March 18, 2025 • 28 mins
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Ever feel stuck in the cycle of procrastination, even when you know what God is calling you to do? You’re not alone! In this episode of The God Empowered Entrepreneur Podcast, we’re tackling the real reasons behind procrastination...why it happens, how it fuels anxiety, and most importantly, how to break free from it FOR GOOD.
I’m sharing personal experiences and practical, faith-driven strategies to help you overcome procrastination in your business, creative work, and daily life. You’ll learn both spiritual and tactical tools to move forward with clarity, consistency, and confidence...without falling into burnout!
Plus, grab your FREE Content Management Toolkit to help you set boundaries, manage your time creating your content in your business, and stay focused on what truly matters. Get it here: https://pages.empoweredmission.com/contentplanning
Hit play now to help you STOP waiting and START walking boldly in your calling today!
Want to watch to the video version of this episode? Tune in here: https://youtu.be/z6xWkecEj4Y
00:00 Introduction: The Struggle with Procrastination
00:38 Personal Experiences with Procrastination
01:46 The Internal Impact of Procrastination
03:34 Understanding Why We Procrastinate
09:14 Overcoming Procrastination: Practical Tips
22:10 The Importance of Obedience Over Free Time
24:58 Conclusion + Free content management tool
Prefer Video? Get the full podcast video experience on YouTube RIGHT HERE!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angel Marie (00:00):
How often do you procrastinate?
Genuinely think about it.
In your personal life, in yourbusiness, in your creative
ambitions, within your health.
How often do you find yourselfprocrastinating?
Now, I'm assuming that you findyourself procrastinating more
than you would like.
Hence why you clicked on thisepisode and wanted to tune in.
(00:23):
Let me start off by telling you,my friend, you're not alone.
I struggle with procrastinationtoo and I feel like over the
past year I started learning toovercome it more, which we're
going to talk all about that andhow you can overcome it too.
But the reason why I felt like Istruggled with procrastination
(00:44):
for a long time was because Iwas good at it.
I was good at using it to mybenefit by telling myself that
me procrastinating actually putsa good kind of pressure on me to
do really well.
If there was an assignment thatI procrastinated on and I knew
(01:05):
that I had an entire week to doit, but I waited until the very
last minute the night before toget it done, I was the kind of
person where that assignment gotan A.
It was good.
If there was a business projectI was working on and I had this
whole list of tasks to dothroughout the entire month, but
I waited until the very last fewdays of the month to get it
(01:27):
done, I got it all done.
And it was good.
And the work was great.
The outcome looked great.
The reason why was because Iallowed myself to believe that
procrastination put goodpressure on me to show up and do
my absolute best because I wasrunning out of time.
But here's the thing,externally, maybe the results of
(01:51):
whatever I procrastinated onstill had a good outcome.
But internally?
I felt rushed, internally I feltanxious, and internally I always
had the thought of could theoutcome have been even more
better had I not procrastinated?
Would I have felt more at peace?
(02:12):
Would I have felt more steady?
Would I have had the ability tobe more consistent in certain
things because I didn't burn outfrom the constant.
Habit of procrastinating andfeeling that anxious pressure to
get it done because I waiteduntil the last minute.
Would I just feel better andjust more consistent and more
steady?
(02:33):
The answer was yes, I wouldbecause when I stopped
procrastinating as much as Ionce was, I did feel better.
The outcome was better, butinternally, I felt more steady.
So, whether you procrastinate,and the outcome of your
procrastination is nothing,because you didn't actually end
(02:54):
up getting anything done becauseyou procrastinated the whole
time, or the outcome was messybecause you waited until the
last minute to do it, or ifmaybe you were like me, the
outcome was actually good, butYou were anxious internally
because you waited until thelast minute to get things done.
No matter what your reason isfor clicking on this episode, my
(03:14):
hope is that this episodeuplifts you enough, encourages
you enough to step out ofprocrastination for good.
So that you can do a moresteady, more consistent job of
doing what God is calling you todo and no longer allowing
procrastination to hold you backfrom doing that.
(03:34):
Now, why does procrastinationeven happen in the first place?
I think it happens for a fewdifferent reasons and I just
want to take a second to talkabout that because if you're
familiar with these episodes, welike to go deep.
We like to get to the root ofthings in order to dig them up,
deal with it, face it head on,heal from it, and officially
transform into who God iscalling us to be and
(03:56):
successfully do what he iscalling us to do.
So let's get to the root of yourprocrastination.
I think one of the main reasonswhy we procrastinate is because
we are confused.
We feel confused on our nextstep.
We feel confused on the nextthing to do.
And we don't necessarily want todo anything or move forward or
take action until we haveclarity.
(04:18):
Confusion oftentimes can be thereason why you end up
unintentionally saying no todoing 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 thatthing, do that thing, start that
business, launch that thing.
He is calling you to somethingand your intentional or
unintentional disobedience couldbe deriving from the fact that
(04:42):
you are just straight upconfused.
And you don't want to takeaction when you're confused.
You don't want to deal with thatconfusion along your steps.
You want clarity.
You want assurance.
The thing about that is, Goddoesn't need you to have all the
clarity.
In fact, I think a lot of timeshe doesn't want us to have all
(05:06):
the clarity on that next stepbecause that wouldn't
necessarily be a step of faithforward.
