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- Issue No. 190: 'Procrastination' Is Basically a Made-Up Word
Issue No. 190: 'Procrastination' Is Basically a Made-Up Word
I use n8n every day to manage my finances, and it has massively improved my life
Jenae Spry
June 13, 2025
Productivity Express
Issue No. 190
The Best in Evidence-Based Productivity
for Small Business Owners, Freelancers & Founders
Helping You Work Smarter and Live More
The Rundown
'Procrastination' Is Basically a Made-Up Word
How To Use LinkedIn To Position Yourself As The Expert In Your Niche
Hate Rigid Schedules? Meet Your New Go-To Scheduling Method: Theme Blocking
I use n8n every day to manage my finances, and it has massively improved my life
Humans, AI, or Both? The Surprising Truth About Who Should Create Your Brand Content
NEW! Join this conversation about AI 👇
Add this book to your reading list
No willpower required. No complex systems. Just 7 days.
Engineer ease into the life you already have with one quick task per day!
Tried morning routines? Time-blocking? Productivity apps? They worked for a week, then life happened and everything fell apart.
This is different. You don't have a habit problem…you have a container problem. The "Build the Bucket" method fixes it for good.
One system. Seven days. Finally, something that sticks.
What you'll get:
✨ Choose your first "Time Profit" (no waiting until you “have time”, NOW!)
✨ Learn why your past attempts failed (spoiler: not willpower)
✨ Design a system that runs itself
✨ Get the foundation for building bigger later
🎁 BONUS: FREE one-on-one consultation with Evidence-Based Productivity Coach Jenae Spry.
Less than a fancy coffee. Life-changing results.
📈 🔥Quote/Prompt
The place you are in needs you today.
Use the quote as a writing or thinking prompt to finish your week strong.
A bit from mine:
(posted in our Doer Entrepreneurs Free Community — off social media)
Here's something I see ALL the time: business owners constantly looking ahead to where they "should" be instead of maximizing where they ARE.
This quote shifts the focus from "I need to get somewhere else to be valuable" to "I'm valuable exactly where I am."
It's easy for us to think about […]
Did someone forward this to you?
📈 Performance
I’ve lost count at the number of times I have heard clients say “I’m just a procrastinator – always have been.” I have also lost count at the number of times I have explained that this is simply untrue. Most of us have used this word before (procrastination that is) and also beaten ourselves up about it at least once. But this breakdown from Psychology Today suggests we're diagnosing the wrong problem entirely. (YES! Finally!)
When someone says they're procrastinating, what they really mean is: 'I'm doing something other than what I know I should be doing.' The question is why, and in my 40-plus years working with high performers, the reasons fall into four main categories.
Key Insights:
Poor focus masquerades as laziness most of the time. If your mind and body aren't calm, your attention will scatter no matter how much willpower you throw at it. For example, addressing sleep and using timed work sprints can clear mental fog within weeks.
Vague goals drain your motivation faster than anything else. Your brain will resist fuzzy objectives like "grow the business" but respond to clear ones like "increase monthly revenue by 15% through three new client partnerships."
Time management problems often look like avoidance behaviors. Many people underestimate task duration, skip transition time, or try to multitask their way through complex work - that's structural issues, not character flaws.
Distraction is usually your brain's way of avoiding legitimate discomfort. Fear of investor reactions, client feedback, or project failure drives us toward easier tasks like email or social media instead of facing the real work.
Read the full article for the complete diagnostic framework and specific techniques for addressing each root cause of avoidance.
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⚙️ Optimization
Building authority in your field shouldn't require waiting for someone to "discover" you or chasing credentials for years. LinkedIn offers a direct path to position yourself as the go-to expert, but most people hold back thinking they need permission to share what they already know or imposter syndrome strikes and keeps them from helping their audience. This Forbes article is really helpful for anyone looking at LinkedIn as one of their strategies.
LinkedIn has grown to over 1 billion users, with 310 million people logging in each month. But only about 1% of users create content regularly. This massive gap between viewers and creators presents an extraordinary opportunity for you, if you're willing to share your knowledge. When you consistently demonstrate expertise, you stand out automatically.
Key Insights:
Client conversations are content goldmines waiting to be mined. Keep a simple document tracking questions that come up repeatedly in sales calls or client meetings, then turn one question per week into a LinkedIn post with actionable answers.
Your obvious methods are someone else's breakthrough insights. Break down complex processes into simple frameworks anyone can follow, such as sharing the three questions you always ask before creating a marketing campaign or your assessment process for identifying team strengths.
Real transformation stories outperform generic advice every time. Posts that include specific client results with permission receive 2-3 times more engagement than standard tips, especially when you include measurable outcomes and timeframes like "increased revenue by 40% in 90 days."
Consistent expertise sharing beats random brilliance for building authority. Create a simple rotation between client success stories, methodology breakdowns, and industry insights rather than posting sporadically when inspiration strikes.
Read the full article for the complete system to turn your existing knowledge into LinkedIn authority and specific frameworks for creating high-converting content.
⏲️ Time Management
If you became an entrepreneur to escape rigid corporate schedules, traditional time blocking probably feels like a straightjacket. But swinging between zero planning and micromanaging every minute often leads to constantly putting out fires and working odd hours - which doesn't feel very free either.
