How would your life change if you just gave yourself a bit more space?

I'm Maura Aronsmeli and this is the anxious achiever, the show that looks at the intersection of mental health,

leadership and work, and asks how can we do it all better?

Do you feel like a rubber band about to snap?

Would you like more capacity in your life? It's time to take some space. Productivity can be a

great thing. I love feeling like I got through my whole to-do list for the day and the house is

clean. I brought in some money. I am an anxious achiever after all. But I also know that deep down, the days when I'm running

around feeling like I never have a second to breathe are not great for my mental health or my

relationships and also for my leadership. I am not full and robust and present when I'm that rubber band that's about to

snap. Today, we're going to be speaking with researcher, professor, and author, Megan Rates,

about the idea of spaciousness. She says that there are two modes of

attention we need to be aware of, the doing mode and the spacious mode. And Rates says that relentless

focus on control and goals can actually make us act, well, a little stupid. So I speak with her about what it really means

to slow down, how it can improve our lives, and most important, how it's way more doable than we think.

So, Megan, I'm so grateful for your research.

And I'd love you first to define spaciousness for us.

Ah, yes, that's a good question.

And I'm not going to do it immediately.

Because it's kind of ironic with this topic because it's a very, it's a very important question.

But as soon as I as an expert and a researcher define spaciousness, I've already narrowed people's attention to the factors that I'm speaking about.

So just let me first say that where we've started with everybody and we still start,

and I start with groups and teams that I'm working with, is not with a definition, not with

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