Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Balance Code Podcast , a place where you have permission to step outside the hamster wheel of day-to-day life and learn tools to create more balance . My name is Katie Russell . I'm a licensed therapist and burnout and hidden grief specialist . I support ambitious , goal-driven people who are ready to get off the one-way train , to burnout and start to enjoy life again to the fullest . Oh and , by the way , I'm a mom of three , an ex-pat living in Germany who's still learning the language , and an entrepreneur . Living my Balance Code is what keeps me able to work in incredible ways without burning out . So let's find your Balance Code .

Speaker 1 0:47

Today , we are talking all about procrastination . Yep , this episode is about putting it off . Why ? Because , more than likely , you have something in your life you'd like to put off , just like the rest of us . Okay , let's talk about what's really happening with procrastination and how we can start to better handle this theme .

Speaker 1 1:10

Potentially in our lives , when we procrastinate , we are tricking our minds into thinking we are preventing ourselves from experiencing something unpleasant . Right Like , uh , taxes , uh filing paperwork , uh making those doctor's appointments when in reality , what we're doing is postponing something that just needs to get done and probably will take us way less time than we expect , and it is adding negative emotions . What we've gotten really good at is avoiding the negative emotions that we're experiencing by no longer thinking about that thing and escaping it , whether it be through watching something , reading something , talking to someone , filling up our schedule so we don't have time to do that thing . We are really good at making it seem like we don't have time for something that actually would create balance in our lives because we just don't really want to do it . So , though our mind thinks that we are preventing ourselves from , oh the suffering of doing that thing , in reality we are creating suffering by putting it off . Let's take a collective deep breath with that . By attempting to prevent ourselves from experiencing something super unpleasant like paperwork , we're actually emotionally creating a larger weight on our shoulders . We're exhausting ourselves even further than we need to . It isn't helping . Procrastination doesn't help .

Speaker 1 2:35

I am excellent at procrastinating on really silly things that really don't make sense , but in the moment , feel like the right thing to do . I just need to put this off . I deserve that time off . I'll just do that later . I know that by not procrastinating I will feel more balance in my life , but for some reason I've convinced myself otherwise . No , I really don't want to do this thing . So therefore I'm going to put it off because it's going to make my life better . Why ? Why do we procrastinate when we know that by doing that thing it actually makes our lives better ? So how do we break the cycle of procrastination ? Because it is . It's a cycle , it's a habit . So , further than likely , we probably learned it from someone else in our lives . I know I did .

Speaker 1 3:22

Well , first things first . It's getting comfortable with the uncomfortable . It is getting in a place where we start to understand that , even though we don't like something and I don't want to , how does that sound to you ? Does it sound like a little kid ? Because in that moment that's what's happening the little kid inside of us . I don't want to , I don't want to do that . I don't want to clean my room . You'll hear yourself that old you coming out again .

Speaker 1 3:46

But when we get comfortable with the uncomfortable , we start to realize we can tolerate shorter term unpleasantries . We are able to actually handle feeling uncomfortable and doing something we don't enjoy , the more that we put ourselves in situations where we're doing them and realizing wow , that wasn't as bad as I thought . I moved through it much quicker than I could and celebrating when we finally complete something . Most of us get that thing off of our to-do list and then jump to another thing . We don't go oh my gosh , it took me three months to finally do that High five . Let's do a dance , celebrate and really integrate into your mind . This was not so bad . I don't need to avoid these things in the future . It wasn't so bad .

Speaker 1 4:34

When we jump to the next thing and we don't allow time for integration , we will continue to procrastinate . It's a guarantee you have to teach your brain this isn't so bad . I actually get this done quicker when I go ahead and do it now rather than putting it off . I'm not rewiring how your brain is laid out around challenging situations . So there's a few ways that I encourage my clients to start to shift this feeling of uh , I don't want to . Uh , I don't want to have experience this uncomfortable feeling and it's going to sound silly , but some of you already do it . It's taking cold showers . Now you do not have to take the whole time a cold shower , but at the end at least shifting the temperature enough degrees that you feel whoa , this is uncomfortable right now , so that you start to teach yourself that unpleasantries , that feeling , feeling I don't like this doesn't mean it has to change .

Speaker 1 5:34

So by doing something as simple as shifting the water temperature to cold and sitting there for at least three deep breaths , you are starting to train your body and your brain to understand that , even though you're uncomfortable , you don't have to change things , you do not need to shift them , and you start to become more tolerant and resilient to the small stressors in life . I mean , seriously , cold showers . Huh , they can do so much for us in a multitude of ways helping with our mental health , helping with our physical health . So it is something to consider . But if you're really going like , hey , okay , I need to work on this , cold showers is like the easiest way to do that . You don't need to put a whole bunch of ice into a huge bucket or tub . You can surely do that if you want to . But why not just shift the water temperature of your shower to cold and sit there for three deep breaths not fast breaths , deep breaths and train yourself ? And I , even when I do it , I think to myself I can handle this , I can do this , this is okay , it will come to an end . And then it makes it feel so much better when it's over because you're like , huh , I did it and I must do , like a happy dance of celebration of like I accomplished that because it's just training my brain .

Speaker 1 6:51

It can handle uncomfortable situations . When we procrastinate , we are giving into that feeling of I can't handle and I don't want to handle something that's uncomfortable . Well , that's silly , because there's a lot of other things in our lives where we do go through it and it is uncomfortable , but we do it , and it's usually for someone else , not usually for ourselves , right ? So as you start to train your brain that you can handle uncomfortable things , you are able to withstand taxes , paperwork , making those doctor's appointments , whatever it might be , and realizing it only took you , however many minutes to do Wow , that was shorter than I thought . I still have time to do XYZ You're able to feel better around situations that you want to avoid and you start to find yourself checking things off the list .

Speaker 1 7:49

I find that people who procrastinate on things like paperwork or making those doctor's appointments also tend to procrastinate on difficult conversations they need to have with people in their lives . They want to avoid them . They don't like feeling uncomfortable . So by working on procrastination on little things , you're going to find yourself more tolerant , more resilient and capable of going through those challenging situations , like difficult conversations with people or boundaries , and able to stick with them much better Not avoid them , not run , not escape because you know you can handle it . So by facing procrastination on small things , you are creating big change in your life and improving the balance you have , because you no longer are piling things up , creating imbalance . You're finally addressing the things that need to get moved off your to-do list , taken care of , finally put to the side . So the next time you face something and you want to start putting it off and you immediately are like I don't want to do that right now , start training your brain to have the voice that says but by putting it off I'm actually making it worse . If I get it done now , I will celebrate afterwards and I will know that this was worth it . This is all about us teaching our brains how to look at challenging tasks , uncomfortable situations , in a whole new way that supports us rather than creates more imbalance in our life .

Speaker 1 9:26

So you've listened to this episode . What are you going to go complete ? What are you going to go ? Take off your to-do list so that you finally stop procrastinating on that thing . I want to know . Tag me on Instagram at Balance Code Podcast , or send me an email at katie at katieruslercom and let me know what you got marked off your list today . Here's to creating more balance in your life . Thank you so much for listening to today's episode . If you have a moment , please leave a rating or review so that others can find this podcast who are looking for support , just like you . Just connect on Instagram at katierusler or at Balance Code Podcast , or check down in the show notes to find ways that we can work together and see other offerings that I have for you at this time . And , as always , here's to finding our balance code .