Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason and Jana Banana

From Comparison to Confidence

• Jana and Jason Shelfer • Season 8 • Episode 66

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From Comparison to Confidence: Navigating Nerves & Mastering Mindset (Living Lucky® Podcast)

Ever feel the sting of comparison or a surge of anxiety before a big moment? You're not alone! Even mindset coaches like us face these traps. Join Jason and Jana Banana for a raw, real-time look at managing pre-event jitters, overcoming imposter syndrome, and redirecting nervous energy into powerful focus.

We share our simultaneous prep for two major events: the massive Family Café Ability Expo and Jana's record-breaking water ski competition. Discover how an immediate comparison trap at the expo, combined with contrasting personal reactions, revealed fundamental truths about energy and perception.

Learn practical strategies to transform "what if it goes wrong" worries into empowering "what if it's even better than I imagined" visualizations. We reveal that true mindset mastery isn't about avoiding challenges, but about remembering your "umbrella" when the storm hits and consciously redirecting your energy towards success. 

Don't let comparison or anxiety derail your next big opportunity – learn to perfectly practice your mental game and Live Lucky®!

Here’s what you’ll discover:

  • The Comparison Trap: How to recognize and redirect imposter syndrome.
  • Energy in Motion: Transmuting anxiety into productive excitement.
  • "What If" to "What Is": Shifting from negative to positive visualization.
  • Mindset Under Pressure: Maintaining mental fortitude when challenges hit.
  • Perfect Practice: Why consistent mental rehearsal matters for success.
  • Navigating Logistics: Overcoming practical and accessibility challenges with mindset.
  • Humanity of Mindset: Acknowledging that even experts face struggles.

Key Nuggets: Comparison is a trap. Anxiety is energy. Visualize success. Practice mindset daily. Nerves can be fuel. Overcome "what ifs."

How to use visualization for success? Mindset techniques for high-pressure situations. Dealing with unexpected logistical challenges at events. Why do coaches also struggle with mindset traps? Benefits of a positive mental attitude in competition. How to stop comparing myself to others? What is imposter syndrome and how do I deal with it? What is positive visualization for athletes? How to stay positive when things go wrong? Mindset

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Jana Shelfer:

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer:

Good morning.

Jana Shelfer:

I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we are Living Lucky®. You are, too the energy is high this morning.

Jason Shelfer:

That's right it is.

Jana Shelfer:

We're headed to our conference today. Now. We talked about this in our last podcast. It's called the Family Cafe and we went to set up last night.

Jason Shelfer:

It's so much bigger than we anticipated and no food.

Jana Shelfer:

What.

Jason Shelfer:

There's no food. No, it's not the same kind of cafe that I was anticipating.

Jana Shelfer:

Oh listen to you, listen to you.

Jason Shelfer:

Well, the family cafe, it doesn't exactly say what you think it is, and so I was thinking the family cafe sounds small, sounds intimate to me, yeah, right. Like have a snack, like let's get to know each other, yeah Right, like have a snack.

Jana Shelfer:

Like, let's get to know each other.

Jason Shelfer:

Have a cup of coffee, have a snack, come on in.

Jana Shelfer:

Let's get to know each other. Massive let's connect.

Jason Shelfer:

I walked through. I must've walked a mile last night looking for our booth, For our booth.

Jana Shelfer:

We get there and we're like which one is ours and they-.

Jason Shelfer:

I didn't have a map.

Jana Shelfer:

They all had like a little sign at the top of them.

Jason Shelfer:

It was literally three feet long. Three feet long by about six or eight inches tall.

Jana Shelfer:

We literally walked through every aisle, up and down all around, and this conference room is massive. They're expecting 13,000 to 15,000 people and immediately. So here is the mindset. Immediately you start looking at the other booths and I mean they were bringing in trees and backdrops and chairs and tables, and I mean those things that take your picture automatically.

Jason Shelfer:

It was almost like going into the home and garden show where they're doing these really elaborate displays and I'm like we're not going. And we had a sheet with our name on it.

Jana Shelfer:

That I printed at some point because I was going to make it into a wheel.

Jason Shelfer:

And it turned out way too big. We don't do elaborate displays, but we do elaborate mindset.

Jana Shelfer:

So immediately you start comparing yourself to everyone else, which is a mindset trap.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes.

Jana Shelfer:

Are you with me there?

Jason Shelfer:

100%.

Jana Shelfer:

The minute you start comparing yourself to other people, you automatically. It's human nature. First of all, people don't tell you this, but psychologists know that is how we learn. That is how we know how to act in society is we look at the people around us and we start comparing ourselves.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah and saying where do we want to go.

Jana Shelfer:

But it's doing that, and that's how we find our identity.

Jason Shelfer:

Doing that in a healthy way.

Jana Shelfer:

But yes, sometimes that can become toxic, because you start looking at these other booths and you think, oh my gosh, you start getting imposter syndrome, like we don't belong here, we don't have what they have. Are you with me?