It wouldn't necessarily be astep of trust in him.
We wouldn't be challenged totrust him truly.
Think about it.
If you are so clear, you got allthe answers, you got all the
clarity in the world, you end upfinding confidence in that
(05:27):
versus confidence in God.
And the fact that he's got yourback, he will provide you with
pieces of clarity step by stepif you would just move and trust
him that he will provide that asyou take steps of faith.
Sometimes all he wants is ourfaith to be challenged.
And for our trust in Him togrow.
Another reason why I think thatwe struggle with procrastination
(05:51):
is because we're burnt out.
We are burnt out by all theother things going on in our
life that we don't have enoughenergy to take action towards
the things that we areprocrastinating on.
There are so many examples thatcan come with this.
You know that you want toprioritize wellness and
therefore go to the gym moreoften and eat healthy.
(06:12):
Maybe you procrastinate on thatbecause you're tired.
By the time you're done withwork, the last thing you want to
do is go to the gym becauseyou're already burnt out.
Maybe you're running yourbusiness, you're doing your
thing, but God is calling you tofocus on this project over here
or to start this new habit overhere, to be consistent in this
area.
And you're struggling andactually doing that because your
(06:33):
workload in your business isalready heavy enough as it is
that you don't even have thefocus, the energy, or feeling
like you have the time to dothat other thing that God might
be calling you to do.
Oftentimes, when our workload isheavy, the last thing we want is
a whole nother layer of aworkload, hence us
procrastinating on actuallydoing it.
(06:55):
This one is a tough one, and Itruly think that it's going to
take balance, consistentbalance, to no longer
procrastinate because you'reburnt out, but instead, to
balance what it is that you'recurrently doing with what it is
that God is calling you to alsodo.
And learning to take breaks andrest in between it all.
Another reason why I believethat we procrastinate, we're
(07:18):
just scared.
We are scared to move forward.
We're scared to do the thing.
We're scared to complete thetask.
Why?
Because we don't want to fail.
As human beings, it's naturalfor us to not want to step into
the unknown of things becauseit's uncomfortable.
We don't want to be in a stateof discomfort, not knowing
(07:41):
what's next, not knowing what'saround the corner, not knowing
if something will work out ornot.
That scares us.
We start jumping into survivalmode, 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 myconfidence?
How will that affect my future?
(08:03):
We start asking all the whatifs.
To the point where we just getscared and we end up
unintentionally procrastinatingbecause we are so held in
bondage by our own fear to moveforward.
The biggest thing that I want tosay to this is the very real
fact that you cannot grow incomfort.
(08:23):
When God calls you to something,that is going to take a stretch
of growth.
Growth is not comfortable.
So when you are feeling scaredto take that next step, you're
feeling uncomfortable to takethat next step, but you know
that God is calling you to takeit, that is your beautiful
challenge to grow.
(08:45):
That is your beautiful challengeto learn what it's like to walk
in confidence in the unknown andtrusting God through every
single step.
It's not easy, but again,growth, that not being easy, is
what catapults us into who Godis calling us to be and the
future that he is wanting us towalk in.
(09:07):
So we just dug deep, right?
We just talked about differentareas where our procrastination
could be deeply rooted in.
But now I want to dive into howin the world do you overcome it?
I think procrastinationoftentimes can become our
identity.
Like, oh, we're just so used tothis habit of pushing things
off.
That's just how we are.
(09:29):
And it starts to become not justa routine, not just a habit, not
just the thing we do, but a partof our identity to the point
where we don't know how to disidentify from procrastination.
We don't know how to break itoff so that we can transform
into healthy, consistent,balanced habits of taking
action.
(09:50):
So I want to give you somepointers that I hope would
encourage you.
To let procrastination go forgood.
First up, you need to understandthat this is not about you.
It is not about you.
A lot of times procrastinationcomes from the fact that in our
(10:11):
minds, we make that choice toprocrastinate on that thing that
God is calling us to do so itfeels like it's about us.
And when it's about us, we feellike we're the only ones being
affected.
Like, oh, if I push that off,it's fine.
Nobody knows that I pushed itoff.
Only I know about it.
It only affects me.
And you know what?
(10:31):
I'm fine with pushing it off.
It's just not the right timeright now to do it.
We kind of have thisunintentional self centeredness
when it comes to usprocrastinating.
But you need to understand thatit is not about you.
Your procrastination is delayingthe transformation, the life
changed, the life impacted.
(10:53):
Of someone else, all because youare procrastinating, there is a
person, a conversation, a smallgroup of people, a large group
of people that God has set asidefor you to make an impact to.
Whether it be tomorrow, a month,a year from now, 10 years from
(11:13):
now, God has it all planned out.
He is calling you to that thing.
He is calling you to thatbusiness.
He's calling you to thatproject, not just for your
benefit, but for the benefit ofother people that he wants you
to plant a seed to in theirlives.
He wants to use you as hisvessel.
You might not even be aware ofthat.
(11:34):
That one little action, that onelittle task.
Ends up being one step forwardin what God is calling you to do
when it comes to impacting otherpeople.
And when you delay that, becauseyou are procrastinating, you are
delaying someone's seed planted,someone's transformation,
someone's life being impacted byyou.
(11:55):
You are delaying that.
