Emotional Roots of Procrastination

Stop the Procrastination Monster & Start Living Lucky® (Finally!)

Do you ever stare down a to-do list that feels like a never-ending scroll? You're not alone. But what if the key to tackling those tasks lies not in better time management, but in understanding your own emotions?

In this episode of Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason & Jana Banana, we crack the code on procrastination and show you how to transform it into productivity. Get ready to:

• Unmask the Emotional Roots of Procrastination: We ditch the surface-level time management tips and dive deep. Discover how fear, overwhelm, and even the desire to avoid mistakes can keep you stuck.
• Slay the Procrastination Monster: Remember those characters from the Wizard of Oz – the lion with no courage, the tin man with no heart, the scarecrow with no brain? They represent the emotional barriers we face! Learn how to identify and overcome yours.
• Break Down Big Goals with the "Bird by Bird" Strategy: Feeling that familiar overwhelm when a project seems gigantic? We'll show you how to break it down into bite-sized, manageable steps using the power of Anne Lamott's famous advice.
• Bust the "Dirty Pain" Bubble: Procrastination is a vicious cycle. The longer you avoid a task, the bigger and more daunting it becomes. Learn how to recognize and address the emotional discomfort that keeps you stuck.
• Take Action & Live Lucky®: Stop the cycle of avoidance! We'll show you how to identify the feeling you're trying to escape, take the first step forward, and finally start living a life of purpose and joy.

This episode is packed with actionable tips, relatable stories, and powerful strategies to help you:

• Recognize the emotional triggers behind procrastination
• Manage your fear and self-doubt
• Break down large goals into achievable steps
• Stop the cycle of emotional avoidance
• Boost your productivity and achieve your dreams

Ready to ditch the struggle and start living lucky? Press play and let's transform your mindset into a rocket ship!

#Procrastination #EmotionalManagement #ProductivityHacks #LivingLucky #BirdbyBird #JasonShelfer #JanaShelfer

Transcript

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®. Good morning, I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we are Living Lucky®. You are too.

Jason Shelfer 0:21

Procrastination, procrastination. Put your to-do list to the test. I procrastinate.

Jana Shelfer 0:30

I can never find the key that you're singing.

Jason Shelfer 0:32

I sing in multiple keys.

Jana Shelfer 0:34

And I'm the one that started the song by golly, I'm like a whole piano.

Jason Shelfer 0:37

I've got all the keys.

Jana Shelfer 0:39

Procrastination. Now, last week we gave you a really great tip that has helped me so much, and that's the three-minute rule. So if you haven't listened to that podcast, you need to go back and check it off because it will help you with procrastination. But I want to dive a little deeper into this topic because I have noticed there are some projects around our house that for some reason it doesn doesn't matter if I say this week I'm getting the mannequin, the mosaic mannequin, finished. It never gets done.

Jason Shelfer 1:15

Yeah, I think one of the big things is really like diving into the list, like diving into that to-do list and saying these are the things that need to get done or I want to get done, and then what are the things behind the veil there that we're saying I'll do that later? I want to do a couple of things up first.

Jana Shelfer 1:37

What we're really saying here is what emotion are you trying to avoid? Avoid? I said evoid, but it's avoid.

Jason Shelfer 1:47

I think we can use any vowel there. Avoid.

Jana Shelfer 1:51

What feeling are you avoiding? That's what procrastination really is. What is the feeling that you are trying to avoid? Procrastination is really just emotional management.

Jason Shelfer 2:07

It is emotional organization and it is facing the fear.

Jana Shelfer 2:13

It's all a form of fear.

Jason Shelfer 2:16

I don't want to deal with that yet. Let me build up my courage, let me build up my stamina, let me build yes, whatever it is I I think I need.

Jana Shelfer 2:25

It's the wizard of oz crew it's the lion and the tin man and the scarecrow, it's like, oh, I don't have the courage. Or the heart I don't have the brains, or I don't have the heart for that mark that well, you know what I'm saying. It's all those limitations yeah's facing. There's some sort of feeling inside you, or inside me, that or inside of us.

Jason Shelfer 2:52

I will just make this collective.

Jana Shelfer 2:54

We all face this that we don't want to feel. And as soon as we feel it, then we realize oh my gosh, it's not really that scary. The more we put it off, the bigger that monster gets. Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 3:10

It's like going to bed and thinking there might be a monster under my bed and then you start building, like, you start creating this monster under your bed and eventually you're not going to put your feet out of the covers, you're not going to be able to fall asleep, you're going to be terrified in the bed. No, how many times did you? And there's nothing under the bed. How many?

