(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
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Welcome back to week two of the Joy Reset Series. Today we're talking about something that almost every high-capacity person struggles with, even if he or she doesn't want to admit it. Overwhelm doesn't come from having a big life.
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It comes from carrying a cluttered one. This episode is called Simplify to Amplify, decluttering your schedule and your soul. And if your life feels noisy, rushed, overcommitted, or just crowded, this one's going to breathe fresh air into your spirit, because here's the truth, joy needs space to flourish.
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Your soul needs simplicity, and your calling needs room to breathe. Today we're going to talk about clearing the overwhelm by simplifying commitments, setting boundaries, and creating white space for what truly matters. So if you're ready to take another step in cultivating a consistent life of joy, I'm glad you're here, because today we're going to do that.
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Welcome to Goals in Grace, the podcast for accomplished women who are ready to align their ambition with faith and step into their highest potential. I'm Rev. Juliet Spencer, a certified high-performance coach and former pastor, and I'm here to help you break free from imposter syndrome, embrace gratitude, and lead with clarity, purpose, and peace. Each week, I'll share faith-filled encouragement, personal stories, and proven strategies from books like High Performance Habit, as well as from my coaching program, The Purpose and Peace Pathway, to help you achieve success without apology.
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You'll walk away with tools to lead boldly, live intentionally, and honor the calling on your life. Let's step into our calling together. Don't forget to follow the podcast and share it with a friend who's ready to grow.
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There was a season, maybe you can relate, when my calendar resembled a never-ending grocery store receipt. Endless lines, endless commitments, and endless expectations. Every box on the calendar seemed crucial.
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Every yes felt justified, and every meeting appeared necessary. But then a week came when I was sprinting from one obligation to the next, and Jimmy, whom I call husband, said at the end of a particularly chaotic day, I feel like I haven't seen you at all this week. You've been here, but you haven't been here.
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Ouch! You know those moments when you don't want to hear the truth, but you need to? That was one of them. He knew that I longed for a life of balance, meaning, and purpose, one that nurtured my relationships, not neglected them. If you have listened to previous episodes of Goals in Grace, you know this wasn't the first time I needed a reminder of what truly matters.
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As much as I'd like to think that I only need to learn a lesson once, that's rarely the case. I often need reminders of what I already know. Am I speaking to anyone but myself today? So anywho, husband lovingly said what I needed to hear.
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And later that night, when I finally sat in the quiet, I realized once again that my schedule was so packed that I had unintentionally pushed out the two things I needed most, presence with God and presence with the people I love. Now it's not because I didn't care, not because I wasn't devoted, but because I didn't have any margin for my soul to breathe. That week became another step, another turning point.
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I had been trying to amplify joy, clarity, leadership, patience, creativity, but my life was too full for anything really to take root. When your life is overcrowded, even blessings can feel like burdens, can't they? Well, that was my wake-up call again. Psalm 18, verse 19 says, God brought me out into a spacious place.
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God rescued me because God delighted in me. Hmm. A spacious place.
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Not a frantic place, not an overcrowded place, not a say yes to everything place. Spacious. God does some of God's best work in open space where your heart isn't frantic and your mind isn't overrun and your schedule isn't suffocating your joy.
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Maybe that's one of the main reasons that Jesus consistently withdrew just to spend time with God. When your soul becomes spacious, joy has room to rise again. My friend, the research is clear.
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Clarity, energy, and focus all increase when we simplify. One of the core truths that high performers understand is this, you cannot amplify your life if your life is overflowing. Compelling research shows that clarity, energy, and focus all increase when we simplify, not when we squeeze even more into already packed days.
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High performers don't achieve success by doing everything. They succeed because they do less but better. But simplicity isn't just a productivity strategy.
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It's also a spiritual discipline. It's a soul stewardship. And sometimes simplicity requires making choices that don't feel obvious at first.
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At least that was true for one of my clients. She came to this exact realization. She's brilliant, capable, and deeply committed.
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She can do many things well and she actually enjoys doing most of them. Every committee, every project, every leadership opportunity, every volunteer role. She's capable in finding some measure of joy and purpose in all of them.
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But she was wise enough to reach a moment of holy clarity. Her life was full of good things, but it was too full for the life of peace and the presence that she deeply desired. It was too full for a life of joy.
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She wanted more slow dinners with her family. She craved more evenings with friends that are filled with laughter and good conversation. She wanted more restful mornings with her child and she wanted more date nights with her husband and definitely more quality time with God.
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She recognized that she needed more room to breathe and to think, to create, to simply be. And the truth was undeniable. To have that kind of life, she had to say no or no for now.
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Even to things she liked. Even to things she was good at. Even to things that could bring her joy.
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We were taking time in one session to clarify not just the vision of her best self, but steps needed to get there and steps needed to get to her best life as well. She closed her eyes, gave a little sigh and said, I have to be more disciplined in what I'm willing to do. I have to put down some things I like in order to have the life I really want.
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Simplicity isn't about eliminating joy. It's about protecting it. Because the life she wanted, the life God was calling her to build, required margin.
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It required white space. She needed to cultivate emotional and spiritual availability. And to step into the life she really wanted, she required presence with God and presence with the people she loves the most.
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And here's the part most high-capacity women and men struggle with. Sometimes, the greatest threat to your joy isn't the bad things, it's the many good things. Too many good things dilute your energy, divide your attention, drown out the voice of God and steal time from the people you love.
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Simplicity then becomes a sacred act of alignment. Let me say that again. Simplicity becomes a sacred act of alignment.
