Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason and Jana Banana

Perfectionism: Your Progress Killer

• Jana and Jason Shelfer • Season 8 • Episode 67

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Perfectionism: Your Progress Killer – Embrace Imperfection, Live Lucky®

Trapped by perfectionism, endlessly planning, never doing? It's a powerful limiting belief that kills progress! Join Jason and Jana Banana to unlock radical personal development by embracing imperfection.

Jana's story proves it: she signed up for a national water ski competition with 2 days' notice, despite zero experience. Last place, yes, but it ignited a journey toward the USA team! This episode shows progress, not perfection, drives extraordinary achievement.

Discover "just go chop wood" – how any action creates opportunity. Learn to give yourself "permission to suck," embracing messy beginnings for joy and mastery. Resilience grows from doing, not flawless planning.

Ready to shatter the chains of perfectionism and activate your dreams? Tune in to gain actionable mindset shifts and positive thinking strategies that empower you to take that crucial first step. Stop waiting for "ready" and start Living Lucky® today!

Here’s what you’ll discover:

  • Perfectionism Paralysis: Why aiming for flawless stops you cold.
  • Action Over Inaction: The "just go chop wood" philosophy for momentum.
  • Embracing the Arena: The courage to show up, even when unprepared.
  • Permission to Suck: Unlocking joy and growth through imperfection.
  • Resilience Building: How perceived failures become powerful stepping stones.
  • Ego vs. Progress: Recognizing how ego fuels perfectionism.
  • The Living Lucky® Mantra: Why progress, not perfection, defines your journey.

Key Nuggets: Perfectionism kills progress. Action over perfection. Embrace imperfection. Give permission to suck. Resilience from doing. Progress is key.

How to overcome perfectionism paralysis? Strategies for taking action despite fear of failure. Why is perfectionism a progress killer? The importance of embracing imperfection in personal growth. Giving yourself permission to be imperfect. Building resilience through consistent action. What is the difference between perfectionism and high standards? Mindset shifts to stop procrastinating due to perfectionism. What is perfectionism paralysis? How does perfectionism prevent progress? How to overcome fear of failure? Is perfectionism a limiting belief? Why is progress more

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Jana Shelfer:

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.

Jana Shelfer:

Perfectionism. Does anyone here suffer from that? My arm is up. Perfectionism is the nemesis of progress. Yes, let's just keep it in simple terms Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes, and we see this in all kinds of areas and to me it's very evident in our journey of our ski competitions. Tell me more, jason. So when we first started, you got this hair, this wild idea of competing again.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jason Shelfer:

And on a Wednesday you said there's a tournament on Friday.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jason Shelfer:

I want to sign up. I did and I thought what You're crazy Like, is this a great idea?

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jason Shelfer:

And you're like, it's kind of like this bug in me right now. I want to compete and I don't know if I'm going to be good at it, but I want to try.

Jana Shelfer:

I don't even know if they're going to let me in the competition.

Jason Shelfer:

Right and we didn't know if there were qualifications or anything, we qualifications or anything. And we found out yes, there are qualifications, but you said I want to give it a go, and that's very outside of your character and your nature.

Jana Shelfer:

You know it is outside, because a lot of times I get it's almost like Perfection paralysis. Yeah, I get paralyzed. I hate to use that word, but I get paralyzed because I don't think something's going to be good enough or I'm not going to be good enough.

Jason Shelfer:

And you like to win.

Jana Shelfer:

I like to win and I've had this problem in every aspect of my life. However, I also look at every aspect of my life and there has been a point where I just say start, remember the year that I literally put start as my word and I started building a career.

Jana Shelfer:

I had no idea what I was building or where I was going. I just started and it was almost like I got out of my head and into my heart and just said what is it that I want to be doing? And I literally started learning video production and video editing. I had no idea why I was. I wanted to learn this, but I just started following what my soul wanted to do.

Jason Shelfer:

You got very much back into creative mode and to like the beingness and the doingness and just kind of just being in the world, the way you wanted to be in the world. And so when you said let's do it, I was like, okay, let's just do it. And I was super excited. I was also a little bit nervous. However, you got in, you qualified for the tournament and you put up scores. And I started seeing what was possible because I started seeing the people around me and you didn't win, but I was super-.

