Hey , guys , and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast . My name is Angela Shurina , I'm your host , I'm your Brain's Coach and it is my job here to bring to you , discover with you and share all the best , most cutting-edge , useful , effective and , like today , with a bit of optimism and fun , brain-body tools so you could take better control of your thoughts , of your emotions and , most importantly , of your actions , so you can create the life experience that you absolutely love living Today . Guys , I'm very excited about to share with you this new study that just came out of the university , tokyo University , out of Japan , and fresh into your ears , and I'm very excited to share it with you because it will make you feel better and it will help you to do better . And it's such a powerful tool . And we so often underestimate the importance of this tool the importance of our state of mind , of our positive , optimistic state of mind on all areas of our life , on the quality of our life , on how we experience our day-to-day life , and not only that , but also on our ability and our consistency with getting things done that ultimately lead to success .
Speaker 1So , how confident ? First the question how confident are you in your ability to figure shit out . Sorry for my French , sorry , not sorry . I realized some time ago that the ultimate test of our confidence is how much effort , how much daily effort , we put into our projects . Like how confident are you that you are able to make this thing , whatever you're thinking about , that big , eerie , audacious goal , how confident are you that you can actually make it happen ? Because if you answer this question honestly and you have almost 100% confidence that you can make it happen , what would be the reason for you to not get up every morning and not get running after your dreams and goals with a smile on your face , no matter how much your life will have you to endure ?
Speaker 1So the study on procrastination and optimism , the first of its kind , and I absolutely love it how the author connected the dots in this beautiful way and how they even thought about measuring those things when it comes to procrastination . So they did this study with about 300 young adults in their 20s and they noticed this high correlation , higher than with any other things like thoughts on well-being or perceived well-being . So they measured the correlation between severe cases of procrastination and people being optimistic about their future , like if they believe that the future is going to be better than the past or the present , and so what they learned is that people who believed that their future is brighter is better than their past or their present , those people suffered of procrastination a lot less , and that was the only correlation they found . Now you know , correlation is not causation blah , blah , blah but my personal story and what I also found with all of my clients that we work with when we believe , when people believe , when my clients believe , and we work on that belief as well . So stay tuned , folks , because you're also going to get practical strategy . It's not just about thinking . You should be optimistic . There are actual strategies that can help you to develop the confidence and optimism and ultimately beat your procrastination .
Speaker 1So what I noticed is I will lose my energy whenever I lose my confidence in figuring things out , whenever I start believing that this is pointless . It's like my feet lose walking ability . I get this dragging feet syndrome . I don't want to get out of bed . I don't want to learn new things , I don't want to work with my clients . It feels like I don't want to leave . I just feel like staying in bed , watching Netflix and eating . Why bother ? My efforts won't pay off anyhow , I believe that this is an evolutionary hack Mother Nature designed into our brain to , I suppose , prevent waste of resources like energy , time , and ultimately prevent us from dying prematurely .
Speaker 1And , you know , transferring our genes for the next generations Makes sense , like the nature doesn't want you to waste your energy , your resources , your ability to be alive and make things happen , pursuing a path that has no value , that has no rewards , that has a dead end . Nature is the best economist . The more I learn about our brain , about neuroscience and how we function and our motivations , the more I start appreciating this fact Nature does not like waste , it hates waste . And it's the best economist , creating the best , most economical , the simplest way to get things done , make things happen and make progress . Keep moving forward , keep moving all of us forward , keep moving forward , keep moving all of us forward . So let's change gears here a little bit , change perspective Now , at the moment , I know that this feeling , this feeling of not wanting to do stuff , it's fueled by my confidence .
Speaker 1My confidence is a matter of perspective , folks , by my confidence , by confidence is a matter of perspective , folks . I want you to really step and think about that , your belief about things , about your ability to make things happen is a matter of perspective , of exactly of where you focus on , like , for example . Ask yourself to change that perspective , to change where you focus . Ask yourself what resources do I have to make this happen ? I'm alive , I have a place to live , I have food to eat , I have some money in my bank account , I have friends , I have co-workers , peers , relatives . There is internet . There are so many people literally very often hundreds at your fingerprints that you can ask advice , very often people , very successful people like Simon Sinek or a lot of other successful people who you can reach out either personally to them or you can look at their work and ask for their advice remotely right . So resources are plenty folks . We are living in the most resource-rich era of all the times .
