Dylan Schmidt: 0:10

Welcome to Digital Podcaster. My name is Dylan Schmidt, your host, and today, I'm gonna share a bit about with you What do those words even mean? Today I'm going to share a bit with you about how to get over procrastination. And this is specifically targeted at, you know, just getting this is what maybe this is specifically targeted at a comment I keep seeing about buying gear or acquiring different things, and then just not following through, especially when it comes to starting a podcast, or making more content. Maybe that's for YouTube. Or maybe it's just simply, you know, writing a blog or something. This is this is to all my people who procrastinate, no matter how little or how much it is, I have been there so much. And I have gotten out of the procrastination rut. So I want to share with you some simple steps I've, I've listed it out, I really went deep on, on what worked for me to get out of the procrastination rut. And I want to offer that to you because maybe this will help you to First things first, if you didn't know, last week, if you're tuning in for the first time, you would never know this. But last week, I was offline for pretty much the whole part. I did a quick little travel, unplugged vacation to New Orleans for a few days, my first time going there and then went to Austin, Texas. And let me tell you, it was awesome. New Orleans was cool. I've always wanted to go there. It always had this like kind of mysterious vibe. I'm from Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles. And I guess I don't really associate too much with the South because I just haven't spent a lot of time there. But then when I go to New Orleans, and then I see all this stuff, and I'm like, Whoa, there's a bit of a dark past, which I always thought New Orleans had a dark vibe. And then I kind of see I'm like oh yeah, between the plantations and I mean slavery and all that stuff. And it's just something not that I'm like completely unaware of. It's just something that isn't in my face in Los Angeles, because Los Angeles is really diverse. And you know, it's not like there's not a dark history in Los Angeles as well. But it's just a different type I guess. So New Orleans was was really interesting. And one of the things that I like most about it was the architecture, the architecture of the beautiful houses and buildings. There was just incredible. I didn't eat crawfish crawfish was offered everywhere. Didn't try it not interested in that. Not a vegetarian. I just I can't do the crawfish. It's just too much looking me in the eyes. I did have the bunnies. I forget how you saved money or whatever been the Not a fan had him from few different places. just not my thing. I love donuts. I love sweets. Not a fan of those. So let's just get that out of the way. And but I love the city and I would go back for sure. In Austin, Texas. I've been in Austin for a few times, but never really explored. Love that as well. I feel cliche in saying this, especially if that I'm from Los Angeles, because so many others have moved there. But I was possibly looking at what it would look like where I might live. If I was to move to Austin, I don't know if we're going to look really cool. The scene seems awesome. Like then by the scene, I just mean like people, people seem nicer. They're a little bit more friendly than Los Angeles prices. I've kind of was looking at the prices of a lot of stuff. And when it comes to especially houses and gas, which those things change seems about double than what Austin prices are for the most part. I know some places that changes but generally speaking, it seems like prices are double in Los Angeles from Austin, which is makes Austin more attractive. Yeah, but the beach, I don't really go to the beach that often, mostly from what I see a lot of tourists go to the beach in Los Angeles, and went swimming in Austin at Barton Springs and loved it. Just that freshwater was great. So that just wanted to give a quick update on that because I don't go on a lot of occasions. So I got to what I do, I got a report back and it was beautiful to unplug. And you know what, I nothing went wrong. I didn't lose anything from unplugging for a week. So if you have been going hard on things, sometimes, you know unplugging is the perfect way to reset. shift your perspective into a different, something different, you know, something, maybe see things from a different angle. And you can't always do that by just staring at the same thing so close. So if you've been close that something as far as maybe a project you're working on, unplugging is one of the most beneficial things you can do sometimes, especially if you've been staring at it for a while to not look at the thing whatsoever. Of course I'm thinking about Digital Podcaster the whole time I'm there. I'm thinking how cool it would be to start a podcast business in are not podcast store essentially, in Austin. I was like, I could totally see exactly how it would would go. I would call it ready, set talk. And then I would have to locate this is totally dreaming for a second, I would have one walk in location where I only sell podcast gear, all that good stuff. So be like a boutique podcast or pretty small, but just friendly, friendly environment. We could just go in, ask questions, all things podcasting, almost like a camera store. But for podcasting, really cool though, sell merch podcasting