104 – The 5-Minute Mentor: Putting Off Procrastination

One of the things I see artists struggle with all the time is Procrastination. Not just creative procrastination but “life” procrastination. In this episode of 5-minute mentoring, I address this issue head-on and give you some practical ways you can push past this barrier in your personal and artistic life.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Have you ever struggled with procrastination in your life? Not only in just your life, but also your art life or maybe your business life. And you're like, I cannot get through this. I don't know what the deal is. Well, listen, it's very, very common for a lot of artists. I've struggled with it as well in my life. And we're going to tackle it head on today here on 5-Minute Mentoring. 5-Minute Mentoring Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on 5-Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. You know, one of the things that I see all the time artists are struggling with is this thing of procrastination. And not just creative procrastination, but life procrastination. procrastination, kind of pushing off the thing that you think you want because I'm not ready or it's not time or I can't do that or this is not for me or maybe next time, that sort of thing. I hear this and see this all the time. And guess what? That is one of the number one roadblocks to you being able to be everything that God has called you to be in your life. Because if you continue to push off the dreams and push off all the things that God has implanted inside of you, then guess what? You never get to it. In fact, you think that it's your situation that's keeping all these things away from you. I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time. I'm not ready. I'm not talented enough. I'm still working a job. My family doesn't understand. My church doesn't understand. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All these kind of things. And so those excuses, what happens is, guess what? They lose Literally, they literally build a wall around you. And they, in fact, stop you from being able to step into the fullness of what God has called you to do as an artist. Now, listen, this is so huge because so many people right in the middle of that situation are sitting there, saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus. trying to do everything they know how to do. And yet, because of this procrastinating mindset, which I'm going to jump into real quick, Because of that mindset, they're continually frustrated with why aren't things working out for me? Why don't I get the same opportunities that these people do? Why can't I develop my skill at a pace that helps me to grow? I mean, I see this over and over and over and over and over again. And so what is the issue? Well, here's the issue. The issue is that you, and listen, how do you know this, Matt? because I've been there. I lived most of my life like this until many years ago when I began to change and begin to repurpose what I was doing in my life because I understood how the kingdom worked, all right? For most people, all right, that are believers, they become believers. They love Jesus. They give their heart to Jesus, but they never understand how transformation happens. And so transformation, of your life does not happen because God just gets in a good mood, because God decides to bless you one day, because you get somebody to lay hands on you or whatever. Transformation, the Bible says what? Transformation happens by the renewing of your mind. Now listen, this is not a process that happens outside of of the presence and grace of God. No, it is a process that happens while infused with the grace of God and while infused with his voice. But here's the problem. So many Christians never, ever, ever understand that. And because you're an artist and God's wired you specifically to hear and feel and sense and know His presence to feel and hear and sense the creative flow of heaven in your life. You're used to maybe living out of that place of your emotions as opposed to living out of a place of the truth of god's word so when something doesn't on the surface seem like it's working out when something doesn't seem like on the surface you have an opportunity to do it what happens is oh well maybe next time i'd love to do that but i can't do it because i don't have the money well maybe next time i'd love to do this i'd love to have that opportunity but well that's not for me this time why because You're just continuing to believe all the barrage of stuff that comes into your mind, all the feelings and situations that you're sensing every day. You let that frame your reality and your dreams and the vision that God's put on your life literally has a fence built around it. You can't step into it unless you do what? Unless you change your mind. The Bible says, don't conform to the pattern of this world. That is what? Don't do life, think about life, process life like everybody else does. But what? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is, as you begin to think and believe in your heart, in the depths of your subconscious, as you begin to think differently, about God, about you, about what's possible, about the dreams he's put on your heart, about all of that, about the lens through which you perceive life, then guess what? Unless you do that, your life will never change. Because again, transformation happens as you begin to think differently about life. That is the way that God set it up. That is how the kingdom works. All right, now I want to give you two things today because, and listen, I've been on a tear about this. I posted, you can look on my personal Facebook page profile. I put a couple of pretty deep thoughts on the kingdom last night. I was sitting there because here's the thing. I think if God has given me a message in life, Number one is healing the hearts of artists and raising up an army of artists. The other is getting people to understand The fact that you don't have to live the life that you have always lived. You don't have to live in defeat. You don't have to live in debt. You don't have to live in defeat. You