, because we "should know better" and this is a silly habit to have as a grown adult. I vote NO to both options. You do not owe it to the universe (or yourself) to feel guilty 1900 times a day. You simply aren't stealing and murdering enough to warrant that amount of remorse! NOR should you be abl...

2023-06-0113 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #53: A Quick Fix for People-PleasingWe hate people-pleasing. (Duh.) And yet, it happens SO often — Sometimes we don't even notice 'til we're out the door and down the street, when it hits us: Wait did we just agree to something we have zero interest in doing?? (...for example...😉) That's when a quick fix like today's tool comes in SUPER handy. If you can notice yourself thinking "Is it ok to (upset...disappoint...inconvenience...) So-n-So?" — then you can use this tool! The trouble with this question ("Is it ok...?") is, it's a low quality question. This episode...

2023-05-2514 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #52: The 6 Keys to BELIEVE in YourselfWhat does is actually take to "believe in yourself"? Besides the obvious stuff...Do objectively amazing stuff, which other people call "amazing" out loud! Truth is, "objectivity" has little to do with self-belief. (We can talk ourselves out of ANY achievement...I know you get it!) And external validation - while delicious - only goes so far! At some point, we have to do the hard work of SELF-BELIEF. And normally, that point is long before we have piles of shiny evidence to support said belief. So, on...

2023-05-1833 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #51: Stop Skipping the Celebration!Why do we not celebrate ourselves? From GIANT accomlishments down to seemingly "teensy" wins (that - obvs - are, in reality, a huge deal...)...Well, because we think: It's not good / big / impressive / __________ enough yet: Example! Our podcast is at around 4500 downloads right now. Surely good or REAL podcasts are supposed to have like 45,0000 by now though, right? Shouldn't we actually be embarassed by this number? Don't say it out loud, let alone "celebrate" it! It's not worth the time (...It'll cost me): There are more important things to do & talk about than taking time out of m...

2023-05-1122 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #50: 3 Things to Quit so You Can Honor Your TIME BetterThere aren't many things powerful enough to make/break your entire story of "How's life?" TIME is one of them. Everything in your work, relationships, health, baking experiments, ALL of it...could look like it's comin' up roses from the outside. But if you don't feel like you're using your TIME well, it kinda all feels like crap. (Right?) I wanna help you stop feeling like you're fighting TIME — and start feeling like you're not just in charge of it...but you're HONORING it too. Real-talk: Time is your most pre...

2023-05-0421 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #49: I Need to Decide & Don't Wanna Regret It…Now What?Aight. You need to make a decision. You've acknowledged that you don't wanna regret it. Now what? Awareness is key here: Understanding what EXACTLY you're afraid of is what's going to let you take confident next steps forward. I know - it's completely unpleasant to think about what you might feel & what might "go wrong" - but in this episode I show you how to think through all that in a deliberate, self-validating way. We break down the three things people REALLY fear when they say "I'm afraid I'll regret it" - an...

2023-04-2718 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #48: How to Stop Living in Fear of RegretWhen you think about what gets in the way of confident decisions, FEAR OF REGRET has to be at the top of the list. It's easy for this fear to become a regular roadblock in your decision-making process, too. Here's what I needed to do, to take back control of my decision-making process and stop experiencing such panic about "what I might regret" in the future: Practically addressing fears is its own (useful) step in the decision process Equally important is separating out your fear of "what might happen" from your fear of how you...

2023-04-2016 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #47: How to *Eliminate* Dinner Decision Fatigue!How much do *dinner decisions* stress you out? 😱 We know they're not that hard...and YET, they can cause so much chaos! They certainly did for me until I decided this was officially a problem worth SOLVING. The same thing was evident with my clients too. As soon as we started scanning for Decision Fatigue, the conversation always ended up at dinner! So today, I'm walking you through the process of ELIMINATING Dinner Decision Fatigue. Grab your FREE *Easy Dinner Decision Template* so you can see exactly how to easify you...

2023-04-1327 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #46: Expert Interview! Stress Management for Over-Stretched Professionals w/Coach Jackie de CrinisJackie de Crinis is an expert in stress management, overthinking and JOY. (Already hooked? ME TOO.) And she knows what she's talking about. With a background of 30+ years as a Hollywood Producer, working for the biggest name companies on high profile shows, she has ample experience with STRESS. "There's this concept of 24 hours in a day, and you're like 'Well I have to sleep a FEW hours, so I've gotta figure that out 'cause I need to function. And then everything else was about multitasking, and trying to get ahead of the next tsuna...

