The Create Your Day Podcast
You didn’t work this hard just to feel stuck, exhausted, or disconnected from your own life. Create Your Day is where high achieving, heart driven women come to get real about what it takes to actually feel good while building success. Hosted by Jenn Cody, your no-fluff, no-apologies bestie in your earbuds, this show dives deep into the mindset shifts, emotional wake-up calls, and small (but mighty) moves that lead to real alignment, real confidence, and a life you actually want to wake up to. If you're done with perfectionism, overthinking, and waiting for "someday," you're in the right place. Listen in for tough love, practical tools, personal stories, and a-ha moments that will leave you thinking, "Wait, why has no one ever told me this before?!" Ready to create your day (and your life) on your terms? Let’s go!
The Create Your Day Podcast
92. What If "Later" Never Comes?
What if those two seemingly innocent words—"maybe later"—are actually sabotaging your entire life? This eye-opening episode dives deep into how our tendency to postpone what truly matters is keeping us stuck in an endless cycle of waiting for the perfect moment that never arrives.
The truth stings a little: "maybe later" isn't responsible planning—it's procrastination dressed in a responsible outfit. It creates an illusion of control without requiring us to make actual decisions. Every time we defer something important, we're not just delaying joy; we're actively choosing something that drains us instead. We're reinforcing the dangerous belief that our needs are optional luxuries rather than necessities.
I'm sharing three powerful, practical tools to break this pattern: the 90-day rule for overthinkers, the three-task rule for the perpetually busy, and the non-negotiables list for reconnecting with what you truly need. These aren't cute productivity hacks—they're lifelines designed to help you move things from your "later" column to your "now" column. Because clarity doesn't come from waiting; it comes from moving.
Ready to stop protecting "later" at the expense of now? This episode offers the honest conversation and practical guidance you need to start creating the life you want today, not someday. Your joy isn't optional, and your needs matter right now—not just when everything else is perfectly aligned.
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Hi there, welcome to the Create your Day podcast. I'm your host, jen Cody, and welcome to this week's episode. So grateful to have you here, and I'm looking forward to chatting with you this week about something that is a little bit sneakier than what we usually talk about. So most weeks, I'm on here talking to you about living in alignment and, you know, making sure that you're setting the rules for your own life, you're taking the rest that you deserve. We're here to find balance. We're here to live bold lives. We're here to be brave, and that's what this podcast is all about.
Speaker 1:Today, I am coming at you with something that is going to sting a little bit, but it's going to also set you free, I promise. So what we're talking about? It may sound harmless, but secretly, it's actually something that is sabotaging your time, sabotaging your joy, and it's sabotaging your damn life, to be quite honest, and what I want you to do right now is pay close attention to what I'm going to say, because what we're talking about is using the phrase maybe later, not never, not no, because we've spoken about that. This is not. I don't want to do this. This is not no, I'm not available. This is not saying no to things because we think that we have too many obligations. This is saying maybe later, and it sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to say. We have full plates, we have a lot going on. We are trying our best to be responsible and we feel like we'll get to it when things calm down. So maybe later feels like a yes, right, when work slows down, when the kids get older, when I finally have time, maybe later. But I'm going to tell you something Later is a liar and we are going to talk about it today. The words maybe later, they are seductive. They are an illusion. They give us the illusion of control, but they don't actually require us to make a decision. So essentially, it's just procrastination and it's like, dressed up in a responsible outfit, we feel productive because we are planning to do something. We're going to start to do something. We are totally going to have that hard conversation, right, we're just going to do it later. We're going to finally prioritize what we want. We're just going to do it later. We're not going to do it right now.
Speaker 1:The sad thing is, if your life is built around maybe later, there's a very good chance that you are going to blink and realize you've delayed your entire freaking life. Joy later, alignment later, peace, clarity, breathing, balance, yep, yep, all later We've convinced ourselves that this version of our life is the prelude to something better. We think that the grind we're in right now, it's necessary, it's just a season. Right, we'll get to what we're finally going to get to, to feel like ourselves again later. But what if that season never ends? What if the season is only going to end when you end it?
Speaker 1:So I need you to be really brutally honest for a second. Every single time you say maybe later to something that matters, you are saying yes to something that's draining you. This is the flip-flop, right, because we talk about when we say yes to something, we're actually saying no to something else. What about when we say maybe later, we are saying yes to something else that is draining us. You're also reinforcing the idea that your needs are optional. They don't matter as much as whatever it is that you're saying maybe later to your joy. It's a luxury, your real life that can totally wait until another time. But can it Again? What if the season only ends when we end it?