Now, God is going to do whathe's going to do.
He will use the people that hewants to use if it means making
an impact to a specific personor group of people.
But my point is that he'schoosing you.
He's calling you.
The question is, are you goingto say yes to the call?
(12:19):
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 useyou.
Your beautiful human self, yourbeautiful creative brain, your
(12:41):
beautiful ideas that you wouldmake into reality.
God wants to use that to make animpact to one person or many.
And if you procrastinate Thenyou delay that.
And I've come to learn thatthere has to be a new level of
love that you have for people.
You have to learn how to lovepeople beyond yourself to the
(13:04):
point where procrastinationcan't even be in the question.
It can't even be a possibilityin your day.
Because you know that people arecounting on you, that God is
waiting on you, and you havesuch a love for those people,
you have such a love for God,that your spirit won't even
allow you to delay.
(13:26):
Now, I'm not pointing anyfingers and saying, hey, you're
self centered, you don't lovepeople enough in order to not
delay your procrastination,that's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that procrastinationcan feel so innate, it can feel
so habitual, that we don'trealize the negative effects
that it can not only have on us,but also the people that we want
(13:47):
to impact.
So, this is just inner work.
That you have to do day by dayto detach from your
procrastination.
Grow in love with people.
Grow in love with obeying God.
Grow in love with the fact thatHe wants to choose you.
And as you grow in love withthat, your spirit will rise up
enough to give you themotivation to no longer
(14:10):
procrastinate and to simply dothe thing.
Another point that I want to sayand how you can stop
procrastinating for good.
Start with one thing.
You don't need to learn how tono longer procrastinate on all
the things.
Just start with one.
A lot of times when we are somotivated to have better habits,
(14:32):
we start thinking about betterhabits in all the areas of our
lives.
All the different kinds ofhabits that we can start to put
on.
But if we weigh ourselves withall of these new habits at once,
rather than taking on one habitat a time, allowing ourselves to
adjust to that before adding onanother one, then we end up
setting ourselves up for failurebecause our human mind cannot
(14:56):
take the weight of.
multiple new changes at one timeand expecting us to be
consistent or to easily adjustto all of these changes at the
exact same time.
Start with one.
Not all the things, just one.
Master not procrastinating withone thing.
(15:17):
Master getting consistent withone thing.
Think about what that could befor you.
Is it you no longerprocrastinating your online
content, specifically yoursocial media content, your
YouTube content, your podcastcontent, in order to make a
difference that you feel calledto make in the online world?
Maybe it's you no longerprocrastinating on spending
(15:41):
simply 30 minutes a day on yourbusiness ideas.
Maybe it's as simple as that.
Maybe it's you no longerprocrastinating on studying from
that one course, or studyingthat topic on YouTube, or
studying that thing.
What is that one thing that youcan work on no longer
procrastinating on this week?
(16:02):
Start with one.
Get good at it.
Allow it to become a habit thatyou are just good at taking
action on that thing and nolonger procrastinating on it.
And then move on to the nextarea, the next thing, the next
concept for you to no longerprocrastinate in.
One thing at a time, my friend.
(16:22):
Next one.
This one's one of my favorites.
In order to help you stopprocrastinating, you need to get
good At time management withboundaries, I talk a lot about
time management in theseepisodes.
The reason why I do is becauseof how essential it is in order
to put in consistent effortwithin what God is calling you
to do without burning yourselfout.
(16:43):
You have to steward your timewell.
Now, I believe stewarding yourtime well can help you not
procrastinate because you'reable to manage your time in your
day so well to the point whereyou're not burnt out and
allowing that burnout to causeyou to procrastinate on that
thing.
Just try to get better with yourtime.
(17:05):
A lot of times we feel like wedon't have enough time in the
day when in actuality we justneed to do a better job at
managing the time that wealready have.
Think about how you can createbetter.
A consistent schedule, how youcan create time blocks in your
calendar to work on this orfocus on this or do this thing.
Now, notice how I didn't justsay time management.
(17:27):
I said time management withboundaries.
I do not want you to manage yourtime well to the point where
everything's mapped outperfectly.
Every hour of the day you'redoing something and you just
have this consistent schedulethat you stick to.
No, you don't want to overwhelmyourself with this never ending
to do list that's just packed onyour weekly calendar.
(17:51):
Set healthy boundaries.
A really great way that I setboundaries is by theming my days
during the week.
Theming my days during the weekhelps me to get organized in my
mind on what days I focus onwhich things so that I can stay
on track so that I don't feelscattered.
(18:13):
And ultimately, I just feelextremely well balanced if I go
about it.
In the way that I had mapped outwith my themed days.
For example, Tuesdays andThursdays are my recording days.
Ideally, I do not record anyother days of the week.
I just record on Tuesdays andThursdays.
(18:33):
Because I know that if I amgoing to be consistent and not
procrastinate when it comes toshowing up on my podcast or my
YouTube channel, Then I need tohave some sort of set schedule
of when I record.
If I just record sporadically orif I make every day a recording
day, I'm gonna feel burnt out.
I'm gonna feel overwhelmed.
I'm gonna start to retreat andprocrastinate because it gets to
(18:55):
be too much.
But when I set boundaries bysaying, you know what?
I am going to try to record onlyon Tuesdays and Thursdays, and
that is it.