2023-04-0644 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #45: Your Shortcut Menu of Solutions for Decision FatigueWhat do you do if you find yourself Decision Fatigued? Answering this can bring up all kinds of overwhelming options like "get rid of half your wardrobe" or "hire a million people to delegate stuff to." While sometimes solutions like that are helpful, more often than not, what you really need is to approach your decision-making differently. In this episode, you're getting Shortcut Menu of Options to keep in your back pocket, for whenever you need! PS: The Decision Fatigue & What to Do About It workshop is available on demand - get it no...

2023-03-3023 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #44: The (Surprising) Truth about Decision FatigueWhat even IS Decision Fatigue? We care because understanding it = how we solve it better & faster. 😉 I used to hear about the concept of Decision Fatigue and think sure, that makes sense in theory...but then I'd generally assume one of two things: a) It didn't apply to me. - After all, I'm not over here makin' life-or-death decisions all day long. I'm overthinking "dinner" so...how fatigued could I really be? b) There's nothing to be done about it. - Apart from wear the same outfit every day like all the famous...

2023-03-2321 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #43: 3 Steps to Prep for a Challenging Conversation or SituationHOKAY, you've got a potentially challenging conversation or situation coming up. How do you prepare for it? Normal Tuesday? There's a good chance you dread it up until the second it happens, mince your words & fumble through it, have an awkward-at-best experience, and then move on not *completely* in love with what just happened. I propose this instead: Conscious Conversation Prep (it works for "situations" too). (Head's up, List Makers, you're gonna love this one!) But this tool will work for ANYONE to get you more mentally clear & energetically se...

2023-03-1625 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #42: The One Question to Ask When You're OverloadedObbbbbbviously most of us are putting more on our daily plates than we can logistically, energetically or just like, humanly handle — can we agree on that? 🙋‍♀️ But Kirsten...I legit have 17,000 things to do AND I'm super capable & hate B- work, so I feel like these are still fair expectations. I know. That's the problem. 😑 For a lot of our lives, pushing ourselves to our breaking points, going above and beyond x10 and reeeeeally testing how far we can stretch 4 hours' sleep has resulted in BIG SUCCESS. Whether that meant high achie...

2023-03-0910 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #41: Expert Interview! Don't Love the Work You're Doing? Change the Narrative You're Living In - with Coach Winn ClarkWant to love your work more (...or at all)? Ever struggled with the Inner Critic?? This episode's for you, my friend! Winn Clark, my own former coach and now friend-for-life (she knows, it's not weird...), drops in this week to give you some BIG stuff to think about: 👉 How to create lasting change by changing the narrative you're living in "So much of how you show up in the world is dictacted by your narrative - old habits, old ways of seeing yourself." "What got you here isn't going to help you get th...

2023-03-0251 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #40: Expert Interview! One Decision Starts the Upward Spiral to Your Ideal Life: with Brazen Coaches Calley Hewes & Valerie KingWhat even is an "ideal life"? Turns out, this huge-ish question is super worthwhile to ask, and Brazen Coaches Calley & Valerie are here to help us answer! 😁 This interview is for you if you have any kind of job / life dissatisfaction OR you just love the idea of feeling good about the direction you're taking yourself. We talk about: Calley's career pivot from Nurse Practitioner to self-employed Wellness Coach Valerie's decision dominos that led her to enterpreneurship The reality that "everyone's goals for you are coming from a different place" The importance of giving yourself q...

2023-02-2346 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #39: This'll Change How You Think about Confidence ForeverDo you think of yourself as a "confident person"? Or is that a feeling that ebbs and flows, depending on the day or situation? What if we could stop thinking about confidence like it was this measurable, liquid thing? Like "it's either there or it's not...there's either a lot or a little..." 🤔 The truth is, the way I used to think about Confidence was completely all-or-nothing. And somehow, despite all this stuff I grew genuinely confident in, my focus tended to fall on where I was LACKING. And the more air-t...

2023-02-1615 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #38: When You're Constantly Disappointed with YourselfIf you're getting to the end of each day and - no matter what has or hasn't "gotten done" or "gone well" - you feel disappointed in yourself...this episode is for you! This is one of the most disheartening and exhausting funks to be in (ask me how I know) and I want to give you a reliable way OUT of it. Listen to find out: The key misunderstandings at play when you're in this constant-disappointment mode (hooray for finding out these aren't true!) Where this crappy habit came from (more understanding = more author...

