You know the feeling…

You plan to lock in all day, but get distracted.

Then suddenly it’s past midnight and you’re beating yourself up for procrastinating.

What if I told you there was 1 mindset shift that helped me in those moments?

And it’s not something you’d expect…

Reframe your expectations (no this doesn’t mean plan less stuff on your to-do list)

Here’s how I used to think whenever I caught myself procrastinating:

• Omg I’m so lazy wtf am I doing

• Why is it so hard for me to do this simple thing

• I’m so overwhelmed and stressed because I’m constantly behind, I do not have time to waste right now…

But then I started noticing things.

Like how, when I procrastinated writing a paper for a whole week, the paper actually became easier to write?

Maybe it was the adrenaline and challenge of rushing before the deadline.

Or maybe…it was because I had this hanging over my head the entire week, constantly thinking about it.

Letting it marinate.

So here’s what I think when I procrastinate now:

• I’m just giving my ideas time to cook

• I don’t have the energy right now, but I know I will later (bc I trust myself to get stuff done when they need to)

• It’s not a life or death scenario I can relax

And when I feel more calm, suddenly I’m way more ready to tackle the task than before.

Braindump your tasks

Here’s another example of how to reframe expectations.

Today I was feeling overwhelmed because I procrastinated all weekend.

I mean, this upcoming week is Black Friday week, and I’m supposed to be promoting my course (which I know truly helps people and changes lives).

But all weekend, I logged off and spent time with my partner and some friends (I value time with loved ones a lot).

I felt so guilty over it…like this morning I woke up at 11:52am and basically half my day was “gone.”

I was so overwhelmed by my list of “late” tasks now that I didn’t even know where to start.

So I made a braindump (on pen and paper so I couldn’t get distracted by notifs).

After listing everything that was taking up space in my head, I felt…

Relief?

Because now, instead of thinking “I’m so lazy, why didn’t I do any work, I don’t know where to start now that I have this huge mountain of tasks I’m behind on,”

I saw how much I was actually expecting myself to do.

The list took up the entire page.

I really expected myself to do all that in half a day.

It felt so validating to see that I was carrying a lot. And when I felt calmer, I was able to start checking off the tasks one by one.

My expectations went from:

• “You should’ve done this already, you’re so lazy”

To:

• “Wow this is a lot of work, but I trust in myself and maybe this can be a fun challenge to see how much I can get done today. I’m excited to see what happens”

And now here I am checking things off my list one by one, starting with writing this email.

Because when you work with your energy…

You live a more fulfilling life.

Instead of beating yourself up and never feeling enough,

You’ll be more gentle with yourself - and accomplish more as a result.

This is the entire premise behind what my course is built on.

I’ll share more when course enrollments officially open tomorrow 🫶 

Til next time,

Jennifer

P.S. this is the last cohort of the course 🥺 I’m rebranding it to be more business-focused!