The Truth About Overcoming Procrastination and Perfectionism

In a world where procrastination, perfectionism and knowing all of the answers seem all too common, I share my recent experiences with challenging these things in my life.

In this episode, you can learn the ways in which I get out of my own head when I'm worrying too much as well as how I'm flipping uncertainty on its head to be more content with not knowing the whys, the hows, and the whats in life!

From acknowledging procrastination to letting go of the need to control, I share practical ways to shift out of the problem-solving mode and invite new possibilities into your life!

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Lauren Best is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Provoker of Possibility. She works with Curious Individuals, Creative Entrepreneurs, and Conscious Companies who are ready to explore how they can do things differently in their work and life.

She creates spaces and experiences that share with them the tools to dive into a world of self-discovery and growth where they can unlock an even greater potential inside of themselves to live a more easeful, authentic, and fun life they love.

Aside from working privately with clients using Hypnosis and Design Thinking modalities, Lauren also facilitates wellness workshops and group hypnosis sessions within corporate spaces, for existing community audiences, and in collaboration with organizations and wellness brands.

Lauren has collaborated with individuals, public and private sector organizations, small businesses and solopreneurs across the globe from Canada to the UK, Netherlands, Australia, The United States and Singapore to help these folks move through the noise, envision and come up with new ideas, and create aligned action that’s authentic to them.

Links: https://linktr.ee/laurenbest_co

Website: https://lauren-best.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenhollybest/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@laurenbest_co

Free Hypnosis Audio: https://www.lauren-best.com/dreaming-during-uncertainty-hypnosis-audio/

Transcript

Lauren Best (00:00:08) - Welcome to Provoking Possibilities, where we reflect on pivotal life moments, ask thought provoking questions, and dream up new possibilities for living a life you love that may be a little out of your current reality. I'm Lauren Best, a certified hypnotherapist and provoker of possibility, and I've created this podcast for people who are curious about exploring new ways of living, who are looking to connect deeper with their bodies, their intuition, their hearts, and then known and who are really ready to just embrace their most authentic selves, to move into flow and into alignment. There is just so much that is possible for us when we open ourselves up to exploring new possibilities beyond our wildest imagination. So if you're ready and curious to begin exploring new possibilities, join me every week for a new episode of Provoking Possibilities on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's dive in. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Welcome back to any listeners who have joined us before, and welcome to any new listeners that are tuning in for the first time.

Lauren Best (00:01:19) - I am so grateful that you've chosen to spend your time listening to this show, and also giving yourself that space to discover something new about the world, or perhaps even about yourself. I'm really excited to get into this topic of perfectionism and the possibilities of. I guess debunking. I'm not sure if debunking is the right word, but perhaps. Challenging perfectionism. And I want to talk about something that happened to me this week. That was one of those moments where, you know, okay, the universe is trying to teach me something for sure right now. This is just a, you know, more than a coincidence. And it all started with a little email that I sent out. I believe it was 3 or 4 days ago now. I had sent out this email. I was so excited to send out this email because I started doing this series for my email list. And if you're following and connected with me on LinkedIn as well, you can also read it on the blog, but it goes out first to my email list.

Lauren Best (00:02:28) - It's a little series called The Possibilities, where I share different case studies and different possibilities that have. Come up from working with some of my clients and it's, you know, just these case studies of what are all these different possibilities that someone can experience once they connect their subconscious mind and really do this mindset work to, you know, overcome or face or release some of these blocks or old stories that they've been experiencing. So I was really, really excited about sharing this beautiful case study about this idea of what if releasing emotional pain could be the key to feeling less pain in your body? I'm gonna share this case study with you right now, this possibility with you. Now, before I get into the really, really juicy bit of this story. But. I had been working with more clients lately who have been coming to me about, you know, I know there's these pains in my body. I've, you know, been seeing doctors and this and that. There's really nothing they can find. And I know it has something to do with emotion.

Lauren Best (00:03:41) - And not everyone has that self-awareness. But these few clients that I had been working with really were connecting those dots. So. You know, in a world where we're constantly looking for the why? Like, why am I feeling this way? Why does my body hurt? It can be so frustrating to really feel like your body cannot keep up with the busy beings of the world, or feeling like your body is just not operating in the way that you would like to really live the the life that you want. And perhaps even more frustrating to really seek out answers from, you know, medical professionals that. You're still faced with some unanswered questions as to why you have that constant back pain or headaches, whatever it may be. And this is not me saying that in any situation, you should not be seeking medical advice. If you're experiencing pain or discomfort in the body, like please do seek out medical care. I am not a medical professional, but something that I can also share with you in my own life is that I've experienced, you know, seeking medical advice and being told, you know, you have fibromyalgia and getting that stamp from my doctor.

