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August 25, 2025 11 mins

Mind to Map: Conquering Overwhelm & Unlocking Momentum! (Living Lucky® Podcast)

Ever feel a constant state of mental chaos? On this episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast, Jason and Jana Banana reveal the simple yet transformative strategy they used to conquer overwhelm while preparing for a major international competition. This is your guide to turning swirling thoughts into tangible progress!

This episode is a goldmine for personal development and self-help, packed with powerful "nuggets of wisdom" to help you:

  • Defeat Overwhelm: Learn how to get your "mental ink" onto paper (or a wall!) to free up your brain's bandwidth and reduce anxiety. This simple act of externalizing your thoughts is the first step toward clarity.
  • Master the Art of Momentum: Discover the magic of breaking down big goals into "little momentum masters"—small, manageable steps. Each completed task delivers a powerful dopamine hit that fuels your positive thinkingand propels you forward.
  • The "Organized Success Pattern": Understand how visualizing your goals and tasks creates a clear roadmap, eliminating redundant effort and keeping you aligned with your partner or team. No more accidentally buying duplicate plane tickets!
  • Start with the Easiest Step: Learn the counterintuitive secret to building unstoppable momentum: start with the easiest task. This small win will build confidence and give you the traction you need to tackle bigger challenges.
  • Shed the "Busy Badge": Challenge the limiting belief that being overwhelmed makes you important. This episode teaches you how to stop being busy and start being effective, leading to a more productive and fulfilling life.

Ready to transform your own overwhelming challenges into an organized success pattern? Tune in and take notes.

    • How to conquer overwhelm and anxiety.
    • Goal-setting for a busy person.
    • The power of writing down your goals.
    • How to break down big goals into small steps.
    • Building momentum with small wins.
    • Productivity hacks for a chaotic life. The psychology of getting things done. Overcoming procrastination with momentum. How to stay focused and productive. Simple steps to organize your life. How to deal with overwhelm and stress? What is a good strategy for goal setting? How do small wins help with momentum? Why is writing down goals effective? 

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Email Jason Shelfer
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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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®.

Jason Shelfer (00:14):
Good morning.

Jana Shelfer (00:15):
I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we are Living Lucky®.
You are too.
I've been overwhelmed lately.
My friend Candice calls itwhelmed.
She said, jana, you're just alittle whelmed right now.
And I said, I know, because Ihave all these things going on
in my brain, I literally wake upand go.
I don't know what I'm supposedto be doing right now.

Jason Shelfer (00:34):
So many things to do in so little time.

Jana Shelfer (00:37):
And this trip to Australia.
For those of you that don'tknow, I have been chosen to be a
member of the USA water skiteam and we will be headed to
Australia for the worldcompetition.

Jason Shelfer (00:51):
Yeah, and it's not a done-for-you trip.

Jana Shelfer (00:56):
No, there's a lot of doing for yourself which is
the way I prefer it.

Jason Shelfer (01:00):
Right.

Jana Shelfer (01:00):
At any rate, I have a lot to do, not only
training wise, but logistically,and it can kind of start
rattling around in your brain,and so I and you have been
feeling the same way.

Jason Shelfer (01:16):
Am I right?
100 percent?
100 percent, because it'ssomething that we put into the
schedule.
Yes, it's a new thing that'sbeen added to the schedule and
we're like, okay, well, how dowe manage this?
How?

Jana Shelfer (01:27):
do we manage our energy, our time, our-.

Jason Shelfer (01:30):
On top of a busy and productive lifestyle.

Jana Shelfer (01:32):
Organizational skills.
It's like organizing yourmental capacity.

Jason Shelfer (01:38):
Yes, and it's been incredible to just kind of
manage through that.

Jana Shelfer (01:44):
So what we did?
We got out these great big,three foot by five foot sticky
notes that go on your wall.
They're like wall notes, that'swhat they are Big wall notes
Sounds like a funny name.
Anyway, we started writing downour goals and then we started

(02:05):
chunking it down.
Yeah, so we would write thisneeds to be done.
Okay, three steps.
How do we do that?
How can we chunk that down intothree steps so it doesn't feel
like we're swallowing the wholeelephant at once?

Jason Shelfer (02:21):
And it has been a game changer.
The other part of that for meis being able to see the steps.
So sometimes it's like I knowthe staircase is there but I
don't know what the steps looklike.
So it's like I know that I gotto get to the top, I know I've
got to get this whole thing doneand because I'm thinking big
picture you know I'm a bigpicture thinker Very- big, very

(02:45):
big.
And when we do this, when westart with that question of what
are the possible things thatneed to happen to make this trip
successful?

Jana Shelfer (02:56):
Yes.

