If you’ve ever told yourself you just need more discipline, a better planner, or a stricter schedule to stop procrastinating — this episode is going to reframe everything you thought you knew.
In this episode, Selena and Anna sit down with Sarah Laverty, an embodiment coach who helps women get out of their heads and into their bodies to develop unshakable self-trust and confidence. Sarah is on a mission to turn procrastination from your worst enemy into your best friend — and she’s got the neuroscience and nervous system work to back it up.
If you keep putting off the exact actions that would grow your business — posting, pitching, raising your rates, following up — there’s a good chance your nervous system is interpreting visibility or growth as unsafe. And until you address that, no productivity hack is going to fix it.
🎧 Listen on Spotify · ▶️ Watch on YouTube · 🍎 Apple Podcasts
In This Episode, We Talk About:
- What’s actually happening in your nervous system when you avoid an important task
- Why your subconscious mind is responsible for 95% of your daily decisions — and what that means for your business
- Why pushing through procrastination almost never works long-term
- The shame and guilt cycle that keeps small business owners stuck (and how to break it)
- How to rewire your nervous system around tasks that feel unsafe — using Sarah’s “money date” method as a real-life example
- What the procrastination archetypes reveal about what’s really driving your avoidance
Procrastination Isn’t Laziness. It’s a Signal.
Most of us have been taught one story about procrastination: you’re lazy, undisciplined, or just not trying hard enough. So we push through. We white-knuckle our way to a deadline, shame ourselves into action, and wonder why the same patterns keep coming back.
Sarah offers a completely different frame. When you’re chronically avoiding a task in your business — not just once, but over and over — what’s actually happening is a disconnect between your conscious thinking mind and your subconscious. And your subconscious is running about 95% of the show.
Think of it like a car dashboard. When a warning light comes on, you don’t ignore it or tape over it — you look at what it’s telling you. Procrastination works the same way. It’s not a character flaw. It’s information.
The Shame Cycle — And Why It Makes Everything Worse
Here’s where it gets really interesting — and really important for small business owners to hear.
When we feel shame or guilt about our procrastination, that emotional response is both a symptom and a cause. Shame is a stressor on the nervous system. And the more stress your nervous system is under, the less access you have to your conscious, thinking mind — which means your subconscious takes over even more of the show. The cycle deepens.
Sarah’s work — including her Procrastination First Aid Kit — starts with what she calls “Shifting the Shame,” because you cannot listen to, understand, or change a pattern you’re busy punishing yourself for. Curiosity has to come before correction.
Keep. Ditch. Try.
KEEP
Hold the dreams that feel bigger than what you’re ready for right now. Sometimes we keep our goals small because we’re afraid of procrastinating on something big — and then feeling bad about it. Sarah’s reminder: there’s a natural maturation process. You’re allowed to hold a vision before you’re ready to execute it.
DITCH
Discipline from a place of punishment or force. If you’re using guilt, shame, or self-criticism to push yourself into action, you’re working against your nervous system — not with it. Discipline, when it actually works, comes from love and devotion to yourself. That’s the version worth keeping.
TRY
Meet the part of you that doesn’t want to do the thing — like it’s a friend who loves you. Not a naughty child. Not an enemy. A friend with wisdom. Ask it: what’s going on? What’s actually feeling risky here? You might be surprised what it tells you when you stop fighting it.
💡 Free resource: Take Sarah’s Procrastination Archetype Quiz to find out whether your inner protector, inner winter, or inner rebel is driving your avoidance — and get a PDF with journal prompts and a mini embodiment practice.
🎤 The Mic-Drop Moment
“Procrastination is not actually your worst enemy. It’s your best friend — because it’s shining the light on a point of disconnection you now have the opportunity to do something about.”
— Sarah Laverty
Prefer to watch instead:
Meet Our Guest: Sarah Laverty
Sarah Laverty is an embodiment coach who helps women get out of their heads and into their bodies to develop unshakable self-trust and confidence. Her work sits at the intersection of nervous system science, somatic practice, and feminist coaching — and she’s on a mission to turn procrastination from a source of shame into a source of self-knowledge. Sarah offers the Procrastination First Aid Kit (a self-guided toolkit for navigating stuck moments) and a free Procrastination Archetype Quiz to help you start understanding what’s really driving your avoidance.
Connect With Sarah
🧠 Free Resource: Procrastination Archetype Quiz — find out what’s actually driving your avoidance (link in show notes)
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Find us both at: www.annaandselena.com
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