Jana Shelfer 3:27

times did you have a term paper due and you would wait and wait and wait, and the more you would wait, that it builds. Oh my gosh, the feeling in your gut. You're like, oh my God, this and this is going to be so painful.

Jason Shelfer 3:44

You start creating this it's dirty pain, yes, dirty pain. You start creating this bubble of avoidance and you just keep blowing into it every time and the bubble of avoidance gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and then it becomes overwhelming.

Jana Shelfer 3:57

It goes back to that book Bird by Bird by Ann Harkness.

Jason Shelfer 4:08

I want to say why is culture, John, coming to my head?

Jana Shelfer 4:10

I want to say moth or something like that, and I'm going to look it up while you're talking.

Jason Shelfer 4:16

Yeah, so when we just move into this and we take it one step at a time, and I think one of the biggest things is the awareness around what am I putting off?

Jana Shelfer 4:27

And Lamont, anne Lamott, anne Lamott.

Jason Shelfer 4:30

That's what I was going to say.

Jana Shelfer 4:31

That's exactly. It was on the tip of our.

Jason Shelfer 4:34

Four fingers. Tongues Four fathers Tongues, it was on the tip of our tongues.

Jana Shelfer 4:40

But that feeling I didn't mean to cut you off just now, but that feeling, she writes about it in the book Bird by Bird and it literally goes back to her brother having this science project when he was little. Birds of North America he would sit at the table and be like I can't do this, I don't know, I don't know. And finally their father came in and said bird by bird. We just have to figure it out.

Jason Shelfer 5:04

Bird by bird Start with a bird and then we'll move to the next bird.

Jana Shelfer 5:09

Yes, but the feeling that he was trying to avoid was overwhelm.

Jason Shelfer 5:17

Yeah, there's so many birds.

Jana Shelfer 5:19

I don't know where to start.

Jason Shelfer 5:20

Yeah, I don't know you could literally category every single bird available. That's possible if you just start with the first bird.

Jana Shelfer 5:30

Yeah, okay, so enough about birds.

Jason Shelfer 5:35

Give it the bird.

Jana Shelfer 5:38

Let's talk about the feelings that we're avoiding. So for me, my mosaic mannequin, what is the feeling that I am trying to avoid? I don't want to make a mistake. I'm at the point in this thing where I love it so much and I'm only halfway finished.

Jason Shelfer 5:57

Sounds like a parent sending their kid off to college.

Jana Shelfer 6:00

And I don't want to ruin it.

Jason Shelfer 6:05

See, and I look at it, I don't want to make a mistake see, I look at it as an objective observer and I see it's amazing, it's beautiful, it's fantastic and I don't see how a mistake can be made because it it's so creative and so artful. So it's a work of art and you're, I feel like sometimes you look at it and say I've been meticulous with all these pieces and it's been flowing from me and do I want? Like what? How do I continue this and not erode anything that, excuse me, erode anything that I've put into it so far?

Jana Shelfer 6:42

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 6:43

And I honestly believe that there's not a way to do that. It's just. It's that monster under the bed that you're creating.

Jana Shelfer 6:49

There's something inside me, there's a fear inside me that I'm going to fuck it up. Excuse my language and it's my creation, but I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up and that might go back to my own life.

Jason Shelfer 7:03

Yeah, like a speech or a performance.

Jana Shelfer 7:06

If I want to get really deep.

Jason Shelfer 7:08

You know, like when I was 15 I was in a car accident and I literally kind of felt like, oh my gosh, I've, I've screwed up my life, yeah well, I mean, and I do this with speeches like when, if I'm required, like and that's why I say I don't want a scripted speech, because I won't follow the script Right, and it's because of my fear of declarations in ninth grade with Miss Susie Johnson was sitting in front of the class and there's like it's, you get points for every word that you got right.

Jason Shelfer 7:45

And it's the and it's the memorization of the script. And I did not do like I knew the story, like I could improv it, I could do all these, like I could get the feeling and the language and all this, but the words were not precise. And when the words were not precise, then I felt that I'm failing. And then I also got the grade that proved that evidence, that gave me the evidence that I'm failing, and then I also got the grade that proved that evidence, that gave me the evidence that I'm failing, and it was like I will never speak, I will never do public speaking again.

Jana Shelfer 8:19

I feel like this podcast is really a way for Jason and I to work out our stuff work out our therapy. It's like therapy for us. So thank you, thank you for being here and thank you for helping us work through our own limiting beliefs.

Jason Shelfer 8:35

And the beauty of that is is Ms Johnson is one of my favorite teachers.