Jason Shelfer (02:56):
Like when we start with that question and
then we start just kind ofbrainstorming okay, these are
the things that would make thistrip look successful, okay,
these are the things that wouldmake this trip look successful.
And then we start putting thoseon paper and then we start just
building those little steppingstones to get to that it changes
everything, and being able tosee it on paper daily is a
change.

Jana Shelfer (03:15):
That is the nugget that I want to talk about today
is getting it out of your brain.
So many people have told meover the years the quickest ink
to fade is-.

Jason Shelfer (03:26):
Mental ink.

Jana Shelfer (03:27):
Mental ink, like when we say oh, I've got it in
my mind, I've got it in my mind.

Jason Shelfer (03:31):
I'm so guilty of this.

Jana Shelfer (03:34):
If we get it on paper, then it becomes real and
it becomes tangible.
It becomes something you cansee, and when you get it on
paper, there's also a release in.
I don't have to file that in mybrain.
Do you know what I'm?

Jason Shelfer (03:51):
saying I don't have to store it.
I don't have to store it, Idon't have to remember this
about it.

Jana Shelfer (03:55):
Yeah, I don't have to constantly say, oh, don't
forget this, don't forget thisSometimes.

Jason Shelfer (04:00):
I will look at it , I will walk away and I will
forget it.

Jana Shelfer (04:05):
Oh, I know.

Jason Shelfer (04:06):
Like this is, and that shows me that I need to
have it written down on the wall.

Jana Shelfer (04:10):
No, I sometimes go into my art room and then I get
in there and I go.
I don't remember why I came inhere Now.
I hate to admit that.
However it's truth when I have,when I get it out of my brain
and get it on paper to where Ican see it and it doesn't have
to be paper, it can be yourdigital notes, although I find
on paper works the best.

(04:31):
When I literally put it on thewall, where we both see it every
day, then I feel like I canchunk it down into smaller,
bite-sized pieces, pieces, andthen, once those smaller,
bite-sized pieces start cominginto play, it all of a sudden
doesn't feel it feels manageable, it feels like you don't choke

(04:53):
on it and I have to tell you.
I mean, when I was told that wewould need visas, I was like, oh
my God.

Jason Shelfer (05:00):
What's that look like?

Jana Shelfer (05:01):
Oh, that just sounds really heavy to me
Daunting.
And that just sounds likesomething I don't want to deal
with.
Am I right, or am?

Jason Shelfer (05:10):
I right 100%.
But then I took the first step.

Jana Shelfer (05:13):
I was like, okay, well, let's download the Visa
app Download the Australian Visaapp, and then let's just start
working through this.

Jason Shelfer (05:21):
One step at a time.

Jana Shelfer (05:22):
And then, once we start working through this, okay
, let's get our passports, let'smake sure our passports are
updated, validated.

Jason Shelfer (05:31):
All the little checks are in place.

Jana Shelfer (05:35):
And once we started doing all these little
things, all of a sudden I'm like, okay, that's done.

Jason Shelfer (05:47):
We're just waiting now on them.
Yeah, it's incredible how muchgot done literally in the first
week of putting everything onpaper and how fluidly it went.

Jana Shelfer (05:52):
In fact, I think we could probably mark off at
least 10 things.

Jason Shelfer (05:56):
It was incredible .

Jana Shelfer (05:58):
And it felt effortless in a way.
It felt like, okay, we'regetting this done, but it
doesn't seem like such a bigchore that it's going to just
wear me out.

Jason Shelfer (06:11):
I think that's the key.
So you said effortless and itwas so maybe not effortless
Right.
Like it was, it was likeworthwhile, Like it was like
we're getting, we're makingprogress.
It was almost like yes, I thinkthat's the thing, and when
you're putting in the effort andyou're making progress, it

(06:32):
feels good.

Jana Shelfer (06:34):
No, Like that's the thing.
It felt like we were shootingtoward a target.

Jason Shelfer (06:38):
That's huge, instead of just shooting in the
air and hoping to hit something.
And I think that's where, a lotof times, when we have a to-do
list and we're not certain, likethere's that uncertainty
barrier that's kind of hangingover us because we're not, we
haven't dialed in those littlesteps.
It's like we wonder is thisstep the way?

(06:59):
Yes, you know, and then like sothen we procrastinate and we're
like I don't want to take thestep because I'm not certain
it's the way.
But if we dial down and say, ok, well, let's just try this and
then we'll figure out that nextstep, because movement creates
progress, and that's kind ofwhat we did.
We dialed down to the basicstep, knowing that's going to

(07:20):
move us one step closer tosomething, knowing that's going
to move us one step closer tosomething, yes, and so we
recognized the win, recognizedthe progress, and then we knew
that we had gained traction,gained momentum towards the goal
.

