Recognition 20 Years Later

Recognition 20 Years Later: The Art of Receiving Praise & Owning Your Impact (Living Lucky® Podcast)

What happens when you achieve the highest honor, yet still struggle to receive the praise? On this powerful Living Lucky® Podcast episode, Jana Banana shares her raw, personal reflections from her Olympic Paralympic Hall of Fame induction alongside legends like Serena Williams. She reveals the universal paradox: craving recognition while secretly deflecting the very appreciation we desperately seek.

Dive into the internal conflict of receiving validation and accepting your own self-worth. We explore why it's so challenging to say "thank you" for acknowledgment, from international accolades to simply wanting appreciation for daily efforts. Discover how even high-achievers like Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy question their impact, reminding us that the desire to make a difference and be seen is deeply human.

This episode crystallizes a profound truth: everything you do matters. Every choice, every authentic action creates ripples, whether recognized immediately or decades later. Learn why "people talk about you, not to you" and the immense power of giving specific, heartfelt appreciation to others.

Through practical self-help insights, including the vital role of gratitude, this conversation empowers you to acknowledge the significance of your daily contributions. Break free from imposter syndrome and the limiting beliefthat your efforts aren't enough. Your choices today are building your legacy, long before any public acknowledgment.

Ready to transform how you give and receive recognition? Tune in for essential personal development and life coaching principles that will help you fully embrace your impact and Live Lucky® with unwavering self-confidence.

• Why do I struggle to receive compliments?
• The importance of validating others.
• How to overcome imposter syndrome and self-doubt?
• Does what I do really matter?
• Building a legacy through daily choices.
• Gratitude practices for self-acknowledgment.
• Personal development for self-acceptance.
• The power of recognizing your own impact.
• "Why is it hard to accept recognition?"
• How can I better receive compliments? Does my work truly make a difference? What is imposter syndrom

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Email Jason Shelfer HERE

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Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
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Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in you

Episode Transcript

Jana Shelfer (00:00):
Are you ready to create a life you crave?
Let's spin that doom loop ofnegativity into an upward
success cycle and start LivingLucky®.
Good morning.
I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we areLiving Lucky®.
You are too.
We've had VIP treatment for thelast three, four days.

Jason Shelfer (00:23):
Four days, yes, and now.

Jana Shelfer (00:25):
I'm like someone go get my coffee.

Jason Shelfer (00:28):
Someone bring me my grapes.

Jana Shelfer (00:30):
Carry my luggage.

Jason Shelfer (00:32):
It has been incredible.
It's been just an incredibleweekend, and what we're talking
about is Jana was inducted intothe Olympic Paralympic Hall of
Fame over the weekend.
Class of 2025.
Yes.

Jana Shelfer (00:46):
Alongside Serena Williams, Carrie Walsh, Bodie
Miller, Allison Felix.

Jason Shelfer (00:52):
Gabby Douglas.

Jana Shelfer (00:53):
Gabby Douglas, Phil Knight, Coach K I mean,
it's just been an incrediblegroup of people and not to
forget my teammates from the2004 Women's Wheelchair
Basketball Team Gold Medalistsyes.

Jason Shelfer (01:10):
And it changed me .
There was something in there,because oftentimes we go through
life and we're doing the bestwe can and I'm sure as an
Olympic athlete at the elitelevel, you feel like, okay, well
, I've got a job to do, I'mgoing to do my best and my my
best is to get gold.
Well, there can't be a likethis striving to be in the hall

(01:34):
of fame, like there's no um, Iguess goal line to say one day I
hope to be.
I mean, I guess you can hopethat, but it's not something
that you could perform to do,it's something that so many
people have to vote on, and soit goes through this crazy
process that is out of thewheelhouse of control, and so to

(01:57):
have that come back around 21years later and to be a part of
that, it's nice to be recognized.
That's where I'm getting to,that's the simplicity of it all
and sometimes I don't think weunderstand how we're affecting
the world that we're in on adaily basis as people and it
just it kind of puts that biggerpicture out there.

(02:19):
Okay, we can see it in others,but where can we see that in
just ourselves as a daily life?

Jana Shelfer (02:25):
So Amy Purdy, who is a Paralympian, Three-time.
Paralympian.
You may have seen her onDancing with the Stars.
She's a double amputeesnowboarder, now she's a speaker
and she has influenced my lifeso much Over the last 10 years I
would say she has been.
I saw her speak at the Oprahconference.

(02:47):
I thought she was phenomenal,phenomenal you get a speaker and
you get a speaker, and I alsosaw that she was on Dancing with
the Stars, which I know had animpact on why I wanted to start
taking ballroom dance lessons?

