Why You’re Procrastinating (and How to Break the Cycle Today)

In this episode, I break down the real reasons freelancers and service providers procrastinate and how to finally get back into action mode without shame, burnout, or hustle.

Whether you're avoiding proposals, pushing off content creation, or just staring at your to-do list wondering where to start, this episode will help you identify what’s actually holding you back, and give you a four-step plan to break the cycle today.

Topics Covered In This Episode:

1. Use What’s Already Working: Start with your client’s organic posts—they’re mini case studies hiding in plain sight.
2. Don’t Stay in Your Niche: Creative breakthroughs often come from unrelated industries. Go look.
3. Stop From-Scratch Syndrome: Your job isn’t to be original. It’s to be strategic.
4. Build a Swipe System: Your future self will thank you for that Instagram Saved folder.
5. Analyze, Don’t Copy: Find what works and adapt the structure, not the words.

Find the full show notes at:  https://brandimowles.com/260

Loved This Episode? Grab the Free Guide:

👉 Click here to download the Streamlined Ad Manager Guide Inside, you'll get the exact systems Brandi uses to keep client work organized, creative flow high, and procrastination low—so you can finally run your freelance business like a pro.

Want More Like This? ⬇️

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STAYING FOCUSED WITH MY PARKING LOT METHOD

Additional Resources:

Ready to go from $0–$5K+ months without guessing? Apply now for one-on-one mentorship and a community of women doing $10K–$30K months: Apply to The Strategist Society »

Follow the Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serve-scale-soar/id1477998650

Follow Brandi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandimowles

Follow Brandi on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brandiandcompany

Transcript

260: Why You’re Procrastinating (and How to Break the Cycle Today)

===

Brandi: [00:00:00] Hey, hey, hey, and welcome back to another episode of the Serve Scale SOAR podcast. My name is Brandy MAs, and I am your host. And if this is your first time here, oh man, you are in for some tough love, but also some actionable steps. That will move your business forward and get you to take more action. And if you are a longtime listener, you know, I cut through the fluff and get to what actually moves our business forward.

And so today is no different. This is gonna be an actionable tips and tricks to get you moving and out of procrastination. So if you've ever found yourself doom scrolling instead of sending a proposal. Rewriting your to-do list instead of tackling it or telling yourself. I'll start Monday. This episode is for you.

Today. We're digging into procrastination, Not just why you're do doing it, but how to actually break the cycle and get back into momentum today. This isn't about shame, it's about understanding what's really [00:01:00] behind the stall so you can take a line strategic action, especially when you're running a service-based business and wearing all the hats.

So let's jump into this episode so you can stop procrastinating and get into action mode. When we talk about procrastination, there's usually one of four reasons, or a mix of all of these that keep you in procrastination mode instead of action mode. And I wanna go over those four things that most people can be like, Ooh, that's what it is. And yours actually may fall into two, three, or even all four of them. But identifying that is gonna be really important.

And then I'm gonna take you through how to break the cycle and give you action steps that you can implement today to start taking more action. So let's talk about the first thing that usually keeps people in procrastination mode. And it's not that you're lazy, you're avoiding something. Usually it's a feeling or fear.

So procrastination is [00:02:00] rarely about time. Like I know some of us say like, oh, I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time. So I'm pushing it, pushing it. That's rarely the actual root cause of procrastination. It's usually about discomfort. You're avoiding the task because it brings up fear, confusion, pressure.

There's some kind of underlying emotion. That you're feeling. So an example of this that's very common is like writing a proposal. Maybe you just got off a call. This is like dream client status, and now you have to write the proposal. Instead of getting it out within the next hour, you procrastinate and it takes you a day, two days, three days to get it out.

Why? Probably 'cause you fear of rejection. What if they come back and you're not the right fit? What if they decide to go with someone else? This is a client that you really want, so suddenly you're reorganizing your asana instead of writing the proposal. That's an example of how fear, the underlying emotion is [00:03:00] really what's holding you back.

It's not writing the proposal itself, but it's the fear of rejection. So step one, ask yourself what feeling or fear you're avoiding. When you can name the emotion behind it, it disarms it. It gives you the power to then make decisions. So here are some examples. I wanted to put this in a really strategic way.

Tangible way that you can do this. So let's say the task is sending a follow-up message to a potential client and you keep putting it off, you keep putting off. The underlying fear could be you don't wanna be annoying or pushy. Like that's what you're actually afraid of is not, not getting the client, but you have this fear of being annoying or pushy or salesy, so you don't do it.

So your avoidance behavior is you decided to tweak your website copy for the third time this week when you could have actually just sent the message. But that fear of being annoying or pushy is what's holding you back. Okay. [00:04:00] Okay. Another example that I see a lot recording a video for your Instagram account, like putting out content on your Instagram.

And the underlying fear could be fear of judgment or not looking expert enough. Like what if I put this out and someone like. Doesn't like it. Or worse, someone comments it on it. And what if I actually don't look like an expert? Am I an expert enough? And so your avoidance behavior could be you convince yourself you need a new webcam, a mic branding.

