Jen Dugard (00:00.504)
Hey, it's Jen Dugard here and welcome back to the Mumsafe Pro podcast. I'm coming to you with one of my solo episodes today. And today I wanna talk about those days. Not the days that you know that you've got this, the ones that you're smashing your to-do list, but the other ones. The days where you honestly don't feel like doing anything.
If you're a trainer working with moms or you want to be that go-to trainer in your community, you probably care a lot about what you do. You care about your clients, you care about their pelvic floors and their postnatal recovery and their long-term health. You probably even care about their children. You care about your business and you want it to work so much. And sometimes that's exactly why it all feels so hard, maybe even heavy because you care so much.
So in this episode, want to walk you through why those, I don't feel like doing anything days are actually really, really normal. The three main ways I see this show up for trainers and some practical ways to move through it gently, kindly, forward. As always, I'll share a bit of my own story, building body beyond baby, then creating safe return to exercise and mom safe. And what I've learned over the almost two decades of being in this industry, being a mom,
growing a business and humans at the same time, which as you know, is no mean feat. So if today feels like a, just can't do it kind of day, this episode is for you.
So let's start by naming what's going on. In my experience, both personally and from mentoring trainers across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Taiwan, and beyond those nothing in the tank days usually fall into one of three categories. First, we have the overwhelmed day.
Jen Dugard (01:58.446)
This is the day when your brain feels like a browser with 47 tabs open. If you've seen my browser, I probably have 47 tabs open at any given time. You're thinking about everything. You're thinking about the mum who's just coming back to you having had her six week checkup and she's nervous to come back. You're thinking about the client whose pelvic floor symptoms you're worried about or the fact that she's not yet booked an appointment with a pelvic health physio.
You're also thinking about the child that needs to be picked up early from school, the social media posts that you probably haven't scheduled, but you tell yourself you should have. Maybe you're thinking about the tax you haven't done or didn't account for. And then what's for dinner, which is pretty much my worst daily question of all time. Who made up the fact that we had to eat dinner every day? It's not that you don't care. It's that your care is spread so thin that today on this day, you can't start
anything. So you do things like scroll, maybe if you're working from home you potter around the house, you tidy something random, you rewrite the caption that didn't need to be rewritten and then you don't post the post and at the end of the day you feel like you've been busy but not productive. That's day number one. Day number two, this is the disheartened day. This is where you're doing all the work, you're showing up, you're posting, you're delivering amazing sessions to your community.
You're looking after your mom's, but it feels like nothing is moving fast enough. Maybe your classes aren't as full as you'd like them to be. And maybe you've launched something and it didn't sell out like you've hoped. We've all been there. In fact, I've been there very recently. Maybe you've been working on your business for years and you thought you'd be further ahead by now. That is a big one for me. And on those days, you can always start to think, what is the point? Is this even working?
You start to have a lack of self-confidence and you wonder if you're even cut out for this journey. They're really big questions. And when they hit in one go, it can feel easier to just shut down and do absolutely nothing.
Jen Dugard (04:09.505)
And the third scenario is the, feel like I'm kind of lost day. This one usually isn't about the volume of tasks. It's about direction. You've got time. Maybe your kids are at school or daycare and you've carved out one to two full days a week to work on or in your business, but you're not sure what to do with that time. You've got the ideas and maybe you've done a few courses. You've sat in on some master classes.
Googled things, you've got notes and Google Docs and, and chat GPT prompts and chat GPT plans. But when you sit down, you don't know which thing should come first. So you end up getting distracted, tinkering around the edges instead of taking focused action that moves you forward.
Jen Dugard (04:58.509)
Now I want you to know I don't sit here talking about this from some perfect, always motivated, always on pedestal, not at all. In fact today, a day full of podcast recordings I wanted to run and hide. I've been in the industry for over 17 years. I built Body Beyond Baby as a young mom myself. And from the outside, it might've looked like I had it all sorted. In fact, social media is a beautiful thing, isn't it?
We got to the point where we had full classes, we had a really strong brand, mums were showing up in parts of their prams, but it was a lot. There were plenty of days where I sat in my car before or after a session thinking, I don't know how to keep doing this in the way that I'm doing it. Not because I didn't love the work, but because the load felt really heavy. Running a business, being a mum, learning consistently so I could keep my mums turning up.
and experiencing safe and effective exercise. I'm feeling like I have to hold everything together. Then later when I sold Body Beyond Baby and started to put more of my energy into safe return to exercise and then mom safe, I went through a different version of those days. It wasn't about can I physically get to the park and coach these moms anymore? It was like, can I really grow this into the global movement that I can see in my head? Will anyone care? Will trainers get what I'm trying to build?
There were days back then where the vision felt huge and excited and days where it felt like I was pushing a boulder up a hill on my own. And to be completely honest, I still get those days. I still see this huge vision of what Mom's Safe can be and it is growing, but it's so big. The boulder gets bigger and there are definitely days where I just feel like I want to check out of it all.
