Hey hey, Email Sound Booth fam!
Liz Wilcox is BACK with Episode 129, and let me tell you—if you’ve ever felt like you’re clinging to the edge of Too Busy Mountain, this episode is that deep breath you didn’t know you needed.
This week, Liz gets real about life, work, and why it sometimes feels like we’re a hair away from tossing our laptops into the abyss (don’t do it, those things are expensive). Whether you’ve got a business, a 9-to-5, kids, or just one of those neighbors who believes in sunrise leaf-blowing, this one’s for us.
Here’s what went down:
- Taking the Edge Off (Millennial Edition)
- Liz shares her (honestly, genius) way of keeping work and chill mode separate: GETTING DRESSED for her biz! Yup, she rocks actual shoes and pants even when working from home. Then she changes into “house clothes” (not quite pajamas, not quite jeans) when work’s done. Gamechanger for ending the workday mentally and physically.
- Out of Sight, Out of Mind
- The easiest productivity hack? Making it harder to work when you’re supposed to be OFF. Liz literally unplugs her desktop at the end of the day. Laptop in the backpack, backpack in the closet. 🙅♀️ Work, begone!
- Email and Social Detox
- She doesn’t have her work email on her phone (jealous), and gives YOU permission to ditch the social apps when things get overwhelming. Removing Facebook? Instagram? That’s self-care, folks.
- Tab Control = Mind Control
- Liz’s Rule: No more than 5 browser tabs open at a time. HARSH but fair. How many tabs do you have open right now? (No, seriously. Go count. We’ll wait.)
- Stepping Away > Forcing It
- When her brain goes full static, Liz puts on her sneakers and just goes for a walk. Even if it feels “counterproductive,” getting some air can reset your mood and help you come back fresher.
Key Takeaway:
A little self-discipline—like changing your clothes or shutting your computer all the way down—can help you take the edge off before you even get there. Millennial-approved, pinky promise.
Go listen, then close those tabs. We believe in you!
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Transcript
What’s up? What’s up? Episode 129 of the email sound booth. That is what you are listening to. All right, let’s talk about taking the edge off. When you feel like you’re swamped, you got life, you got work, you got your business. Maybe you got a 9 to 5, too. Maybe you got kids. Maybe you just have an annoying neighbor who we wax at 5am I don’t know your situation, but I do know everybody feels a little on the edge sometime.
And I was talking at the Ask me anything, April. Sorry for all the click, click, clicking, Trying to get my notes here. And somebody asked a really good question that I wanted the masses to hear because these are a little. I don’t know if they’re unconventional, but they’re not. I don’t know. They said, you know, Liz, how do you take the edge off? What are some tips? And I thought, everybody needs to hear this.
So this is what I do. And it’s less about, like, taking the edge off and making sure I don’t get near the edge, which, of course, isn’t always possible. Lately, I feel like I’m on the edge, but this is what I do to kind of, you know, make sure I’m not gonna jump off the edge. Okay?
So number one is when I’m working my business, I get dressed. Like, right now, I. I can’t move my camera because I don’t have an external camera right now. But, like, I’m wearing socks, I’m wearing shoes, pants, shirt. I washed my hair. I put a hat on. Like, I’m in my work clothes today. I’m feeling a little casual. I should. I should have changed my shirt just for this. If you’re watching on YouTube, I’m a little casual today, but I get dressed now.
When I’m done with work, I change into house clothes. And that’s not my jammies, right? I actually don’t like wearing pajamas until this is bedtime. But anyway, I change, right? It’s the same way, like, if my bro. My brother, he is a laborer. He works in concrete for the union, like, outside of Detroit, okay? When he comes home, he has to shower immediately because he’s a dust ball. Think pig pen of peanuts. Hashtag Charlie Brown, right? He changes. Or he showers, he changes. He’s no longer in work mode, right? And I can see his whole demeanor change when he’s out of his work clothes, right? That’s a different vibe. That’s a different mood, right? He’s done working.
But when we work from home. When we work at our computers all day, we don’t do that. We get dressed. Or maybe we don’t get dressed. So I get dressed to go to work, and then I change my clothes after work. That really helps my mind turn off work. I know it sounds crazy. It helps my mind get into work. Sock, shoes, pants, all that. And it helps me get my mind off of work to change out of those work clothes, so to speak. Okay. I know it sounds crazy. Everybody in the mother. Oh, I just love my zoom suit. I get, you know, suit on top, pajamas on the bottom. How is that actually helping you other than, like, making you lazy? I don’t know. I’m sorry. That’s really judgy. I take it back. I take it back. But it’s not. It doesn’t serve you. Okay, so change your clothes. I know it sounds crazy. I know it’s like, oh, my gosh, the wash, you know? But it will help also, when I.
