The Universe Isn’t on a Budget: Stop Capping Your Dreams at "Realistic"

"Ask for more, babe. The universe isn’t on a budget."

That line sounds playful until it collides directly with the toxic, unspoken script running your entire life: don’t want too much, don’t rock the boat, be grateful for what you have, and stay realistic. The brutal truth? "Let's be realistic" is just a socially acceptable, highly sophisticated way to stay small.

In this episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast, Jason and Jana dissect the psychological mechanisms that cause high-potential individuals to cap their own dreams and blame "reality" for the boundary. They pull back the curtain on why wanting more triggers immediate guilt, fear, and the nagging imposter voice asking, "Who do I think I am?" They prove that these gut-level resistances have absolutely nothing to do with your bank account and everything to do with a core deficit in worthiness.

What you’ll discover when you hit play:

• The Gratitude Glass Ceiling: How your humility is being weaponized by your nervous system to act as a permanent limit on your lifestyle.
• The Arbitrary Milestone Trap: Why waiting for a specific income bracket before upgrading your life or safety is actually a dangerous strategy of postponing your identity.
• Bending Reality vs. Grounded Logic: How certain public figures alter circumstances through pure, unwavering conviction—and how to replicate that authority without losing your footing.
• The Pipeline Metaphor: How hoarding assets, tightening up out of fear, or thinking "it’s available for others, but not for me" physically clogs your energetic and financial pipeline.
• The "What Else?" Practice: A simple, high-speed linguistic tool designed to force your imagination past its current comfort threshold and expand your operational capacity.

Stop treating your dreams like they require permission, perfect timing, or a green light from your past conditioning. You are either a clear vessel allowing abundance to flow through you into the world, or you are the exact bottleneck holding yourself back.

Listen now, subscribe, and learn how to stop budgeting the one universe that has infinite capital.

KEY NUGGETS

• "Let’s be realistic" is the ultimate phrase of self-sabotage. It sounds responsible to the analytical brain, but it is actually a defensive mechanism used to keep you inside a familiar cage.
• Delaying an upgrade until an arbitrary milestone is a symptom of deferred worthiness. Waiting until you make a specific dollar amount to prioritize your safety or happiness isn't budgeting—it's postponing your true identity.
• Gratitude should be your foundation, never your ceiling. You can be profoundly thankful for everything you currently possess while simultaneously demanding your next level of expansion. Wanting more isn't greed; it's evolution.
• A single thought can bottleneck your entire financial and emotional pipeline. Believing "that is available for others, but not for me" acts as an absolute gatekeeper that transforms broad possibility into immediate scarcity.
• You are either a vessel or a bottleneck. When you tighten your grip, hoard your assets, or shrink your desires, you disrupt the natural circulatory flow of value and abundance in your life.

Key Questions:

How does the "let's be realistic" mindset limit personal growth? The "let's be realistic" mindset limits personal growth by reinforcing self-imposed boundaries under the guise of responsibility. It activates the nervous system's natural preference for comfort and safety, causing individuals to dismiss highly ambitious goals as impossible rather than confronting the discomfort required to achieve them.

Can you practice radical gratitude while still wanting more out of life? Yes, radical gratitude can coexist with a desire for more because true gratitude functions as an expansive foundation rather than a restrictive limit. Appreciating your current reality does not mean you must cap your potential; instead, it provides the secure emotional framework necessary to audaciously pursue further expansion.

What does it mean to postpone your identity in personal development? Postponing your identity means delaying necessary life upgrades, lifestyle shifts, or high-value decisions until you hit an arbitrary, future milestone. This pattern masks an underlying issue of unworthiness by convincing you that your value as a person is dependent on achieving a specific external metric first.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Quote

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®.

Jason Shelfer 0:18

You are too.

Jana Shelfer 0:19

Give me the quote, Jason.

Jason Shelfer 0:21

The quote is ask for more, babe. The universe isn't on a budget.

Jana Shelfer 0:25

Did you just call me babe?

Jason Shelfer 0:27

Very, very Californian, babe.

Jana Shelfer 0:29

Californian, I feel like it's more New York, babe.

Jason Shelfer 0:32

Hey, ask for more, babe. I'm gonna maybe I'll bring that into my vernacular. Ask for more, babe.