Jana Shelfer 8:38

I know you talk about, Hello, Susie Johnson.

Jason Shelfer 8:45

But she was, she pushed me, but I also didn't have the wherewithal to think about the emotions and the thoughts that I was having and what was kind of creating that energy around what I was doing, because and that's where I created that limiting belief of I'm not a public speaker, I'm not going to do this, and I like to entertain, or I like to tell my own version of a story.

Jana Shelfer 9:10

Yes, well, I also know that every week I have an intern come and he helps me do some editing, and we've been working on this TV show and I have been dragging my feet.

Jana Shelfer 9:27

I have been dragging my feet and I find I see what you did there no pun intended and I have realized that there's something there that I am trying to avoid and it's almost like, oh my gosh, if I really go through with this and put this out there. I mean, this has been my dream my entire life, and what if it? What if? What if nobody wants to watch it?

Jason Shelfer 9:59

What if it's wildly successful?

Jana Shelfer 10:01

Well, that's what you think, but.

Jason Shelfer 10:03

but the fear is always how can I build this monster under my bed so I don't get out of it?

Jana Shelfer 10:09

So yeah, so I procrastinate, I procrastinate and then the intern comes and I'm like, oh well, you know what we need to figure out. And then I start going through processes. I'm like we need to figure out software. We need to figure out how we're going to do this.

Jason Shelfer 10:24

We need to stay in the preparation phase.

Jana Shelfer 10:27

Whereas really I just need to jump into it and do it.

Jason Shelfer 10:31

Yeah. So there's like preparation, there's practice and then there's just repetition. That makes you better, and that's the bird by bird, Like let's just start with that first bird.

Jana Shelfer 10:41

Okay, so I guess in today's podcast, where we want to start is by identifying what is the feeling we are trying to avoid. Yeah, and then what if Recognizing it always starts with awareness? For us, it always starts with awareness.

Jason Shelfer 11:02

And also what is that feeling that we're creating? And then, through the questions that we're asking ourselves or through the story that we're telling ourselves, because if I'm telling myself what if I fail, all I have to do is transfer that or transpose that question into the more empowering question is what if I'm wildly successful? What if I'm wildly successful? So, having that awareness of what's that feeling, I'm trying to avoid.

Jana Shelfer 11:25

Which that can be scary too Right. Maybe that should be our next podcast. Are you scared of success?

Jason Shelfer 11:31

Yeah, scary too Right, maybe that should be our next podcast. Are you scared of success? Yeah, because then you may start putting these new monsters around your bed of.

Jana Shelfer 11:43

If I'm wildly successful, I'm going to be busier and I already feel busy or I'm going to have all these new requirements. I'm not going to have time for my family. I'm not going to have time for my dog. I'm not going to have time for my art. I'm not going to have time for my art or the things that I love.

Jason Shelfer 11:53

So we create these little monsters that tie us down and make us procrastinate instead of living into our fullness and our greatness, and really I love that you brought in bird by bird.

Jana Shelfer 12:06

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 12:07

Because that goes back to the three minute rule that we talked about.

Jana Shelfer 12:10

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 12:11

And it also says it's just the next, what's the next best step. And then what is the empowerment in my story that I'm telling myself? And then if I don't, if I don't feel the empowerment, how do I just change the wording around and what I am telling myself, or what I'm asking myself, to create the empowerment so it gives me that faith and freedom to take the next step.

Jana Shelfer 12:34

Oh, that's so good. I know that I have. If you could see me in person, I literally have one of those Charlie Brown bubbles over my head going light bulb, light bulb. I have had such a breakthrough in my thought process right now.

Jason Shelfer 12:51

Well, and I think that goes to kind of who you are, You're like, you're the growth person. You have a sprout in your hair. That really signifies the thought pattern and the reminder hey, I'm always growing and if I'm growing, I need to be growing towards something. And what's my empowered state? That moves me there and that's huge. So I thank you all for being with us today.

Jana Shelfer 13:13

Procrastination. Recognize the feeling. What is the feeling? You are doing your best to avoid.

Jason Shelfer 13:22

Yes.

Jana Shelfer 13:22

Ask yourself that question and once you identify it, then start stepping into it. What is the next best step? To feel the feeling?

Jason Shelfer 13:32

Yeah, and before you know it, you'll be feeling like you're Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer 13:36

I love it. I love how you just tied that up.

Jason Shelfer 13:38

I'm going to bring Living Lucky® back into it. You put a little button into it.

Jana Shelfer 13:41

Thanks for joining us. Bye-bye See you soon. If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at www. LivingLucky. com.