Jana Shelfer:

No, I came in last Seeing the people around me and you didn't win, but I was super-. No, I came in last.

Jason Shelfer:

I was super proud of you for doing it, and you also saw that you got progress from just day one to day two.

Jana Shelfer:

I did.

Jason Shelfer:

And then we got a coach, we made more progress and then you started seeing more possibilities and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. And from where we are now to where we are back in October, when you started, yes. It's crazy.

Jana Shelfer:

Night and day, to the point where in my head I've already made that USA team and the USA coaches are like. You mean that girl in October. We don't even remember what she looked like. We just remember that she probably shouldn't have been there.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes, so that all the listeners are clear. The tournament Jana signed up for was the Nationals tournament. I know.

Jana Shelfer:

But you know what In that? So again back to perfectionism and signing up for the national tournament when I really was not qualified at all it was your first time skiing, yeah.

Jana Shelfer:

I feel that sometimes there is a fear of rejection, a fear of failure, a fear of making a fool of myself. And again, when I get outside of my head and I face that fear with, okay, well, let's just go have fun, let's just go play, let's just go connect with people which are my values, and if I can, if I connect with my values instead of living in that fear, then miraculous things start to happen and I want to.

Jason Shelfer:

I want to um re-say what I said earlier it wasn't your first time skiing, it was your first time in a tournament.

Jana Shelfer:

I'd never done the course yeah.

Jason Shelfer:

We had recreationally skied for 10 years, but the first time doing the course and wondering, okay, can I do the course? But so it was, it wasn't a waste of other people's time putting you out there.

Jana Shelfer:

So it wasn't like.

Jason Shelfer:

I've never held a basketball and I want to go out there and be on someone's team.

Jana Shelfer:

Okay, Well, let me also say this so sometimes these activities or these sports, it's almost like you have to kind of force your way in because they already have, like they already knew who was going to be on the USA team before nationals even started.

Jana Shelfer:

They didn't even have to have a tryout because they already know who the top 12 tier skiers are, and once the same 12 are on the team year after year, then everyone else starts, stops trying really, and then those 12 people just get better and better and better. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so sometimes you have to um and, and then here's the thing at the same time, then there's a problem of why isn't this sport growing? Yeah, so sometimes you have to bulldoze your way in. Then here's the thing At the same time, then there's a problem of why isn't the sport growing?

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, so sometimes you have to bulldoze your way in. It's basically boxing your way into the lane.

Jana Shelfer:

And saying, hey, okay, well, teach me so that I can open the door for other people to start coming in too.

Jason Shelfer:

You know, and we see that happening right now as we speak, with this tournament. I mean, you've had multiple calls of hey, what was it like, can I get involved? What's it take for me to get involved into the water skiing?

Jana Shelfer:

Yes. So again, when we get stuck in being perfect or showing up and winning, I mean, I don't know what the vernacular is, it's different for everyone, right, but for me there is this I'm Jana and I have this high standard, high expectation of myself, and sometimes that's really just my ego speaking.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, and I can't remember who gave the speech, but I feel like it would go back to Marcus Aurelius in a way.

Jana Shelfer:

Okay, everything goes back to.

Jason Shelfer:

Marcus Aurelius, it's giving credit to the person who gets into the arena. Yes, so it's not the person who wins or loses, it's the man who got into the arena, or the person who got into the arena and gave it a try and said hey, arena, or?

Jason Shelfer:

the person who got into the arena and gave it a try and said hey, and said this was my soul, saying I want to be involved, I want to make a difference, I want my life to matter and when life matters to me, I'm going at life with gusto and I want to give it a try.

Jana Shelfer:

That is so true. That is so true Because a lot of times, the people who are criticizing or who say look at you. You went into that and you came in last. It is that their soul wants to do.

Jason Shelfer:

They're the ones the spectators on the outside going told you so, and then they're subconscious, they're wishing that they had the fortitude to actually put themselves out there and go for it.

