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What is up my friend, and welcome back to another episode of the God Empowered Entrepreneur Podcast. I am so happy to be with you this week. As you know, every single week we dive into different topics that have to do with you doing what God is calling you to do in business, as an entrepreneur, as a creative. Within whatever project there is something that you feel called to, but within that calling, there is a lot that comes along That journey isn't there? There's the mindset stuff where we're working through our perfectionism and our issues and our fears and all of these circumstances and obstacles and trying to gain confidence. And then you have the actual business strategy where now we're talking about marketing and time management and systems, and then there's of course, staying close. To God, ensuring that you are in alignment with him, that you're on his path versus your very own. There is so much that goes into this process. But before we dive into today's episode, I just want to say I'm proud of you. I'm really, really proud of you, and I think sometimes we just need to hear that it's not. Easy deciding to do what God is calling you to do, choosing to be obedient in that even when you're scared, even when you have no idea what the heck you're even doing. And it also doesn't go unnoticed that you clicked on today's podcast episode. I'm really proud of you for the action that you're taking to listen right now, but I'm also really proud of you for just trying to progress forward in any degree. And I really hope that you take the time to be proud of yourself as well Through that process. Now within our processes of doing what God is calling us to do I know for a fact that all of us have come across this one question, whether it be right now or previously along your journey so far, and that question is, why can't I seem to get things done? Why is it when every time I tell myself, I am finally going to do this thing, I'm finally gonna get that thing done. I'm finally gonna move forward. I'm finally gonna be obedient in this. Why is it that every single time I tell myself I'm going to do this thing, I don't. I end up in fact doing nothing about it. I've been there. Many times. And that question that we've all asked ourselves at some point ends up making us feel like we are just straight up lazy. We're lazy. We can't get it together. Why can't we seem to get things right? Why can't we just get up and go? And because we start to believe that we're lazy, it starts to take us down. That insecurity hole, my friend, that deep dark hole where we feel insecure, we feel like we're never gonna get it right. We feel like we're not good enough, and now it's really hard to get outta that deep, dark hole. Yeah, we talk about that deep dark hole a lot in this podcast because it's real and it comes and it goes. We're in and we're out. And I've realized that one of those things that gets us in that deep dark hole and can keep us there if we're not careful is laziness. Us believing that we're lazy because we just can never get the thing done that we say we're gonna do. Let me change your perspective. What if. You are actually not lazy. You're just overwhelmed. What if you not being able to get the things done that you say you're gonna do is not because of your lazy mentality, but it's because of your overwhelmed mentality. What if you are so clouded by the chaos of your life? That you have no mental, emotional, or physical energy to do the thing that you desperately want to do, that you say you're going to do. That my friend is not laziness. It's overwhelm elm. now, here's the thing. That might be slightly good news because you're like, oh, okay. Instead of believing that I'm just lazy and I can't seem to overcome this trait of mine, I guess I'm just overwhelmed. Okay. That's a breath of fresh air either way, whether it's laziness, overwhelm, or whatever it is. That's keeping you from doing what God is calling you to do. At the end of the day, it leads to you self-sabotaging your success, self-sabotaging your own future, the goals, the accomplishments, the outcome of doing what God is calling you to do along your path. The lessons learned, the blessings gained, the peace and joy developed, the contentment and fulfillment that you have no matter what you go through. The successful and impactful business that you wanna put out there in the world to make on other people and set you and your family up for success. All of these things, you could unintentionally be self-sabotaging because of your inability to overcome your overwhelm that you are disguising for laziness. Whew. Now let's back up a little bit. There is always a solution. There's always a solution, my friend, but in order to find that solution, we have to dig up the root of the issue. We have to understand why is this self-sabotage happening? Why am I. So down on myself and identifying myself as lazy, when in actuality I'm just overwhelmed and I don't know what to do about that overwhelm. So let's first uncover where a lot of our common overwhelms come from in the first place. The very first one is fear of the unknown. I am a huge believer that we can cause our own overwhelm unnecessarily because we're simply. Terrified of what's next. We don't know what's around the corner. We're scared that if we take this step, we don't know what's gonna happen over there. And that fear controls us so much to the point where we feel overwhelmed by that fear. The second thing, and this is probably the most common one, is your never ending tasks. That long to-do list that just seems to be getting longer and longer and longer, and no matter how many things you check off that list, how many things you get done, it just keeps extending. Tasks on that to-do list that have to do with your work, that have to do with your calling, that have to do with your family, your home, your kids, yourself, your health, your finances, all of these to-dos that just pile