Jason Shelfer (03:01):
Well, I would assume so, because you keep
saying I want to be on Dancingwith the Stars.
I do.

Jana Shelfer (03:07):
Anyway, I was telling her she was one of the-.

Jason Shelfer (03:10):
Influences MCs, mcs, okay, yeah.

Jana Shelfer (03:12):
Yeah, she was one that would introduce the
inductees this weekend, and so,as I started talking to her,
telling her that she hascompletely impacted my life, I
want to be a speaker like she is.
Do you know what I'm saying?

Jason Shelfer (03:29):
Yeah, like she's had an effect, I started telling
her how much she has inspiredme.

Jana Shelfer (03:35):
And she even said you know, it's so nice to hear
that because sometimes I gothrough life doing my thing and
I don't realize if I'm actuallyMaking a difference, Hitting'm
actually making a differencehitting home, making a
difference.

Jason Shelfer (03:48):
Yeah, and I think that's that's where we
oftentimes fall, and oftentimesthe people that are making a
huge difference, people justassume they already know and
that's why, like, I think youmake a huge difference and
people aren't going to tell youthat because they're like, well,
sure, she knows it.
Like we're like people talkabout you in ancillary

(04:11):
conversations, so they talkabout you, not to you, and they
say, oh, she's such aninspiration, oh, she does this.
I mean, they're writingmagazine articles and newspaper
articles and they're doing newsstories about you and so, yes,
you are also doing this, butpeople don't come to you and say
, jana, let me just walk youthrough the specifics of where

(04:32):
you touched my life.
And that was one of thebeautiful moments where I got to
actually kind of sit back inthe corner and watch you and Amy
Purdy have this conversationfor like 25, 30 minutes, right,
and you got to just kind of walkthrough specifics of the A's
and B's of hey, amy, this iswhere you've impacted me.

(04:53):
And this is where you're kind ofthrowing the lead out and
saying, hey, I'm going to gocatch that.
Yes, I want to follow you here.

Jana Shelfer (05:02):
And when she said to me oh my gosh, it's just so
nice to hear that that's exactlywhat this whole weekend was for
me.

Jason Shelfer (05:09):
It was just so nice to be recognized and and
for people to to lift, lift meup, yeah and I felt the
gratitude I and I was hopingthat you would feel that too,
because I I feel so blessed tobe around you, like you've
lifted me up okay, but let's bereal about this too let's be

(05:34):
real, because even though it wassuch a fantastic weekend and
logistically things could nothave gone better, I mean aside
from a few problems but I mean,it was just so great.

Jana Shelfer (05:48):
However, I did have an internal struggle of
receiving Accepting yeah, yeahof receiving, accepting, yeah,
yeah, so that that's somethingthat people I know people
struggle with this challenge.
I think most of us strugglewith because there's something
inside you that's like so wait aminute, we want it yeah and we

(06:12):
don't like we don't want toaccept it yeah, it's like we
want to know it's available butwe don't want to take it.

Jason Shelfer (06:17):
Yeah, it's like we want to know it's available
but we don't want to take it.
Why is that?
It's a weird.
It's just one of those weirdthings, I think, and it's
getting.
So there's an area of is ithumility?
Yeah, being humble and sayingyou know what?
I didn't even know that Iwanted it, but I do want it, and
it's just to say you know whatjob well done it's, so that I

(06:39):
can say I can give myself a restfor a moment and say you know
what?

Jana Shelfer (06:49):
I've done it, it's worth it and I can keep going.
It's almost like fuel in thetank.
Okay, so let's put this intothe perspective of anyone
listening to this.
You may be going through youreveryday life and you may be
saying gosh.

Jason Shelfer (06:58):
I just want my husband to say thank you for
doing the laundry every damn dayand these are the things.

Jana Shelfer (07:08):
So it's just the attaboys and then when your
husband finally says, hey, thankyou so much for doing the
laundry, you're like oh, it wasnothing like you almost dismiss
it because it's hard to receive.
That, am I right?

Jason Shelfer (07:23):
because we love doing it, but we also want the
appreciation.

Jana Shelfer (07:27):
We just want to know that we're being recognized
for our efforts but when we doget recognized, then there's
there's a whole nother set ofissues that start coming up
Because now that I have beenrecognized, Then it's like, oh
my gosh, am I worthy of this?

Jason Shelfer (07:41):
Right.

Jana Shelfer (07:42):
Am I an imposter?

Jason Shelfer (07:43):
syndrome, or did I really need it?

Jana Shelfer (07:46):
Am I overshining right now?

Jason Shelfer (07:48):
Do I need?

Jana Shelfer (07:48):
to turn down my shine a little bit.