Lauren Best (00:04:55) - But. It was this journey of me looking for the why and them not being able to tell me the why. So it's really likely, perhaps at some point in your life you've experiencing experienced your own emotional stress that has caused a tummy ache or, uh, increased heartbeat, racing butterflies in your stomach, whatever it may be. Feelings of nervousness or feeling like your jaw is clenching up when you felt angry. There are so many examples of how our bodies can manifest physical pain as a result of emotional triggers or pain, which are known as somatic symptoms. And we can get into that a little bit deeper in another day. But instead, you know, I wanted to share this recent experience I have with a client who did come to me with a deep worry around those physical pains they had been experiencing in their body. And as I mentioned, I myself had been shared this stamp of, you know, you have fibromyalgia. I was having a lot of hand pains and nerve pain, tingling, all these things that of course I sought medical advice for and had been getting x rays.

Lauren Best (00:06:16) - I thought we thought at one point maybe I'd arthritis just all these things where there was just they couldn't find anything for me and that. Kind of was my first instinct before going on this journey of healing and doing this deep emotional work was like, there must just be a medical reason why. And, you know, after countless tests and no probable answers to my own pain, this even more so sparked like, okay, let's figure out how to deal with this, why this is happening, and then really got to a place where I could unravel and. You know, delay or I guess, all of the emotional pain that had been causing a lot of my discomfort. So, you know, it's something that I, with new tools, have been able to control so much better in my daily life when it comes to any flares of fibromyalgia, feeling those tingles or discomfort and pain in my body, it's something I've become a lot more aware of and able to control. Or if I do start feeling those things, I can say, hey, my body is giving me these signals.

Lauren Best (00:07:29) - My body is talking to me and telling me that I need to, you know, rest or relax or there's something emotionally going on with me that I really need to look at. So that's something that, in my own journey, I've had to deal with. But I want to share about this client who carried. Their own self-awareness to a session with me, and held that desire to really focus on tapping into that physical pain in order to be able to release it. And hypnosis can be such, you hear, you hear me say this all the time. But hypnosis can be such a powerful tool for us to use to to really feel strong emotions in our bodies and be able to link back to the stories and memories of the times in our lives where those emotions and pain were so overwhelming. Our session together began with an intention to be open to exploring whatever stories were tied to this pain, to really break that pattern of the body being all too familiar with this painful stress response in order to inviting a lighter energy to the body.

Lauren Best (00:08:38) - And so this client was really ready. Not saying that you need to be really ready to start exploring what this work can do for you. But, you know, in this scenario, that was the a little bit of the context that I want to share with you. So during the recession, the client was able to really connect. That physical discomfort with some key memories that were really tied to strong, emotional, painful life events that were really keeping them up. And although those events seemed in the past, there is still that emotional distress and painful memories of going through those times. And, you know, even though times are in the past, some of these emotionally painful events can be in the past. They can still, you know, our body can still carry them with us. So they were able to find a way to actually appreciate within our session and acknowledge while they're in hypnosis, how their body has been responding in this way to keep them safe because of that experience they had had. And through that acknowledgement and appreciation, they were able to really welcome those steps, to invite that pain, to leave and visualize that pain as something outside of themselves and really let that pain go.

Lauren Best (00:10:01) - So there was this opportunity, this beautiful opportunity to really release that and to find a new narrative of building deep self-trust back into their body, to feel more connected to their heart, to their intuition. And it was so, so beautiful. Um, a session that brought both the client and myself to tears. So it was really, really powerful. And so with this power of this session, I wanted to share this in one of these beautiful case study newsletters called The Possibilities, and really wanted to share with those who were reading to find the right people who are ready to hear that story and that are perhaps curious to release that same emotional pain trapped in their bodies. And I wanted to really encourage people to. You know, like this, this experience of someone else. Be an invitation for them to perhaps explore something new for their life and new possibility for their own life that didn't involve so much, you know, emotional pain to manifest in the body. So it was really interesting. I shared this newsletter and then the very last sentence, the very last sentence.

