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Writer's pictureJessica McKinley

181. Are You a “Procrasti-Worker?”

Updated: Mar 7

Procrastination affects almost all of us. We all know it slows down our progress and delays our tasks… BUT you’ll be surprised when I tell you how vastly different procrastination influences each of us. I’ll show you how our brains sneakily allow us to procrastinate through a number of different tricks, excuses, distractions, and intrusive thoughts. FIND OUT HOW TO BREAK THE CYCLE!

Also listen to the end to hear how you can take control of your future by joining my next Master Class on how to be a “Masterful CEO.” It’s coming up on September 6th. Click HERE to sign up: https://campsite.bio/whatshappyningwjess




Catch up with Coach Jess and Sincerely, Future You on:



This Transcript is autogenerated:


Jessica McKinley Uyeno 0:00

Sometimes we do we get into a black hole of consumption. It's okay. Decide right now what small action you can take to get out of procrastinate working. If you're doing this, either shut down and stop for the day, take a walk or reset before you dive in for the afternoon. Or turn your phone off and set a result and a deadline and get to work baby. Welcome to sincerely future you a podcast that helps ambitious women like you make decisions today with the future you in mind. Welcome back, you guys. We have another VIP episode for you. That is an acronym today for a very important podcast episode that I hear you tell me you come back and listen to over and over and over again. So this week, we're talking about procrastinate working. This has been one of the trends that I keep hearing in my coaching containers. This is that thing that we do that keeps us busy but not productive. It's that habit that burns us out and makes us feel like oh my gosh, I'm trying hard. Why is it not working? It is time to be under yourself darling CEOs and find out which of the sneaky things your smart brain is doing. That is actually a form of procrastinating. But first and forevermore. I'm gonna hype you up with some real talk. Yes, it's time for your weekly hype. sesh Are you ready for the truth? Let's go. We like it when people like us, right? It feels warm and fuzzy. But sometimes people don't like us. And that's okay, too. It feels less fuzzy. But it doesn't have to feel terrible either. When people don't like me, I don't make it mean anything about me. instead. You know what I think? I think they must be confused. It's kind of like when people tell me they dislike burritos or Oprah. What are they sure they've had a real burrito? Do they know Oprah built her wealth from nothing that she pays for the education of hundreds of strangers. They're obviously confused. Weird. Time to get back to being awesome. Some people just don't like burritos. That's okay. Thank goodness for retos don't act crazy like people do. We she said she doesn't like me. Maybe it should be more like pizza. Should it be more like pizza? People seem to love pizza. Okay, that's crazy. You're right. I just won't go out of my way to be like, so burrito II know, they might have a reason for not liking you. But they also might just be wrong about you. Keep being a burrito, spend time with people who love burritos, let the rest of them be wrong about you. This week's review of the week comes from Sierra Saratoga. She said what a thoughtful and well curated collection of muscles and podcasts for those with a growth mindset. Thank you so much, Sierra, I really appreciate that. Especially because if you guys are fans of Tony Robbins, or if you don't know who Tony Robbins is, he is basically the personal development king. And he has a hierarchy of human needs that he's always referencing. And there are six of them. And for me, growth is number one, it always comes up at the top. And that is a huge part of the purpose of the show. It's to help you guys ask high quality questions with future you in mind to help you grow. And with that in mind, I create and curate this collection of episodes that we call sincerely future you so you put it very succinctly and I'm just so glad that you agree that this is helping you grow and grow your mindset specifically. Thank you so much, Ciara.