2023-02-0920 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #37: Save Energy by Making *Faster* Decisions (Go!)You KNOW if decisions are too exhausting. And we're talking about it this week because of all the AMAZING stuff that happens when you start making decisions with LESS effort in LESS time. Here's how my clients in the Decision Masters Program describe that "amazing stuff": “I feel super in charge of my decisions and day-to-day life." “I don't feel overwhelmed. Even though all the things could look objectively overwhelming.” “I'm present. I'm not spinning anymore.” “I have extra TIME at the end of the day. I'm more efficient with work kids etc. I'm emotionally an...

2023-02-0218 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #36: 4 Steps to Process Making a Mistake at Work (Personal Story!)So much effort goes into setting ourselves up for SUCCESS, yeah? Which - yay, love that - keep it. And... What happens when stuff inevitably DOESN'T happen how we want it to? We don't meet the deadline. We don't do the great job we wanted. We mess up. Well, since this literally happened for ME recently, I want to talk about this in specifics! This week, I'm sharing the 4 steps you GOTTA take yourself through in order to process "making a mistake" — responsibly and self-compassionately. Listen...

2023-01-2621 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #35: Client Convo! What REALLY happens when an "Indecisive Person" Works with a Decision Coach (with Andy Greene!)Alright friends, it's time for some truth telling...! My brilliant (and brutally honest) client Andy joins us this week to get REAL about Coaching. He was referred to me after telling a friend & former client of mine that he was struggling to choose goals & frustrated with feeling stuck. Her words? "There's a person for that!" 😅 In this wisdom-bomb-filled interview, he outlines his journey from *Undecided with 33 Ideas* to *Decided & In Committed Action on Specific Goals*...plus he talks about everything else that changes in your life when you start making that shift...

2023-01-1938 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #34: The Key to Creating the Year You Want (the VISION episode)If I only got to work with you on ONE thing, and we could never speak again, I'd help you create your VISION. It wouldn't matter what goals you're taking on or what kinds of pressing challenges you're facing. This would be the ONE conversation I'd want to have with you. (OBviously if I had my druthers, I'd have many more after that, to help you stay accountable to that Vision and proactively deal with any crap that comes up in the process, but first thing's first!) Your VISION is who y...

2023-01-0519 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #33: A Decision-Focused Year-End Reflection (that's also FUN!)It's the FINAL week of 2022...you ready to reflect?? If that sounds like a semi-inspiring but mostly-daunting idea, this episode's for you. I walk you through the End-of-Year Reflection that I personally enjoy doing, and get a ton out of! And of course, it's the Decision Masters version. 😉 GET YOUR REFLECTION GUIDE: 👉Grab your FREE GUIDE here!👈 https://www.kirstenparker.com/33 It's way to easy to let the holidays and end of year fly by, with good intentions to "look back on it all later..." - and we all know ho...

2022-12-2923 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #32: How to Tune into the GOOD of this Moment (Even if Your Brain is Saying “It’s Crap”)If you have a brain like mine, it can pile things up quickly: What’s going wrong, what isn’t as good as it could/should be, who’s being incorrect, to quote my 2nd favorite Schitt’s Creek sibling. So you better believe I’ve need the practice I share in this episode for myself! And even if you don’t have negativity to combat, these simple but powerful tools can change your WHOLE day. Keep ‘em in your back pocket so that when you really want to tune into the GOOD of a moment, you...

2022-12-2213 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #31: 4 Tips for Making Friction-Free Joint Decisions (Happy Birthday Kenny!)Raise your hand...(or raise an eyebrow if you're driving!)...if you've ever found it a teensy bit difficult to make a decision WITH someone else. 😬 Making powerful, authentic, self-honoring decisions SOLO can look like a piece of cake when you compare it to working out decisions with a partner, right? My husband Kenny and I have paid particular attention to this: What are our Decision Styles, and how can they play nicely together? (Yup, this is what you sign up for marrying a Life Coach!) 😅 Turns out everybody wins though, because not only do...