Jana Shelfer 0:39

Wait, I said I said New York, and you gave me a totally different idea.

Jason Shelfer 0:43

I gave you Canada, eh? Ask for more, babe.

Jana Shelfer 0:46

All right. Ask for more, babe. The universe isn't on a budget.

The Limits We Put On Dreams

Jana Shelfer 0:52

No. Why is it though we sometimes, there's something inside me that I'm like, oh, you know what? I the universe has been so good to me. I can't ask for more.

Jason Shelfer 1:02

Well, also we put our we limit what is available for us. We put a limit on what we think. And even our dreams.

Jana Shelfer 1:09

Our dreams. We I feel like if there's one person that limits my dreams, it's me.

Jason Shelfer 1:14

Oh, that's big.

Jana Shelfer 1:16

Oh my gosh. I'm such an ass.

Jason Shelfer 1:20

You're not an ass. Such a bitch. This is what we do to ourselves. Why, though? We say, don't put me in a box. I've got I put myself in my own box. I'm just gonna build these own prison walls. Yeah. So we all have this underlying little cage for ourselves or box that says, I can go, I can go far, but I can only go as this far.

Jana Shelfer 1:45

Okay, let's let's unveil what's behind the curtain here, though. Why do we do that? Is there something inside us that doesn't feel worthy of our dreams and and something bigger there go my goosebumps would even feel, oh my gosh, I'm just I'm not worthy of it.

Jason Shelfer 2:05

There's that fear of the unknown, there's fear of failure. It's it's this there's some of us that have that explorer's heart or the our souls want to grow, expand, learn, evolve, you know, and there's something inside us that says, stay safe, stay comfortable, stay with what you know.

Jana Shelfer 2:27

I know, but sometimes I feel like you and I, you get us together, and we are so far out in the universe that sometimes when we're talking and having conversations, I'm just gonna share this with everybody. I literally have a thought in my head, what are we even talking about? What are we in the middle of time and space? Where are we? It's like Jason and I have literally all the way out into the cosmos, and we're like, yeah, it's great out here. But nobody, it's almost like we've lost our relatability because we are both so far out.

Realistic Thinking Versus Expansion

Jason Shelfer 3:02

But what's happened is is we've started bending reality.

Jana Shelfer 3:05

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 3:06

And we see that.

Jana Shelfer 3:08

Wait, if anyone's listening to this, they're probably going, Oh my gosh, what are these two taking? They're drinking mushroom coffee.

Jason Shelfer 3:14

That's right. It's and we're not. What's happened though, and and you can look at the things that we've done and the things that we've created for ourselves, and you can see it. And it's things that if you'd have talked to me when I was 18, when you talked to me when I was 20, or even five years ago when we started all of this. 100%. I would have said, come on. And I would have used the same thing that a lot of my clients say. Or our parents, when they say, Let's be realistic.

Jana Shelfer 3:43

Let's be realistic.

Jason Shelfer 3:45

And it's because when we say let's be realistic, we we have we have these limits that we put on ourselves, and it's that that realism box.

Jana Shelfer 3:54

Because we think but sometimes, okay, sometimes with you and I, literally, we start dreaming so far out there that there is a point to being grounded as well.

Jason Shelfer 4:09

Yes, and yes, and if it's available for anyone, it's available for everyone. Marissa Peer said at one time, we were sit, we were talking with the where we were in this room with her. Yes, and she said, if it's available for anyone, it's available for everyone. Or something like that.

Jana Shelfer 4:26

Yeah, but many times we have a limiting belief it's available, but not for me. Yes, that's the limiting belief.

Jason Shelfer 4:32

And that's the because we just put ourselves in a different box.

Jana Shelfer 4:36

Yeah, and I've been doing that lately. I'm I'm different. No, okay, so let's let's just get very real with what we're talking about.

The New Vehicle Worthiness Check

Jana Shelfer 4:45

Let's zoom it in a little bit. For example, this past week, my dad has suggested, because if you listened a couple weeks ago, we were on the road and we had car trouble. And my dad's like, I think it's time you get a new vehicle. And there's something inside me that literally has this when I am making $300,000 a month, then I'll get a new vehicle. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's something inside me that's like, no, I'm not. The one we have is fine.