All right, let's talk about what we're talking about today. And that's procrastination. Let's not just talk about the general procrastination that's so obvious where we throw on some Netflix or we online shop a little bit all of those. Let's talk about the more sneaky ways that your brains procrastinate. Because if you're a listener of the show, you probably are someone who would define themselves as productive, that thinks of themselves as enjoying the action, the work even so, but it doesn't exclude you from the experience of procrastinating. So I want to talk about five sneaky ways that I find my clients who also identify as smart ambitious women. That But they're still procrastinating. Number one, buffering with productivity. So buffering is just a term that is kind of like procrastination but where we avoid experiencing negative emotion by seeking false pleasure. And like I said, there's obvious false pleasures that we know we're procrastinating even on, we're doing it like if we're like, let me just make a quick snack. Or let me just like I said, Netflix one of those things. But buffering with productivity is the hipsters favorite form of buffering, where they're like, oh, on my list right now is to write out my exact launch plan. Or I need to hire a bookkeeper. So I need to go through something tedious, whatever it is for you. And then what they do instead is they organize their desk, or they like my client, Helen, from a couple of years ago, this is what I discovered and called out like your buffering was productivity to she had a deadline for herself for something for her back pain protocol that we were in the process of grading, and it was an arduous process. Like, I'll give her that. This was hard. She had to think really hard during this time on her schedule, and she didn't have it done. And I was like, Oh, why didn't it get done. And she was like, oh, but and she didn't even seem alarmed, because she was so ready with her productivity excuses. She was like, I painted my daughter's room. And I did this. And I did that. And like, they were all things that were useful to her life. But it wasn't what was on her schedule. And I want you to watch out for this sneaky way of procrastinating when something that's productive, but isn't on your schedule is just like, easier productivity for you. And if you find yourself doing this a lot, what I find is like people are like I'm busy, and things are getting done. But the result that they really want is not increasing, right, they're not getting the actual result that they want. And if they're not taking that action, but they're justifying productivity, this is procrastination. So I want you to call it out for what it is right now. So that you can start noticing it. Again, the first step is just awareness. And when you're aware of this scene, when you're aware that you're streaming Netflix is buffering during the day, if you have something else on your schedule, you'll be aware of it even when it's productive, productive work. Okay, number two. Number two is telling ourselves, we just don't know how much time something's going to take. This one sounds so innocent coming out of your mouth, you're like, Well, I've never done this before. So I can't really schedule it properly. I'm just going to generally take today to work on my website. You guys, I'm using that as an example. Because that's what I was doing yesterday, I did not schedule working on it, I just had it vaguely in the spot. And jogger, it took me quite a long time because I your brain, especially you ambitious type A personalities will go all perfectionists on me and be like, Oh, it could be better, it could be better, could be better, could be better. And then you're also moving a little bit slower because or even if you're moving fast, it's like frantic energy, because there's no understanding of the deadline. So if you're doing this, it is a form of procrastination, you're not setting deadlines, or you set an end time, but then you make a habit of ignoring the end time. And you're like, Well, I just need to finish what I'm working on. And, again, that might sound like you're doing the right thing. And sometimes I don't want you to get confused. Sometimes we do need to finish what we're working on. But we need to be very clear that we have a deadline. And otherwise, you allow your brain to slow down. You allow your brain to get distracted. If you know if you knew that you would return in whatever was on your schedule at the end of that deadline. The same way. If a professor was like, Okay, this essay is due at 9am on Friday, and you were like, oh, to the profit Professor like I'm just I'm not done. I didn't know how long it's gonna take me and I'm not done. They'd be like, tough. Give me what you got. And I'll grade you on that. Right like we don't think that that's weird. So you almost need to treat your deadlines the same way you would treat an essay that you were handing in to A professor. And if that was the case, probably the night before that deadline, or like you said, if you have 15 minutes left on when your end time is, and your phone notification goes off, and you see, it's like Instagram someone liked, you're not gonna click to that, because you've got 15 minutes, or you've got one day until this is done. Right, you take it so much more seriously, you increase your efficiencies. And without consequences for our brain, we avoid doing we slow down, and it creates just a more lazy CEO version of ourselves, not the masterful one that we want. So watch out for that number two sneaky version, which is telling yourself that you don't know how long something is going to take, you know, my thoughts about I don't know, I wish I had my keychain right here, but I don't know is not an option. Okay, just decide how long it's going to take. And commit. Number three is avoiding the doing with more learning and consuming. So people usually either have problem number one, or problem number number three, either they're the type of person that's like, Okay, I'm just gonna do all the action, and all the productivity things, and they're just doing doing doing, but it's not focused. Or it's not the thing that was on their schedule in that moment. Or they buffer through consuming and learning. So they'll be like, Oh, I really need to grow my business. So I think the best way is for me to do some research. Or I need to like watch more of the modules before I can try this. And I'm like, I'm not saying don't watch the modules that I record. But I'm saying schedule out your time for watching the modules. And still, you want to make sure that the ratio of your week is appropriate in working in the business and working on the business. So what you have to do is fail and collect some failures and go out there and do some doing. But you find that more than 50% of your week is spent consuming and learning, taking trainings, taking courses going and watching videos. And I promise in doing some research, I promise you, you're missing out on the real learning because the learning comes in the failing which requires the doing. So this is one of the most common ways that I see my clients. Sneaky procrastinate. They're like, okay, yeah, yeah, no, I'm just gonna go watch some videos this week. And I'm like, no, no, don't watch a single video, go out there and fail at this, collect five noes, make five offers, get five noes. And tell me what you learned about that. And then you can watch, you can reward yourself with a video, right? So if you find yourself doing this, set yourself a mini achievable, doing goal on your schedule, and just go out there and feel real, feel the feelings while you do it. Okay, number four is having a vague definition of working on your business. I hear people talk all the time about that they're working on their business, and they're working so hard on their business, but they don't have results. And I'm like, I just don't believe that you're not working on your business that or you just don't know what working on your business even means. For me working on my business is my vital behaviors, which if you don't know what that is, go back and listen to the episode that I did on vital behaviors. I'll link that in the show notes. And it's really just about anything, the definition is anything that's going to move my business forward, that's going to make me more money or help me gain more clients in some way. Right? So if you have a vague definition of it, these are some of the things that I hear people kind of lump into working on their business. So everything to do with social media. So even if they're just on social media to post, and then actually what they're doing is scrolling for two hours. Right. So like they they go to posts, they want to feel inspired to scroll for a little bit, and they write a post and they don't really like it. So they schedule it to be posted tomorrow and they're going to edit it later. And then they end up scrolling for a little bit. Right and it's like no results whatsoever. But they call that time working on their business. I'm like, wow, that like must be really fun. Who would pay you a salary to do that? No boss, if you had a boss would pay you to do that. So why are you as the boss of yourself By letting yourself do that and call it work, okay? So social media, scrolling, everything, social media, all the things that are easy or fun for us. So the things that I'm going to name, here are examples of things that I see my clients doing a lot of, and then calling a business. Now I do a little bit of all of these things. But if you're doing a lot of it, it's you're doing it to procrastinate. So one is networking. That's is fun to some people, to me, included, I love networking. But if I'm going to three or four networking events a week, and I'm not doing the doing in the following up with the people that I've been networking with, and connecting and making sure they're guests on my podcast, or, or making an offer for them to be a client of mine, then the networking is a buffer, and I'm calling out working on my business posting. People do this all the time. They're like, Oh, my goal is to post three times this week. And I'm like, okay, and then what? Right, so just notice, if like, all of you're working on your business activities are one thing, and they're not creating results that you want. You can do these things, but you need to constantly change one aspect of it in order to get a different result. It's like Insanity, right? The definition, doing the same thing and expecting a different result. But for some reason, we think like, and I'm guilty of it, too, right? I know, this is a very triggering episode for a lot of you progressed, sneaky, productive procrastinators out there. But it's so important to be aware of, so that you can start getting results. That's the whole point of listening to this show, right? Taking trainings, getting coached. Like I said, the consumption, it can be easy to be like, Oh, I'm working on my business. My mastermind has a bajillion courses and old videos that I could watch, but you don't see me in there watching them all the time. If I specifically want to learn something that has a video on it, I schedule it in. And then I make sure that I scheduled not just the consumption, but the action attached to the consuming, what is the point? What did I want to learn, so that I can go and apply it. And if you're just during the learning, we want to make sure that you call yourself out and at least tell yourself the truth. Okay, so that's really step one is being aware of what your version of this working on my business lie is. And then step two, tell yourself the truth about it. I'm not even saying you have to stop doing any of it. But it's like, don't start calling it working on your business.