up to the point where our plate is full. And we are struggling. It's full. It's heavy, and therefore we're straight up overwhelmed and we don't know what to do about it. Lastly. Stepping out of your comfort zone that can cause overwhelm. I wanted to bring this point up when it comes to what is the cause of your overwhelm. Because if you are listening to this episode, then that means you are an ambitious. Individual. You have creative ideas. You aspire to be a business owner. You want to scale the current business that you have. You want to obey in what God is calling you to do. And with that comes us needing to step out of our comfort zone, stepping out of our comfort zone when it comes to being willing to learn. Just like you clicking on this podcast episode that tells me that you are willing and ready to learn, that is stepping out of your comfort zone. There's also just showing up and trying to navigate your way through this path that God has called you to. When it comes to entrepreneurship and your creative calling in general, that takes a lot of stepping out of your comfort zone. Even when it comes to Christianity, how to strengthen your Christian faith as you pursue this really difficult journey that you might be on right now that is stepping out of your comfort zone. All of these things are not comfortable. They challenge us, they grow us, and. I think that although challenges and growth are great and they're necessary, it's okay to be honest in the very real fact that many times it feels overwhelming. I hope me saying one of those three points just now gave you a slight sense of relief. Of just feeling seen, because I know a lot of times when we are so caught up in our overwhelm, we feel so alone. Like nobody understands us, we're just in our stress bubble by ourselves, and no one can hear us or see us struggling. But my friend, I just want to tell you, I see you, I hear you. And most importantly, God sees you. God hears you. You are not alone in this struggle of overwhelm. So what's the solution if you have been masking your overwhelm with laziness? And unintentionally identifying yourself to that so much to the point where you get so down about yourself constantly wondering, why can't I get it together? Why can't I get it done? Why can't I just do what God has called me to do? Why do I hesitate? Why do I procrastinate? I promise you there is a solution to overcoming this. Now, here's the thing. I could say, oh, well, a solution to your overwhelm is just getting rid of some of the things in your life. Lessen your workload, my friend. Let go of some things. But I found that oftentimes that is not the solution. There will be seasons where God could be calling you to let go of something. That's different in seasons like that, obey, do what God is calling you to let go of because he knows best. However, a lot of times what we think is the solution when it comes to letting go of certain things and setting all of these really intense boundaries with certain things, a lot of times these are just band-aids and we're not really learning to deal with the weight of life. Instead, we're just. Pushing it off by sending these intense boundaries or letting it go, and let me just lessen this workload rather than learning to just deal with the load of life, that honestly, we'll always feel heavy. Why? Because there's always going to be stuff going on right now. You could let go of three things in your life where you're like, yep, that's gonna lessen my load. I'm gonna feel more free. I'm not gonna feel so overwhelmed. Guess what? In a few months, next year, something's gonna come around and it's going to add a hundred more things to your to-do list that end up being the same amount of things on your to-do list from those three other things that you previously just let go of. Why? Because it's life. We go through different seasons. We are challenged with different things. We overcome different circumstances. Things happen unexpectedly, things happen. Expectedly, regardless of what it is, it adds to the weight. I'm saying this so that you and I can both be in that reality of. There's always going to be things to do. There's always going to be that never ending to-do list. There's always going to be fear of the unknown. There's always going to be you stepping out of your comfort zone and being called to do so. There's always going to be that. So yes, maybe this is a moment for you to take the time to reflect and pray about what you might need to let go of based off of what God could be calling you to let go of in this season of your life that is unnecessary for you to be holding right now. But I also want you to consider. rather than you being challenged to let go of so many things to lessen your load, instead learn to carry it better learn to carry it so well to the point where it no longer feels. Overwhelming, or at least not nearly as overwhelming as it was before. It is time for us to learn how to deal with our stuff, carry our stuff well. You existing in this constant state of overwhelm because all of the things in your life are burdening you. You don't have to remain in that state. You also don't have to remain in a state of thinking that you just need to let go of all the things in order for you to feel some sense of peace and no overwhelm at all. You also do not have to remain in that state. There is a middle ground of you having healthy stuff in your life. Good things, hard things, but things that are just a part of your life, your business, your calling, your family, your home, your health. That has to do with you progressing through these things and having tasks to get done and everything in between. What if we just learned to carry these things better to the point where overwhelm starts to diminish and we no longer feel? Lazy. We no longer feel like we can't do what God is calling us to do because we're so overly consumed by all these other things. But instead, we create this spiritual space where we have the energy, we have