Jason Shelfer 5:22

Well, see, the practical side of me says, I I love the vehicle that we have. Why get that when there's so much more available out here for me?

Jana Shelfer 5:32

I I know, but there's a but there though.

Jason Shelfer 5:35

There is a but.

Jana Shelfer 5:36

There's something inside both of us that says we're not worthy of a new vehicle.

Jason Shelfer 5:40

But we could go get it right now if we wanted it. Like literally, we could go to the dealership if we wanted a vehicle and just get the vehicle.

Jana Shelfer 5:50

And and so what my dad is saying, safety is one of my highest values. And you and Jason are broke down on the highway.

Jason Shelfer 6:00

Yet I don't want that to happen again.

Jana Shelfer 6:02

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 6:03

But also, he thinks his thought on safety is a new vehicle will not break down. And I would submit that that's like saying, this job that I've had for the last 17 years, I cannot get fired from.

Jana Shelfer 6:16

Okay, you're fighting yourself.

Stop Budgeting Love And Goals

Jana Shelfer 6:19

The topic of this podcast is the universe doesn't have a budget. So why are we putting budgets? And this is a material thing, but what we're really saying is we all put budgets on our relationships, we put budgets on our dreams, we put love budgets on our feelings, our feelings.

Jason Shelfer 6:41

Yes. Everything is limitless. That's and that's the thing. Everything that we have on the planet today was not here a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago. And I hate to say, I hate to say that it just wasn't in our imagination.

Jana Shelfer 6:57

But sometimes when I see people who literally say things are limitless, like I'm gonna say sometimes um President Trump. He's very good at living in a world where everything is like it's just in his mind. Everything is limitless, and there's times, there are times when I say, What world is he living in?

Jason Shelfer 7:22

There are times that I say it too.

Jana Shelfer 7:24

However, if you put yourself in his world, he's living in a world that serves him very well.

Jason Shelfer 7:32

He's bending, he is bending reality, he really is.

Jana Shelfer 7:38

And and it feels like the okay, so let's go back to the original quote.

Jason Shelfer 7:42

There are people that love him, and there's people that hate him.

Jana Shelfer 7:44

Yeah, so however you are politically, he is bending reality. Uh I would I would agree with that. So back to our quote. Hey babe. I know it's starting with hey babe.

Jason Shelfer 7:57

Hey, babe, ask for more. The universe doesn't have a budget.

Gratitude Without A Ceiling

Jana Shelfer 8:03

And there's something inside me where that got a little uncomfortable because I I feel I have this limiting belief I should just be grateful for what I already have. I am, I mean, I'm so grateful for what I have and the life that I've lived, the experiences that I've had, that it almost feels narcissistic or audacious or uh self-serving to say, I want more.

Jason Shelfer 8:33

Thank you more, please. Well, I also think I look at how you are, and I look at there, and this is this is the judgmental side of me, that there are people that when they get more, they do more and give more. And there are people that when they get more, they hoard more and they try to, or it it appears that they push people down more.

Jana Shelfer 9:01

Okay.

Give More And Keep Flowing

Jason Shelfer 9:02

So there's a difference there. And I think when when you are hoarding and pushing down, it disrupts the flow of the universe.

Jana Shelfer 9:12

Oh my gosh.

Jason Shelfer 9:14

So there's a, and it's gonna be hard to portray this in a podcast, but for me, there's a visual image of when I hold my arms out almost like in a hug. Yes, this a circular formation of my arms out, it opens up this flow of availability with the universe, where I feel like things come into my sphere, they go through me and then come out and go to the world, back to the universe. So it's almost like this.

Jana Shelfer 9:44

You become a vessel.

Jason Shelfer 9:46

A vessel, yeah.

Jana Shelfer 9:47

It's like become the window of light.

Jason Shelfer 9:50

And so things just get come through me, they get refracted, they come out through almost in a better way, or just in a kind of the Jason way, I guess. Yes. Or the Living Lucky® way, yeah. If I can say that.