2022-12-1520 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #30: Expert Interview! How to COMMIT to Being On Your Own Team w/Life Coach & Astrologer Sarah PaaschExpert Interview! How to Make a Foundational Commitment to Being On Your Own Team w/Life Coach & Astrologer Sarah Paasch Ever struggled with feeling like you're on your own team? Being kind to yourself? Especially in the midst of a crappy mindset, a crappy mood, or crappy motivation?? Grab your headphones — this episode was made for you! Sarah Paasch is a dear friend and Coaching colleague (with whom I've had the pleasure of doing at least two Solar Return Astrology Readings...that's your birthday!...) and she's here to give you ALL the wisdom on ho...

2022-12-0843 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #29: The Cure for "If Only..." AgonyI don't think I've seen anything complicate decisions more than the agony of "If only..." This one teensy thought is such a doozy 'cause it wreaks havoc on past, present and future choices. And if you're listening today, I bet you're ready for the cure — so you can stop: Playing out the same mental movies about how past decisions could've gone differently Second-guessing every choice you consider today Catastrophizing about what you might regret ten years from now Based on my own personal experience and hearing this from dozens of clients, I also know it's...

2022-12-0118 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #28: The EASIEST Gratitude Practice You'll Ever DoIt's National Gratitude Month... But if you're like me, gratitude has felt temporarily delicious at times, but also overwhelming & chore-like. 😬 This happens to A LOTTA people who genuinely want to appreciate the good stuff in their lives, not overly focus on the negatives, keep their perspective in check... Somehow something as simple as a FEELING can get super complicated. So this week — get ready there's a terrible cliche rhyme coming!! 😱— we're gonna DE-PLATITUDE GRATITUDE. It's the only way to bypass the BS and get you actually experiencing the benefits you want from this...

2022-11-2410 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #27: 3 Pro Tips to Take Charge of Your Decisions at the HolidaysHappy Holidays! ...Or ARE they, though...😱 Obviously I want you to feel in charge of your choices 365 days a year, but this particular season is one where it can feel particularly challenging to make powerful, authentic decisions. So can any season with charged importance, right? Weddings...summer break...take your pick! So let's make it easy to make choices you love, no matter how *important* this time of year is coming up (no matter when you're listening)! Listen in for the top 3 problems that lead peole to make decisions they don't feel super in cha...

2022-11-1720 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #26: Expert Interview! How to End People Pleasing Drama with Coach Sara Bybee FiskOooo we're in for a treat today, friend! 🎉 Coach Sara Fisk is in the house and she's here to make not people pleasing a doable, easy, best-gift-to-yourself-ever thing. Listen in as we geek out on: How to say no to people (even if you love them!) and live to tell the tale What it feels like to stop defaulting to doing things the hardest way possible Why you should spend more time on the question "What do I really want?" How "people pleasing" isn't an entirely terrible thing (great news! you don't have to try to st...

2022-11-1047 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #25: We are the Meaning Makers (Happy Halloween)Happy Halloween Week! 🎃 Halloween is a super meaningful holiday in my family, so *meaning* is on my mind. This week, I invite you to focus on just how POWERFUL you are when it comes to choosing what's meaningful in your life! Here's what we get into: 2:30 - How your brain processes the world through stories and what this means for how powerful you are 5:00 - Why Halloween is a big ass deal for the Parkers ;) 8:30 - The 2 key things that happen when you think ahead to what you WANT to be meaningful 12:30 - Workin...

2022-11-0320 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #24: Are you hiring the wrong people for the wrong jobs?At a business retreat in beautiful Jackson Hole, WY last week, I realized I've done some "mis-hires" lately! I was there to work with my new business coach, alongside 20 other female entrepreneurs (so fun). And getting such specific help, to provide specific solutions in my business, revealed the help I wasn't getting before. The emotional guidance, the business strategy, the likeminded community...it turns out, I was actually relying on my poor sweet husband for a lotta that stuff...😬 And while we genuinely enjoy talking about our work with each other, he is...

2022-10-2714 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #23: The 5 Habits that Make Me Good at DecisionsIf you want to make decisions without drama — and be confident enough in them that you don't self-sabotage or second-guess...this is the episode for you. Let's break down what EXACTLY makes me (and my clients!) good at decisions. Notice what YOU'RE aready good at, and what would make a difference in your own decision making! P.S. Make sure to check out the Decision Masters Program, because that's exactly where you'll turn these skills into habits. With accountability & guidance, we make it easy! 👉https://kirstenparker.com/dmp👈 In this episode...