I share this because sometimes as trainers, you look at people who are further along, bigger businesses, more reach, more impact. Maybe you think they've got more money and you assume that they don't have these days. You assume that somehow they just push through it all and get shit done, but they do. We all do. And I definitely still do. And the difference is since the difference isn't that those people feel motivated, motivated all the time. The difference that gets you from where you are today.
Jen Dugard (07:17.485)
any of those days is what to do they do on those days that they don't feel like doing the things. One of the biggest lessons I've learned and this shows up in how we support our Mumsafe trainers is that your business will not be built on motivation. Motivation is great when it's there, it's a good tailwind when you're running you get an extra push you feel lighter on your feet and you might go a little bit faster.
but you don't stand at the start line of a race and say, well, if the wind isn't perfect, I'm not running. You train, you show up, you put one foot in front of the other. Some days feel easier and some days feel hard and you keep going. Might be the same in a training session if you're not into running and your business is the same. What actually builds a sustainable, impactful fitness business for moms is clear foundations. Knowing who you serve.
how you help them and what you're offering is simple systems, a way to bring moms into your business, look after them and nurture them and then consistent small actions. The really unsexy stuff, it's updating your pre-exercise screening, it's checking in with clients, it's posting even when you don't feel like it. It's doing the next three to four actions on the days that you don't feel like doing it.
And then the other thing is the support and community, the people around you who get it. So, you know, you're not doing it on your own. These are the things that carry you on the days you don't feel like doing anything. It's not another fucking Instagram, inspirational Instagram post or quote. It's the structure that you've built in your business to keep going on the hard days. Let's get a little bit practical because I always love some practical action.
If you're listening to this on one of those hard days, I want you to be able to take what I'm about to share and literally use it today. So step number one, name the day. Don't shy away from it. Don't try and push the feelings down. Actually name what kind of day you're having. Ask yourself, am I feeling overwhelmed? Am I feeling disheartened or am I just lost right now? Doing this and naming the emotions and the feelings.
Jen Dugard (09:35.213)
takes you out of the I'm failing and into, I've got that feeling again. This is what's going on with me today. And it gives you something that you can work with. You could, if you wanted to, even try and say it out loud. Like today, I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I have a friend that checks in with me often and she'll ask me how I am and I'll tell her, today, I'm feeling emotional. Today, I'm feeling flat. Today, I'm feeling disheartened or a bit lost. It's just the state you're in right now.
It's often followed in that message with, and it'll be okay tomorrow. The next thing I want you to think about doing is regulating yourself. On really heavy days, we sometimes try and force ourselves to problem solve from a frazzled state. We sometimes go into judging ourselves about the feelings that we're feeling rather than acknowledging them and sitting in that space on that given day.
So before we go into judging or trying to fix, ourselves, give yourself a little bit of time to regulate. It might look like a short walk around the block with no podcast, no phone, just breathing. For you, could be a hot shower or cold shower, sitting with your coffee and journaling. I like to do that. I don't know about deck. Journal everything that's in your head. Or it could be a quick brain dump on paper. Here's everything I'm thinking about.
The point isn't necessarily to be in a meditative state or be super zen. It's to get yourself from spinning or judging into being karma so you can make better decisions.
Jen Dugard (11:13.184)
The next thing I want you to do is really think about what you're going to get done on that day. I'm going to call this the power of three. Now I work with this in a, on a weekly basis. I only ever allow myself to have three projects with five action points under each of those projects on any given week, but I'm going to zoom in and make it even more micro than that and call this the power of three. It's our tiny plan for the day that you feel like not doing anything.
I want you to then ask yourself, what are three things that if I get them done today will move me forward the most? Not 10 things, not your entire list on Trello or Monday or in your phone, just three.
You can put some structure around it if that if you want to, you can think about one thing for business foundations, one thing for visibility or connection, and then one thing to build your business.
Jen Dugard (12:22.516)
If you really need to get all of the things out of your head on an overwhelmed day, you can brain dump all of the things that you need to get done. And then you can take all of these things and look at what are the ones I must do today. And that can formulate your power of three list.
Jen Dugard (13:11.422)
Now, for those of you that are feeling overwhelmed, it's an overwhelmed day. You've probably got a long list of things that you need to get done or you think you need to get done. This is where I want you to triage. Take the brain dump or the to-do list and sort it into three columns. The columns are must do today, should do this week or could do later on. Be really, really honest with yourself because most of the things you're stressing about
probably don't belong in the must do today list. Often the only true musts are sessions you've already committed to. So you've got to show up for your clients, anything like taking a payment or replying to a client and maybe one or two key business actions. Everything else becomes a should or could do. If you're having regular overwhelmed days, start to do this more often.
You start to see how much pressure you've been putting on yourself to do everything right now. And you realize that you can still build an incredible business by doing the important things consistently, but not all of the things all at once. And when we start to figure out what needs to be done in what kind of cadence we can start to create a, a list and a knowledge of what needs to be done on what day. we don't constantly feel like so much has to be done.
all of the time. The other thing I want you to think about is to zoom out a little bit. If you're feeling lost or disheartened, maybe you're in a season of life that is not supporting you to move forward in your business in a big way right now. Inside Mumsafe we definitely talk a lot about the different stages of a training journey, a trainer's journey.
