How often do you procrastinate? Genuinely think about it. In your personal life, in your business, in your creative ambitions, within your health. How often do you find yourself procrastinating? Now, I'm assuming that you find yourself procrastinating more than you would like. Hence why you clicked on this episode and wanted to tune in. Let me start off by telling you, my friend, you're not alone. I struggle with procrastination too and I feel like over the past year I started learning to overcome it more, which we're going to talk all about that and how you can overcome it too. But the reason why I felt like I struggled with procrastination for a long time was because I was good at it. I was good at using it to my benefit by telling myself that me procrastinating actually puts a good kind of pressure on me to do really well. If there was an assignment that I procrastinated on and I knew that I had an entire week to do it, but I waited until the very last minute the night before to get it done, I was the kind of person where that assignment got an A. It was good. If there was a business project I was working on and I had this whole list of tasks to do throughout the entire month, but I waited until the very last few days of the month to get it done, I got it all done. And it was good. And the work was great. The outcome looked great. The reason why was because I allowed myself to believe that procrastination put good pressure on me to show up and do my absolute best because I was running out of time. But here's the thing, externally, maybe the results of whatever I procrastinated on still had a good outcome. But internally? I felt rushed, internally I felt anxious, and internally I always had the thought of could the outcome have been even more better had I not procrastinated? Would I have felt more at peace? Would I have felt more steady? Would I have had the ability to be more consistent in certain things because I didn't burn out from the constant. Habit of procrastinating and feeling that anxious pressure to get it done because I waited until the last minute. Would I just feel better and just more consistent and more steady? The answer was yes, I would because when I stopped procrastinating as much as I once was, I did feel better. The outcome was better, but internally, I felt more steady. So, whether you procrastinate, and the outcome of your procrastination is nothing, because you didn't actually end up getting anything done because you procrastinated the whole time, or the outcome was messy because you waited until the last minute to do it, or if maybe you were like me, the outcome was actually good, but You were anxious internally because you waited until the last minute to get things done. No matter what your reason is for clicking on this episode, my hope is that this episode uplifts you enough, encourages you enough to step out of procrastination for good. So that you can do a more steady, more consistent job of doing what God is calling you to do and no longer allowing procrastination to hold you back from doing that. Now, why does procrastination even happen in the first place? I think it happens for a few different reasons and I just want to take a second to talk about that because if you're familiar with these episodes, we like to go deep. We like to get to the root of things in order to dig them up, deal with it, face it head on, heal from it, and officially transform into who God is calling us to be and successfully do what he is calling us to do. So let's get to the root of your procrastination. I think one of the main reasons why we procrastinate is because we are confused. We feel confused on our next step. We feel confused on the next thing to do. And we don't necessarily want to do anything or move forward or take action until we have clarity. Confusion oftentimes can be the reason why you end up unintentionally saying no to doing what God is calling you to do. God wants you to do something. He's calling you to step out. He's calling you to create that thing, do that thing, start that business, launch that thing. He is calling you to something and your intentional or unintentional disobedience could be deriving from the fact that you are just straight up confused. And you don't want to take action when you're confused. You don't want to deal with that confusion along your steps. You want clarity. You want assurance. The thing about that is, God doesn't need you to have all the clarity. In fact, I think a lot of times he doesn't want us to have all the clarity on that next step because that wouldn't necessarily be a step of faith forward. It wouldn't necessarily be a step of trust in him. We wouldn't be challenged to trust him truly. Think about it. If you are so clear, you got all the answers, you got all the clarity in the world, you end up finding confidence in that versus confidence in God. And the fact that he's got your back, he will provide you with pieces of clarity step by step if you would just move and trust him that he will provide that as you take steps of faith. Sometimes all he wants is our faith to be challenged. And for our trust in Him to grow. Another reason why I think that we struggle with procrastination is because we're burnt out. We are burnt out by all the other things going on in our life that we don't have enough energy to take action towards the things that we are procrastinating on. There are so many examples that can come with this. You know that you want to prioritize wellness and therefore go to the gym more often and eat healthy. Maybe you procrastinate on that because you're tired. By the time you're done with work, the last thing you want to do is go to the gym because you're already burnt out. Maybe you're running your business, you're doing your thing, but God is calling you to focus on this project over here or to start this new habit over here, to be consistent in this area. And you're struggling and actually doing that because your workload in your business is already