2022-10-2013 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #22: Expert Interview! The Best Way to Pitch Your Project or YOURSELF with Laura BrennanHead's up: You need a Logline! Why? 'Cause whether you're selling a service, product or project...looking for your next career move...or even inviting someone to attend your event or read your blog post — guess what: you're PITCHING! Which just happens to be the Zone of Genius of this week's interviewee: Laura Brennan, the Pitch & Development Consultant 🙌 In this interview, Laura tells you what a LOGLINE is (and how powerful it can be!): It's your "True North"...How you keep moving in the direction you want Your Decision Lens...What helps you say aligned...

2022-10-1341 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #21: Expert Interview! How We "Type A" Women can Thrive in Our Marriages w/Coach Maggie ReyesYOU GUYS, Life Coach & Marriage Mentor Maggie Reyes is in the Podcast House today, whaaaat!? Refill your coffee & get ready to talk about: How Core Values for your marriage are a real thing What "open-heartedness" is (hint: you wanna know!) How to use Values to simplify decisions you make separately AND together The life-changing mindset of SOLUTION-focus (read: opposite of problems-only-pov) Two different ways coaching can help you answer BIG STRESSFUL QUESTIONS Did we basically fit 5 entire episodes' worth a' JUICE into a single interview? YES. Besides those bullet points, we get into why...

2022-10-0655 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #20: Client Convo! How to Stop Living Under Nonstop Pressure w/Nina HaradaFeeling pressure about big QUESTIONS?...Doing it ALL?...Choosing RIGHT...? This interview is for you! If you've ever been curious about what coaching helps people with, my client & friend Nina's answer is a brilliant summary: "I stopped worrying about all the things I'm not doing, and I just kept doing the next, best thing." That mentality (GOLD!) is what allowed her to take the insane pressure off herself to know - and do - ALL the things , and STILL set her life up in an intentional way, so she gets to do work AND art that s...

2022-09-2944 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #19: Coaching Sesh! When you think "Something terrible has to happen to balance the scales" with Ariell IlungaEver get scared things are going TOO well for comfort? Want an insider's look at how coaching really works? This episode's for you! In Part 2 of my conversation with client & friend Ariell Ilunga (Part 1 was Ep 18), we "clean out a cobweb" happening in her mind: This thought that "Something terrible has got to happen to balance the scales. You can't be happy for very long." We give her space to explore what she's thinking & feeling honestly — no judging / avoiding / rushing away (how we do, in coaching 😉)...and we explore what she wants to...

2022-09-2233 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #18: Client Convo! Leaving the "Carved Path" & Learning to Talk to Fear w/Ariell IlungaThis interview was so jam-packed I HAD to make it a two-parter...buckle up! In this episode, my client Ariell gets totally honest about: What it took to go from "leaving this job doesn't even feel like an option" to "It's now or never: I'm going to start my own business" The many layers of FEAR involved along every step of the way (leaving her job, becoming an entrepreneur, even walking away from an investor/partner and a big pile of money after a year of negotiations!) How it feels to be living her truth "I'm no...

2022-09-1544 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #17: Client Convo! How to Not Get Stuck in Other People's Opinions with Kirsten J. ParkerMeet Decision Masters Program member Kirsten Parker! (Nope, we literally never get tired of that 😅) KJP shares extraordinary wisdom & personal stories in this interview! Including: How she stopped overthinking the decision to start her own business and leave her job of 22 years 🙌 That the "biggest helpful change through the program" was changing the habit of getting stuck in other people's opinions, ideas & judgments 🧘‍♀️ Why it's vital to update your goals & values rather than stay stuck in your old definition of "success" What making a Clean Decision feels like (and why her decisions don't feel muddy & never-ending anymore!) 🦸‍♀️ And how, d...

2022-09-0844 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #16: The 4 FEAR Questions to Guarantee a Powerful, Authentic ChoiceFEAR gets in the way of...what...99% of our decisions? But really, it's uninvestigated fear that's the problem. If we're being honest, fear itself is a super useful, necessary part of life that we don't WANNA get rid of! But we DO wanna stop making decisions out of habitual, default, auto-pilot reaction to fear. (That's, of course, how we end up NOT going for that big scary thing we want...NOT doing the thing we know will grow us...NOT getting out of the situation we know is no longer aligned...

