Plan Simple with Mia Moran

Hosted by Mia Moran

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300

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Jul 2026

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About the show

Bestselling author and life coach Mia Moran serves up the Plan Simple Podcast for women who want to ditch overwhelm and wear all their hats with ease. Listen for inspirational interviews, informative workshops, and really practical planning strategies, so that following through becomes easy and joyful! We look at all aspects of life —food, health, motherhood, relationships, home, spirituality, productivity, entrepreneurship, and more — so that your whole self feels supported.

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60 recent

August 13, 20261 hr 2 min

Using Assessments to Grow with Christina Giammalva

“Assessment is a hue of understanding, not a frame of understanding.” –Christina Giammalva I LOVE a good assessment. They can be so useful in helping us understand ourselves and work with our own strengths or rhythms. On the flip side, if not used well, the results and reports can become more noise or even box us in. So what do we make of assessments and how can they help us? Let’s dive in with Christina Giammalva, therapist and coach, who uses assessments regularly with clients and helped write about assessments for the most recent issue of Pause Magazine. We talk about: Difference between Myers–Briggs types Root fears identified in the Enneagram Comparing people with the same responses on one assessment and different responses on another Finding comfort in understanding how we are and working better with others by understanding we aren’t all the same Understanding attachment theory and wondering if we are enough The idea of self-acceptance, not self-improvement ABOUT CHRISTINA Christina Giammalva is a Somatic Counselor helping individuals from around the world reach new levels of inner calm. Through revealing the connections between the mind and body, she’s devoted to helping clients address deep-rooted issues that cause anxiety, stress, depression and other health-related struggles. LINKS https://www.christinagiammalva.com/ https://www.instagram.com/cfgiammalva/ Pause Magazine, Issue 5 DOABLE CHANGES At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is how change happens. Often we feel like our actions have to be huge to match the bigness of our desires, but we have seen over and over and over again that the little things add up. By stacking up a series of Doable Changes, you will create that big change that you crave. Choose the one that really resonates with you this week and really make it part of your life. Here are Three Doable Changes from this conversation: TRY AN ASSESSMENT. If you haven’t taken the Myers-Briggs or Enneagram or Attachment Theory, pick one to try. Don’t overthink the questions as you answer. Read the basics about your results. Write down any ahas you have about yourself. CONNECT IDEAS. Try taking more than one assessment. What information do you find showing up in different ways? What intrigues you from each? WORK WITH WHAT YOU LEARN. Understanding how you are wired — and how others are — can be useful. Teams often take similar assessments to understand how members operate. This can help with interpersonal dynamics. Christina found recognizing that her children were wired differently from her helped her mother them. If you have someone you live or work with willing to take the test and share results, discuss what you learn and one thing you might try to change to improve the way you communicate or work together.

July 30, 202656 min

Journaling with Minette Riordan

“How do I hold on to the beauty and the joy of my everyday life? In a journal.” –Minette Riordan Let’s throw out the rule on journaling and open up to curiosity. I’m really excited to talk with creative guide Minette Riordan about how journaling helps her capture joy and balance all the things. For Minette, journaling is about connection to the self and understanding how to really pay attention and listen to how you are today. And there are lots of ways in including using stickers, colors, images, whatever helps you meet yourself on the page. If you’ve struggled with morning pages or find your words drying up or perfectionism creeping on to the page, let’s take another look at magic of putting pen to paper. And if you love journaling, tune in for more ideas to deepen your practice. We talk about: Perfectionism and not editing yourself as you go Using your journal as a playground for new ideas or to check in on your inner battery How writing things down helps us identify patterns Using a question as a point of entry. Accepting that whatever you put on the page — three words, a tiny sketch — it counts How to create a 100 day project you can stick with ABOUT MINETTE Minette Riordan, Ph.D. is the creative guide women over 50 turn to when they feel lost, stuck, or uncertain about what comes next and are ready to reclaim purpose, creativity, and meaning in the second half of life. A teacher, artist, writer, and expressive arts facilitator, Minette combines storytelling, journaling, intuitive art, and mythic wisdom to help women reconnect with the parts of themselves they may have set aside while caring for others, building careers, and meeting life’s many demands. Through her workshops, retreats, online programs, and the Sisterhood of Wisdom and Wonder, she guides women to become the Queen of Their Own Damn Story and design lives filled with greater authenticity, joy, and purpose. Minette holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and is an award-winning entrepreneur who has spent more than two decades helping others navigate meaningful personal and professional transformation. She lives in Loveland with her husband Brad, where she paints whimsical animals, drinks strong coffee, and remains endlessly inspired by stories, nature, and the creative process. LINKS https://www.minetteriordan.com/ https://www.instagram.com/drminetteriordan/ https://www.facebook.com/DrMinetteRiordan/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/minetteriordan/ https://www.youtube.com/@drminetteriordan Pause Magazine, issue 5 DOABLE CHANGES At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Change comes from action. Doable changes are things that you can add into your life, one at a time to make micro shifts and really create a ripple effect that will create a big change over time. Choose one that really piques your interest and roll with it. Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation: START WITH A QUESTION. If you are often stuck looking a blank page or simply grumbling on the page, try starting with a question. Some ideas: What matters now? What are my core values? What does freedom look like for me? How do I want to spend my time, my energy, and my money in the years remaining? Or even start with What questions do I want to be asking myself? ADD COLOR. Sometimes it takes a while to get into our words or ideas. Sometimes we can express ourselves better with color. Try adding color to your page, a wash of paint, a crayon scribble. Does it express how you feel? Does it open a new door? HOLD DAILY LIGHTLY. Play with consistency and commitment in a 100 day journaling project. What does it look like of you batch journal for three days to deal with travel? What does it look like if you skip a prompt that doesn’t apply or appeal to you? How can you commit and flex and see what happens when you show up consistently?