heavy enough as it is that you don't even have the focus, the energy, or feeling like you have the time to do that other thing that God might be calling you to do. Oftentimes, when our workload is heavy, the last thing we want is a whole nother layer of a workload, hence us procrastinating on actually doing it. This one is a tough one, and I truly think that it's going to take balance, consistent balance, to no longer procrastinate because you're burnt out, but instead, to balance what it is that you're currently doing with what it is that God is calling you to also do. And learning to take breaks and rest in between it all. Another reason why I believe that we procrastinate, we're just scared. We are scared to move forward. We're scared to do the thing. We're scared to complete the task. Why? Because we don't want to fail. As human beings, it's natural for us to not want to step into the unknown of things because it's uncomfortable. We don't want to be in a state of discomfort, not knowing what's next, not knowing what's around the corner, not knowing if something will work out or not. That scares us. We start jumping into survival mode, wondering if I make that choice, if I take that action, how will that affect me? How will that affect my money? How will that affect my family? How will that affect my confidence? How will that affect my future? We start asking all the what ifs. To the point where we just get scared and we end up unintentionally procrastinating because we are so held in bondage by our own fear to move forward. The biggest thing that I want to say to this is the very real fact that you cannot grow in comfort. When God calls you to something, that is going to take a stretch of growth. Growth is not comfortable. So when you are feeling scared to take that next step, you're feeling uncomfortable to take that next step, but you know that God is calling you to take it, that is your beautiful challenge to grow. That is your beautiful challenge to learn what it's like to walk in confidence in the unknown and trusting God through every single step. It's not easy, but again, growth, that not being easy, is what catapults us into who God is calling us to be and the future that he is wanting us to walk in. So we just dug deep, right? We just talked about different areas where our procrastination could be deeply rooted in. But now I want to dive into how in the world do you overcome it? I think procrastination oftentimes can become our identity. Like, oh, we're just so used to this habit of pushing things off. That's just how we are. And it starts to become not just a routine, not just a habit, not just the thing we do, but a part of our identity to the point where we don't know how to dis identify from procrastination. We don't know how to break it off so that we can transform into healthy, consistent, balanced habits of taking action. So I want to give you some pointers that I hope would encourage you. To let procrastination go for good. First up, you need to understand that this is not about you. It is not about you. A lot of times procrastination comes from the fact that in our minds, we make that choice to procrastinate on that thing that God is calling us to do so it feels like it's about us. And when it's about us, we feel like we're the only ones being affected. Like, oh, if I push that off, it's fine. Nobody knows that I pushed it off. Only I know about it. It only affects me. And you know what? I'm fine with pushing it off. It's just not the right time right now to do it. We kind of have this unintentional self centeredness when it comes to us procrastinating. But you need to understand that it is not about you. Your procrastination is delaying the transformation, the life changed, the life impacted. Of someone else, all because you are procrastinating, there is a person, a conversation, a small group of people, a large group of people that God has set aside for you to make an impact to. Whether it be tomorrow, a month, a year from now, 10 years from now, God has it all planned out. He is calling you to that thing. He is calling you to that business. He's calling you to that project, not just for your benefit, but for the benefit of other people that he wants you to plant a seed to in their lives. He wants to use you as his vessel. You might not even be aware of that. That one little action, that one little task. Ends up being one step forward in what God is calling you to do when it comes to impacting other people. And when you delay that, because you are procrastinating, you are delaying someone's seed planted, someone's transformation, someone's life being impacted by you. You are delaying that. Now, God is going to do what he's going to do. He will use the people that he wants to use if it means making an impact to a specific person or group of people. But my point is that he's choosing you. He's calling you. The question is, are you going to say yes to the call? Are you going to smile and say, thank you for choosing me, God? Yes, I will. I am willing. I am willing to go. I am willing to do. I am willing to be consistent. I am willing to be obedient. It's not about you. It's about God wanting to use you. Your beautiful human self, your beautiful creative brain, your beautiful ideas that you would make into reality. God wants to use that to make an impact to one person or many. And if you procrastinate Then you delay that. And I've come to learn that there has to be a new level of love that you have for people. You have to learn how to love people beyond yourself to the point where procrastination can't even be in the question. It can't even be a possibility in your day. Because you know that people are counting on you, that God is waiting on you, and you have such a love for those people, you have such a love for God, that your spirit won't even allow you to delay. Now, I'm not pointing any fingers and saying, hey, you're self centered, you don't love people enough in order to not delay your