That helps me create spacebetween me and my work, between
me and my efforts, to the pointwhere I'm putting in effort, but
(19:16):
also retracting and takingbreaks and resting when I need
to, so that I can manage my timewell without burning out.
I cannot even begin to explainto you how much this has changed
the game for me.
This helps me stay on track.
This helps me no longerprocrastinate and combining my
(19:36):
time management with boundarieswith the fact that it's not
about me and it's about otherpeople That God might be wanting
to impact through me, that givesme the motivation to be
consistent in the Tuesday,Thursday recordings, because I'm
going to be real with you.
Sometimes when I come on thesepodcasts on Tuesdays or
Thursdays to record, I don'tfeel like it.
(19:59):
My energy is low.
I'm tired.
I might be in a low mood, butwhenever that happens.
I have to sit and ask myself,okay, is this a moment where I
need to choose spending timewith God right now over the work
that he's called me to do?
Ooh, that is a powerful pointbecause you need to understand
(20:21):
that if you are solo, you shouldnot be forcing yourself to do
the work that God is calling youto do.
Instead, you should be bringingyourself 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 timeto do that, then I won't record
(20:44):
on that Tuesday, and I'll gospend time with God.
I will go rest.
I will breathe.
I will pour back into me so thatI can pour back out the next
day.
if I sit and reflect and Ithink, okay, am I just not
wanting to do this episodebecause I want to procrastinate
or because I want to be lazy andthat is why I don't want to show
up?
(21:04):
And do what God is calling me todo, because if that's the
reason, then my friend, you needto find the motivation in you to
obey what God has called you todo and to show up and to do it
anyway.
I want you to be able tounderstand the difference.
If you need to take time, spendtime with God, rather than
forcing you to do the work, Dothat.
(21:26):
That comes first.
However, if in your mind, youknow that you're just tempted to
be lazy, or you're tempted toprocrastinate, and your mind is
coming up with excuses as to whyyou should, then my friend,
build up the motivation back inyou.
Find the fire in you.
Bring God into that effort withyou right then and there in that
(21:47):
moment to do the thing, to beconsistent, to obey what God is
calling you to do.
Because, remember, it's notabout you.
It's about what God might bewanting to use your life and
your business and your story andyour skills to impact someone
else.
Now, that brings me to my finalpoint.
(22:10):
To overcome procrastination, youhave got to value obedience to
God over your free time.
Oh, this is a heart check for somany of us, myself included,
okay, because I love my freetime.
I love watching TV.
(22:31):
I am a movie girl through andthrough.
I love going to the beach andsitting there and doing
absolutely nothing.
I love going to the coffee shopand drinking an overly expensive
coffee with my non fiction bookI love going on dates with my
fiancé.
I love spending way too muchtime at the dog park with my
dogs because it brings me joy tojust watch them play.
(22:52):
I love my free time.
Okay?
But, if we are loving our freetime too much, And allowing
ourselves to marinate in it alittle too much, then it can
unintentionally take away fromdoing what God is calling us to
do.
From obeying what He wants us todo.
From taking action.
(23:13):
Now, I'm bringing this upbecause a good example for me is
after a long day of work, I loveto veg and watch my favorite
show or to find a really goodshow to watch.
I love that, but if God hadcalled me to do this thing or to
do this podcast episode or toget this done, and I didn't do
(23:36):
it yet, why am I going to choosevaluing my free time of watching
TV over valuing being obedientto 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 ofchoosing between our free time,
our fun time in comparison toobeying what God is calling us
(24:00):
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 inbetween.
You're supposed to find balance.
It's okay to enjoy life.
All I'm saying is that inmoments where you're
procrastinating, you need to askyourself, Is this a moment where
I am valuing my free time overvaluing being obedient to God?
(24:21):
Do that heart check and workthrough flipping it.
How can you value your obedienceto God more than you do your
free time?
And honestly, that applies notjust to the concept of
procrastination that we'retalking about on this episode
here.
That also applies to anything inlife.
Are you valuing your free timeover valuing your obedience to
(24:43):
God when it comes to servingother people?
When it comes to helping otherpeople?
Are you valuing your free timeover your obedience to God when
it comes to spending time withHim and opening up your Bible?
There are so many ways where wecould apply this to our lives.
To wrap up this episode.
I just want to sayprocrastination can be overcome.
(25:05):
Now, it will sneak up on you.
You will still have momentswhere you struggle with
procrastination and in thosemoments, give yourself grace,
But also in those moments,remember that you have chosen to
change.
You are taking the stepsnecessary to create change in
your life because you arechoosing that you want to give
God your yes.
(25:26):
You no longer want toprocrastinate.
You no longer want to allowconfusion or burnout or fear to
keep you procrastinating andtherefore holding you back from
doing what God is calling you todo.
It is time to take action.
It is time to get consistent inthat action and being wise in
how you go about that consistentaction.
(25:50):
And that's where we starttalking about everything that I
brought up in this episode fromunderstanding that it's not
about you.
It's about other people that Godwants to impact through you.
Understanding that you just needto start with one thing.
Work on no longerprocrastinating in one thing in
your life, rather than all thethings at once.
(26:11):
Master your time management withboundaries.
And value your obedience to Godover valuing your free time.
Day by day, my friend, you cando this.
