E43 - Are You Planning Your Writing As If Life Won’t Interfere?

Episode Summary:

In this deeply personal episode, I reflect on what happens when we plan our writing — and our lives — as if nothing will ever interfere. I entered 2025 with ambitious goals, only to watch every single one fall apart. Chronic health struggles, nervous system breakdown, unresolved trauma, and the long-term impact of living with PCOS forced me to confront a hard truth: I had been planning like a machine, not a human.

This episode questions hustle culture, productivity obsession, and the illusion of control. What if our plans worked with Life instead of against it?

Key Points Discussed:

• The illusion of invincibility in goal-setting
• How over-planning can dysregulate your nervous system
• PCOS, chronic stress, and the body as a messenger
• Why hustle culture ignores human transition time
• The hidden time costs between tasks (exercise example)
• How overbooking becomes a form of self-worth validation
• Healing before productivity
• Co-creating plans with Life instead of controlling it

Takeaways:

• Build buffer time into your schedule.
• Plan for transitions, not just tasks.
• Your health is not an inconvenience — it’s information.
• Discipline without compassion leads to burnout.
• Ambition doesn’t need self-punishment attached to it.
• Life’s interruptions may be redirections.
• Sustainable creativity requires nervous system safety.

Ask yourself: Are you planning as a machine — or as a living, breathing human?

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A Rubina’s Bojra Production

Directed, produced, written, and hosted by Rubina Gauri Gomes

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"Happy Lazy Loop" by Serge Quadrado⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (At Adobe Stock)

Audio-visual edited and marketed by Rubina Gauri Gomes

Fueled by coffee ☕ and made with love for fellow writers and creatives 🤍

About Podcast -

Welcome to Becoming A Writer, where writing inspiration is served fresh in 20 minutes or less, every 4th Saturday.

One big lesson to learn as writers - it’s not just about publishing a book—it’s about becoming a writer who writes for life. There’s plenty of advice out there on how to write and publish, but not much about how to be a writer—how to love the process and grow into it. Once you figured that out, you will never stop writing.

This podcast is here to help you explore, experiment with, and express your writer self. Writing can be fun, fulfilling, and a lifelong joy—and your books deserve the writer you’re meant to be.

About Me -

I’m Rubina Gauri Gomes, a multi-genre writer exploring mystery, suspense, and the creative life.

I encourage writers to pursue their passion through my podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Becoming A Writer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

I have authored ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soul Writer vs. Social Writer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a guide to discovering and embracing both the introspective Soul Writer and the engaging Social Writer within you, helping you balance these aspects for a more fulfilling writing journey.