So you head to Canva and you start redoing your logo, and then you order a mic off Amazon and then you have to wait for it. And you didn't pick the one with Prime Next day because you need to push this out as long as possible. That's procrastination. Here's one last one to really show you what this can look like.

Setting boundaries with clients who are overstepping You have a fear of confrontation or being seen as difficult. I. How many of us avoid hard conversations because you don't wanna be [00:05:00] seen as confrontational. That makes you uncomfortable. So the avoidance behavior, you reply to their request anyway, even though it's outta scope, and then you feel resentful and drained for hours.

So here's some ways that fear or emotions can actually present themselves as procrastination. When really they're avoidance. And so when we can name the fear, the emotion behind it, it lets us make better decisions. It says, oh. If that's how I'm feeling, is that really like, is this gonna stop me from moving forward?

It can start to help you re-identify what the real problem is. Now, sometimes you still won't move forward, and that's okay. The first step is just to identify. What emotion is coming up whenever you find yourself procrastinating? So the next time you go to move something to another day, 'cause you didn't get to it, ask yourself what's the real reason why this didn't get done?[00:06:00] 

Like really, if I had enough time, would I still have done it or am I just moving this 'cause there's something else holding me back and I bet there's something else holding you back. Okay, so that's the big one. There's fear or emotion. That's the underlying cause, and you're not moving forward. So the second thing that could be coming up, if you're like, no, brandy, that's not it, is you don't have clarity.

So you're stuck in the spin mode. Most procrastination stems from vague task work on a funnel. Is not a to-do map. Three email sequences. That is if you're constantly rewriting your to-do list and getting nowhere, this is probably where the procrastination's coming from. So what do you do instead? You break it down into micro wins so you can build momentum quickly and get clarity. We'll link up an episode I did with Sean and we talked all about systems, but the big thing we talked about is how too many people are working from projects, not task. So an example of this [00:07:00] is me with my website build.

For months, it said refresh website. That was the task. Are you kidding me? Refresh website is like a monster of a project, so you know what kept on happening in Asana? I kept on moving that little project task or that task over and over and over to a new date. And it was never moving forward. So what did I do instead?

I went and asked Chat GPT. I said, I need to create a new website. Here's my website, brandy mouse.com. Can you create me a project plan? I only have 30 minutes a day to work on this. Can you create me a project plan day by day, Monday through Friday, 30 minutes a day on how I can accomplish this in the next seven weeks?

You know what? It broke it down. So instead of being a task of. Update your website. It was a project, update your website and each day had a micro task. It was like write copy for about page, and then the next day was add copy. To about page [00:08:00] update branding colors on about page. So do you see how that breaks down such a monster of a task?

That's not a task. It's actually a project into manageable tasks that move the project forward. So a lot of times procrastination is just because it's too overwhelming. You have a task, which should be a project, it needs to be broken down into even smaller task. So. If you feel like you're not going anywhere, you keep rewriting your to-do list, you look at it and they feel overwhelming, it's time to break them down and know that what you have as a task is probably actually a project.

Even campaigns. So my ad managers, I. You may have like onboard new client. That's a project that is not a task. And in there there's another project create campaign. Creating campaign is so many elements. It's writing the copy, it's creating the creative, getting approval, setting budget. There's [00:09:00] so many things.

That's a project that's not a task. So if you're procrastinating, I would definitely look and see are you treating projects like task? And if so, let's break that down into much smaller task and create that as a project. Okay, so now you may be like, Brandy, neither those two are hitting home. I don't have a fear.

I have 'em broken down. So then the third one is perfectionism is a sneaky twin of procrastination. I need to do it right equals I'll do it later. You're waiting for the perfect time, the perfect copy, the perfect conditions, and the delay is costing you. It's costing you clients. It's costing you revenue.

It's costing you family time. It is costing you. Usually this also comes up when you don't feel like an expert enough or imposter syndrome is kicking in. But what you don't realize is you'll never be an expert if you don't actually take action. [00:10:00] And progress is greater than perfection, especially in business.

So if you are a recovering perfectionist or you're not even recovering, you are a perfectionist. Procrastination really sneaks in. You're not getting anything done because you're waiting for it to be perfect. But we all know perfect isn't a thing. Perfect will never be a thing. You can never have the perfect ad copy, the perfect creative, the perfect campaign, the perfect client perfect does not exist.

The quicker you wrap your head around that and realize that that is not serving you, the quicker you can start moving forward and making real. Change. Real money, real clients, real business. When you stay in perfectionism, it is gonna cost more to you than it will ever be good for you. So we have to move beyond perfectionism and into action.

The more action you create, the more clarity there comes, [00:11:00] and you'll see that life of business. We're always iterating. There is no perfection. Don't let perfectionism hold you back from moving forward. Okay, and if you're like Brandy, I'm not a perfectionist. My tasks are nicely laid out and I don't have any fear.