So now I have an office. So I just close the door to my office when I’m done working. I don’t open it again. But before I had an office, I would unplug my computer. I would put the computer away so I had my desktop, and I would literally unplug it every night and tuck it into a part of the room. So it was inconvenient for me to get it back out. So when work is done, work is done, baby. Now, if you’re working on a laptop, and I used to do this too, I would put my laptop away in my backpack, Put the backpack in the closet again. How can you make it inconvenient for. For you to work? This is going to help take the edge off, because when you’re on break, you’re on break, baby. When you’re done, you’re done.
Now, this one’s controversial. I do not have my work email on my phone. And yes, I’m very privileged. I have Patricia. Patricia has my work email on her phone. I don’t know why I. I told her, you don’t have to do that, but she feels like she needs to whatever. She needs to listen to this podcast episode. Right? But also, if you can’t do that, I want to remind you that you can. You are allowed. Here’s your permission slip to remove the social media apps from your phone. You can remove them. So whenever I’m feeling on edge, that’s the first thing I do. I’m like, nope, Facebook’s gotta go. Instagram’s gotta go. Whatever. I don’t I’ve never used TikTok. I’m sure that’s when it’s probably the first one to go. Because it’s just a distraction, right?
Chances are, yeah, you probably are overwhelmed, you’re overloaded. You have a job, you have this business, you have this family, you have this, right? The list goes on. But how much time are you actually spending on TikTok? How much time are you scrolling after work? Because you feel so out of control in your life, that’s the only thing you can control. So remove the social apps from your phone. I always feel so good when I do that.
And then, of course, when you’re working, if you’re trudging through the mud, if you’re, you know, you gotta get this done, you gotta get this done, but you’re sitting there trying to answer this email over and over. You scroll over five tabs, then you come back to the email because you know you gotta email those people. Then you scroll over again. You know, first of all, close all your tabs. I have a very strict 5 tab rule. I know that’s pretty, pretty strict. Maybe. How many tabs do you have open right now? Count them up. Next time you get to your desk, count them up. After 30 minutes. Set a 30 minute timer. After 30 minutes, how many tabs do you have open? My God, today, no wonder you feel overwhelmed, babe. Close a few. You’re allowed to open up a tab and type in that address bar again. And it might seem counterproductive, like, oh, if I close this tab, I’m already logged in, I’m gonna have to log in again. But because the tab is open, how many times you scroll back over it? Or how many times you look at it and think, oh, I should look at that? Multitasking is a myth. We humans can’t do it. We can only do one thing at a time. So close the damn tabs. I say it with love and people. Some people, oh, well, I use the Google. I use the Google Chrome tab organizer. That’s just another, oh, well, I just put all my junk in the closet to look at later. You’re overwhelmed for a reason, baby. That’s all I’m saying. And now take it with a grain of salt. I’m a minimalist. All right?
So when you’re feeling that type of way, if you’re closing the tabs is not an option, here’s what I want you to do. Go for a walk. Again, this might seem counterproductive. I don’t have 15 minutes. Liz, you don’t understand My life, baby. I’ve been there. I am there today. Oh, my gosh. This podcast was supposed to record it be recorded two weeks ago. I’m two weeks behind. I’ve been distracting myself. I have been work, work, work, work, working. I’ve been on airplanes. I’ve been in cars. No trains. I’ve been all over the globe in the last two weeks, and I’ve done everything but this podcast. This thing that I said I would do, this thing that I love even today, I literally said out loud, liz, you have two episodes left to record. Just do it. Close that tab. But when I was feeling stunted, I went for a little bit of a walk. That’s why I’m wearing the shirt, because I’m feeling a little frazzled. I’m feeling a little on edge today. I got my sneakers on. I got my knee brace on. I got my running shirt. I got my sports bra because I might want to go for a walk or a run in the middle of my workday because I am feeling a little on the edge, because I am feeling overbooked, booked, and busy. Never looked so bad, right?
All right. Those are my tips. I thought this would be quick, but damn, I have ranted on for nine minutes. I hope this was helpful. Super. I don’t know. Different advice than probably what you hear, but it might be just what you need to take the edge off next time you feel like you’re swamped with life and work.
All right, as always, I’m Liz Wilcox. You are awesome and fully capable. Fully, fully capable. Gosh, if you can’t see me on YouTube, I have my eyes closed because I can literally see it. I can see your success. You just got to do what’s right for you. When you’re feeling on the edge, a little bit of self discipline will go a long, long way. I love you so much. I can’t wait to see you succeed. I’ll see you on the next episode.