Often I see entrepreneurs swing from the extreme of planning only what has a true deadline (e.g., meetings and deliverables) on the one end to trying to plan every minute of every day on the other. It's not all that surprising that neither of these are the right fit. Unfortunately, this leads to a severe lack of productivity and efficiency, which in turn often results in having to constantly put out client fires, working odd hours, and always feeling like you're playing 'catch up'.
Key Insights:
Theme blocks can be any length that works for your brain and business. Some people use hour-long themes, others dedicate entire days or even weeks to specific focus areas like "Marketing Monday Morning" or "Admin Afternoons."
The biggest scheduling win comes from separating "working in" versus "working on" your business. Most entrepreneurs spend 90% of their time in the business, leaving no space for strategy and growth - theme blocking forces you to protect creative time.
Flexibility beats perfection when it comes to sustainable systems. You can switch themes based on your energy levels, such as moving strategy work to a different day when you're dealing with insomnia or low creative energy.
Simple visual cues keep you on track without feeling restrictive. Adding themes to both your task manager and calendar provides gentle focus reminders without the pressure of minute-by-minute scheduling.
Read the full article for specific theme block examples and how to customize this system based on your work style and business needs.
💻 Tools & Technology
If you're like most business owners, your financial tracking probably looks like a chaotic mix of bank statements, random receipts, and that one spreadsheet you swore you'd update "later." This breakdown of using n8n for personal finance automation shows how one workflow tool can replace your entire messy system.
Managing personal finances can feel like a never-ending chore. A few years ago, I was drowning in a sea of bank statements, bills, and random expenses I'd forgotten to track. I wasn't sure when my payment deadlines were, I often lost sight of my budget when buying new gadgets, and I spent hours piecing together where my money went. It was stressful, time-consuming, and needlessly complicated.
Key Insights:
Email automation beats manual tracking every time. Set up workflows that scan your inbox for purchase confirmations and bank alerts, then automatically log them into spreadsheets with proper categorization.
Smart reminders prevent costly mistakes. Use scheduled workflows to check your bills spreadsheet daily and send alerts via Slack or Telegram when payments are due within two days.
Real-time budget monitoring stops overspending before it happens. Create workflows that tally daily expenses against monthly limits and ping you when you're approaching your budget cap for categories like dining or equipment purchases.
Read the full article for the complete workflow setup guide and specific node configurations for expense tracking, bill reminders, and budget monitoring.
🤖 AI
Creating consistent, high-quality content for your business is time-consuming, but AI tools promise to solve that problem. The question keeping most business owners up at night: will your audience notice the difference, and more importantly, will they care? This Italian research study puts those concerns to rest with some surprising findings.
In the first experiment in this study, 172 participants were shown an Instagram carousel about energy conservation for a fictitious fashion brand. The carousel shown to all participants was identical; the only variable was an introductory disclosure indicating to some that the post was entirely AI-generated, while some were informed it was human-made. Then they were asked to evaluate content quality – whether they felt the post was interesting, accurate, and valuable to them. The result is surprising: there was no significant difference in the assessment of content quality, whether participants were told it was AI or human-made.
Key Insights:
Content quality perceptions don't differ between AI and human creation when the output is identical. Your audience can't actually tell the difference in terms of usefulness, accuracy, or value - they just think they can.
Human involvement drives engagement more than perfect content does. Even when quality ratings were the same, participants felt more interested and connected when content was labeled as human-made, suggesting emotional connection trumps technical perfection.
AI-human collaboration performs as well as human-only content for brand outcomes. Teams using AI for drafts while humans handle refinement, personal stories, and brand voice achieved identical engagement and advocacy results compared to purely human-created content.
Transparency about AI use won't hurt your brand if humans stay involved. Disclosing AI-human collaboration didn't negatively impact consumer perceptions, but pure AI disclosure did reduce engagement - the key is emphasizing the human element in your process.
Read the full article for the complete experimental breakdown, disclosure strategies, and how to structure an effective AI-human content collaboration system.
👀 Read, Watch, Listen
This week’s awesome books, YouTube videos, newsletters, etc. to add to your list!
Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a profound, practical guide to navigating life with curiosity instead of rigid goals. Blending neuroscience, philosophy, and real-world strategies, Le Cunff invites readers to treat life as a series of small, personal experiments. I often share the scientific method as a key productivity tool with coaching clients—finally, here’s a book that builds an entire philosophy around it! Rather than obsessing over fixed endpoints, this book teaches us to embrace uncertainty, challenge limiting beliefs, and design a more meaningful life through continuous exploration and growth. A liberating antidote to our goal-obsessed culture.
🎉 Celebration Corner
Every week Doers Inner Circle members do a weekly review & get help when they need it — check out the progress they made this week!
I completed the Marketing part in my newly created calendar.
Happy with the items I ticked off on my list this week.
Got another article published on [business industry's] online publication.
What did you do this week? We feature non-member successes too. Just post them here!
🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements
VOTING: What book do you want for book club? Vote here
REMINDER: Time Profit Sprint kicks off June 23 RSVP here
Monday: 90-day Planning Formula Bash Kickoff RSVP here
Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 4️⃣ Workflow & Customer Fulfillment RSVP here
Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 4️⃣ Workflow & Customer Fulfillment RSVP here
Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party
Accelerators: June 20 is your Office Hours RSVP here
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I hope you found this valuable!
Wishing you much productivity!
- Jenae :)
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