Call it oh, I'm buffering right now. Call it I'm procrastinating by going to a networking event. Try just saying that out loud. When your partner asks you where you're going, and you're like, Oh, I'm going to procrastinate tonight. Have fun with watching the kids. And just see what kind of reaction happens there. And so that way, you really feel the discomfort of it so that you eventually will make a change or just cut it out. Right? Okay, whichever is the better method for you. And then number five favorite way to call people out on sneaky brain procrastination is making to do lists. Y'all know how I feel about to do lists, I don't allow for to do lists we do to be scheduled lists. And the difference is, is one is the step one, like the Part A and A T B s list implies that you will be scheduling what is on this list. And once it's on your schedule, you will be doing it it is as good as done. If you find yourself constantly being like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do, what should I do? Let's make a list of all the things I have to do. This is a sneaky way to procrastinate. I'm not saying that we don't need to get our actions out of our brain we do. But if you're doing this constantly, or if you have many to do lists or if you are in a phase, let's say of small blocks of time that you're trying to build your business in or let's say you're you're a you have your young kids at home and you only have an hour right now because they're napping, you do not want to spend that hour making a to do list. I would so much rather you spend the hour say two things in your brain that you know you need to do and just do those two things. And then once your kid gets up or when they go to bed at night and you're not really working make your to be scheduled lists, then and then schedule All right, I this to do list garbage. It's like society's biggest procrastination secret disguised as productivity. It's not productive. Okay? Even if you like checking it off the to do list eventually and it feels really good. This is not a sustainable and masterful way to be a CEO. Okay, I know there are people out there who are going to disagree with me vehemently, but I'm calling you out. I promise you that if you drop these five things, you are going to be so uncomfortable that you will have to take action, and you will start getting major results in your business. Now that you've listened to this show, you might see that you're actually procrastinating by consuming this very episode. Ah, for most of you, you're not you might be just listening to it in your car or in the shower or multitasking however you like to consume your episodes. But sometimes we do we get into a black hole of consumption. It's okay. Decide right now what small action you can take to get out of procrastinate working. If you're doing this, either shut down and stop for the day, take a walk or reset before you dive in for the afternoon. Or turn your phone off and set a result and a deadline and get to work baby. You've got this. See you next week. But before you sign off, stop what you're doing right now and register for the masterful CEO and master class over on Instagram, or in the show notes right here in your podcast streaming platform, whether it's Apple or Spotify, you can register for that masterclass it's going to be September 6 At noon Eastern Standard Time. Yes, there will be a replay sent to all registrants so if you can't make it live, don't worry register anyway, trust me. You are not going to want to miss this. See you guys there.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai


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