Aligned Action: How to Do Less and Achieve More - Part 1

Shift from Busy to Aligned: Achieve More by Doing Less

In this episode of 'Reclaiming Me,' host Ariana Reinhart discusses the concept of aligned action — actions driven by clarity, intuition, and trust rather than pressure or panic. 

She shares personal anecdotes about how slowing down and listening to oneself can lead to more effective and fulfilling outcomes. Ariana introduces a three-step process...pause, connect, act...to help listeners shift from busy action to aligned action. 

She emphasizes the importance of rest and self-trust, and prepares listeners for tomorrow's episode featuring Rosalyn Fung, an expert in achieving more with less effort.

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Transcript

Ariana: 0:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you did less but somehow achieved more? Where everything just flowed with ease and you thought, why can't it always feel like this? Today we're talking about aligned action, the kind of action that comes from clarity, intuition, and trust, not from pressure or panic. Because when you act from alignment, results come with ease. This episode is gonna be short and sweet because tomorrow I have an incredible, inspiring guest coming on to speak about achieving more by doing less. She recently gave a presentation on this exact topic, and I'm so sad I couldn't make it, so I'm really excited to have her here on the show. I'll give you more details on this later. Now it's time to grab your favorite drink. Settle in and let's get started. You are not too much. You are not too sensitive. You are not too late. Welcome to Reclaiming Me, the podcast for the woman who's ready to stop shrinking and start coming home to herself. Whether you're driving home from another long shift, walking your dog under a quiet sky, or trying to outrun the voice that says you're not enough, this space is for you. I'm your host, Ariana Reinhart, speaker, coach, and your guide on this journey of undoing the noise, shedding the pressure, and rising into who you were always meant to be. This show explores what it really means to heal from toxic patterns, rebuild your confidence, and reclaim the love and life you actually deserve. Here we talk self-worth, healing, boundaries, power, and the sacred process of becoming. Because you were never meant to fit in. You're on the journey back to who you were before the world told you who to be. This is your invitation. Let's begin. There have been many seasons in my life where I was constantly doing. Always moving, always trying to keep up. Saying yes, even when my body was tired and my heart was quietly asking for rest. In fact, I recently went through this again. And from the outside it probably looked like I was handling everything, but internally I felt worn down and disconnected from myself. I was giving so much, yet something felt off. Like all of that effort wasn't actually bringing me closer to the life or the peace that I wanted. I reached a point where I just couldn't force my way through anymore. It wasn't dramatic, just a quiet realization that something had to change. So I paused. I slowed down. I stopped pushing myself to show up in ways that didn't feel true to me. I started listening. I chose one honest conversation, one intentional moment, one decision rooted in what felt aligned instead of what felt expected. In fact, just this past week, I had to ask to pause some of what I had committed to in order to regain my footing and come back to myself. I had been so overwhelmed that I felt completely lost. And because I'd been pushing too hard, I got sick. But in the stillness, things are beginning to shift. I feel more present, more grounded, more connected to myself. Life is starting to feel like it has a natural rhythm again, rather than just chaos. Not because I'm doing more, but because I'm finally giving myself permission to just be with myself and to honor what my body needs. It took a few days of just resting and doing absolutely nothing, even though I felt guilty for it. I wanted, I felt like I needed to do something, but I knew that my body needed the rest. I knew that my mind needed the rest. And the key is burnout often happens because our mind is constantly going and we're constantly, oh, what's that word? Um, ruminating on things or we're worrying about things in the future that haven't even happened yet. Burnout often, a lot of the time isn't physical. It's because our mind never stops running. And so often we push ourselves to do more because we think that that's what's gonna propel us forward. But once again, I needed to remind myself that it's not about doing more, it's about doing what matters most. As you're listening to this, I want you to gently ask yourself, where in your life are you forcing when you could rest? Where are you saying yes out of habit instead of truth? And what might shift if you gave yourself permission to slow down and listen to what you actually need? Now there's a distinct difference between busy action versus aligned action. In North America, we are taught to be in like a constant state of doing, or else we're considered to be lazy. So we're always adding another thing to our plate, and we say yes to things before we actually check in with whether or not we want to do that thing. We tend to fill quiet moments with another task, another responsibility, another way to prove that we're trying hard enough. And somewhere along the way, being busy begins to feel safe to us. Like if we stay in motion, we won't have to slow down and feel what's really there beneath the surface. We won't have to sit with our feelings and our emotions. We won't have to get in touch with the part of us that feels lonely and wants nothing more than to be loved. But if we don't take the time to honor and move through these emotions, they will continue to build until they're ready to come out in an explosive way. That void will never be filled until we hold love and space for it ourselves. I'm gonna say that again. That void will never be filled until we hold love and space for it ourselves. Because when we're in the frame of mind of keeping ourselves busy, that action isn't coming from clarity or desire. It's coming from fear. The fear that we might fall behind, that we're not as far along as our peers. Fear of disappointing people. Fear of being seen as lazy or incapable, or not enough. That kind of action is reactive. It's rushed. It's driven by pressure and comparison, and a quiet belief that rest or stillness means you're failing. Busy action sounds like I should do this because I haven't done enough, or I can't stop now because everyone else is gaining momentum. It keeps you constantly reaching, constantly striving, constantly adding, without ever asking if any of it actually feels right. Aligned action feels very different in the body. It comes from a place of clarity and self-trust. It's slower, more intentional and rooted in purpose instead of pressure. Aligned action sounds like this feels true for me right now, or I'm being guided to move in this way today, to make this decision today. It doesn't need to prove anything. It simply flows. I