procrastination, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that procrastination can feel so innate, it can feel so habitual, that we don't realize the negative effects that it can not only have on us, but also the people that we want to impact. So, this is just inner work. That you have to do day by day to detach from your procrastination. Grow in love with people. Grow in love with obeying God. Grow in love with the fact that He wants to choose you. And as you grow in love with that, your spirit will rise up enough to give you the motivation to no longer procrastinate and to simply do the thing. Another point that I want to say and how you can stop procrastinating for good. Start with one thing. You don't need to learn how to no longer procrastinate on all the things. Just start with one. A lot of times when we are so motivated to have better habits, we start thinking about better habits in all the areas of our lives. All the different kinds of habits that we can start to put on. But if we weigh ourselves with all of these new habits at once, rather than taking on one habit at a time, allowing ourselves to adjust to that before adding on another one, then we end up setting ourselves up for failure because our human mind cannot take the weight of. multiple new changes at one time and expecting us to be consistent or to easily adjust to all of these changes at the exact same time. Start with one. Not all the things, just one. Master not procrastinating with one thing. Master getting consistent with one thing. Think about what that could be for you. Is it you no longer procrastinating your online content, specifically your social media content, your YouTube content, your podcast content, in order to make a difference that you feel called to make in the online world? Maybe it's you no longer procrastinating on spending simply 30 minutes a day on your business ideas. Maybe it's as simple as that. Maybe it's you no longer procrastinating on studying from that one course, or studying that topic on YouTube, or studying that thing. What is that one thing that you can work on no longer procrastinating on this week? Start with one. Get good at it. Allow it to become a habit that you are just good at taking action on that thing and no longer procrastinating on it. And then move on to the next area, the next thing, the next concept for you to no longer procrastinate in. One thing at a time, my friend. Next one. This one's one of my favorites. In order to help you stop procrastinating, you need to get good At time management with boundaries, I talk a lot about time management in these episodes. The reason why I do is because of how essential it is in order to put in consistent effort within what God is calling you to do without burning yourself out. You have to steward your time well. Now, I believe stewarding your time well can help you not procrastinate because you're able to manage your time in your day so well to the point where you're not burnt out and allowing that burnout to cause you to procrastinate on that thing. Just try to get better with your time. A lot of times we feel like we don't have enough time in the day when in actuality we just need to do a better job at managing the time that we already have. Think about how you can create better. A consistent schedule, how you can create time blocks in your calendar to work on this or focus on this or do this thing. Now, notice how I didn't just say time management. I said time management with boundaries. I do not want you to manage your time well to the point where everything's mapped out perfectly. Every hour of the day you're doing something and you just have this consistent schedule that you stick to. No, you don't want to overwhelm yourself with this never ending to do list that's just packed on your weekly calendar. Set healthy boundaries. A really great way that I set boundaries is by theming my days during the week. Theming my days during the week helps me to get organized in my mind on what days I focus on which things so that I can stay on track so that I don't feel scattered. And ultimately, I just feel extremely well balanced if I go about it. In the way that I had mapped out with my themed days. For example, Tuesdays and Thursdays are my recording days. Ideally, I do not record any other days of the week. I just record on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because I know that if I am going to be consistent and not procrastinate when it comes to showing up on my podcast or my YouTube channel, Then I need to have some sort of set schedule of when I record. If I just record sporadically or if I make every day a recording day, I'm gonna feel burnt out. I'm gonna feel overwhelmed. I'm gonna start to retreat and procrastinate because it gets to be too much. But when I set boundaries by saying, you know what? I am going to try to record only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that is it. That helps me create space between me and my work, between me and my efforts, to the point where I'm putting in effort, but also retracting and taking breaks and resting when I need to, so that I can manage my time well without burning out. I cannot even begin to explain to you how much this has changed the game for me. This helps me stay on track. This helps me no longer procrastinate and combining my time management with boundaries with the fact that it's not about me and it's about other people That God might be wanting to impact through me, that gives me the motivation to be consistent in the Tuesday, Thursday recordings, because I'm going to be real with you. Sometimes when I come on these podcasts on Tuesdays or Thursdays to record, I don't feel like it. My energy is low. I'm tired. I might be in a low mood, but whenever that happens. I have to sit and ask myself, okay, is this a moment where I need to choose spending time with God right now over the work that he's called me to do? Ooh, that is a powerful point because you need to understand that if you are solo, you should