Lauren Best (00:11:13) - I kid you not, I think I wrote your body with thank you and it was meant to read your body will thank you. It's the very last sentence. Even when I looked at it, I obviously didn't notice. With will kind of look similar. I know it's two different words, but they kind of look similar. I think sometimes the brain can also. Pick up on what? Is a more likely sentence to, you know, kind of switch words in so that you still understand the sentence. So I actually had I think it was 2 or 3 people email me. One of them emailed me, one of them, um, message me on LinkedIn. But it was like they were like, great email. One of them didn't even say great email or a great case study or whatever, but it was just like, just so, you know, um, there's a typo. And then they rewrote it. It was so kind, so kind. But what I got from that was, wow, I like I was so excited to share this message.

Lauren Best (00:12:15) - And what came back to me was, you know, someone or multiple people. Looking at this and say, oh, there's, you know, there's an error or, you know, it would be a gracious thing for me to reply and comment and let them know that let me know that there's a typo so that they can fix it. And if you all have sent an email or, or received an email or especially sent that email and said, oh crap, I wish I didn't send that, I can't resend it, there's a typo where I how many times have we all sent an email saying, please see this attachment and have not attached something right? You got to resend a second email. You cannot take it back and resend it. So I just thought although this was so sweet, it's like one of those things where I'm like, well, I can't really like take back that email and resend it. And this mindset of mine has really shifted in the last few years when I actually over ten years ago now, when I was a student of communications and journalism, we.

Lauren Best (00:13:19) - Had this thing. Of course, in our assignments where, you know, there are so many things that you could do that you know, you would automatically get deductions on your article or your assignment. And even if you handed in the article like one minute late, you automatically feel it was an automatic 50%, 50% off. Not the sale price, but the mark, the grade. It's not the best, um, context to receive 50% off. But it was, you know, the way that we were taught that, you know, which is very important in journalism. Like I truly believe in communicating unbiased. Factual communication, um, in a timely manner. But. It was something that I've had to really, really work on all these years, ten plus years to undo and unlearn and allow myself to. Create without that fear of not being perfect, of failing, of getting that 50% off, or perhaps my peers not. Feeling like, you know, I'm intelligent or judging me for not having something perfect or on time or.

Lauren Best (00:14:44) - With perfect grammar or spelling, whatever it may be. So it was one of those moments where I was like, ah, I don't want to go back to that. You know, 20 year old girl who's like, oh my gosh, I failed. I have a typo. The world's going to end kind of vibe. I should be embarrassed. So. I felt like, okay, no, it's okay. I've been making actually on purpose. I've purposely not been, you know, necessarily proofreading everything a billion times like I used to. I've been doing a nice little scan over, but just feeling really confident in my work. And it took a long time when it comes to writing and putting myself out there to be able to do that. And I'm sure there's many people listening to this that as well. Even when it comes to your dreams or doing that side project, that passion project where you've had that fear of. Things not going perfectly, or things not turning out in the perfect way, or the fear of feeling misunderstood.

Lauren Best (00:15:50) - That is also, it can be a very scary feeling. So, you know, in this work that I've been doing of writing and sharing, I've had to train my brain and rewrite these stories of perfectionism and just showing up and creating and knowing that whoever my work is meant to reach, it will reach them, and it will make that impact. It'll add value to their lives. So in the same beat, I was thinking like, okay, if there are two people emailing me or three people emailing me this same note, they notice that the very last line there's a typo. This has got to be some sort of lesson, because it's not like the type of blessing where it's like, oh, thank you, you saved me for making a mistake. It's like, okay, what can I learn here? So after I received the first two messages, I. You know, that day I went to bed, it was like, okay, I talked to one of those people and said, thank you so, so much for sharing that with me.

Lauren Best (00:16:55) - You know, I've been experimenting with leaving typos or, you know, not over designing a graphic because it's not the perfect spacing or this and that, and it's helped me with my. Perfectionism so, so much. It's helped me embrace the imperfections. And, you know, this is this experiment that I'm doing, trying to disrupt perfectionism. And I really thank you for being a part of it and for sharing with me, you know, this typo bringing it to light because it's helped me also feel. More confident and just showing up and knowing I can make mistakes, but it really doesn't matter. People might catch them, but whatever. There's there's people who didn't. So it was really interesting. I felt super confident in that. And for some reason I just like couldn't sleep that night. Maybe it was related to that and my insecurities, that critical mind still swirling, but also this anticipation of this exciting project that I'm working on to launch my podcast, which will hopefully be coming out on May 11th.