Jana Shelfer 10:03

And

Unclogging The Pipeline Metaphor

Jana Shelfer 10:04

so if we're talking in abstract terms, the problem is when when we put up some sort of block, or when things get clogged or stuck, yes, these are all terms that we use in everyday life, but in an abstract world, I think of a so we're literally thinking of like a sink. And when hair and grease, I love that word.

Jason Shelfer 10:32

I don't know, I don't know what it is.

Jana Shelfer 10:34

That word literally made my face go, oh, I don't think we should be talking about that.

Jason Shelfer 10:38

It gave the gag reflex for China.

Jana Shelfer 10:40

Oh but when we get a stop, we we need to call Roto Rooter. Uh is that even a thing anymore? I don't know. But we need to unclog to get the flow going again.

Jason Shelfer 10:56

Segment brought to you by Roto Rooter if they're still around.

Jana Shelfer 11:00

And sometimes what I think your quote is saying is there is no budget on the universe, so let's make the pipes even bigger.

Jason Shelfer 11:09

Let's make the pipes bigger. Let's start, let's get this flow going, baby.

Jana Shelfer 11:13

The flow is going.

Jason Shelfer 11:14

The flow is going. What are you doing? What are you doing to unblock your system?

Jana Shelfer 11:19

Okay, see, when I told you that Jason and I, when we get in conversations, oftentimes I have those thoughts. What are we even

Reframe The Thought That Blocks

Jana Shelfer 11:28

talking about?

Jason Shelfer 11:28

Well, I think what happens is we tell ourselves something, I'm not worthy, I'm different than, I'm not enough.

Jana Shelfer 11:35

It's not available for me.

Jason Shelfer 11:37

Then I am putting up blocks in the pipeline.

Jana Shelfer 11:41

By even having that thought. And even if it's an inkling of a thought, the minute you catch it, we need to change it, reframe it, and move to something else because just having the thought, you're not living in your best self.

Jason Shelfer 11:58

Yeah, you are putting constraints on the universe's budget that are not even there. They're imaginary constraints that you are blocking from yourself.

Jana Shelfer 12:07

They're prison walls. They are uh what are these jerk-offs? Jan is moving her hand up and down. Prison bars. Prison bars or the box that you're talking about. We put that on ourselves.

Jason Shelfer 12:24

Yes.

Jana Shelfer 12:25

I hope this is making sense to someone who is listening.

Jason Shelfer 12:28

Well, we block the flow of what the universe has available for us because we have unlimited capacity and capability when we tap into this limitless flow that the universe is providing for us and just dream of bigger, imagine bigger, more possibilities, infinite possibilities, and let's just see what happens.

The "What Else" Expansion Practice

Jana Shelfer 12:55

Oh my gosh. I have had a couple aha moments because when you just said that, I imagined my dreams. I literally imagine in my head, I imagine them getting bigger, and all of a sudden, I felt the walls actually start bubbling in my soul. So the And when I say walls, I mean I started when I imagined these dreams getting bigger, I started feeling fear, doubt, uncertainty. Mostly those three things.

Jason Shelfer 13:31

Yeah. So if we got around those, those little those feelings on the that are kind of like the negative that are bubbling up and said, what if I didn't have those and I had the the courage to ask for more? Like what if I my dream I gave out my dream? What if I said what my dream was and then I said what else? That's that's the only like just two more words on the end of that sentence. What else? And then we could just keep going, and what else from there? Like we could keep going. And what you'll find is there's a limitless supply of what else is after that, but we stop ourselves somewhere because we put a limit on what's available.

Jana Shelfer 14:17

Oh my gosh. Okay, I'm gonna stop right there before we get too deep and and go any further. Thank you, Jason. Thank you, Jason. I really feel that you have opened my eyes to something, which is why I truly and feel so blessed that you are my soulmate.

Jason Shelfer 14:35

But we can do that with relationships, we can do that with everything. So, how much more could I love someone else? And and what else?

Jana Shelfer 14:41

Don't put a budget on it. The universe doesn't have a budget.

Jason Shelfer 14:45

And neither should we.

Jana Shelfer 14:47

Ooh.

Closing And Website Invite

Jana Shelfer 14:48

Thanks for joining us.

Jason Shelfer 14:50

Keep living luck.

Jana Shelfer 14:51

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