I know you can.
I know you can.
If you'd like a little help, Ido have a freebie that I want to
give away on this episode.
(26:31):
It is my content managementtoolkit that helps you to manage
your time, set boundaries, andjust help you overall no longer
procrastinate because of thetime management boundary setting
skills that you were able to putinto place from this freebie.
So if you'd like it, check itout.
It's for free right down below.
The description in this YouTubevideo or in the podcast show
(26:54):
notes where you're listening tothis episode.
Thanks for tuning in.
I pray that this episode touchedyour spirit.
I pray that it was the steppingstone to you finally saying no
to procrastination and sayingyes to God.
I'm grateful for you forlistening in and I'll see you
next week for another episode.
How often do you procrastinate?
Genuinely think about it.
In your personal life, in yourbusiness, in your creative
ambitions, within your health.
How often do you find yourselfprocrastinating?
Now, I'm assuming that you findyourself procrastinating more
than you would like.
Hence why you clicked on thisepisode and wanted to tune in.
(00:23):
Let me start off by telling you,my friend, you're not alone.
I struggle with procrastinationtoo and I feel like over the
past year I started learning toovercome it more, which we're
going to talk all about that andhow you can overcome it too.
But the reason why I felt like Istruggled with procrastination
(00:44):
for a long time was because Iwas good at it.
I was good at using it to mybenefit by telling myself that
me procrastinating actually putsa good kind of pressure on me to
do really well.
If there was an assignment thatI procrastinated on and I knew
(01:05):
that I had an entire week to doit, but I waited until the very
last minute the night before toget it done, I was the kind of
person where that assignment gotan A.
It was good.
If there was a business projectI was working on and I had this
whole list of tasks to dothroughout the entire month, but
I waited until the very last fewdays of the month to get it
(01:27):
done, I got it all done.
And it was good.
And the work was great.
The outcome looked great.
The reason why was because Iallowed myself to believe that
procrastination put goodpressure on me to show up and do
my absolute best because I wasrunning out of time.
But here's the thing,externally, maybe the results of
(01:51):
whatever I procrastinated onstill had a good outcome.
But internally?
I felt rushed, internally I feltanxious, and internally I always
had the thought of could theoutcome have been even more
better had I not procrastinated?
Would I have felt more at peace?
(02:12):
Would I have felt more steady?
Would I have had the ability tobe more consistent in certain
things because I didn't burn outfrom the constant.
Habit of procrastinating andfeeling that anxious pressure to
get it done because I waiteduntil the last minute.
Would I just feel better andjust more consistent and more
steady?
(02:33):
The answer was yes, I wouldbecause when I stopped
procrastinating as much as Ionce was, I did feel better.
The outcome was better, butinternally, I felt more steady.
So, whether you procrastinate,and the outcome of your
procrastination is nothing,because you didn't actually end
(02:54):
up getting anything done becauseyou procrastinated the whole
time, or the outcome was messybecause you waited until the
last minute to do it, or ifmaybe you were like me, the
outcome was actually good, butYou were anxious internally
because you waited until thelast minute to get things done.
No matter what your reason isfor clicking on this episode, my
(03:14):
hope is that this episodeuplifts you enough, encourages
you enough to step out ofprocrastination for good.
So that you can do a moresteady, more consistent job of
doing what God is calling you todo and no longer allowing
procrastination to hold you backfrom doing that.
(03:34):
Now, why does procrastinationeven happen in the first place?
I think it happens for a fewdifferent reasons and I just
want to take a second to talkabout that because if you're
familiar with these episodes, welike to go deep.
We like to get to the root ofthings in order to dig them up,
deal with it, face it head on,heal from it, and officially
transform into who God iscalling us to be and
(03:56):
successfully do what he iscalling us to do.
So let's get to the root of yourprocrastination.
I think one of the main reasonswhy we procrastinate is because
we are confused.
We feel confused on our nextstep.
We feel confused on the nextthing to do.
And we don't necessarily want todo anything or move forward or
take action until we haveclarity.
(04:18):
Confusion oftentimes can be thereason why you end up
unintentionally saying no todoing 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 thatthing, do that thing, start that
business, launch that thing.
He is calling you to somethingand your intentional or
unintentional disobedience couldbe deriving from the fact that
(04:42):
you are just straight upconfused.
And you don't want to takeaction when you're confused.
You don't want to deal with thatconfusion along your steps.
You want clarity.
You want assurance.
The thing about that is, Goddoesn't need you to have all the
clarity.
In fact, I think a lot of timeshe doesn't want us to have all
(05:06):
the clarity on that next stepbecause that wouldn't
necessarily be a step of faithforward.
It wouldn't necessarily be astep of trust in him.
We wouldn't be challenged totrust him truly.
Think about it.
If you are so clear, you got allthe answers, you got all the
clarity in the world, you end upfinding confidence in that
(05:27):
versus confidence in God.
And the fact that he's got yourback, he will provide you with
pieces of clarity step by stepif you would just move and trust
him that he will provide that asyou take steps of faith.
Sometimes all he wants is ourfaith to be challenged.
And for our trust in Him togrow.
Another reason why I think thatwe struggle with procrastination
(05:51):
is because we're burnt out.
We are burnt out by all theother things going on in our
life that we don't have enoughenergy to take action towards
the things that we areprocrastinating on.