Lauren Best (00:18:05) - So stay tuned for that. If all goes to plan, you'll be able to. Listen to the podcast and not just the radio show, but. I was swirling in my mind, it was like 3 a.m. and I was like scrolling, doom scrolling on my phone. I woke up and for whatever reason, I checked my LinkedIn page and I had another person reach out, this time not even sharing with me like, oh, this is really interesting. It was just like, just to let you know, there's this typo and they rewrote it like the whole paragraph and just changed the last word in that very last sentence of this email. And I just thought, oh my gosh, again, this is so fascinating. Okay. And I felt even more. So there's got to be something in this. So I at 3 a.m. started writing another email. I was just so I had this like crazy download of like, okay, this is my lesson from this. This has got to be the lesson I need to share.

Lauren Best (00:19:07) - So I sent out another newsletter which wrote. I sent out a newsletter and there was a typo. I was just so many. So shocked I'm not even going to edit this out. That was a talking mistake. So I'm embracing these things. I was so shocked at how many people responded to this newsletter alerting me of this spelling mistake, and instead sharing their thoughts about the content like I had hoped. This typo was in this very last sentence, right? So. I want to reiterate that this is probably. A safe assumption for me to make that these folks actually read the entire message, which was really what I had hoped for people to be able to walk away with the full picture of this potential possibility that they could have for their own lives. So it's really interesting how a taken aback I was with those messages. And as I find myself in a place now where I am intentionally looking for those opportunities to take imperfect action in my work and in my daily life so that I don't get hung up on those little things and can really see the bigger picture more clearly, where I can notice imperfections and typos and simply allow them to exist without that need to redo the work to absolute perfection.

Lauren Best (00:20:31) - Because I could spend eternity overanalyzing and recreating just to make something as perfect as it could be. Like I would have done that 20 year old me in the past just carrying a fear of failure or running that risk of looking less intelligent to my peers. So in fact, more and more I have been noticing typos in my work, those small design flaws, and he stutters in these recordings. In my radio show and for my future podcast, I'm embracing those stutters and those stumbling of my words and really, well, welcoming. How ironic, welcoming them to remain as they are. Just going to pause for a second because. Look at what just happened. I know that in telling this story, there is still value in it, even though there are imperfections in it. So this is also a shout out to the producer of the show. Please don't edit this out. This is such a good example of how we can embrace imperfection and. Even this I see as a reminder of how we can create content that isn't perfect, but we'll still add value to the world.

Lauren Best (00:21:46) - And because of this thing called perfectionism. Being such a huge barrier of mine in the past, stopping me from putting my work and creativity into the world. I really now really, really want to welcome the opposite of it this thing called imperfection. And. Saying goodbye to this fear of not appearing perfect and failing as a result, and letting go of this existing as a huge barrier that I see with so many business owners, so many of my clients in my work as a hypnotherapist. And because of this, it's the same act of responding to imperfection that has sparked me to talk about this, to write that post that I did at three, 4 a.m. the other night. And our critical minds are just so programmed to always look for those opportunities to identify a problem to solve so that we can mitigate any risk of. Feeling uncomfortable, of experiencing a moment of imperfection or something going wrong. And while critical thinking is such an important skill to have and something that some people do not have, and for those of us who.

Lauren Best (00:23:06) - Have. You know, have that skill or have been brought up to overanalyze or overthink or be perfectionists. You know, it can act as a block for being able to explore new possibilities for creating. And how ironic is that? This message all came about from this newsletter that I wrote about of these. Possibilities that we can open ourselves up to so it can really block us. This imperfection can block us from being able to explore new possibilities for creating or taking action in our lives, and for sharing our gifts with the world. And as someone who is now in this space of sharing and putting myself out there and being vulnerable. I can't imagine my life right now without. Being able to support those people. Who that. Without my support might be finding themselves really alone or ashamed or sad, and I just am so grateful that I can be in this place of embracing imperfection so that I can be a part of that bigger change in the world, so we can get so caught up in looking for errors that we sometimes are unable to see that bigger picture.

Lauren Best (00:24:28) - And I was stuck in that place for such a long time. So if anyone who is listening was one of those people again who emailed me about my tape, my typo. I want to thank you so, so much for this reminder. Because without you picking up on this imperfection, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to show this message in this way. This message of how embracing imperfection can lead us to creating new possibilities in our lives, and how imperfection is perhaps the key to creation. And that, like, gives me chills because this program I was talking about, which was wonderful, that I studied in college when I was 20 years old, or whatever age it was called, creative communication and creative communications with us to get it. Correct and right. But it's just ironic how. In this pursuit of creativity, we can sometimes box ourselves in to this. Idea of creating the most perfect thing, or creating with the highest of intention. And that can also make us lose sight of this bigger picture of creating to, you know, support the world, to share joy with ourselves and others, and to just really be present and open to these new possibilities for our life.

