If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything and still falling behind, you’re not alone. That never-ending to-do list that only seems to grow? The exhaustion that follows you into every morning? That’s not a personal failure. It’s the result of a culture that handed you a broken definition of productivity, and expected you to just live with it.
Nicole Kehl is challenging that definition head-on in a brand new podcast series, and the intro episode alone is worth your time.
The Hustle Culture Trap
Here in the United States, especially in the accounting industry, productivity has historically meant one thing: more. More hours. More output. More pressure. If you’ve worked in public accounting or corporate accounting for any stretch of time, you know exactly what this culture feels like. It’s baked in.
But here’s the problem. Working more doesn’t mean working well. And for moms building practices while raising families, the “just work harder” approach tends to collapse fast.
Nicole experienced this firsthand. When she was a stay-at-home mom building her firm from scratch, she started staying up later and later to get work done after the kids went to bed. The problem? She was already exhausted. She’d nod off at her desk, lose her place, jerk awake, and repeat. The work she thought she was doing wasn’t getting done. And in the mornings, her kids stopped waiting for her to get up. They went off to play alone. That was her wake-up call.
Not one dramatic moment, but a series of quiet ones that finally added up to: this isn’t working.
A Better Framework: Three Components of Real Productivity
So what does productivity actually look like? Nicole introduces three components she’ll be exploring over the course of the series.
The first is rhythm. Your body has natural peaks and dips in energy and focus. When are you sharpest? When do you think most clearly? Productive work means scheduling your most important tasks to match those windows, not fighting against your own biology.
The second is planning systems. Nicole calls these “existence systems,” and they serve one key purpose: capturing what needs to get done so it doesn’t fall through the cracks or take up mental space when you should be present with your family. The goal isn’t more structure for the sake of it. It’s a system that lets you be fully off when you’re off, and fully on when you’re on.
The third is integrity. And before you assume this is about honesty with others, Nicole reframes it entirely. In her upcoming episode on this topic, she connects integrity directly to productivity in a way that ties all three components together.
The Real Starting Point: Knowing What You Want
Before any system works, there’s a foundational step. Get clear on what you actually want. What matters to you? What does your life need to look like? What are your values?
Nicole says this step comes before everything else she’s ever talked about in her firm-building conversations. Because once you know what matters, you stop filling your hours with tasks that don’t move you toward it. You start saying no to clients who drain you. You start saying yes to the work that fits.
It doesn’t make every decision easy. But it makes the right choices clear.
This Series Is for You
If the word “productivity” makes you brace yourself for another lecture about doing more, this series is a welcome correction. Nicole isn’t here to add to your pile. She’s here to help you finally put the right things on it.
Ready to build a practice that works with your life, not against it? Connect with a community of women who get it at https://cpamoms.com/start.