Then the fourth thing could be you're just tired and it's not just physical tired. You are drained. This isn't just, I didn't get great sleep tired. It's mental load tired. It's remembering to send the client report while also booking pediatrician appointments, figuring out dinner. Folding laundry and keeping your toddler alive, tired.

As women, especially moms, we're often carrying the invisible weight of everything. Remember every school deadline, prepping snacks, managing clients, planning holidays, and somehow still trying to write the perfect Instagram caption that we just found out doesn't even exist. The level of cognitive [00:12:00] juggling leaves little space for creativity, clarity, or focus work.

So when you find yourself procrastinating, it may not be because you're unmotivated. It may not be because fear's holding you back. You may not be struggling with perfectionism or lack of clarity. It's because your brain is maxed out. And in that case, the most strategic thing you can do isn't to push harder.

Try to get through it. It's to rest even just 15 to 20 minutes of no input time. So that means no podcasts, no screen, no notifications, no kids climbing on top of you can reset your brain and bring you back to yourself. Because when your brain gets a break, you come back with better ideas and more capacity.

So an example of this. Is, I was feeling a lot of mental load lately, like a lot, and I just told my nutritionist, I was like, I just need a break. Like I need a break and I need to [00:13:00] step back. I need to get some things off my plate. But here's the deal. My nutrition, my health, my weight loss journey is really important to me.

But at the time my nutrition coach, I just like couldn't, it was just too much for me and I was feeling a lot of overwhelm, so I paused with her. And I went looking and I was like, what do I need? What is gonna make my health, my nutrition still top priority, but also reduce the mental load? And I realized that a lot of my mental load was coming from every single week making the plans for the week, but also trying to like Tetris my macros together and figure out like, okay, if I have this, this morning, this for lunch, this for dinner.

The kids also like this. And like that was so mentally draining for me on top of everything else. And so what I did is I found a nutritionist that works with my macros and it's pre-planned meals. So dinner for the weeks are planned. My lunch for the week is planned, my snacks for the week and [00:14:00] my breakfast.

So all I have to do on Sunday is be like, okay, let's move this to this day. This to this day. This makes sense. Other than that, all the recipes, all the nutrition, everything is done for me, that took so much mental load off of me that I was able to focus on other things. Procrastination went away. I didn't procrastinate on each morning trying to te or sit.

It's done on Sunday, and then I don't have to think about it for the rest of the week, which creates. More ideas, more capacity for me and other aspects of my life. And so you may just be carrying too much mental load and you need to figure out how to get that off. So those are four ways that most people end up procrastinating.

And like I said, you may be falling into. One or more of these, but right now, look at something that you've been pushing and putting off and you're procrastinating on either in your personal life or your business. Is it because you're avoiding something? Emotion, a feeling? Is it because you don't have enough clarity on [00:15:00] breaking it down into smaller bites?

Is actionism sneaking in or are you just carrying way too much mental load that you can't look at anything else? You're tapped out. The first step is to identify. Then I wanna go over how to break the cycle today. So there's four action steps that you can do today to help with this. One is do a two minute brain dump.

Write down everything that's swimming in your head. There's a lot of science about how you'll actually sleep better at night if you do this, where you get everything down on a piece of paper so you're not running through it in your brain, it's already down. Then I want you to circle one task. That make moves money, pick the thing that's gonna move the needle, make you more money.

So maybe on that task list you have that you need to follow up with five clients or five potential clients, circle that that makes you money. Then break into a 10, 10 minute step. You [00:16:00] don't need to finish it. You just need to start.

Then after you circle the one task, I want you to break it into a one 10 minute step. You don't need to finish, you just need to start, and then you're gonna set a timer and go create urgency. Action breeds clarity. So right now you're gonna do that dump list, and then you're gonna pick the thing that makes your money.

You're gonna be like, what is one step I can move? Towards this project. So maybe if you have five people that you need to reach out to and you need to break this into a 10 minute step, then the one step that you do is, okay, so this one name out of the five, I'm gonna grab them and I need to email them and you're gonna send them a follow up email.

You're gonna set the timer and go, that starts to move you forward with this, when you start taking action, you are more motivated to take more action because you just release perfectionism. You just release the fear that was behind that You got clarity and you're taking action, you're moving forward.

So do [00:17:00] that. Step right now. Do a two minute brain.circle, a task that makes you money. Break it into a 10 minute task that you can do right now. Set a timer. And go. You may feel motivated to continue going after that 10 minutes, or it may be enough. Just then do this as many times as you need throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the month to get you moving in the right direction.

You don't need to overhaul your life or become a productivity machine overnight. You just need to recognize the pattern. Name the fear and take the next best step, and if client work is one of the places we're procrastinating showing up, grab my free streamlined ad manager guide and get the exact system I use to keep projects moving, task off my brain, and results flowing without chaos.

You've got this, my friend. Stop procrastinating and start moving into action. Until next week, go out, serve your clients, scale your business, and soar into [00:18:00] the success you deserve.