2022-09-0121 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #15: Surprises, Failures & Feelings: The 3 Essentials MISSING From Your Game PlanAfter a particularly charged week (I describe in this episode how I just finished a weekend of "2 weddings and a funeral"...but really though...), I'm feeling rather raw, drained & also very PRESENT. There were a lot of highs and lows over the last few days, and I knew that would be the case going into it. What exactly that would look like, however, I couldn't plan. And for a PLANNER...that's not always the funnest feeling! 😐 I had ideas about how I wanted things to go, and how I didn't, and beyond...

2022-08-2521 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #14: The Decision Audit: A Cure for End-of-Year AnxietyReal-time, it's August...but somehow my brain wants to already start freakin' out about 2023! If you have anxious anticipation about anything coming up - especially "making the most of the end of the year!" - this is the episode for you! I share how doing a (super quick) Decision Audit for MYSELF led me to make a fun, powerful, easy decision to join my next Coaching Mastermind 🎉 and how you can use the same process to find out what decisions YOU might wanna make next! Ready to trust every choice you make? 👉Get the deets on...

2022-08-1818 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #13: How to get Instant Clarity & Create your Decision Anchor"Who am I, what do I want, where do I wanna go next?" These are the questions that kept me STUCK for y-ee-ee-eears, and not just when I was unclear about my career path. When you don't know how to simply & confidently answer these questions, ANY decision can overwhelm you. 'Cause how do you know the "right, best choice" to make (...for your next job OR for your next lunch date...) if you aren't clear on what you really want? What we explore in this episode is how to answer that question - TO...

2022-08-1120 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #12: 2 Clarity Myths Busted & 3 Things to Stop Doing if You Feel UnclearNot knowing what you want, what to do, or even who you are is probably one of the worst feelings on the planet. And when you're wrestling with "clarity questions," it kinda doesn't matter if they seem SUPER HUGE or annoyingly small... 'Cause the truth is, EVERY decision is harder when you walk around your life thinking I don't know. I don't know can start to flavor everything you come into contact with -- like pickles. (And I hate pickles...😣) In this episode, we talk about: Why you can trust yo...

2022-08-0412 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #11: What Happens When You Decide to Go After Your DreamsWhat even IS a decision? 🤔 Before you dismiss this as a silly question, I'd love for you to try answering it. What are you doing when you "decide" something? What happens in that moment? Turns out, this answer makes a big difference in how you treat your decisions! My job is to help people hear themselves clearly about what they want, and set themselves up to TRUST what they decide to do about those dreams. (So I've thought a lot about this 😅) Today, I'm sharing some KEY things Overthinkers like us need to...

2022-07-2808 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #10: YAY we get to make decisions more efficient! (SIMPLE Principle #6)Ok I admit it. I'm an efficiency enthusiast. 🤩 I love when things work well and no time's wasted. (You? SAMESIES??) But I used to be addicted to productivity. Fixated on getting more done, faster...just for the sake of (...um...the same brainwashing we all got, not much more). Today, my deep & passionate love for efficiency 😉 has a much calmer quality to it. I love "saving time & energy" for the same reason my prone-to-hyper-productivity clients do: because we know how precious our resources really are. And we wanna be more selfish with them!

2022-07-2113 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #9: What to Do When You Feel Like You Don’t Have a Choice (SIMPLE Principle #5)You can feel confidently, powerfully decisive allllll day long 🤩 as long as you think you have OPTIONS. So what happens when you inevitably find yourself stuck in a situation where you see NO options? 😐 ...Or the options you do see are Crappy Version A and Crappy Version B? 🤔 You devour today's episode and restore your full sense of agency, of course! The "L" in the 6 Principles of SIMPLE Decisions stands for Lots of Options. It warrants an entire episode because soooo many of us have built a habit to see zero options, a...

2022-07-1416 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #8: How to Prioritize YOU in Your Decisions (SIMPLE Principle #4)What to we REALLY want? Well, it depends on what level you look. At the deepest level, we want to make powerful, authentic, self-honoring choices that help us BE who we wanna be. But at the surface, we often simply want to make choices that help us avoid discomfort. Our default "wants" (aka our habitualized instincts, which we're not consciously choosing) can be to NOT rock the boat...to NOT make people upset...because that stuff's usually uncomfortable! The problem arises when prioritizing our comfort means deprioritizing who we want to be. When th...