Jana Shelfer:

Yeah, and sometimes we do fail in public and it's hard. It is hard because, trust me, I have faced that. Jason knows. I've had several speaking events where I literally have come home and buried myself under my pillow, under my heating blanket, and just cried saying, oh my God, I just look like, I feel like, such a fool. That's what I would say.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, and true champions don't count the times they get knocked down. They know that they're going to get back up.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jana Shelfer:

And sometimes we need to allow ourselves to have that experience, to take the punch.

Jason Shelfer:

Because we grow from it. It's the whole thing that we're going to get bruised, we're going to get broken, but we're going to heal, we're going to get stronger and we're going to grow through it.

Jana Shelfer:

Life is not about what happens. It's how we react. How we respond how we show up.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes, and keep showing up powerfully, because we are. If you have, if you have the drive, if your soul is pulling you towards it, just try, just allow that room, just chop wood. Just chop wood.

Jana Shelfer:

We talked about this saying this morning. You know, yesterday was father's day and we were talking about things our fathers would say growing up, and one person said you know, my dad always said just go chop wood. You know, stop sitting here and talking about your dreams, your goals, your aspirations, just go chop some wood.

Jason Shelfer:

And when you start putting action into your life, it's amazing what opens up yeah, if you can't like and I, I when I read into that just go chop wood. It's like just any type of movement, any type of movement, is going to create something, cause when you have a pile of wood there, you can go sell it, you can go make a fire, you can go build a house, you can. All these different things from Just start, from the starting of some type of action, just start, but if you're just sitting there thinking, or if you're just sitting there wishing nothing's going to happen.

Jana Shelfer:

Oh my gosh, I'm having light bulbs all over the top of my head. I wish you could see me right now. I needed this podcast Progress over perfection. I once had a coach that said action over perfection, jana, action over perfection. And I'm like, yeah, but I'm Jana, I can't just show up and be unprepared. I can't just show up and get on stage and start blabbering. You know, that's not who I am, that's not who I want to be. And the truth is that the first few times that you get out there, it may feel like you're blabbering, yeah, or it may feel like you're just sputtering we did a podcast a long time ago about give yourself permission to suck.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes, and so that's me with dancing right? I told myself a long time ago back when I was 12, that I would never dance in public again, and then I gave myself the permission to suck. However, I also gave myself permission to have fun, because my soul wants to dance. Like my soul, there's a lot of energy and fun in me that wants to come out, and I love dancing with you. And I will say we went and did our competition in Miami a couple weeks ago.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jason Shelfer:

I forgot where we were.

Jana Shelfer:

30 seconds into the competition, you looked at me like a deer in headlights.

Jason Shelfer:

I know I started shouting out the moves. I was like I almost forgot we were in Miami. It was so bad I blacked out you had an Alzheimer's moment. I need beta blockers or something You're like where am I?

Jana Shelfer:

Who?

Jason Shelfer:

am I? What am I doing? But I was still having fun and it was and we won because I knew it wasn't perfect Everyone on the outside didn't know it wasn't perfect, because it still looked good.

Jana Shelfer:

There's one point in the dance where Jason goes to grab my hand and I like push it away, Like no, not yet. We're not there yet.

Jason Shelfer:

We're not at that point. That's the part I remember.

Jana Shelfer:

Just spin around, smile.

Jason Shelfer:

But yes, so perfection is the enemy of progress, and also there's a theory out there that nothing is perfect. So, you're not going to hit perfection, because everything can always be improved upon. Oh my gosh. So why not just allow for progress?

Jana Shelfer:

Okay, so once again, I'm just going to reiterate the saying for today is perfectionism is the nemesis of progress, Nemesis is rival or someone that keeps you down. It's the challenge in life that is your highest mountain.

Jason Shelfer:

It's your roadblock.

Jana Shelfer:

It is, and I know for myself a lot of times perfectionism is just Jana's ego. And I know for myself a lot of times perfectionism is just Jana's ego. That's all it is. It's my ego.

Jason Shelfer:

Yep, it's going to keep you from it.

Jana Shelfer:

Show up and give yourself permission to suck. I love it. Thank you so much for joining us.

Jason Shelfer:

Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer:

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