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, but I have never seen anyone hustle their way into clarity. I've never seen anyone people-please their way to a peaceful situation. And the thing is, we think that we're burnt out because we're weak. No, you're burnt out because you've been holding your breath and you're waiting for permission to exhale by constantly saying, maybe later, maybe later is costing you clarity. It's costing you your self-trust. We've spoken about this. This was probably a year or so ago, but do remember we spoke about every time you say that you're going to do something that's important to you, like I'm going to get up early tomorrow and work out, I'm going to read a book tomorrow night before I go to sleep, I'm going to have dinner with my kids this week, on whatever day. Every time you say yes to one of those things and you don't follow through, you're breaking trust with yourself. Maybe later is doing the same thing. It's costing you your self-trust. It's costing you a life that actually fits you.
Speaker 1:So what do we do? How do we actually Make some change? How do we get this to stop? Well, the first thing is that you have to stop waiting for the stars to align. You have to stop waiting for the perfect conditions and you have to create the space you've been postponing. Create your day. Right, that's why we're here. Does this mean you're going to quit your job? You're going to move to Bali tomorrow? No, although if it's on your agenda, let me know. Maybe you need a roommate, let's talk about it. But what it does mean is this Take one thing you've been putting off, something you know would make your life feel lighter, make your life feel truer, make your life feel more like you, and I want you to move it from the later column to the now column.
Speaker 1:So that may mean finally having that conversation. You know the one I'm talking about, the one you've been putting off, the one you keep saying maybe later, maybe later, maybe another time. Finally having that conversation. Maybe it means blocking one damn hour this week for your joy. Wow, what a concept. Can you take one hour this week that's not committed to errands, not committed to commitments? Maybe it's starting the journaling, starting the gym, starting whatever the dream is that you've been putting off. Stop saying you'll do it when you're less tired. Stop saying you'll do it later. Stop saying you'll do it when you have more clarity. Stop saying you'll do it when you can see better.
Speaker 1:I have a spoiler alert You're never going to be less tired. You're never going to be able to see more clearly what you are going to be. You're going to be less resentful. How amazing is that? Watch your energy come back when you get rid of some of the resentment that builds up when we consistently push things off to later, later, later. We want your energy back and resentment is really draining. So I'm going to offer you a little reframe.
Speaker 1:Later is not a strategy, it's a stall, and you are not here to stall your way through the life that is waiting for you. You're here to live it. You're here to feel it. You're here to trust yourself enough to say this matters. I matter. What I want to do matters, and not only does it matter, it matters right now.
Speaker 1:Why do you need to wait until later for something to matter? Again, you are never going to be less tired. You're never going to have more time. You are never going to have the right moment, and we talk about this in our everyday lives, about kids, right? How many times have you heard someone say you're never going to have the exact time to have children? You'll never have kids if you wait for the moment to be right. The same goes for so many important things. The timing is never going to be right to ask someone to marry you. The time's never going to be right to ask someone for a divorce. The time is never going to be right to ask someone for a divorce. The time is never going to be right for you to start that business, for you to have that conversation, for you to make the change that you know you need to make in your life. So this week I challenge you oh, you know what I dare you to stop protecting later. Start choosing yourself, in small ways, tangible ways, but in ways that you can do it right now.
Speaker 1:Clarity does not come from waiting. It comes from moving. I had a conversation just yesterday with a client who was saying that they felt that they couldn't see clearly. They felt like they were in the dirt. They couldn't see clearly and they were waiting to see clearly before they made a move. And I really had to offer them the reframe that that clarity doesn't come while you're still in the dirt. It's the move that you make to pull yourself out of the dirt that gives you the clarity. Clarity does not come from waiting. It comes from moving. So take a breath. This is not a time for you to have guilt for you to hold shame. It's a gut check moment, but it has to be an honest gut check moment.
Speaker 1:What is something you've been saying, maybe later to, that actually needs to be a hell yes right now. What does that look like to you? I want to hear from you what are the things that you've been putting off, and we need tools to do that. Right, because we want to hear from you what are the things that you've been putting off and we need tools to do that. Right, because we want to make these changes, but we need tools to make the changes actually stick. So, what are the tools? How do we use them? How do we actually take hold of what we need to do? And it's not about just shouting be more intentional into the big abyss, right? You don't need that. You don't need another pep talk. You need actual handles. Right? You need something to hold on to, something tangible that's going to help you see this through. So I'm going to teach you three tools today, and they're going to help you stop delaying what matters and start creating traction.