the mental capacity. We have the faith to do what he is calling us to do because we've learned to carry our current responsibilities better. So I wanna go back to what I talked about is common of what can cause overwhelm and how we can learn to carry those things better in order to diminish the overwhelm that we may be feeling from those things. Remember, your tasks are not going away. Your fear of the unknown will come and go. You stepping outta your comfort zone. There will always be seasons for that. It's not going anywhere. You getting rid of it, it's not possible. Why? Because you're human and you have emotions and feelings and thoughts that. Come and go. But even though these things aren't necessarily gonna go away in a snap of a finger, we can learn to carry it better. So as I mentioned, we're gonna circle back. The first thing that I mentioned that can cause a lot of our overwhelm is simply fearing the unknown. Instead of thinking, how can I get rid of my fear of the unknown? Change your perspective and ask yourself, how can I carry this better? How can I manage this better? Well get in your word. That's how you carry it Better. Your fear of the unknown. Get in the word read scripture, study the Bible. I say this a lot on these episodes because, myself included, we all need that reminder. The Bible is your road map, and one of the biggest things that it talks about is fear, overcoming fear. On top of that, there are so many scriptures that confirm how much God will care for you. You don't have to worry when God is on your side and my friend, he is on your side when you believe in him. When you have faith in Christ, he is on your side. I literally just heard this in a church sermon this morning and it was saying, why do we get so caught up in the habit of being the victim when in scripture over and over again, it confirms that we have every right to be the victor because of Christ who lives in us, and how much it is truth that God will take care of you. Can you stop being a victim to your overwhelm? And can you instead be a victor by learning to simply carry it better. You wanna overcome fear of the unknown and therefore. Diminish the overwhelm that comes with that. Get in your word. Start believing through your action, through your faith. What God says, matter of fact, I'm gonna help you. I got three of some of my favorite verses that have helped me overcome fear of the unknown and confirm that God has got my back and I don't need to worry about anything. Let's start off with a popular one, Jeremiah 29 11. For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Let's go through another one, Romans 8 28, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. I am gonna go through one more. This one's been my favorite lately. Psalms 34 17. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. Those are just three. There are many more. Notice how those three scriptures confirm. In some variation, how well God will care for you if you would just believe that he would, which means that if we believed that he would care for us, that he has our best interest in mind, that we don't have to worry about anything no matter what we go through, then why are we scared of the unknown? If we really believed in God and what he can do and what his word says. Just like three scriptures I just read. Why are we overwhelmed about the unknown? Why are we letting fear control us about the future? Get in your word to help you diminish the overwhelm that you are feeling when it comes to fearing the unknown. Alright. Now the second thing that I had mentioned of what can cause or overwhelm a lot of times is that never ending to-do list. So if that never ending to-do list isn't really gonna go away, then how do we simply learn to carry it? Well carry it better. Get organized, my friend, get organized rather than just letting your life happen, letting the to-do list, just run and roll and you're just kind of in this routine and. simulation of getting these tasks done, get organized. What does it look like for you to steward your time well, in order to manage all the things on your to-do list? Better and stewarding your time well does not just mean being so productive and marking off 80 things on your to-do list in a single day. No stewarding your time. Well also means being respectful of your mental capacity within the boundaries of time in a single day, to where you understand what you can be able to do that day. Not overwhelming yourself with productivity. But progressing forward, putting in effort, and knowing when to respect your mental capacity, enough to cut it off when it's getting to be too much. I've been working on telling myself that what I got done today is good enough. A lot of times we're mentally down on ourselves for what we didn't get done today, and that causes us to feel overwhelmed. What if instead we flipped it and we more so thought about the things that we did get done and we believed that that was good enough. Maybe it was one thing. Because that's all the mental capacity you had. Wow, my friend. That's good enough. What if maybe you got a lot of stuff done around the house, but you didn't do anything towards your business like you said you were gonna do. Wow, my friend, that's good enough. Maybe you got so much work done in your business that progresses you more towards your creative calling, but your house is a mess. And you said you were gonna do the dishes, but you didn't. Wow, my friend. That's good enough for today. I think we just need to start telling ourselves that more so that we can stop feeling overwhelmed by the things that we didn't get done, and more so feel content about the things that we did get done. so get organized in a way that works for you, whether it's a calendar, a time management system, setting boundaries around your time, making sure that you have a Sabbath day every single week. Setting time blocks for when you're gonna work on this and when you're gonna dedicate time to this. Speaking life into your