There are so many examples thatcan come with this.
You know that you want toprioritize wellness and
therefore go to the gym moreoften and eat healthy.
(06:12):
Maybe you procrastinate on thatbecause you're tired.
By the time you're done withwork, the last thing you want to
do is go to the gym becauseyou're already burnt out.
Maybe you're running yourbusiness, you're doing your
thing, but God is calling you tofocus on this project over here
or to start this new habit overhere, to be consistent in this
area.
And you're struggling andactually doing that because your
(06:33):
workload in your business isalready heavy enough as it is
that you don't even have thefocus, the energy, or feeling
like you have the time to dothat other thing that God might
be calling you to do.
Oftentimes, when our workload isheavy, the last thing we want is
a whole nother layer of aworkload, hence us
procrastinating on actuallydoing it.
(06:55):
This one is a tough one, and Itruly think that it's going to
take balance, consistentbalance, to no longer
procrastinate because you'reburnt out, but instead, to
balance what it is that you'recurrently doing with what it is
that God is calling you to alsodo.
And learning to take breaks andrest in between it all.
Another reason why I believethat we procrastinate, we're
(07:18):
just scared.
We are scared to move forward.
We're scared to do the thing.
We're scared to complete thetask.
Why?
Because we don't want to fail.
As human beings, it's naturalfor us to not want to step into
the unknown of things becauseit's uncomfortable.
We don't want to be in a stateof discomfort, not knowing
(07:41):
what's next, not knowing what'saround the corner, not knowing
if something will work out ornot.
That scares us.
We start jumping into survivalmode, 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 myconfidence?
How will that affect my future?
(08:03):
We start asking all the whatifs.
To the point where we just getscared and we end up
unintentionally procrastinatingbecause we are so held in
bondage by our own fear to moveforward.
The biggest thing that I want tosay to this is the very real
fact that you cannot grow incomfort.
(08:23):
When God calls you to something,that is going to take a stretch
of growth.
Growth is not comfortable.
So when you are feeling scaredto take that next step, you're
feeling uncomfortable to takethat next step, but you know
that God is calling you to takeit, that is your beautiful
challenge to grow.
(08:45):
That is your beautiful challengeto learn what it's like to walk
in confidence in the unknown andtrusting God through every
single step.
It's not easy, but again,growth, that not being easy, is
what catapults us into who Godis calling us to be and the
future that he is wanting us towalk in.
(09:07):
So we just dug deep, right?
We just talked about differentareas where our procrastination
could be deeply rooted in.
But now I want to dive into howin the world do you overcome it?
I think procrastinationoftentimes can become our
identity.
Like, oh, we're just so used tothis habit of pushing things
off.
That's just how we are.
(09:29):
And it starts to become not justa routine, not just a habit, not
just the thing we do, but a partof our identity to the point
where we don't know how to disidentify from procrastination.
We don't know how to break itoff so that we can transform
into healthy, consistent,balanced habits of taking
action.
(09:50):
So I want to give you somepointers that I hope would
encourage you.
To let procrastination go forgood.
First up, you need to understandthat this is not about you.
It is not about you.
A lot of times procrastinationcomes from the fact that in our
(10:11):
minds, we make that choice toprocrastinate on that thing that
God is calling us to do so itfeels like it's about us.
And when it's about us, we feellike we're the only ones being
affected.
Like, oh, if I push that off,it's fine.
Nobody knows that I pushed itoff.
Only I know about it.
It only affects me.
And you know what?
(10:31):
I'm fine with pushing it off.
It's just not the right timeright now to do it.
We kind of have thisunintentional self centeredness
when it comes to usprocrastinating.
But you need to understand thatit is not about you.
Your procrastination is delayingthe transformation, the life
changed, the life impacted.
(10:53):
Of someone else, all because youare procrastinating, there is a
person, a conversation, a smallgroup of people, a large group
of people that God has set asidefor you to make an impact to.
Whether it be tomorrow, a month,a year from now, 10 years from
(11:13):
now, God has it all planned out.
He is calling you to that thing.
He is calling you to thatbusiness.
He's calling you to thatproject, not just for your
benefit, but for the benefit ofother people that he wants you
to plant a seed to in theirlives.
He wants to use you as hisvessel.
You might not even be aware ofthat.
(11:34):
That one little action, that onelittle task.
Ends up being one step forwardin what God is calling you to do
when it comes to impacting otherpeople.
And when you delay that, becauseyou are procrastinating, you are
delaying someone's seed planted,someone's transformation,
someone's life being impacted byyou.
(11:55):
You are delaying that.
Now, God is going to do whathe's going to do.
He will use the people that hewants to use if it means making
an impact to a specific personor group of people.
But my point is that he'schoosing you.
He's calling you.
The question is, are you goingto say yes to the call?
(12:19):
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 useyou.
Your beautiful human self, yourbeautiful creative brain, your
(12:41):
beautiful ideas that you wouldmake into reality.
God wants to use that to make animpact to one person or many.
And if you procrastinate Thenyou delay that.
And I've come to learn thatthere has to be a new level of
love that you have for people.
You have to learn how to lovepeople beyond yourself to the
(13:04):
point where procrastinationcan't even be in the question.
It can't even be a possibilityin your day.
