The Chanel Rule for Your Calendar and Other Habits That Save You

Feel like your calendar is running your life?

That’s not just scheduling, it’s survival mode. And according to psychotherapist Israa Nasir on The Tamsen Show, it’s the signature of toxic productivity: overcommitting, overdoing, and slowly disconnecting from joy.

But small shifts done consistently can rewire everything.

Here are the three tools Israa teaches her clients to start with:

1. Five Minutes of Nothing

No phone. No podcast. No planning. Just five minutes every morning to sit, breathe, and do nothing. It resets your overstimulated brain and reminds your body what safety feels like. “It’s the habit of being unstimulated,” Israa said. “And it starts to change how you relate to time.”

2. The Chanel Rule

Inspired by Coco Chanel’s advice to take one accessory off before leaving the house, this rule applies to your schedule: Take one thing off your calendar every week. It teaches you to undercommit, rather than overpromise. And it’s how you start creating white space for yourself, without guilt.

3. The Time-Energy Audit

Write down everything you did for the past 3 weeks. Then ask yourself:

• How did I feel before and after?
  
  
• Did I have to be the one to do this?
  
  
• What would’ve happened if I didn’t do it or didn’t do it perfectly?

The answers will show you where your energy is leaking and where you’re carrying invisible labor that could be shared, delayed, or dropped entirely.

“We all have legacy commitments on our calendar that no longer serve us,” Israa said. “It’s okay to let them go.”

You don’t have to quit your job or move to a mountaintop. You just need to start reclaiming one breath, one block of time, one “no” at a time.

Listen to the full episode of The Tamsen Show for more tools to release the pressure.