The Joy List: Your Key to Self-Care Artwork

Positively Living®: Shame-Free Productivity Conversations

The Positively LivingⓇ podcast is designed to help you prioritize your passions, personalize your approach to life, and achieve your goals without the burnout. If you're an overwhelmed multi-tasker, multi-passionate, people pleaser, creative, and/or caregiver, you'll love this mix of solo and special guest episodes. With topics like productivity, self-awareness, personal development, habits + systems, decluttering + organizing, positivity, stress management, trauma + grief, entrepreneurship, and more, you’ll find actionable advice, wrapped in humor and hope, dedicated to helping you do less, live more, and breathe easier.

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Positively Living®: Shame-Free Productivity Conversations

The Joy List: Your Key to Self-Care

January 19, 2026 • Lisa Zawrotny • Episode 297

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Many of us struggle with the guilt of taking time for ourselves, often viewing self-care as a luxury we can only afford once everything else is done. But here’s the truth: when we neglect ourselves, we welcome exhaustion, resentment, and burnout. This week, on episode 297 of the Positively LivingⓇ Podcast, I am continuing my special series guiding you through my Positively Productive Toolkit, with the key to self-care: the Joy List.

In this episode of the Positively LivingⓇ Podcast, I’m diving into my Joy List, reframing self-care not as an indulgence, but as essential maintenance for your mind and body, helping you map your way back to yourself through the science of positive emotions and the art of “compassionate productivity.”

Key takeaways:

Self-Care as Energy Maintenance: Why joy is a biological necessity to expand your mental lens, foster creativity, and help you recover from stress faster.
The Science of Nervous System Regulation: How small "glimmers" of joy act as cues to shift you out of "fight or flight" and into a state where you can solve problems with clarity.
The Overlap of Values and Joy: Whether you value connection, beauty, or freedom, identifying specific joyful activities makes your values tangible and actionable.
The Sliding-Scale Approach: Three levels of joy so you can practice self-care, no matter how busy you are.

Your joy is not a frivolous "extra", it’s the fuel that keeps you whole. This week, start by identifying three quick ways you can sprinkle joy into your day. Whether it’s listening to a favorite song or taking three deep breaths outside, notice how your energy shifts when you choose yourself.

Haven’t downloaded your Positively Productive Toolkit yet? You can find it at positivelyproductive.com/PLPKit

Learn more about Positively LivingⓇ and Lisa at https://positivelyproductive.com/podcast/

Stop trying to fit into someone else’s productivity rules! Grab my free Productivity Toolkit, a collection of workbooks designed to help you explore how you work, uncover what truly matters to you, and create your very own energy-friendly systems. Get it here: www.positivelyproductive.com/plpkit

CONNECT WITH LISA ZAWROTNY:

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

(Find links to books/gear on the Positively Productive Resources Page.)

Ep 241: Why Being Cozy Can Make You More Productive

Ep 204: Why Bringing Nature Inside Will Help You Focus Better with Kasey Riley

Ep 296: Core Values: A Foundation of Sustainable Productivity

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