Jen Dugard (15:05.523)
Inside Mumsafe we're very very aware of the different life phases that you are going to be in whether that's from being at the start of your fitness business journey where everything feels overwhelming to whether you've just had babies or your babies are older understanding the season of life that you're in can really help you on those days that you're overwhelmed or disconnected or just not feeling it.
to really take into consideration your whole life and not only your business.
Jen Dugard (15:43.946)
And given the season of life that you're in, what actually matters most for you at that time? If you're juggling little kids and trying to do everything, maybe this is a foundation season. Maybe it's the stage where you're putting the things into place that are going to help you to leverage when you have more time available to you. You've got to build those solid foundation blocks. Some of the best mom safe trainers, businesses I've seen.
are the ones that started laying the foundations before they had the capacity to build the big business. And then when they did have more capacity, the foundations were already laid and then they got to start to build the beautiful fancy house on top of some very strong foundations that had been built over time.
Jen Dugard (16:38.507)
I think also on these days, it's really important. Also on these days, it's really important that you remember that you are not alone. Community is so incredibly important. We're not designed to build business or to parent on our own. Mums aren't designed to mum on their own. Trainers aren't designed to train.
on their own as business owners. And it's one of the reasons I created MumSafe because I could see trainers out there trying to figure it all out solo, trying to figure out the research and the education, trying to make the right decisions for their clients, trying to build sustainable businesses for mums without anyone to bounce ideas off, especially anyone who actually gets it.
So on the days you don't feel like doing anything, I want you to lean in, challenge yourself to lean in to the community that you're in rather than pull away. For those of you that are listening and you are Mumsafe trainers, or maybe you're part of other groups out there, it means posting honestly in those community groups about the data you're having, reaching out to that one person in the group that you have connection with, relistening to a masterclass or a podcast episode that you know really connected with you.
It could be reaching out to another trainer or pelvic health physio and saying, Hey, can we just, can I talk things through? Remember you don't need to have to be perfect and on top of everything all the time to be a really, really great trainer, but you must keep coming back and you must keep connecting with what you do and keep taking those small consistent steps. Even on the tricky days. I want to talk for a moment about how mom safe sits inside everything I have shared.
not as a magic fix or a complete solution, but as part of the structure underneath you. When you become a Mumsafe trainer, you're not only doing a course and then being left on your own. Safe Return to Exercise, our pre and postnatal certification gives you the education and the framework to look after your mums safely and effectively. Mumsafe is then about what happens after that. Mumsafe gives you a community of other trainers or exercise professionals who totally get it.
Jen Dugard (18:51.701)
They understand what it's like to juggle kids life and a business, a business that you're really passionate about. It gives you ongoing education masterclasses, updates, conversations, templates, systems. So you're not trying to keep up with all the research and things like that on your own. And it gives you that business support so that on those, I don't know what to do next days. They're less about guessing and more about following a clear path or doing the next masterclass in the stage of the business that you're up to.
Because what I want for you is the same as what I want for every single mum. For mums, I want them to move safely, feel strong and feel supported and never have to say, why did nobody tell me? And for you, the trainer, I really want your business to feel aligned with your life, to be sustainable and supportive, not like something you're consistently failing at. So if you're listening to this and recognizing yourself in any of these scenarios, I want you to know.
You're exactly who I built MomSafe for. You're not behind in your journey. You're not failing when you have a day that you don't feel like doing things. And you're definitely not the only person having a day like today. And you can absolutely create a business that supports both you and your moms. So if today is a, don't feel like doing anything day, here's what I'd love you to take from this episode. Nothing's gone wrong.
These days are really normal. It doesn't mean that you're not cut out for this journey. It means maybe you're overwhelmed, maybe you're disheartened, or maybe you're feeling a little bit lost. Remember to check in on the season that you're in. Stop comparing yourself to people in a different stage and decide what actually matters for you right now. Remember not to isolate yourself, reach out, lean on your community, and to remember there are...
structures like MAMSafe to support you if you choose.
Jen Dugard (20:54.396)
If you want a little nudge from me today, grab a piece of paper or open a note on your phone right at the top. Today I will and jot down those three things, three things that you're going to get done today. And that's it. That's all you have to do. And then you just go about doing those three things. I often find on some of my most overwhelmed, unfocused or lost days by just doing those three things.
They become some of the most productive days I've had in my business because I don't have the capacity to be flipping from one thing to another. I have to focus on the task at hand and even better some days once I've done those three, I'm then able to move on and do more things because I took a lot of the brain power out of what I was trying to get done and just did the things.
If you found this episode helpful, I'd love you to do two things. Number one, share it with a trainer who might be having one of those days. Sometimes hearing that somebody else gets it can make such a massive difference. Second, if you're curious about becoming a mom safe trainer or learning more about safe return to exercise, head over to Instagram and shoot me a DM. At the moment we are running mom safe info sessions so you can really have a look.
the inside of what mom safe is lift the lid and see if it could be the right community for you and if you want to complete your safe return to exercise in the end of 2025 or the start of 2026 shoot me a message and I will help you out until next time just do those three little things and I'll talk to you soon.