stuff, just I love like gift shops, I love really well done merch, I eat that stuff up. So it'd be like that, but for podcasters. And they get podcasting gear, ready, set talk. And then there would be another location, which would be a podcast studio. And it would be where you come in record, do all your stuff. And I know those kind of exists already. But this one would be awesome. And I'm not going to bore you with all those details, because it doesn't exist yet. But maybe one day, maybe one day. And it's cool to have this on record so I can reference back to it one day. All right. So today, I want to talk to you, if you're feeling frustrated, you bought all the equipment, bought all the gear, maybe it's podcasting stuff again, maybe it's camera, we need to microphone, maybe you bought a nice microphone, and it's still collecting dust, and you're still not making progress. And you're feeling frustrated. Maybe you don't want to admit that you're frustrated, but you're feeling frustrated, because you're not seeing the momentum that you thought you might have got when you got the microphone? Well, I'm gonna share with you, because you know, you're entirely capable, most likely, maybe you didn't know this, but I'm letting you know, we're reminding you, you know that you're entirely capable of completing the task at hand, whatever it is that you're trying to do. Let's use the context of a podcast for this one. You know, you're entirely capable of hosting a podcast, and growing a podcast and monetizing a podcast. Yes, you no matter what you've done in the past, no matter where you are in the world, you got internet connection, you're listening to this, you've got what you need, and you're still not doing whatever that thing is. Well, one of the simple truths, especially around procrastinating, what I've come to realize is, you really can't procrastinate and work on the task that you've been putting off at the same time. Right? Let's admit that those two things can exist can't coexist at the same time. In space, you can't say you're looking with a podcasting example. You can't work on your podcast, and then also be like, I'm procrastinating on it. No, you're if you're working on the podcast, you're not procrastinating. So there is a not doing it and doing it right. And typically, and I say this, because I'm building on this point here. Typically, when you're procrastinating on something, different emotions come up. And I'm an emotional guy, you know, we're all emotional beings. But I love addressing the emotions, because I think it's a quicker way to realize where we're being held back, or where we can improve. I've found, luckily, somewhat early on, life is a bit of an emotional game. And the more you can handle emotions, or I'd say success or the more ease you're going to have. Because a lot of times we don't want to confront emotions, maybe there are difficult things like that. And I'm not saying let's make procrastination, purely an emotional game, because there might be other reasons, very real reasons. But I'm also saying, I want you to know that I do believe that there are emotions attached to this. And I don't think recording a podcast should be an emotional decision. I think it should be rather linear, like black and white decision of just simply simply going and pressing record and talking and then hitting stop. Afterwards, you might deal with emotions of I don't know if this is good enough, all that stuff. Set that aside for just, we're not there yet. We're still procrastinating on our podcast in this example. But typically the emotions that come up, when you're procrastinating are stress, you're stressed out because you haven't done the thing that you're trying to do. Or maybe you're experiencing worry, like you're thinking so far in the future and worrying that I don't know if I this thing will be right for me. I don't know if anyone will listen, I don't know if it's a good idea. I don't know if I have all the steps. I don't know if I'm hitting the record button with the right finger. And these are all real things that people experience. And then also maybe shame because you have maybe talked about it. Or maybe you bought the stuff again, which signifies to your nervous system, your body that you want to follow through with this thing, and then you're not following through with that thing. You're probably feeling shame on some level. And these are also things that maybe you didn't you maybe have minimized. You may be thought Yeah, well, it's not that big of a deal. It's just the podcast, whatever it is. I think that there's a lot of these things linked. And I'm making assumptions here but I found with myself At least, that I find that if I'm procrastinating in one area, it just takes up mental real estate that I just, I just don't want to have there, I'd rather just kind of like, live a little bit more flexible, a little bit more freeing. And it ultimately makes me feel a little happier when I don't have much mental real estate taken up and procrastinating, I think takes up mental real estate. And that's, again, what this whole episode is about. So if you are experiencing those things of maybe feeling those emotions, not those things, those emotions of stress, worry or shame, and maybe you're experiencing more like maybe there's more emotions there. First things first, I just want you to know that that is normal. And that's a normal response. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to not do something, I'm not saying sell all your equipment, guess what podcasting isn't for you, or whatever it is you're procrastinating on. And it's not for you, not what I'm saying? What I'm saying is, you are normal in feeling those things when you procrastinate. So I wanted to get that out of the way. When it comes to actually following through, or you go, I know what I need to do Dylan, I'm just not doing it. If it was that easy, I would have just done it. I can hear that voice also. But if when it comes to actually getting out of the rut of procrastinating and doing the thing that you've been putting off, and the frustration and all that stuff, it comes down to committing, like I said earlier, you can't procrastinate and work on the task at hand at the same time. And that's why committing is so important. And committing in either direction. Oftentimes, not oftentimes, well, yeah, oftentimes, people will want to do something. So there was good reason why they started out. But at the same time, sometimes I'll like to get someone to go in the direction of like doing something or getting out of a rut, I might try and talk you out of doing the thing that you're trying to do. Because if you're actually going to sit there and defend that you actually want to do something you're showing me or telling me that you actually want to do it, and you're going to commit to doing it. But if I try to talk you out of doing it, for example, again, the podcast example. So I see a lot of comments about I bought the gear, but I'm not it's just collecting dust and I'm like not doing it. Then don't do the podcast, like just leave the podcast off the table, do something else, like what are you doing with that? Do you need the money, maybe sell the gear, take the money and do something else with it. Go on vacation, visit New Orleans if you've never been, you know, but make a commitment in a decision. Even if it's the wrong decision. You'll know very quickly because you can avoid that it's not we're not doing heart surgery here. And we're not doing medical decisions. I'm just saying you can if especially if it's podcasting here, you can buy gear again in the future, you can revisit it, it's not a permanent decision. But committing one way or the other. Is this something I'm actually going to do? And then when when are you gonna do it like, is it something actually I'm going to do this year? I'm going to do it in next year 2023? Do I need the gear between now and then? Or would I be better off? Maybe selling the gear and getting something else? Again, like I'll try and talk you out of doing it. As much as I will try to talk you into doing it. Because talking you out of it will either help you come to the conclusion and commit harder. And then when it comes to getting out of that rut, and after you've committed say you are okay. Yeah, podcasting sounds great. Yeah, okay. I've been procrastinating. Yeah, but the gear I'm not doing your first step shouldn't be pressing record, your first step shouldn't be doing all this stuff. Your first step should be gathering gathering information, like in that and that comes from a super high level. It's not like, again, how do I press the record button correctly? That's not the that's not the high level information we need in this first step. In this first step, we just need to know record a podcast. That's simply it. We don't need to know all the details just yet. Because that's one reason why it's easy to procrastinate. I just don't know I don't have all the details. I don't know if I'm doing it right. I have a great idea but I don't know if I'm doing it right. So your first step should just from a high level be you know, you got you got the gear already. So we got that, but it just should be recorded podcast, edit the podcast, publish the podcast, promote the podcast. That's like a four step plan right there. And what do we do when we're procrastinating is we look at typically the last step I don't know how to promote the podcast because that's the part that we don't really have answers to because we haven't got there yet. How you worry how you you're gonna worry when we do I'm saying you I am involved in this too. Can I do the same things but I my goals has tend to build the muscle of doing this less. And that's why I'm sharing with this. So I'm human. And I'm normal to just like you when we do this stuff, but we'll worry about, say we'll try to use the word will don't just be you. But we'll worry about the thing that we're, we don't know how to do. Yeah, I don't know how to promote the podcast. Well, we got to record the podcast first. So we know what route even be promoting the first place. And we just skip ahead like notice, when I laid out those four steps, we skipped ahead to the end of the fourth step. And that's not even like, it's not even, we're not even there yet. Like, A, B, C, D, let's go in. Like, let's go in one step at a time here. So I'm saying your first step should be distilling what the steps are from a super high level, and then focusing on one task at a time and not jumping ahead, not worrying and getting frustrated about promoting when you haven't even recorded yet. And that's one way you're going to fight. The stress, worry, confusion, shame, frustration, all those emotions, is by simply making a list of those things. And then focusing only