Because you know that people arecounting on you, that God is
waiting on you, and you havesuch a love for those people,
you have such a love for God,that your spirit won't even
allow you to delay.
(13:26):
Now, I'm not pointing anyfingers and saying, hey, you're
self centered, you don't lovepeople enough in order to not
delay your procrastination,that's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that procrastinationcan feel so innate, it can feel
so habitual, that we don'trealize the negative effects
that it can not only have on us,but also the people that we want
(13:47):
to impact.
So, this is just inner work.
That you have to do day by dayto detach from your
procrastination.
Grow in love with people.
Grow in love with obeying God.
Grow in love with the fact thatHe wants to choose you.
And as you grow in love withthat, your spirit will rise up
enough to give you themotivation to no longer
(14:10):
procrastinate and to simply dothe thing.
Another point that I want to sayand how you can stop
procrastinating for good.
Start with one thing.
You don't need to learn how tono longer procrastinate on all
the things.
Just start with one.
A lot of times when we are somotivated to have better habits,
(14:32):
we start thinking about betterhabits in all the areas of our
lives.
All the different kinds ofhabits that we can start to put
on.
But if we weigh ourselves withall of these new habits at once,
rather than taking on one habitat a time, allowing ourselves to
adjust to that before adding onanother one, then we end up
setting ourselves up for failurebecause our human mind cannot
(14:56):
take the weight of.
multiple new changes at one timeand expecting us to be
consistent or to easily adjustto all of these changes at the
exact same time.
Start with one.
Not all the things, just one.
Master not procrastinating withone thing.
(15:17):
Master getting consistent withone thing.
Think about what that could befor you.
Is it you no longerprocrastinating your online
content, specifically yoursocial media content, your
YouTube content, your podcastcontent, in order to make a
difference that you feel calledto make in the online world?
Maybe it's you no longerprocrastinating on spending
(15:41):
simply 30 minutes a day on yourbusiness ideas.
Maybe it's as simple as that.
Maybe it's you no longerprocrastinating on studying from
that one course, or studyingthat topic on YouTube, or
studying that thing.
What is that one thing that youcan work on no longer
procrastinating on this week?
(16:02):
Start with one.
Get good at it.
Allow it to become a habit thatyou are just good at taking
action on that thing and nolonger procrastinating on it.
And then move on to the nextarea, the next thing, the next
concept for you to no longerprocrastinate in.
One thing at a time, my friend.
(16:22):
Next one.
This one's one of my favorites.
In order to help you stopprocrastinating, you need to get
good At time management withboundaries, I talk a lot about
time management in theseepisodes.
The reason why I do is becauseof how essential it is in order
to put in consistent effortwithin what God is calling you
to do without burning yourselfout.
(16:43):
You have to steward your timewell.
Now, I believe stewarding yourtime well can help you not
procrastinate because you'reable to manage your time in your
day so well to the point whereyou're not burnt out and
allowing that burnout to causeyou to procrastinate on that
thing.
Just try to get better with yourtime.
(17:05):
A lot of times we feel like wedon't have enough time in the
day when in actuality we justneed to do a better job at
managing the time that wealready have.
Think about how you can createbetter.
A consistent schedule, how youcan create time blocks in your
calendar to work on this orfocus on this or do this thing.
Now, notice how I didn't justsay time management.
(17:27):
I said time management withboundaries.
I do not want you to manage yourtime well to the point where
everything's mapped outperfectly.
Every hour of the day you'redoing something and you just
have this consistent schedulethat you stick to.
No, you don't want to overwhelmyourself with this never ending
to do list that's just packed onyour weekly calendar.
(17:51):
Set healthy boundaries.
A really great way that I setboundaries is by theming my days
during the week.
Theming my days during the weekhelps me to get organized in my
mind on what days I focus onwhich things so that I can stay
on track so that I don't feelscattered.
(18:13):
And ultimately, I just feelextremely well balanced if I go
about it.
In the way that I had mapped outwith my themed days.
For example, Tuesdays andThursdays are my recording days.
Ideally, I do not record anyother days of the week.
I just record on Tuesdays andThursdays.
(18:33):
Because I know that if I amgoing to be consistent and not
procrastinate when it comes toshowing up on my podcast or my
YouTube channel, Then I need tohave some sort of set schedule
of when I record.
If I just record sporadically orif I make every day a recording
day, I'm gonna feel burnt out.
I'm gonna feel overwhelmed.
I'm gonna start to retreat andprocrastinate because it gets to
(18:55):
be too much.
But when I set boundaries bysaying, you know what?
I am going to try to record onlyon Tuesdays and Thursdays, and
that is it.
That helps me create spacebetween me and my work, between
me and my efforts, to the pointwhere I'm putting in effort, but
(19:16):
also retracting and takingbreaks and resting when I need
to, so that I can manage my timewell without burning out.
I cannot even begin to explainto you how much this has changed
the game for me.
This helps me stay on track.
This helps me no longerprocrastinate and combining my
(19:36):
time management with boundarieswith the fact that it's not
about me and it's about otherpeople That God might be wanting
to impact through me, that givesme the motivation to be
consistent in the Tuesday,Thursday recordings, because I'm
going to be real with you.
Sometimes when I come on thesepodcasts on Tuesdays or
Thursdays to record, I don'tfeel like it.