Speaker 1:The first one is the 90-day rule. This is for all my overthinkers out there. Who's out there thinking what if I choose the wrong thing. So we just stay in limbo, right? We don't want to make a move in any direction because we're afraid that it might be the wrong one. So I want you to ask yourself if I made this move today, would I still be glad I did it 90 days from now, not forever, not for the rest of your life, not in six years, not in five years, in 90 days Enough time to see real momentum. But it's not pressure to have it all figured out, because in 90 days you could still pivot, pressure to have it all figured out because in 90 days you could still pivot. This rule is going to help you cut through the noise so that you can trust that gut check, because the clarity again is the result of action, it doesn't come first. So if you made this move today, would you still be glad you did it 90 days from now? That's the first tool. It's a great thing to use. Every time you're in that decision fatigue, you need to move right. That's what's going to pull you out of it. 90-day rule Okay.
Speaker 1:The second tool is called the three-task rule. We've spoken about the CVS receipt right, the to-do list that looks like a CVS receipt. It's just literally the longest thing you've ever seen in your life. You're drowning in obligations. This is for you, so listen up. The three task rule is where, every day, you're going to pick three high impact tasks, that's it. I don't care if your to-do list has 12 things. I don't care if your to-do list has 47 things. Pick three, that's it. Here's the trick If those three things don't move the needle on what actually matters to you, not what matters to everyone else, it does not make the list.
Speaker 1:This is going to force you to stop hiding in busyness, because I know you love to live there. I know you love to be busy. The more you can say that you're busy, the more you have going on, the more it feels like you're moving yourself closer to that clarity. Busyness keeps you stuck. You need to start focusing on what is going to actually build traction instead of what's going to keep you distracted. So the three task rule pick three high impact. So those three tasks can't be. You know, I have to do the dishes and wipe down the bathroom counter. No, no, no. Three high impact tasks. You don't have to solve everything every day, just three things.
Speaker 1:And the last tool we're going to go over today is the non-negotiables list, so this one is a little uncomfortable. You might squirm a little bit, but I promise it's a game changer, so I want you to write down three to five things that are non-negotiable for your well-being. They're not nice to have, they're not when there's time, they're not maybe later. They are foundational to your well-being. Now, some of you out there, the reason this is so uncomfortable is that you have no idea what you need to feel good. You have no idea what's required for your well-being. Maybe it's 30 minutes of silence in the morning. Maybe it's, once a week, going for a walk by yourself for 10 minutes. Maybe it's not looking at your email after 7 o'clock at night.
Speaker 1:What are the things that keep you grounded? Maybe it's playing with your puppy, maybe it's visiting your grandchild it can be anything. It could be listening to this podcast. I would love that. What are the things that keep you grounded and are foundational to you feeling whole and you feeling well? The key to all of this, though, is that you have to protect those things, like your sanity depends on it. You know why your sanity freaking depends on it. So when you let those things go and you say maybe later, maybe later and then you're wondering why do I feel so off today? Why do I just feel like not myself today? These are the reasons. There's an answer to those questions.
Speaker 1:These three tools are going to help you because they're not cute productivity hacks, right, they're actual lifelines. They're going to help you build the life that you want, because when you build the life that you want, you don't want to just have to manage that life, you want to live it. You want to feel good about it. So these are the tools that are going to help you. Take all of the things you've been saying maybe later to and bring them to a hell. Yes, I'm getting that done right now. And please send me a DM, tell me about it, declare it, make it real. Tell me about it. Declare it, make it real. Put it in writing If you want the tools. We've went over all three of them the 90-day rule, the three-task rule and the non-negotiables list. Those are the things that are going to help you. It's the foundation, right, you need the foundation for what comes next. It's not about pressure. It's not about time management. It's about knowing how you should be spending the time that you do have.
Speaker 1:So thanks so much for being here. I hope that this was helpful to you. Until next time, take all of this information, go out there and create your day in the best way possible, and I will see you next week. Until then, take care of yourself, take care of each other. Have a great one. When you have a moment, please do me a favor head on over to wherever you choose to listen to this podcast and leave a rating, leave a review. This helps us to reach more people. I cannot stress enough how important this is. So if you haven't already done it because I know Apple Podcasts will only let you do it one time please do me a favor. It takes not even 60 seconds. Go on over and leave a rating and a review. Thank you so much. See you next week. Have a great one.