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Do you feel overwhelmed with your todo list? Is "creating fulfilling happiness" missing from that list? Everyday Happiness with Katie Jefcoat is here to help you. In 2-minutes a day, over time, you’ll discover how to reduce overwhelm and create lasting happiness through Katie’s signature method of Intentional Margins, happiness science, and musings about life. Start your day with a positive mindset. Many of us can get deep in the feeling of overwhelm. The anxiety of our own ambition can weigh heavily on our thoughts and emotions. We lay down and close our eyes at night and our chest begins to feel heavy. More items on the to-do list than the day before. How will we ever going to get off the hamster wheel of to-dos? When are we going to start living life for more than the hustle? As a recovering lawyer and passion driven entrepreneur, Katie knew something had to change. What she found is that you can have harmony, be intentionally productive and create massive impact, all at the same time - without feeling guilty. So she asked herself a simple question: "How can I get off the hamster wheel and how can I show others how to do the same? She knew she'd had a system for herself, but she’d never put it into defining words. On August 15, 2019, she sat down at her dining room table with her friend Jenna (her business bestie). Post-It notes covering the table. This is where she first defined the concept of Intentional Margins. What are Intentional Margins? INTENTIONAL MARGINS™ (n): A buffer of space and time to create harmony between your to-do’s and your priorities. Now you can get the support you need to manage your overwhelm, one little tip at a time. Regardless of the industry, Everyday Happiness blends inspiration with a pragmatic approach to finding Harmony. You'll be encouraged to throw “balance” out the window for a more achievable approach called harmony. Through Intentional Margins™, you'll be encouraged to develop what harmony means to you, by identifying your priorities at work and at home. Every day, we'll end the podcast help you feel equipped to jump off the hamster wheel of overwhelm and go out there and crush your day. --About the Host-- Katie Jefcoat is a community curator, speaker, author and motivator who supports ambitious women (and a few good men) move from feeling hectic to harmonious. As a recovering trial lawyer, she knows first hand what it feels like to have a demanding job. As an entrepreneur with a passion that lights her hair on fire and a busy family she’s in the thick of it with you. Many people strive for balance and think overwhelm is just a part of life. Sadly, the hustle culture and our never-ending to-do list is creating a life where our priorities are getting the leftover scraps of time. Katie introduces people to what she calls - Intentional Margins™ - a kind of life in which they reduce randomness, create harmony between their to-dos and their priorities and intentionally enjoy the meaningful parts of life - without feeling guilty. Without exposure to a different way, we remain stuck on the hamster wheel of to-dos and never find the “balance” we yearn for. Katie works diligently to expose her community to different ways of doing things, because she fundamentally believes we deserve to make time for our priorities. We deserve to live a life of harmony. And it’s within our control to create it. Katie curates a smorgasbord of content related to managing your calendar, handling overwhelm, setting boundaries, reducing randomness, saying no, self-care, the power of your choices, and more in her Intentional Margins™ Membership Community -- which she calls the coziest virtual coffee shop (on Facebook). Connect and learn more at www.katiejefcoat.com.
Episodes
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Are you procrastinating on a task, simply unable to find the will to get it done? Today, we talk about procrastination. Why it happens and how to stop it! Tune it to learn more!
Transcript:
Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in about 2 minutes a day, through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life.
I'm your host Katie Jefcoat, and I don’t wanna do this episode recording…can’t I do it tomorrow? Just kidding! I love doing these podcasts, but I will be the first to admit that procrastination can strike at any time!
A 2007 study found that 94% of people admit to procrastinating. Another study found that procrastinating can lead to stress, anxiety, guilt, and even affect our health! One would think that this obvious set of actions and consequences would teach us to stop procrastinating…but it doesn't; we continue to do it time and time again, negatively affecting our happiness? Why do we do this to ourselves, you ask?
Research suggests that procrastinating is caused by a wide range of concepts, from genetics to task aversion to emotional avoidance. It can be as simple as not wanting to do it or having layered reasoning. For example, one can procrastinate on scheduling a call with a client because they:
A: Understand that talking on the phone causes them anxiety.
B: Recognize that they will end up with more work on their plate.
C: Know that the client likes to drone on and waste their time.
D: All of the above!
So, what can we do to bust procrastinating and improve our happiness?
An article from Tania Luna from Psychology Today recommends the following:
First, initiate self-study. By looking internally, we may be able to discover what is causing us to procrastinate. For example, we want to look into what feelings this specific task initiates, what steps we have to take to complete it and why those bother us, the consequences of avoiding it, and how we will feel when it does get accomplished.
Now, I am not telling you to beat yourself up about procrastinating, but rather to find out why it is happening in the first place. If you get stuck in a negative feedback loop, take a break. Not sure what I mean? Check out episode 475.
The second step to busting procrastination is giving yourself some grace. It may sound odd or counterproductive, but sometimes we really just have to show ourselves some compassion.
We need to recognize that we are not alone in procrastinating, acknowledge that it is a normal and reasonable fact of life, forgive ourselves for being behind, and see ourselves as wiser and stronger for taking this mental step.
Studies have shown that giving yourself some compassion will actually make you less likely to procrastinate on the same task in the future. And on occasion, it is healthy to let ourselves off the hook with non-essential tasks. So you didn't do the dishes one night, or you didn't make it to a work event; oh well! The world won't stop turning; it's okay to take a break.
The last tip to bust procrastination is to dopamine hack. There are obviously some tasks in life that do not make us happy. I can't say that cleaning the bathrooms makes me want to jump for joy. But, we can make some tasks happier to complete through dopamine hacking. Here are four ideas you can try, and we will use cleaning the bathroom as an example.
- Chunk It! Break up the task into smaller chunks, and conquer them one at a time. For example, cleaning all the toilets at once. Next round, all the sinks. Next, all the showers. You get it.
- Time It! Set a timer for a specific amount of time, and try to get as much done as possible. It's like a race against the clock. When the timer goes off, take a break and do something else fun. This is what I do with my kids.
- Milestone it! Some of us respond well to deadlines. When you have an arduous task, give yourself a due date and put it on the calendar!
- Reward It! We can train ourselves not to despise a task if there is a reward at the end. Let's say you are cleaning all the bathrooms; you could reward yourself with a piece of chocolate, an episode of your favorite show, or a walk in the sunshine after completing it!
I know I will definitely try these tricks the next time I have a challenging task, and I hope you will too! In the comments, tell me which tasks you procrastinate the most often on. Want to stop procrastinating on listening to my episodes? Take a shortcut and get Everyday Happiness delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: https://www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness
And, let’s connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram
Links: https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/
Inspired by this article in Psychology Today
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