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When you release what no longer fits your season, even if it once brought joy, you make room for the deeper joy that comes from living connected, intentional, and aligned with who God has called you to be and the life that you want to live. That's why simplicity doesn't shrink your life. Simplicity amplifies it.
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It amplifies your creativity and your emotional bandwidth, your leadership presence, and your ability to hear God. It increases your patience with loved ones and your capacity for joy, as well as your sense of purpose. And not only that, it raises your level of peace.
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When you simplify, you don't lose joy. You gain access to a more meaningful, grounded, enduring joy, the kind that fuels your calling instead of draining you. Overwhelm, on the other hand, is usually caused by unclear priorities.
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You're doing too many good things instead of the essential things. And by unprotected boundaries, too much access, too many yeses, too many urgent requests running your life, by too many unmanaged commitments, all the unmade decisions, unfinished tasks, and lingering expectations weighing on your mind. And by unmet needs for rest and presence, you've normalized running on empty.
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Simplifying your life addresses all four. When you simplify, your nervous system calms, your capacity increases, your joy returns, and your clarity expands, and you begin to hear God again. So what are some simplifying shifts that you can do that create immediate space? Well, shift number one, from everything matters to only a few things matter most.
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Ask yourself daily, what actually matters most today? Not what's loudest, not what others expect, and certainly not what feels the most urgent, but what matters most, because joy grows when your priorities are clear. Shift number two, from saying yes automatically to saying yes intentionally. You don't need to justify your boundaries.
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A boundary isn't rejection, it's protection. Instead, you could say things like, let me get back to you on that, or that doesn't fit my capacity right now, or even I just can't commit, but thank you for thinking of me. Every time you say no to something outside of your purpose, you say yes to your mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
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Shift number three, from constant motion to strategic margin. White space isn't wasted time. It's the space where clarity, peace, and joy rise.
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Margin allows you to recover emotionally and to hear God's whispers in your heart. Margin allows you to think clearly, to respond with intention, and to show up with joy instead of resentment. You don't need an empty life, but you do need an uncluttered life.
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So, what are some practical steps to simplify your schedule and your soul? You know I love giving you some practical tips. So, practice number one, the weekly stop doing list. And keep in mind, I'm always preaching to myself.
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Practice one, the weekly stop doing list. Instead of asking, what do I need to add? Ask, what needs to be removed? A commitment, a habit, a role you've outgrown, an expectation that no longer aligns with your calling. Release something every week, if at all possible.
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This aligns with the PQO principle, or Prolific Quality Output, focusing on what truly moves the needle in your life and letting go of the rest. Practice number two, build one margin block every day. Choose 10 or 20 minutes of unstructured time daily, with no agenda, no productivity goal, and just breathe, quiet, or have a slow moment with God.
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Margin expands joy. Now, this practice supports the idea of creating space for clarity and energy. And truly, it's an essential component for high performance.
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Practice number three, choose one joy yes and one joy no each morning. Ask, what is one thing I will do today that brings joy? And, what is one thing I will not carry today? Joy amplifies when it has room to show up. This practice truly does encourage intentionality, which is a key aspect of maintaining focus on your PQO, Prolific Quality Output.
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Practice four, simplify your inner world. Unmade decisions clutter your mind. So, choose one unresolved thing and finish it.
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Go ahead and send the email, make the phone call, cancel the subscription, or decline the invitation. Make a decision you've been postponing. Every completed decision returns a slice of peace to your soul.
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This aligns with the habit of seeking clarity, helping you maintain mental space for what really does matter. When you simplify your schedule, you amplify your presence, patience, joy, leadership, your clarity, and emotional resilience, as well as your connection with God. Simplicity makes your life spacious again, and in spacious places, joy grows beautifully.
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So, before you rush into the rest of your day, take a breath. God is not asking you to carry everything or to say yes to everything. God doesn't want you to live breathless, joyless, or exhausted.
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Not at all. Instead, God's inviting you into a spacious place because joy rises in spacious places. You're going to get tired of hearing me say that, but it's true.
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Joy rises in spacious places. You deserve a life where joy isn't squeezed out by chaos, but supported by simplicity. Will you let me pray for you? Oh, gracious and loving God, thank you for inviting us into simplicity, for showing us that we don't need to carry every burden or commitment.
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For everyone who is listening, every woman, every man, make life spacious again, and thank you for knowing each and every one. Give to each the courage to release what no longer serves them, and the clarity to see what matters most. Give them the peace that comes from living aligned with your purpose.
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Help them to create margin and to protect their boundaries, to rediscover the joy that grows in those quiet places. Thank you, God, for guiding each listener into a life where simplicity amplifies everything beautiful. Guide and protect their hearts, oh God.
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In the powerful name of the resurrected Christ, we pray. Amen. Next week, I'll continue the Joy Reset series with an episode called The Power of Gentle Rhythms.
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How small, consistent practices build a joy-filled life. If you haven't subscribed yet to Goals and Grace, I hope you'll do so today so you never miss an episode. And if this message has blessed you, I hope you'll share it with a friend who could use a little spaciousness and joy.
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Don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. I'd love for you to reach out to me and let me know what resonates with you and how I can pray specifically for you this season. Remember, when you simplify your world, you amplify the voice of God and the joy God has already given within you.
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By embracing simplicity, you not only create space for spiritual growth, but you also elevate your performance in every aspect of your life. High performance isn't just about doing more, it's about aligning your action with what truly matters. Until next time, my friend, God bless.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