Jana Shelfer (07:35):
And then we just kept moving forward.
Once you start getting traction, you start getting these little
dopamine hits in your brainthat those hormones, those
chemicals almost are like fuel.

Jason Shelfer (07:49):
They're like little momentum masters.

Jana Shelfer (07:51):
They are.

Jason Shelfer (07:52):
It's like confidence boosters that say go
get one more.
It is Go get another.

Jana Shelfer (07:57):
That's why gamifying works.
You know, whenever an app sayslike right now I'm learning
Spanish, and it says, oh, youknow, you've done 18 days in a
row, that's right, you know,don't lose it now.
And so, because I want thatlittle dopamine hit, I'm like I
better take time out to go do mySpanish.

Jason Shelfer (08:16):
Don't lose your streak.

Jana Shelfer (08:18):
Gracias Por favor.
Anyway.
So if I can maybe help anyonethat's listening today, I would
say get it out of your head.
Get it out of your head, Get iton paper Now that for us, right
now in our life, that is goals,dreams and how to get there.

Jason Shelfer (08:41):
And I think working together on something
has helped tremendously, becausehow often in the past have we
both gone off and startedworking on the same thing?

Jana Shelfer (08:53):
Yes.

Jason Shelfer (08:54):
And now we don't have to do that anymore.

Jana Shelfer (08:56):
And now it's like okay, it's almost like we can
assign okay this is Jason's task.
This is Jana's task.

Jason Shelfer (09:02):
No more buying four tickets on airplanes
somewhere and then being like ohcrap, I got to go, cancel my
reservation.

Jana Shelfer (09:09):
Jason's bought tickets and I bought tickets and
I was like I thought I wasdoing us a favor.
Yeah, I was like I thought Iwas doing us a favor.
Yeah, I was like I found agreat deal on tickets.
You're draining our bankaccount.
That's what's happening.
Oh, now I feel.

Jason Shelfer (09:21):
Like I'm going to jump on this right away.
I was just trying to.
I'll surprise her.
I was just trying to help.

Jana Shelfer (09:26):
Anyway get it out on paper Now.
I suggest putting it on a wallwhere you can see it.
Then chunk it down and askyourself the question what is
one step I can do right now toget a little closer to my goal?

Jason Shelfer (09:42):
Yeah, and if you can say what is the easiest step
I can do right now, then you'regoing to get that dopamine hit.

Jana Shelfer (09:48):
Because you're going to be like, oh my gosh, I
can do that right now.

Jason Shelfer (09:50):
That'll help you take the next best step, and
this is for anything.

Jana Shelfer (09:54):
I know, I know it's so simple, and yet we don't
always do what we know.

Jason Shelfer (10:01):
Right.

Jana Shelfer (10:02):
We don't always do it.
There's a million reasons ofwhy we don't always do it.

Jason Shelfer (10:08):
We get busy, being busy.

Jana Shelfer (10:09):
You say it all the time and sometimes I think we
feel the overwhelm makes us feelimportant.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, oh gosh, if I'moverwhelmed, that means I've got
a lot going on in my life.

Jason Shelfer (10:19):
Look how busy I am.
I'm so busy, I'm so busy, I'mimportant because I'm busy.

Jana Shelfer (10:24):
I'm special In fact, you know, when I was
little, I would you know how youplay house and things.
I can remember saying, oh, I'mtoo busy today.

Jason Shelfer (10:34):
Oh, I'm so busy.
I'm so busy.

Jana Shelfer (10:35):
We learn that from our parents and I'm like I
don't even know what that means,but I'm busy.

Jason Shelfer (10:39):
And then we're like I'm so tired when I get
home.
I just work so hard.
Be proud of me, Right.

Jana Shelfer (10:46):
Those are limiting beliefs that we learn just from
the way people speak.

Jason Shelfer (10:52):
Yes so good.

Jana Shelfer (10:57):
Ah, from the way people speak yes, so good, okay,
so get it out of your brain,put it on a wall where you can
see it, and this can be assimple as I.
Have laundry to do.
Okay, what's the next best step?
Well, let's get the basket andtake it into the laundry room.

Jason Shelfer (11:09):
There you go.

Jana Shelfer (11:10):
Or let's just gather all of the dirty clothes
up the floor, right.
I mean, it can be as simplesteps like that and before you
know it, you will actually beway more productive than you
even thought possible.

Jason Shelfer (11:25):
And that is the way to goals, dreams and
organized success pattern.

Jana Shelfer (11:33):
Love it.
Thanks for joining us.

Jason Shelfer (11:34):
Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer (11:35):
Bye-bye.
If the idea of Living Lucky®appeals to you, visit us at www.
LivingLucky.
com.
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