noticed the shift when I stopped forcing myself to do things out of obligation and started listening to what felt alive within me. Instead of acting because I thought I should, I began acting because something genuinely wanted to move through me. Because I felt gently guided to make that move. It felt right. And what surprised me the most was how much lighter everything felt, how much more ease showed up, how much more I received without pushing. Things just started flowing, and I was in a state to receive. The truth is when you move from busy action to aligned action, you move from striving to receiving. You stop chasing worth through external validation, and you start recognizing it within yourself. You realize that you don't have to do more to be enough. You just have to listen to the creative force within you. And if you're the woman who feels like she has to keep adding and keep pushing, keep going, I want you to know this. You are not failing. And you don't need to earn your rest or your worth. Sometimes the most powerful thing that you can do is pause and ask yourself, is this coming from fear or is this coming from truth? Or tuning in and asking What is my next right move? Those questions can change everything. So I'm gonna share with you a three step process, which is pause, connect, act. So step one is to pause. When you're presented with something, before rushing into action, I want you to take a moment to breathe and ask yourself, am I doing this from pressure or from purpose? And you can always get back to someone before you answer. You don't have to answer immediately. You can ask them to take some time to think about it or to tune in with how it feels for you. That is perfectly okay to do. Because sometimes we feel one thing in the moment, but then we end up realizing as we sit there with it that it doesn't actually align. So breathe, pause, and ask yourself, am I doing this from pressure or from purpose? Step two is to connect. Check in with your intuition. What feels light, exciting or expansive? That's your inner guidance, pointing you toward alignment. If it doesn't feel right, if you get an off feeling about it, don't do it. That's your body, that's your intuition telling you something. It's giving you information. Although sometimes things can feel a bit scary for us, even though there's still the right move, even though they're still aligned. So it's important to distinguish if it's your intuition telling, you no, or if it's fear being like, oh my God, this is scary. This is new for me. I don't know if I should do it. Those are very two very distinct feelings. And you need to learn how they feel in your body. And then step three is act. Take the next step that feels right, even if it's small. It can be very, very small. But those small steps lead to big changes. And aligned action isn't about doing everything, it's about doing the right thing. When you take one aligned step, the next one always reveals itself. I've learned that alignment often shows up in really quiet, ordinary moments, not big, dramatic decisions. It's in the small choices we make every day when we actually pause long enough to listen to ourselves. It looks like saying no to something that looks good on the outside, even though a part of you feels guilty for turning it down. Choosing to trust that just because something is available doesn't mean it's meant for you. Sometimes the universe puts like decoys or tests in our path to see how serious we are about our goal or about what we want. And we often will just like clinging on to that thing, even though it's not right, because we're scared that the right thing isn't gonna come. But it's about having that trust that the right thing is on its way to you. And aligned action looks like pulling back instead of pushing. Maybe it's sharing less, speaking only when you actually have something that feels true to say. Instead of forcing yourself to show up, just to prove you're doing enough. It looks like choosing what lights you up, even if it doesn't make logical sense yet. And a lot of the times the thing that you're called to do does not make logical sense to you at first. It means follow the ideas and directions that excite you rather than the ones you think you're supposed to want or that you think will earn approval. Sometimes alignment is as simple as giving yourself permission to rest. Taking a day to slow down, to breathe, to recharge, because you finally recognize that your energy is not something to drain or sacrifice. It's something to protect and honor. Aligned action feels nourishing. It feels expansive instead of depleting you. These choices don't always make sense to other people, but that doesn't matter. They bring you back into relationship with yourself, and that's where everything begins to shift. When you act from alignment, you stop chasing results and you start attracting them. Things become magnetized to you. You don't have to do more to achieve more. You just have to trust yourself enough to do what feels right. Okay. For our self-worth shift today, I want you to close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and reflect on this. What would my life look like if I only agreed to What feels aligned for me? What would my life look like if I only agreed to what feels aligned for me? I would love to hear from you. What's one aligned action that you're going to take this week? Share it on Instagram, tag me at balancedsoulawakening, and let's celebrate doing less and achieving more together. And tomorrow we're gonna be delving deeper into how to achieve more with Less effort with the bold, fabulous Rosalyn Fung. Rosalyn is such an inspiration to me, and I love how unapologetically herself she is, even if people are repelled by her energy. Ros used to be a psychologist. She switched her career to become a self-love coach and then pivoted again to become a transformational leadership business coach and spiritual guide. I met Ros years ago and I was instantly drawn to her energy. She is truly a powerhouse. She's a public speaker, a coach, a bestselling author, and she's been featured on CBC, Fox, City tv and TEDx, just to name a few. There's many more. As I previously mentioned, Ros recently did a presentation on how to achieve more with less effort, where she shared how she helps people create their desired results in life, relationships, and business. And how and why she can guarantee results in as little as one month. Through her work, she teaches others how to have more success in business, life and relationships. She helps them to release old patterns and trauma in minutes without having to talk about it, and she does so much more. Like she is truly incredible. Whether you want to achieve your goals, lose weight, make more money, have a better relationship, she's someone that you can turn to. And tomorrow she's gonna be jumping on to share her wisdom with all of us. It's gonna be spicy, so I highly recommend tuning in. I am so excited. You are not too much, you are not behind, you are not broken. You are worthy, you are whole, and you are already everything you're seeking. This is reclaiming me. Until next time. Be gentle, be bold, be you.