not be forcing yourself to do the work that God is calling you to do. Instead, you should be bringing yourself into relationship with him, spending time with him, getting your mind back, right? Tuning into the spirit. That is priority. So, if I need to take the time to do that, then I won't record on that Tuesday, and I'll go spend time with God. I will go rest. I will breathe. I will pour back into me so that I can pour back out the next day. if I sit and reflect and I think, okay, am I just not wanting to do this episode because I want to procrastinate or because I want to be lazy and that is why I don't want to show up? And do what God is calling me to do, because if that's the reason, then my friend, you need to find the motivation in you to obey what God has called you to do and to show up and to do it anyway. I want you to be able to understand the difference. If you need to take time, spend time with God, rather than forcing you to do the work, Do that. That comes first. However, if in your mind, you know that you're just tempted to be lazy, or you're tempted to procrastinate, and your mind is coming up with excuses as to why you should, then my friend, build up the motivation back in you. Find the fire in you. Bring God into that effort with you right then and there in that moment to do the thing, to be consistent, to obey what God is calling you to do. Because, remember, it's not about you. It's about what God might be wanting to use your life and your business and your story and your skills to impact someone else. Now, that brings me to my final point. To overcome procrastination, you have got to value obedience to God over your free time. Oh, this is a heart check for so many of us, myself included, okay, because I love my free time. I love watching TV. I am a movie girl through and through. I love going to the beach and sitting there and doing absolutely nothing. I love going to the coffee shop and drinking an overly expensive coffee with my non fiction book I love going on dates with my fiancé. I love spending way too much time at the dog park with my dogs because it brings me joy to just watch them play. I love my free time. Okay? But, if we are loving our free time too much, And allowing ourselves to marinate in it a little too much, then it can unintentionally take away from doing what God is calling us to do. From obeying what He wants us to do. From taking action. Now, I'm bringing this up because a good example for me is after a long day of work, I love to veg and watch my favorite show or to find a really good show to watch. I love that, but if God had called me to do this thing or to do this podcast episode or to get this done, and I didn't do it yet, why am I going to choose valuing my free time of watching TV over valuing being obedient to God and doing what He's calling me to do? That was just a random example, but honestly, we all have those moments where we are kind of choosing between our free time, our fun time in comparison to obeying what God is calling us to do. Now let me be very clear. It's okay to have free time. It's okay to have fun time. You're supposed to rest in between. You're supposed to find balance. It's okay to enjoy life. All I'm saying is that in moments where you're procrastinating, you need to ask yourself, Is this a moment where I am valuing my free time over valuing being obedient to God? Do that heart check and work through flipping it. How can you value your obedience to God more than you do your free time? And honestly, that applies not just to the concept of procrastination that we're talking about on this episode here. That also applies to anything in life. Are you valuing your free time over valuing your obedience to God when it comes to serving other people? When it comes to helping other people? Are you valuing your free time over your obedience to God when it comes to spending time with Him and opening up your Bible? There are so many ways where we could apply this to our lives. To wrap up this episode. I just want to say procrastination can be overcome. Now, it will sneak up on you. You will still have moments where you struggle with procrastination and in those moments, give yourself grace, But also in those moments, remember that you have chosen to change. You are taking the steps necessary to create change in your life because you are choosing that you want to give God your yes. You no longer want to procrastinate. You no longer want to allow confusion or burnout or fear to keep you procrastinating and therefore holding you back from doing what God is calling you to do. It is time to take action. It is time to get consistent in that action and being wise in how you go about that consistent action. And that's where we start talking about everything that I brought up in this episode from understanding that it's not about you. It's about other people that God wants to impact through you. Understanding that you just need to start with one thing. Work on no longer procrastinating in one thing in your life, rather than all the things at once. Master your time management with boundaries. And value your obedience to God over valuing your free time. Day by day, my friend, you can do this. I know you can. I know you can. If you'd like a little help, I do have a freebie that I want to give away on this episode. It is my content management toolkit that helps you to manage your time, set boundaries, and just help you overall no longer procrastinate because of the time management boundary setting skills that you were able to put into place from this freebie. So if you'd like it, check it out. It's for free right down below. The description in this YouTube video or in the podcast show notes where you're listening to this episode. Thanks for tuning in. I pray that this episode touched your spirit. I pray that it was the stepping stone to you finally saying no to procrastination and saying yes to God. I'm grateful for you for listening in and I'll see you next week for another episode.