Jason Shelfer (07:50):
It's like, was it me not recognized?
That it was being recognized,oh my gosh, you know what I'm
saying.

Jana Shelfer (07:58):
You've just confused me.
I don't even know what we'retalking about.

Jason Shelfer (08:01):
I might have confused myself, but it's a
weird little dichotomy in there.
But I think we all want to knowthat when we get up in the
morning we're doing somethingthat is making a difference that
matters.
I mean, it was the crossover,Olympian.

Jana Shelfer (08:18):
Yes.

Jason Shelfer (08:18):
That's when she's like.
One of the things that thissignifies is that all the
running that I've done mattered.

Jana Shelfer (08:26):
Yeah, like that when she said that, like my, my
heartstrings just kind of justwent oh yeah, because you know
so many of us, even people whoaren't athletes, we go to the
gym or we try to-.

Jason Shelfer (08:41):
We go to the office every day.

Jana Shelfer (08:42):
We do that 20-minute workout because we
think, okay, this is going tomake me healthy, I'm going to
get an ab.

Jason Shelfer (08:48):
I'm going to lose a pound to fit in a dress or
fit in a pair of slacks, andit's almost like some-.

Jana Shelfer (08:55):
Then you go to your doctor's appointment and
the doctor says you know what?
You have low blood pressure.
That's the, that's the payoff.

Jason Shelfer (09:02):
Right.
But it's nice to have thatpublicly Right At 100% and and I
think that's where, like, Iwork so well off of positive,
positive recognition.

Jana Shelfer (09:13):
Yes.

Jason Shelfer (09:14):
Like don't beat like I'm beating myself up on
the inside sometimes anyway, andespecially if it doesn't go
well but tell me what I did welland then I'll fix the things
that I didn't do well.
You know what I'm saying.
So these, like something like abeing inducted to the hall of
fame, says you have, so you'vegot so many chits and attaboys.

Jana Shelfer (09:35):
What did you just say?
So many, what Chits like chitsof.

Jason Shelfer (09:45):
Hey, you did well .

Jana Shelfer (09:46):
Here's a chit.
I do not know that word, maybeI made it up, maybe it's a
Southern thing, I don't knowthat.

Jason Shelfer (09:49):
So you've got so many credits of doing well and
achievements that we're going torecognize you on the grander
scale and you will go down inhistory.
So it's a, and that's, I thinkeverybody wants to be remembered
.

Jana Shelfer (10:03):
Okay, so how can we change the way we think and
the way we feel so thatreceiving that recognition?

Jason Shelfer (10:13):
I think, and this is, and I could be totally
wrong, but I think justrecognizing that what you do
matters, and what you do mattersalways.

Jana Shelfer (10:23):
So let's stick to that.
In your everyday life, what youdo on a day-to-day timeframe
matters.
It all matters, everything.
Your choices matter, everythingmatters.

Jason Shelfer (10:36):
And that's why I love your gratitude practice,
because that's one of thosethings that kind of like
gratitude almost is like thisroot system that brings
everything back in, everythingback into home and it feeds in,
so you can start finding what'sin what, where the matter is in
it, and say, oh gosh, I'm sograteful for that because, like,

(11:01):
I'm so grateful for this, justjust because of it led to this,
or you can always find somethingpositive and the positivity is
where the growth is.
You know, that's that's what weare grateful for, is what we
can build with and that'sprogress.
That's that's, that's whatmatter, is that's what or that's

(11:25):
what matters, okay.
I got a little tongue-tied.

Jana Shelfer (11:30):
Yes, I don't even.
I'm just in a daze.
It's been a four-day ofdazeness.

Jason Shelfer (11:35):
Yeah, and we have a lot to be grateful for and a
lot to gratitude on, so it was afantastic weekend.
I feel absolutely like I'mLiving Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer (11:46):
I'm on cloud nine right now, so let's tie this up
into a nice little button.

Jason Shelfer (11:50):
Yeah, right now.
So let's tie this up into anice little button.
Yeah, so recognize that everychoice, those micro moments of
life, we're making choices, allof them matter.
We don't have to put a hugeamount of weight in it, but all
of them matter.
And you matter by getting upand being in the world every day
.
Sometimes it may take 20 yearsfor people to get the
recognition for it, but you canalso recognize or to acknowledge

(12:13):
it.
To acknowledge it, but you canacknowledge it daily in a
gratitude practice.

Jana Shelfer (12:18):
Thank you, jason, thanks for joining us.

Jason Shelfer (12:20):
Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer (12:21):
Bye-bye.
If the idea of Living Lucky®appeals to you, visit us at www.
LivingLucky.
com.