don't have to live in anxiety. You don't have to live in depression. You don't have to live waiting on all this stuff to just happen. And you don't know when God's going to, you don't have to live like that because the kingdom has come. The kingdom lives right now inside of you in fullness. And you have access to that as a son and as a daughter of the king. All right? So how do you begin to access that on a real practical basis when it comes to procrastination? Because here's the deal. At the end of the day, procrastination is about fear. It's easier to push something off when you fear it because that way you don't have to deal with it. I really want to go to that conference, but I don't have the money, so maybe next year, maybe next year. I really want to take that art class with that artist in my town, but I'm not good enough, so maybe next time, maybe next time. I really want to write that book that's on my heart, but I just don't have the time right now, and I'm so busy with my family and everything. Maybe next time. What does that do? That totally takes you off the hook, and it's completely 100% based in fear. Fear of not being able to measure up, not being found worthy, not being able to wonder, will God really come through? Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. Mindset that is permeated with how the world works and how fear works and how anxiety works as opposed to how the kingdom works. So I'm gonna give you two things right now, all right? Somebody says, Sonya says, this is making me feel better already. This is why they call it good news. Because listen, Jesus came that you might have life and have it to the full. All right? That's why he came. And he gave us a mechanism, the way he created our incredible body, mind, and spirit. He gave us a mechanism by which to start aligning our hearts and our minds with the kingdom. The first thing I want to encourage you to do is what Paul talked about, which is taking every thought captive. I call that reframing. When you begin to have a thought that comes in your mind or a feeling that comes up inside of you that you know you recognize is not from the Lord, you know and you recognize is not God's best for you, you know it's not in line with the dream that God's put on your heart, then you have a choice to make. What most people do is they try to live their life on autopilot and just keep on doing, well, oh yeah, I'm not good enough. Oh yeah, I'll never will be able to do that. Oh yeah, I don't have enough time. Oh yeah, I don't have enough money. Oh yeah, I shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity. Oh yeah, I'll never be as good as them. And they allow that thing to take root in their heart and produce fruit. And the whole garden of their heart is taken over by a bunch of junk. And they wonder, why can't I step into everything that God's got to me? Because your mind is jacked up with all of this stuff that has nothing to do with how the kingdom works. So Paul said, what? Change happens by the renewing of your mind. Transformation happens by the renewing of your mind. Second thing, take every thought captive. That is, when a thought comes into your mind You're not good enough. You're not able to push that off. This is not for you. Maybe next year. All those kind of procrastinating thoughts. You got to take that thing and you got to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not in line with what God has told me. That's not in line with what God has showed me about who I am. I'm going to take that. I'm going to throw it away and I'm going to reframe the truth. So for example, if you wanted to do something where you felt like, oh yeah, I don't have the money for that. I don't know. No, that's not true. Father, thank you that according to your word in Deuteronomy, it says that you, Lord, have given me the ability to make wealth. Lord, thank you that in Proverbs, you said that you bring wealth without sorrow. Thank you that in 2 Peter, you said that I've already been given everything I need for life and godliness. And I participate in that divine nature through your precious promises. What did I do? I just reframed. A lie that was coming in, I grabbed it, I threw it out, and I reframed it with the truth of God's word. As you begin to do that, my friend, listen, literally what happens is you are ripping out, you are ripping out old programming in your brain and in your heart. You're literally ripping out old pathways and creating new pathways. I read something the other day. I love to read about the mind and about the subconscious and about how God's designed us. And one of the things I was reading the other day was a study that they had this guy hooked up in a lab. And as he began to think on the same thing, the same thought over and over and over again, literally in his brain, they began to watch the energy pattern of his brain, it began to form first a little trickle and then like a bridge in his brain of thought. You are literally recreating new patterns in your mind. So you can either keep agreeing with the old ones, the ones that say you can't do it, you're not good enough, blah, blah, blah. You can keep agreeing with that and getting those ruts built in, or you can choose to reframe. This is not something that God is gonna do for you, but it's something that he will walk with you by the Holy Spirit as you lean in to the process, all right? Now, the second thing I just wanna encourage you in, again, this is just a short little teaching. The second thing I wanna encourage you in is that as you take time to pray every day, I teach this in the mentoring program all the time, I call it, This is a little bitty part of what I call your morning ritual. Take time, close your eyes, get in a relaxed, super relaxed state, all right? Deeply breathe, welcome the Holy Spirit, and then begin to visualize in your mind, all right? Asking the Holy Spirit to guide you. Begin to visualize in your mind what life looks like When you are in agreement with what God has said about your life, instead of those procrastinating thoughts and letting those things play a movie around in your mind, no, no, no, no, no. Stop the violence.