Speaker 1If you were to ask me , the second thing is reflect on your progress , on the things that you did , on the lessons that you learned , or where you are compared to where you started , and more often than not , you're like years ahead of where you started . Reflect on that Gain versus gap . As one of the the most successful coaching companies founders , dan Sullivan , the founder of Strategic Coach he has this book Gain Versus Gap when do you focus ? Focus on what you've done , on the progress , on what you've learned , not on how far you have to go and all the failures and all the things that you still don't know . Gain versus gap and then take stock . Think about all the times you thought it was a dead end , but then you decided to push through and you figured it out anyway . That's how , every time I get into this powerless , weak , procrastinating state , that's how I regain my confidence , optimism and energy to get things done . I change my mind like this and it's a skill that you can learn .
Speaker 1How optimism fuels action . Optimism makes you want to do more because it's a belief that you can create a brighter future . And it's a belief that you can be stuck right now in this painful situation or you can get things done and create a brighter future . So what would you rather do and have ? So optimism is that belief that collectively , we can make a brighter future happen . This belief is based on our confidence , collective confidence to figure things out . Work on that first , with the tools that we've just discussed and a couple that we're going to discuss in a second . Work on that confidence first and you'll see how your procrastination will fade away .
Speaker 1Another exercise that you can use to boost your confidence and your optimism for figuring things out create what I call confidence stock . Every single day , start creating your confidence stock that you will fall back on everything In those moments of despair when you're like , oh , it's pointless . Create your confidence stock . What does it mean ? It means start building up your library of success stories , of your personal success stories . Remember times when you were about to give up , but you didn't . You saw it through and you succeeded . And build up those stories . Don't give up . Figure things out , and the more you do and the more you record that and the more you remember of that , the easier it's going to connect to that feeling of empowered optimism , the takeaway guys , feeling procrastination creeping in . Look at your confidence . Do you believe you can make a better future happen ? And if you don't at this moment , then work on start believing . Work on remembering the times when you didn't give up and you figure it out . Ask yourself what resources you have , reflect on the progress you've made and , as I often tell my clients , start small . Start now . Make your bed , do some exercise . Spend the first four hours of your day on the task you've been avoiding . Doing creates motivation , fuels confidence and empowers optimism by the way they call it behavioral activation in psychology All of which leads to more things done and an actual brighter future a self-fueling prophecy . And that's about it for today .
Speaker 1Guys , optimism is a highly productive state of mind and , by the way , have you thought about that ? When people go through depression , like the worst of the worst moods , they want to do things . That's the actual definition . I don't remember the actual definition , but I do remember that depression has a lot to do with a person's inability of wanting or manifesting the drive to get things done , and just being passive and not wanting to engage with life , other people or anything productive . So that's what depression is . So optimism is a highly productive state of mind and you don't have to fake it . You can make it based on your actual life evidence , based on your actual life experience .
And if that's not enough at times , read biographies , look at other people's inspiring stories and get fuel from them and realize that you are also a member of human race that has this ability to figure things out when we put our mind to it Out and over .
Speaker 1Guys , that is all for today . I hope this puts a smile on your face . If not , then start doing . Start remembering how far you've come , all the things that you figured out and all of the resources that you have at your fingerprints not like any other generation before . Realize the possibility , limitless possibilities at your fingerprints and your ability that you already have to figure it out when you decide to not give up . That's it for today , folks . I hope you are driven to start things , get going and staying committing to manifesting , to creating , to cultivating a positive state of mind . Now we even start having research about how being an optimist , cultivating your belief about brighter future , can help you to get things done and build that brighter , better future Out and over . Talk to you very soon . Keep smiling , keep building your optimism , muscle up and till next time , get up and get going . Start building that confidence stock and your ultimate belief to figure things out .