time by deeming what you did get done in that day as good enough, rather than dismissing it because you're too focused on what you didn't do today. Get organized. Organization is a part of you stewarding your life, well, stewarding your time better, which I've talked about before on this show, but I bring it up again because of how essential it is. Get organized so that you can do more of what God is calling you to do and therefore create the mental capacity to progress forward while also at the same time. Speaking life into that organization rather than death. Meaning whatever organization you put into place today that helps you to get X, Y, z, done, that's enough. Be proud of that rather than dismissing it and overwhelming yourself at the thought of what you didn't get done that day. Lastly, my friend, stepping out of your comfort zone and that producing overwhelming your life, how do you carry that? Well? How do you carry it better? Get confident we exist. Way too much in our insecurities, way too much in the comparison game to the point where we completely dismiss how uniquely, wonderfully, and beautifully God made us. If God made us so unique, so wonderful, so beautifully, if it is written that he is a calling over our lives, that we were created on purpose for a purpose, why don't we have confidence in that? Well, I'll tell you why. Because we allow our past and our traumas and what we're currently going through right now, what that person has going on over there, and what I don't have going on right here. We allow all of that to tank our confidence. It is time for you to learn to get confident in who you are and whose you are. I don't mean cocky, I don't mean arrogant. I mean confident. You feel good about who God created you to be. You feel good because Christ lives in you, and you know that you are being guided. You know that you are well taken care of. You know that you have a calling over your life. You know that you have a purpose. And even if things don't make sense right now, even if you're confused and things are just a lot, and you're worried about X, Y, z. There is a confidence that you can grow in right now in knowing that God's got your back in knowing that he's created you for a purpose in knowing that you were put in this generation for such a time as this you out of billions and billions of people that have existed. Throughout the entire timeline of planet Earth you were created. Get confident and that confidence can help you carry you stepping out of your comfort zone. Well, not that it's easy, but that you just carry it. Better. You're more bold in stepping out. You have more contentment in stepping out because you're no longer allowing yourself to feel overwhelmed all the time by stepping out, but simply feeling just more confident in stepping out and therefore growth taking place. Day by day, step by step, you are not lazy. You are just overwhelmed, and it is time to deal with your overwhelm in a healthy, godly way. The solution is not ridden of all the things in your life that cause overwhelm, because guess what? You're not learning to deal with life when it comes to that. You're just putting on a bandaid. No, let's learn to deal with it by carrying it better. Carrying it well, and as we do, we create space. To finally progress forward, to finally do what God is calling us to do much more consistently than we ever have before. Now, before we end, I also need to say some of y'all might be lazy. Okay. I know after this whole podcast episode, you're like angel, I thought you said that I wasn't. For the most part, you're not right. If you feel like you're lazy, but you got a lot going on and you're just overwhelmed and you feel all that pressure, 99% of the time you are not lazy. You're just overwhelmed, and you don't know how to overcome that in order to create capacity to do what God is calling you to do. But some of y'all. You might just be lazy. You might not deal with overwhelm as much or feeling pressure or stress as much, and you honestly just might be struggling with laziness. That's okay. This is not me pointing a finger at you. I've been there before too, but let me get to the root, because surface level, it's laziness. Deep down it's depression. I have to make that really clear. Because laziness is doing nothing. Laziness is sitting on the couch all day, having no motivation to really do anything. That's how I see laziness. I think that's how most people would see laziness. If you don't wanna do anything, you have no motivation, my friend. There is a layer of depression there that has got to be dealt with, and for that, I want to encourage you to seek the therapy that you need. Seek the community that you need, speak to a friend. You cannot get the help or support if you don't talk to people about it and give yourself grace and patience as you work through that. With God on your side because as I mentioned my friend, he's on your side. Depression, laziness. It does not need to be your reality forever. That overwhelm that you're feeling, it does not need to be a reality forever. Let's work through it. Let's carry it well. Let's progress forward. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, my friend. Thank you so much for tuning in and just being here with me in this space today. If you enjoyed this episode and you wanna hear other topics similar to this, or maybe topics that are coming to your mind that are new that you would love for us to talk about, we are currently accepting podcast topic requests. We would love to hear your ideas. I wanna continue serving you really well, so feel free to head to the link in the YouTube description down below if you're watching it there, or in the show notes if you are listening to this podcast episode where you can text us your request. Any topic related to Jesus mental health, entrepreneurship, let's talk about it. Let's get real. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Love you, my friend, rooting for you, and I'll see you next week.