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Do you feel overwhelmed with your todo list? Is "creating fulfilling happiness" missing from that list? Everyday Happiness with Katie Jefcoat is here to help you. In 2-minutes a day, over time, you’ll discover how to reduce overwhelm and create lasting happiness through Katie’s signature method of Intentional Margins, happiness science, and musings about life. Start your day with a positive mindset. Many of us can get deep in the feeling of overwhelm. The anxiety of our own ambition can weigh heavily on our thoughts and emotions. We lay down and close our eyes at night and our chest begins to feel heavy. More items on the to-do list than the day before. How will we ever going to get off the hamster wheel of to-dos? When are we going to start living life for more than the hustle? As a recovering lawyer and passion driven entrepreneur, Katie knew something had to change. What she found is that you can have harmony, be intentionally productive and create massive impact, all at the same time - without feeling guilty. So she asked herself a simple question: "How can I get off the hamster wheel and how can I show others how to do the same? She knew she'd had a system for herself, but she’d never put it into defining words. On August 15, 2019, she sat down at her dining room table with her friend Jenna (her business bestie). Post-It notes covering the table. This is where she first defined the concept of Intentional Margins. What are Intentional Margins? INTENTIONAL MARGINS™ (n): A buffer of space and time to create harmony between your to-do’s and your priorities. Now you can get the support you need to manage your overwhelm, one little tip at a time. Regardless of the industry, Everyday Happiness blends inspiration with a pragmatic approach to finding Harmony. You'll be encouraged to throw “balance” out the window for a more achievable approach called harmony. Through Intentional Margins™, you'll be encouraged to develop what harmony means to you, by identifying your priorities at work and at home. Every day, we'll end the podcast help you feel equipped to jump off the hamster wheel of overwhelm and go out there and crush your day. --About the Host-- Katie Jefcoat is a community curator, speaker, author and motivator who supports ambitious women (and a few good men) move from feeling hectic to harmonious. As a recovering trial lawyer, she knows first hand what it feels like to have a demanding job. As an entrepreneur with a passion that lights her hair on fire and a busy family she’s in the thick of it with you. Many people strive for balance and think overwhelm is just a part of life. Sadly, the hustle culture and our never-ending to-do list is creating a life where our priorities are getting the leftover scraps of time. Katie introduces people to what she calls - Intentional Margins™ - a kind of life in which they reduce randomness, create harmony between their to-dos and their priorities and intentionally enjoy the meaningful parts of life - without feeling guilty. Without exposure to a different way, we remain stuck on the hamster wheel of to-dos and never find the “balance” we yearn for. Katie works diligently to expose her community to different ways of doing things, because she fundamentally believes we deserve to make time for our priorities. We deserve to live a life of harmony. And it’s within our control to create it. Katie curates a smorgasbord of content related to managing your calendar, handling overwhelm, setting boundaries, reducing randomness, saying no, self-care, the power of your choices, and more in her Intentional Margins™ Membership Community -- which she calls the coziest virtual coffee shop (on Facebook). Connect and learn more at www.katiejefcoat.com.
Episodes
Friday Nov 18, 2022
Friday Nov 18, 2022
Opening presents at the holidays is a fun tradition that many of us look forward to, but does more stuff actually make us happier? Tune in to see my approach to holiday gift giving.
Transcript:
Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in about 2 minutes a day, through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life.
I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and as the holidays approach, I’m thinking a lot about stuff, both gift giving and the kids holiday wish lists.
The science indicates that the more we want the less life satisfaction we will experience. The less happy we will be. But the thing is, we want this stuff and we think the “nice” thing, whatever it is, fill in the blank, will make us happier. If we didn’t think that we wouldn’t buy it. Yet, the science (Nickerson Et Al. (2003)) says that’s a total trick and stuff won’t actually make us happier.
As we enter the holiday season I invite you to think about the stuff you are purchasing and ask yourself if this is really what you want and what you want to give. It feels good to give someone a nice thing, and they may be happy in the moment, but the research indicates that it won’t last and then, they are left with this thing.
Another way to think about the holiday season is the gift of time, spending time with the people you love. Also, using experiences as gifts instead of things. For example, we just saw an advertisement for a season pass to an amusement park near us. My little boy loves roller coasters and he wants to go to this particular amusement park more often. So, we are going to purchase an annual pass during this holiday sale, something we might have purchased anyway next Spring, but we saw the same and so we wrapped it up for him. This is an experience we can do as a family. This is something we know the kids will enjoy and we aren’t adding more stuff into our home, that, frankly, I’ll have to dust.
And let’s not forget, all these toys won’t actually make our kids happier in the long run either. It’s never about the stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought the one toy my son just had to have, only for it to be amazing for a week and then never played with again.
Now, a confession. I love the tradition of opening a lot of presents, it brings me joy - it really does make me happy for this moment. I think about it. We have traditions around when we open presents. The whole experience brings me so much joy. So, I wrap a lot of little presents that don’t even matter, so we have that experience. Everything from a new toothbrush, socks, a flashlight, these experiences I mentioned are on a piece of paper and wrapped in a box. So we can still get that joy in the experience of unwrapping gifts while not focusing on the materialistic part of gifts that can waste money and don’t bring us the level of happiness that we expect for the amount of money we just spent.
I’m curious, what is your holiday gift giving strategy? Connect with us @everydayhappinesswithkatie over on social and let’s have a conversation.
References include: Nickerson et al. (2003). Zeroing on the Dark Side of the American Dream: A Closer Look at the Negative Consequences of the Goal for Financial Success. Psychological Science, 14, 531-536.
And remember, kindness is contagious.
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And, let’s connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram
Links: https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/
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