Beyond Control, Perfectionism, And Overwhelm: An Interview with Francesca Paschetta

Francesca Paschetta realized that many women struggle with control, perfectionism, and overwhelm, just like she did in the past. For that reason, she became a productivity coach to help those women to release control, perfectionism, and overwhelm to accelerate their growth. Today, she shares with Mailbutler her productivity secrets and how women can achieve a successful work-life balance!

Hi Francesca! It is a great pleasure to interview you and get to know more about your job. In which moment did you decide to become a coach? 

I decided to become a coach in December/January 2018 when I saw my Instagram page about productivity was growing and people were resonating more and more with my tips and strategies. I didn’t really like my 9-5 at the time and I was open to exploring new opportunities. So I decided to give it a try and I started coaching clients for free, mainly some friends and acquaintances. I really liked it and I realized it’s what I wanted to do. I love productivity, performance, personal development and I love helping other people so it’s like the perfect career for me. 

It is great to work on something you really love! As a productivity coach, how do you help other people?

I help them shift their limiting beliefs, change their habits, and change their schedule and their actions as a result. We get to the root cause of why they can’t focus, make progress on a given project, get the results they want, stay consistent, and organized. And we make changes to their mindset, beliefs, schedule, habits, and strategies so that they can release unhealthy control patterns, overwhelm, and perfectionism to accelerate their growth, personally and professionally.

I work with them 1:1 and in groups so that they receive the personalized support and the accountability that they need to create a focused and empowered flow state that allow them to grow and reach their full potential. Working 1:1 is great because women really love and need a personalized approach when it comes to productivity.

And I have recently started a group membership program for success-driven women specifically where we have monthly training, coaching calls, workshops, and lots of community and connection there. Accountability plays a very important role in helping my clients as well as community and real human connection. It’s not just about the tools, productivity has a lot to do with mindset and beliefs too and that needs real guidance, mentorship, and community.

Sounds really interesting and helpful! In addition, your target group is composed of women that want to be successful. Why did you decide to focus just on them?

Yes, I decided to work specifically with women who are ambitious and driven by success in everything they do in their careers but also in their personal life. After one year of coaching and dozens of clients, plus my own personal journey, I have realized that many women struggle with control, perfectionism, and overwhelm, just like I did. And that is massively holding them back. They fall into the trap of the hustle and they work themselves to the ground because they don’t feel good enough. They are in “the hustle mentality” which leads to hours and hours of work that is mostly busy work and stress.

I am really passionate about helping other women become truly productive by creating what I call “a focused and empowered flow state”, balancing structure and flexibility and by doing what works for them specifically. You could call it “holistic productivity” because I strongly believe, especially as women, we need to follow our own natural rhythm, work WITH our natural needs instead of AGAINST them and create a productive flow that works for us personally.

At this point, we can add the tools and strategies that we like most, and that are truly helpful to us. I want to help those women who want to control things (in kind of an obsessive way) and make everything perfect because this comes from limiting beliefs, self-doubt, people-pleasing and fear… No tool can work if we don’t fix all of this first.

Oh, and burnout is another huge topic that is not talked about nearly enough. Whether it’s diagnosed or not, burnout is increasing every year and, having experienced burnout myself 5 years ago, I think we need to change the way we work and how we define success and achievement so that especially as women we can be productive and fulfilled, stay healthy and have thriving relationships while working on our goals and dreams. 

As you said, your goal is helping those women to release control, perfectionism, and overwhelm to accelerate their growth. What are your secrets to achieve it?

Great question! I have created a method to do that and it’s called the Empower & Flow Method. It’s based on 3 main pillars that are structure, flexibility, and empowerment. I work with women to overcome and shift their limiting beliefs and fears, become empowered, and find the right balance between structure and flexibility for them personally.

When they are in a state of empowerment, they find a balance between structure and flexibility in their work and personal life, they know how to tap into flow… There’s no more space for control, perfectionism, and overwhelm. The moment they feel that perfectionism or that urge to want to control everything… They have the tools to come back to be in flow, both emotionally and practically. 

And are there any common requirements from those women who need advice to be empowered?

Yes, they want to find a new way to be productive, fulfilled, and achieve their goals. They want to feel energized and in control in a healthy way again so they can be productive without feeling exhausted and keep taking action towards their goals consistently. They are really attracted to the concept of flow state and the idea of being truly balanced. In short, I would say flow state, preventing burnout and balance through holistic productivity are very common requests.

Alright! I saw that you also provide a guide and habit tracker to increase productivity from the moment you wake up. Could you tell us some tips about it?

Yes I do! And I have just released a new and updated version of that guide.

So first of all morning routines need to be crafted according to the individual. Too often I see people copy other people’s routines expecting the same results. But it’s not how it works. You need to pick a couple of activities that nourish your body, mind, and spirit so that you can start your day intentionally, with energy and positivity. Once you know what those are you need to create a habit and your routine needs to become something you “just do”, something you can stick to even on vacation and on weekends if you want to.

In my guide, I also provide a 21 day-habit tracker to create a habit and it’s been working so well for the people in my community! Just as an example of a sustainable and “feel good” morning routine to be productive and inflow from the morning, you could do yoga or light stretching, meditation, and journaling. And you can simply do 10 minutes of each! Simple, effective and sustainable.

Thank you for sharing your tips! What are your personal experiences that inspire you to give advice to other women?

Definitely my burnout and realizing that being controlling and a perfectionist wasn’t allowing me to achieve my next level of growth and success. I know many ambitious and success-driven women are very into structure and they leave very little space for flexibility, creativity, spontaneity, and flow. They are in the hustle mentality that I also fell into years ago. I think it’s effective and it can absolutely work and help you achieve great things, but the price to pay long-term is just not acceptable. This is how many women get burnt-out, what they do stops working and they start having health problems, their relationships are not so great, they become really unhappy even though they have achieved a lot.

You are absolutely right! On the other hand, you use holistic productivity systems and tools to take consistent action towards your goals. What are those systems and tools?

Yes! The holistic systems and tools I use are part of my method. They are called holistic because they are tailored to the individual. They are for example my goal planning process, the self-care menu, my scheduling process for each week and day. They include also planner templates and journal prompts, weekly and monthly review templates, and much more. It’s all very customized, that’s the most important thing! I will only recommend using a tool, a template, or a process if it matches the client’s personality, needs, and goals.

And is Mailbutler one of those tools you use to increase productivity?

I do! I use it now that I receive a lot of emails to help me manage my inbox easily. It works for me because it’s very easy to use and it has all the functionalities I was looking for. For example, I was looking for an effective way to remember to follow up with people and that’s something I can do with Mailbutler. And the possibility to create templates is also something I use a lot too. ?

I’m glad that you enjoy Mailbutler this way! And that’s everything, it has been a great pleasure to have this interview with you. Thank you and I wish you all the best, Francesca.

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