committing again only to the first step, and one step at a time. And not going past that. And then the next last little piece I want to give you here on this short little rant slash procrastination. tip is be honest, when you need to get help. Everyone has different stages that they need help with. And typically, I see people stick with something for far too long, that they could have saved so much time, and probably a lot of money, if they would have just got help. And I do sympathize, though, with people when they are in this stage of not knowing when to get help is because you're probably used to doing things yourself. You don't know when to get help. And also the hard part, honestly, is to find someone that you trust to get help, like, can this person actually helped me? So typically, I find when people have trouble getting help is because they don't know how to ask for help. And they don't know where to find someone that can actually help them. Because maybe they're like, I don't have the budget, I don't know how to make this podcast isn't making me a million dollars, I don't know where to look. And that is a great place to realize, though, is you need help getting help. And that is possibly one of the most important pieces I could offer you in this podcast episode. And if you got nothing else is get good at asking the question of like, Where can I get great help. Because you're, you're not going to do all of the steps successfully on your own. Over a long enough period. People at any higher level need help. It's just the way we are, we can't do it all ourselves. I wish we could, it would make life easier, because then we wouldn't have to outsource all those things. And we wouldn't have to share those difficult emotions with anybody else. And we could all put it back on ourselves and be like, I knew it wouldn't work out because of this. But when we get help, we shorten learning curves. And we get the right help, of course, and we shorten learning curves, we save time and money because we don't spin our wheels as much. And then we can grow faster because we can focus on the things that we want to be focusing on. And it helps you when you commit and focus on the next step the next task, you can really pinpoint which task you need to do and you can give more of yourself to that task like that could be making bigger connections for your podcast might be for you may like reaching out to bigger guests reaching out to guests. You know, while while you get help editing, you can reach out to guests. So little like time saving hacks like that go a long ways. And it all comes back to getting help like knowing when to ask for help for one and then knowing how to get help. And and I'm not saying that just because like I'm a podcast, coach, educator, all that stuff, and I help people with podcasts. I'm genuinely genuinely saying that. Whether or not we work together in some capacity. Not even like saying that for that. Again, you might not even want to podcast I might even try to talk you out of podcasting. But genuinely, I just want people in general to get better at asking for help. Because we see a lot of people in the news. Their last name Ryan rhymes with tusk. In the first name rhymes with CW Ilan and Elon Musk. You know, we see him and he has all these different companies. How does he do it all? We know he doesn't do it himself. I don't you know, he's a deep topic. I'm not trying to get into that here. But he must be a good manager on some level or some type of managing skills because he's able to pivot and do different things. And so even if it's just like his assistants, that He's good at getting help with, he's got to be good at getting help on some level. And we all see him and we're like, well, he can do it. I just don't have the same G. Stop comparing yourself to Elon Musk to there's one Elon Musk in the world. And it's like we're, you know, no need to come Pete with him. Just compete with your procrastination. And getting out of that rut, I'd say that's where your focus should be. Alright, I offer it a lot in this episode. Again, a little bit of a new format I'm trying here is a solo podcast if you enjoyed this, and you're a first time listener, I'm sorry, no, just kidding. Make sure to hit the subscribe button, or follow button wherever you listen to podcast Digital Podcaster is the name my name is Dylan Schmidt. Again, I would hit the subscribe button now. And or follow button, whatever it is. So you don't procrastinate on that first step. Because I'll be here to remind you of taking action in some form or another. Also, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a comment, a rating, a review, all that stuff helps the show and really helps me see the feedback. So I'd appreciate that rating. And then yeah, next week, tune in new episodes every Tuesday. I know I talked about doing a podcast today in May I'm still not committing to that I'm afraid of committing to that. Now procrastinating I still release a podcast every episode or every Tuesday, but we'll see on that once a month thing. So I'll let you know how that goes. Maybe we might get buckwild May. Or we might push that back. I don't know. I just got back first day back from vacation, you know, not trying to make any life changing decisions. I'll procrastinate on that for a little bit longer. What? Alright, I'll see you next week. I hope you have a great week. Talk to you soon.