July 23, 202639 min

How Slowing Down Creates Momentum with Thuy Dam

In this episode, I’m talking with FLOW365 member Thuy about building a business that honors her health, creativity, spirituality, and life as a mother. Thuy’s business has taken many forms, from spray tanning and teeth whitening to face reading, space clearing, and tea ceremonies. Instead of forcing herself to choose one perfect path, she is learning how to bring all the pieces together while focusing on the actions that create income now. We talk about why rest is power, how slowing down can help you move faster, and what happens when you create spaciousness without losing momentum. Thuy also shares how planning, community, and loving accountability have helped her stop spiraling, trust her intuition, take massive action, and build a rich life alongside a growing business. This conversation is a beautiful reminder that your health and lifestyle do not have to compete with your ambition. Sometimes they are the very things that make your next level possible. If this peaks your interest about FLOW365, let's talk: https://plansimple.com/flow365

July 22, 202628 min

Loneliness Takes Time: Why the Village Is Part of the Plan

Quick Wednesday, extra episode on why I'm so passionate about the concept of a village. And how both a range of women and small intimate groups help with followthrough.

July 22, 202651 min

From Resistance to Momentum: How a Spiritual Entrepreneur Is Growing Her Business and Her Life

What happens when you have meaningful work to share, but resistance keeps getting in the way of putting it into the world? When Cathy Towle joined FLOW365, she was trying to grow her work as a shaman, medium, and spiritual entrepreneur. She had decades of experience, deep wisdom, and plenty of business knowledge, but she was struggling to translate it all into consistent action. In this conversation, Cathy shares how planning, accountability, and being supported inside a community helped her move forward without forcing herself to follow someone else’s formula. As she kept showing up, imperfectly, her resistance began to soften. She filled her private practice, created systems that made her business easier to run, found clearer language for her work, and made more room for creativity, health, family, and the rest of her life. We talk about: Why experienced women can still feel like beginners in a new season The relationship between willingness, imperfect action, and momentum How structure can support intuitive and creative work Why we need a container that allows us to be honest about where we’re stuck Growing a business while navigating caregiving and real life What becomes possible when you stop trying to do it perfectly This is a conversation about trusting yourself, allowing your path to unfold, and finding a way of planning and following through that actually feels like your own. Interested in FLOW365? Learn more at https://plansimple.com/flow365

July 20, 202633 min

Have It All, Step 3: Stop Doing It Alone

What if the reason follow-through feels so hard isn’t the task itself—but how lonely it feels to become someone new? In the final episode of this three-part series, I’m sharing what feminine follow-through really looks like: coming back into balance, remembering what matters to your future self, taking the next loving step, and getting the support you need. I’ll share why a village matters, how support helped one FLOW365 member keep growing her business during a demanding season at home, and how this process has helped me continue creating through one of the most challenging years of my life. We were never meant to hold the dream, make the plan, and follow through on it all alone. Learn more about FLOW365 or book a call with me at https://plansimple.com/flow365 .

July 20, 202634 min

Have It All, Step 2: Create Your Map

Are you trying to hold your business ideas, health goals, family needs, appointments, errands, and dreams in your head—all at the same time? In the second episode of this three-part series, I’m sharing how to give everything a place so you can stop treating it all like an emergency. I’ll walk you through the four areas of FLOW—Food and Wellness, Life, OM, and Work—and show you how I use different containers of time, from a three-year vision to the next 90 minutes. You’ll also hear how this approach helped me write a bestselling book and helped one FLOW365 member write three novels while working full-time and raising three boys. When your plan holds your dream, you can be present for the next step. Learn more about FLOW365 or book a call with me at https://plansimple.com/flow365 .