Lauren Best (00:26:01) - So I bet there was many typos in that newsletter that I sent out that second one. I bet there, or I know from this recording that there's lots of stumbling and tripping over my words and not speaking perfectly, but I really, really hope. This message resonates and inspires you to create and to share your gifts with the world without the need to be perfect. So. With sharing all this. I felt so good. I felt really good about putting that message out into the world. I had so many beautiful emails after that second email. Beautiful replies about. People just sharing, you know, thank you for sending this. I needed to hear this because because of the pressure that they felt that they were under or the pressure that they had to appear perfect in their workplace or put perfect content out to the world. So I hope this inspires more people by by listening to this and hearing this. And I just really. I'm continuing to share the sentiment, and I shared this story with one of my coaching groups that I'm a part of, and it was amazing to get the response from some of my peers of, oh my goodness, I just sent her the email to my team that had errors in it, and I'm going to use this example in my meeting next week to share with them.

Lauren Best (00:27:33) - Hey look guys, we're all human. We all make mistakes there. There are opportunities where we are not going to be perfect, but we can learn from it and we can embrace it. And we can perhaps allow these moments to lead to more creativity and creation. And for those of you who are interested in being in this journey of disrupting creativity, I really urge you to, you know, share these moments or acknowledge these moments where you've shown up and you've created and perhaps created without this desire or review of the work or whatever it is you're putting out there to be perfect, and you've just shown up and felt authentic and been open to whatever new possibilities came from that. I just really encourage you to share with the world more and more that you too are just making things up. You too, are just creating with intention of bringing perspective to the world or experimenting with something and that. You can inspire other people to be on this journey of disrupting perfection. Because by disrupting perfection, we can invite in more flow and joy and just abundance into our lives.

Lauren Best (00:28:53) - So. If this resonates with you, I encourage you so, so much to reach out to me to send me an email to. Share. You can email. Hello at Lauren best. Com and share your story with me. You can reach out to me on Instagram at Lauren best underscore co send me a DM. You can you know share your own story with people and just be be a leader of disrupting perfectionism and just see what new amazing possibilities come because of that. So thank you so much. This was a really fun episode to record because I really, really. I'm feeling like this is such an important message to share, and I just thank you all for taking that time to listen in and tune in. And I can't wait to keep sharing with you and hope to see you next week. Because you've been listening to the show, I want to leave you with a Little treat, which is one of my favorite hypnosis audios that will help you let go of the noise and worry from your everyday life by bringing you to a place where you can connect with your subconscious mind and imagine and dream about your life.

Lauren Best (00:30:08) - Because as we continue to move through ebbs and flows and seasons of our lives, there will likely be times where envisioning new possibilities becomes difficult, or where we struggle to move out of that autopilot mode and into self-awareness to really live the lives that we want. So do listen to this audio. It will encourage you to keep dreaming about your life, even during uncertain times where new possibilities may feel cloudy. Hypnosis has been such an amazing tool that I myself have used to move from a state of overwhelm and stuckness to really being able to keep dreaming about my life. And I know you can too. So visit the link below to download the Visualize Life You Love Hypnosis Audio for free or visit my website. Lauren. best.com. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of exploring new possibilities and embracing your most authentic self. I appreciate you and your willingness to open your mind and your heart to new ideas and ways of being that are beyond your current reality. So if you found value in this episode, please take a moment to leave a reading and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast.

Lauren Best (00:31:26) - Your support helps us to spread the message of compassion, self-discovery, and personal growth to more people who may benefit from it. And if you're looking for additional support on your journey of self-discovery and transformation, I invite you to visit my website at Lawrence Bascombe, where you'll find resources, courses, and coaching services to help you navigate life's challenges with more ease and joy and confidence and support. So please check that out. And more than anything, I hope you'll remember that you're not alone on this journey. We are all in this together, and by embracing our most authentic selves, we can create more compassion and connection to the world. So please keep dreaming, keep exploring, and keep provoking possibilities with love and intuition. I'll be back soon with more thought provoking questions, inspiring stories, and powerful insights and conversations to support you on your journey. But until then, take care of yourself and others and remember that you are worthy of love and possibility.