(19:59):
My energy is low.
I'm tired.
I might be in a low mood, butwhenever that happens.
I have to sit and ask myself,okay, is this a moment where I
need to choose spending timewith God right now over the work
that he's called me to do?
Ooh, that is a powerful pointbecause you need to understand
(20:21):
that if you are solo, you shouldnot be forcing yourself to do
the work that God is calling youto do.
Instead, you should be bringingyourself 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 timeto do that, then I won't record
(20:44):
on that Tuesday, and I'll gospend time with God.
I will go rest.
I will breathe.
I will pour back into me so thatI can pour back out the next
day.
if I sit and reflect and Ithink, okay, am I just not
wanting to do this episodebecause I want to procrastinate
or because I want to be lazy andthat is why I don't want to show
up?
(21:04):
And do what God is calling me todo, because if that's the
reason, then my friend, you needto find the motivation in you to
obey what God has called you todo and to show up and to do it
anyway.
I want you to be able tounderstand the difference.
If you need to take time, spendtime with God, rather than
forcing you to do the work, Dothat.
(21:26):
That comes first.
However, if in your mind, youknow that you're just tempted to
be lazy, or you're tempted toprocrastinate, and your mind is
coming up with excuses as to whyyou should, then my friend,
build up the motivation back inyou.
Find the fire in you.
Bring God into that effort withyou right then and there in that
(21:47):
moment to do the thing, to beconsistent, to obey what God is
calling you to do.
Because, remember, it's notabout you.
It's about what God might bewanting to use your life and
your business and your story andyour skills to impact someone
else.
Now, that brings me to my finalpoint.
(22:10):
To overcome procrastination, youhave got to value obedience to
God over your free time.
Oh, this is a heart check for somany of us, myself included,
okay, because I love my freetime.
I love watching TV.
(22:31):
I am a movie girl through andthrough.
I love going to the beach andsitting there and doing
absolutely nothing.
I love going to the coffee shopand drinking an overly expensive
coffee with my non fiction bookI love going on dates with my
fiancé.
I love spending way too muchtime at the dog park with my
dogs because it brings me joy tojust watch them play.
(22:52):
I love my free time.
Okay?
But, if we are loving our freetime too much, And allowing
ourselves to marinate in it alittle too much, then it can
unintentionally take away fromdoing what God is calling us to
do.
From obeying what He wants us todo.
From taking action.
(23:13):
Now, I'm bringing this upbecause a good example for me is
after a long day of work, I loveto veg and watch my favorite
show or to find a really goodshow to watch.
I love that, but if God hadcalled me to do this thing or to
do this podcast episode or toget this done, and I didn't do
(23:36):
it yet, why am I going to choosevaluing my free time of watching
TV over valuing being obedientto 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 ofchoosing between our free time,
our fun time in comparison toobeying what God is calling us
(24:00):
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 inbetween.
You're supposed to find balance.
It's okay to enjoy life.
All I'm saying is that inmoments where you're
procrastinating, you need to askyourself, Is this a moment where
I am valuing my free time overvaluing being obedient to God?
(24:21):
Do that heart check and workthrough flipping it.
How can you value your obedienceto God more than you do your
free time?
And honestly, that applies notjust to the concept of
procrastination that we'retalking about on this episode
here.
That also applies to anything inlife.
Are you valuing your free timeover valuing your obedience to
(24:43):
God when it comes to servingother people?
When it comes to helping otherpeople?
Are you valuing your free timeover your obedience to God when
it comes to spending time withHim and opening up your Bible?
There are so many ways where wecould apply this to our lives.
To wrap up this episode.
I just want to sayprocrastination can be overcome.
(25:05):
Now, it will sneak up on you.
You will still have momentswhere you struggle with
procrastination and in thosemoments, give yourself grace,
But also in those moments,remember that you have chosen to
change.
You are taking the stepsnecessary to create change in
your life because you arechoosing that you want to give
God your yes.
(25:26):
You no longer want toprocrastinate.
You no longer want to allowconfusion or burnout or fear to
keep you procrastinating andtherefore holding you back from
doing what God is calling you todo.
It is time to take action.
It is time to get consistent inthat action and being wise in
how you go about that consistentaction.
(25:50):
And that's where we starttalking about everything that I
brought up in this episode fromunderstanding that it's not
about you.
It's about other people that Godwants to impact through you.
Understanding that you just needto start with one thing.
Work on no longerprocrastinating in one thing in
your life, rather than all thethings at once.
(26:11):
Master your time management withboundaries.
And value your obedience to Godover valuing your free time.
Day by day, my friend, you cando this.
I know you can.
I know you can.
If you'd like a little help, Ido have a freebie that I want to
give away on this episode.
(26:31):
It is my content managementtoolkit that helps you to manage
your time, set boundaries, andjust help you overall no longer
procrastinate because of thetime management boundary setting
skills that you were able to putinto place from this freebie.
So if you'd like it, check itout.
It's for free right down below.
The description in this YouTubevideo or in the podcast show
(26:54):
notes where you're listening tothis episode.
Thanks for tuning in.
I pray that this episode touchedyour spirit.
I pray that it was the steppingstone to you finally saying no
to procrastination and sayingyes to God.
I'm grateful for you forlistening in and I'll see you
next week for another episode.
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