July 20, 202635 min

Have It All, Step 1: Start with Calm

What if having it all didn’t mean doing everything, being perfect, or squeezing more into an already-full life? In the first episode of this three-part series, I’m sharing the first step in creating what you want across your business, health, family, and life: start with calm. I’ll show you why the emotions you bring to planning shape the choices you make, how planning can become an act of care for your future self, and how to use my CALM framework. Meaningful momentum doesn’t come from pushing harder. It comes from making your next decision from an emotional place that can actually support you as you take your next step. Learn more about FLOW365 or book a call with me at https://plansimple.com/flow365 .

July 15, 202654 min

Mothering and Being Mothered Takes Time with Perdita Finn

“The more I've worked with the dead, the more my life has blossomed.” –Perdita Finn Our ancestors didn’t have money and grocery stores and medicines … they had their ancestors. We do too. I’m so excited to talk with Perdita Finn, the author of Mothers of Magic, about tapping into all the mothers on the other side. Perdita wrote about what it meant to be a mother before patriarchy, what has happened to our idea of being a mother within civilization — and what it might look like to imagine the mother beyond it. Mothering and how you’ve been mothered takes up more space than many of us even realize in its different iterations, so this conversation feels powerful. We talk about: Human history as wanderers and what changed when we began settling The erasure of the grandmother and the war on young women Why one mother is not enough (you’re not supposed to be) The deep roots of why women’s friendships feel fraught Feeling held by love on both sides of the veil Fretting and handing over your worries ABOUT PERDITA Perdita Finn — writer, woodwife, witch — is the author of Mothers of Magic . LINKS https://takebackthemagic.com/ https://www.instagram.com/perditafinn/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/perdita-finn-12764224/ Pause Magazine, Issue 5 DOABLE CHANGES At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Change comes from action. Sometimes action gets a bad rap. You can be kind to yourself. You can practice being AND doing, but for change to happen you have to take steps. The way we take care of ourselves is making the steps doable and focusing on one thing at a time. We take time to integrate the change and then move on to the next one. Pick a Doable Change that resonates with you the most to start from. Here are three Doable changes that we chose from this conversation. CREATE A FRETTING PRACTICE. It’s okay to feel your worries and not silence them. Try naming your worries and handing each over to an ancestor. How does it feel when you do this every morning for a week? CALL ON GRANDMOTHER ANCESTORS. We were not meant to mother alone. We hear that sometimes but do you believe it? One mother is not enough. What happens when you call upon your mother, grandmothers, generations before to help you in your own mothering or in your need to be mothered? SEEK WISDOM FROM LIVING GRANDMOTHERS. Who do you know who embodies grandmother energy. Take them to tea. Ask them lots of questions. Bring what you are sitting with and get an elder’s perspective.

July 8, 202626 min

Soulful Visibility and Simple Sales with Sue B. Zimmerman

“Real conversations lead to opportunities and opportunities lead to sales.” –Sue B. Zimmerman You can’t outsource conversations. Sue B. Zimmerman, specialist in intentional online marketing and simplifying social media strategy believes Instagram conversations are great for business. It’s about building trust and engaging in conversations, but that doesn’t have to take hours. Sue shows us how social media can feel less like a thing you should do and more like a thing you enjoy that leads to opportunities which lead to sales. We talk about: How each feature on Instagram is an opportunity to show up in a unique way The benefits of a live instead of a video and how to build trust with video A time breakdown for creating social content and fitting it into pockets in your day How to use strategic commenting to engage with people Tagging leads in DMs and responding to everything Sharing things that are entertaining while making sure there’s a clear connection to your business ABOUT SUE Sue B. Zimmerman is a lifelong entrepreneur, relationship-driven sales mentor, and sought-after online marketing educator with more than 30 years of business experience. Known for her no-BS teaching style and ability to simplify social media strategy, Sue has privately coached hundreds of entrepreneurs to grow their visibility, confidence, and revenue through authentic connection and intentional online marketing. LINKS suebzimmerman.com https://learnwithsbz.com/ https://www.instagram.com/suebzimmerman/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebzimmerman/ https://www.facebook.com/SuebZimmermanEnterprise/ Pause Magazine, Issue 5 DOABLE CHANGES At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Change comes from action. Doable changes are things that you can add into your life, one at a time to make micro shifts and really create a ripple effect that will create a big change over time. Choose one that really piques your interest and roll with it. Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation: 15 MINUTE CHALLENGE. Spending too much time creating social? Set a timer for 15 minutes. Use that time to create your post. A tip from the magazine: Your life is the content. Ask yourself: What in my life today connects to what my audience needs? TIME GAP COMMENTING. You can schedule 15 minutes to go in and comment strategically, but you can also try using those little gaps of time — while waiting in line or between calls. Comment strategically on complimentary accounts. Get involved in the conversation. TRY GOING LIVE. Going live has a different energy than you talking to your phone for a video. Even if you aren’t that used to being in front of the camera, you can learn to be more comfortable. And video builds trust.