2022-07-0717 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #7: Stop trying to make Non-Makeable Decisions (SIMPLE Principle #3)Who else's brain gets hung up on Step 36 when you're on Step 2! 🙋‍♀️ Today we're talkin' about what used to be my #1 Problem and how I got outta that habit for good. Stressing about NON-Makeable Decisions used to keep me from seeing any option in front of me. 😣 It made decisions seem impossible, super high stakes, and better to just put off 'til "I had more answers"...which turns out is only a really good plan for making things take way more TIME than they need to. Listen in if you wanna get outta this hab...

2022-06-3016 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #6: 2 Constructive Ways to Deal with Stress When There’s a Decision to Make (SIMPLE Principle #2)"Intentional decision making" is all well & good, but what if you're STRESSED and you have a decision to make? Our tendency, as super-hard-on-ourselves semi-perfectionists, can be to push through the stress or collapse into it completely. And neither scenario sets us up for our most powerful, authentic thinking. Learning how to make decisions that serve me AND be a human person who experiences stress has been one of the surprising challenges of my life, but the great news is...if an overthinker like ME can do it, anybody can. In this episode, you'll learn:

2022-06-2318 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #5: When You Wanna Decide ALL THE THINGS at Once (SIMPLE Principle #1)Have you ever had a decision to make (big OR small) that your brain refuses to concentrate on? You start out thinking about this wedding invite you just got, and all of a sudden every unknown about the year ahead seems urgent, and you find yourself trying to make all 1900 decisions at once. Or you start with next week's presentation, and ten minutes later, you have 7 tabs open as you simultaneously build a PowerPoint AND Google alternative careers. Trying to decide ALL THE THINGS (aka Snowball Thinking and/or Pinball Thinking) is a way we Overth...

2022-06-1616 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #4: The Overthinker’s Checklist: 6 Essentials to Simplify DecisionsDo you love a LIST as much as I do? Then YAY this episode is going to light you up. To solve overthinking, we have to make it SIMPLE. Otherwise, it's too big and vague a problem, which makes it impossible to solve. So to SIMPLIFY your decisions and make this a problem of the past, I'm offering you a handy dandy checklist: The 6 Principles of Simple Decisions. Ready for the super helpful worksheet? Go to www.kirstenparker.com/checklist now! In this episode, you'll learn: What the 6 Principles of Simple Decisions are...

2022-06-0919 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #3: How to Know You’re Making the Right ChoiceThe #1 problem I get asked to help solve is answering this question: "How do I know I'm making the right choice?" This question can cause so much anxiety - and it can keep you from making a decision (or trusting it, if you do make one) for YEARS. So we're answering the question once and for all, so the next time it comes up, you have a helpful answer. One that guides you to a decision you can trust! Want a super handy roadmap for the journey? Go to www.kirstenparker.com/guide to...

2022-06-0915 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #2: Get Outta the Gap (Permission to Stop Overthinking)The gap between Ideas, Decisions and Actions is where we Overthinkers tend to hang out and get stuck. Believe me, if this were a nice place to visit, I wouldn't have anything against it. But in the gap, we're experience a ton of fear, which we're not addressing head-on, so the whole experience there is pretty stressful and unproductive. Luckily, the more aware you are of when you're goin' into the gap, the faster you can change the habit of going into Overthinking by default, as soon a decision presents itself. Soon, you'll barely even go...

2022-06-0919 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists #1: From Overthinker to Decision Master: Your 3 New Favorite SkillsBecoming an EX-Overthinker sounds so lovely...But how do we fit that into our already jam-packed schedules? The good news I want to offer you today (read: shout from the rooftops) is that you ALREADY possess the 3 Main Skills you need to feel total badassery when it comes to decision making. So all we need to do from here is highlight how you're already GOOD at this stuff, then strengthen those skills on purpose. Your mastery will only grow from here! And believe me when I say I've been there. Just like my big-bra...

2022-06-0919 min

Decision Ease: Clear-headed decision making tools for overthinkers, high-achievers, and recovering perfectionists Get Excited!How do you know you're making the right decision? That's the exact question we'll answer on this podcast. Hi, I'm Kirsten! I'm the Decision Coach for Overthinkers. I've been coaching big-brained high-achievers for years, helping them stop living in fear of regret, option paralysis and the dreaded FOPO (fear of people's opinions!). And now I'm here to help YOU get out of Overthinking agony and make every decision EASIER. We'll use science-based, tried-and-tested tools to change lifelong habits, and you'll turn Calm, Clear & Confident into your new baseline. When you...

2022-05-2401 min