UNKNOWN: 14:06

Stop.

SPEAKER_00: 14:07

Stop it. You begin to visualize what life looks like walking by the promises of God. And guess what? Use that time on a regular basis. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that this is what you've created me for. Thank you that this is what my life can look like. Thank you that your promises toward me, Lord, are yes and amen. And guess what? As you begin to connect your heart, the depths of your mind, your subconscious mind, as you begin to connect your words with God's word, all of a sudden, guess what? Transformation begins to happen. Faith begins to grow. the things that you thought weren't possible suddenly become possible. Why? Because you begin to get out of agreement with procrastination and fear and come into agreement with the truth of God's word. I could talk about this forever, but I wanted to put this out there today. One of the big reasons was you know, we're pre-registering right now for our thriving Christian artists conference. And I see so many, it's coming up in March, but if you pre-register coming up, you know, you get a hundred dollar discount. You register by December the 1st. And, um, So I see so many well-meaning people out there going, oh man, I'd love to come. I just was not for me this time. Oh, maybe one day. Oh, maybe God will bless me with it. And I just, I want to go up to them and hug them and say, my friend, I love you, but you have no idea how the kingdom works. This is how the kingdom works. Listen, when God shows you something, when God puts something on your heart, he's giving you the opportunity and the authority to begin to walk into an area. and receive the good thing he has for you. And so whatever that is, whatever that looks like you today, begin to reframe according to God's word, begin to visualize and thank God for this new reality. And you will begin to see change happen, all right? Hey, thanks so much for being with me on the podcast. Listen, before you go, I wanna make sure that you have got your tickets for the Thriving Christian Artists Conference. Listen, if you register before the end of November, You have an opportunity to get a$100, yes,$100 discount. It's our early bird special, making registration for the weekend just$197 as opposed to$297. Now, listen, if you're wondering, is this for me? Is this, you know, should I really be considering going to the Thriving Christian Artists Conference? Absolutely. Here's how you know. If you are an artist, if you love Jesus, no matter where you are on your artistic journey, whether you're brand new, just coming back to your art, been doing it a long time and want to take your art to the next level or anywhere in between, this conference is for you. It's not only an opportunity to hear some of the best speakers in the world that I've brought together in the areas of art, art marketing, business, creativity, flowing in the Holy Spirit, healing and wholeness. Listen, you're going to come out of that weekend knowing God's plan for your art, life and business. You're going to Understand where your sweet spot is in art and in business and how to understand where your passion and profit ability and potential overlap so that you can really create a business that fits you and where you are in your season. Plus, listen, we're going to have some of those incredible seminars. I've got one artist, Josie Lewis, coming. You know, she's only had a billion, ba-ba-ba-ba, billion views of her social media in the last few years. And guess what? She's going to be breaking it all down for us, plus a whole lot more. Listen, if you're looking to connect with other Christian artists who love Jesus, want to grow in everything God's got for them, and build a business or ministry that takes the transformation that you've experienced and allows that to flow to the world through your art, then you need to be at the Thriving Christian Artists Conference. All you got to do is click the link that's below right here in the show notes, and you can take advantage. of that$100 discount, but you got to do it before the end of November. Listen, I can't wait to meet you. Hug your neck, hear your story, and just see the incredible things that God wants to do in your life this next year. All right. I hope to see you soon. Bye.