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, Well, I so I just you start.

Jana Shelfer:

I mean it's human nature to want to say what's missing.

Jason Shelfer:

So I I've had that in the past. Yeah, I've had that. I will definitely admit to having that in the past. I got more and more excited the more I walked through last night.

Jana Shelfer:

Okay, and that is the other thing I wanted to talk about. So sometimes I notice you and I handle situations and circumstances very differently.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes.

Jana Shelfer:

And yesterday when you were talking to people and setting up our booth, walking through you were getting so excited. It was almost like I could see the meter in your body rising.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, I think I might've slept maybe two hours last night.

Jana Shelfer:

I did not sleep at all last night, but not in a good way.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah.

Jana Shelfer:

I sat, I tossed and turned and I worried.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, oh boy, could you hear me? I get a second here. I was up almost all night. See, I don't mean to, I wasn't going to say anything, because I was like that's not very kind of you to be saying oh boy, in the middle of the night, see, and I didn't even realize I was doing it.

Jason Shelfer:

But, yes, my energy just kept getting higher, like higher and higher and higher. So I was, my energy was building throughout the night in anticipation of today, because I've been invited to these trade shows and these expos for the last 30 years and so many of them have been.

Jana Shelfer:

And I have too. I mean in radio.

Jason Shelfer:

Almost. They look like bake sales, where it's just a couple people show up, it's like and you might have 12 people run through, right. So it's almost been like was it worth my time? And I would say it's always worth your time because you're building relationships. Also, you're building experience and you're recognizing what you would want in the trade show or the expo, right. So as I was walking through last night and I saw the types of people that were going to be there, the booths that were set up, the attention to detail in some of the booths, the excitement and the energy around everybody, I was like this is the expo, this is where we need to be.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes.

Jana Shelfer:

This is where we've needed to be the last five years.

Jason Shelfer:

This is like the Comic-Con kind of environment. This is that feel and this is the. It was nice to be invited.

Jana Shelfer:

Yeah, you're right.

Jason Shelfer:

And my energy just kept going, going, going, because we talk about just how things happen, and they happen for a reason, at the right time and at the specific timing. This didn't fall on an opportune weekend for us.

Jana Shelfer:

No, because I'm just going to be real. I have a water ski competition at this very day, and that might be another reason why I'm a little bit-.

Jason Shelfer:

You have the anxiety, the worry, and so I'm not going to be there.

Jana Shelfer:

And also I've realized that I've become very codependent on my husband, especially when it comes to carrying my equipment getting on and off the dock. For those of you that don't know, I'm a paraplegic.

Jason Shelfer:

Transporting the equipment.

Jana Shelfer:

And yes, I drive a little Mini Cooper.

Jason Shelfer:

And I drive an SUV.

Jana Shelfer:

And so trying to fit my skis in this little Mini Cooper and then-.

Jason Shelfer:

Your trick ski doesn't fit in your car.

Jana Shelfer:

Knowing how to ask for help and how to instruct people to help me when I need help. Because people are so kind. People want to help. That's not the problem.

Jason Shelfer:

I think most people want to help anyone and, with all the things that you're doing and all the achievements that you have, people want to help you more. The problem is, is think about anyone out there. Often most of us, regardless of our situation or who we are, we don't want to ask for help.

Jana Shelfer:

I mean, I laid in bed last night thinking what if I need to poop? Most of us never think about that Right and I'm at this water ski competition. Most of us never think about that Right and I'm at this water ski competition. It's all sand and gravel.

Jason Shelfer:

You will be the only person in a wheelchair there.

Jana Shelfer:

And there's not bathrooms. There is an outdoor Port-a-potty Is that what you would call it? There is and it's not accessible. But those are not accessible and they're disgusting.

Jason Shelfer:

Exactly, and there is a boat dealership that's about half a mile away down a gravel road.

Jana Shelfer:

But once I drive to the boat dealership then trying to find a parking space when I come back is an ordeal in itself. So there's so many logistics that I'm thinking about Not only. I'm thinking about my actual ski runs and what the routines are, you know like for my trick ski, getting down the stairs to the water to get to your ski run.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes, I mean, I'm even thinking like okay, well, now knowing so also imagine that I'm thinking all that too, because I know the ski venue, yeah, environment. And I know I'm also codependent on you and I love being there with you.

Jana Shelfer:

I know as your coach, as your husband as your biggest fan. We're just a pile of nerves this morning.

Jason Shelfer:

And knowing that this is going to be a record capable tournament and you're poised to break a record and I'm going to miss it. Okay, so I've got FOMO on that side.

Jana Shelfer:

So what this podcast is really about is when you have a pile of nerves or emotions let's just call them a pile of emotions that are happening simultaneously in your body.

Jason Shelfer:

Emotion is energy in motion.

Jana Shelfer:

And it is up to us the power lies within us of how we transmute that energy.

Jason Shelfer:

And process it and focus it.

Jana Shelfer:

So if I literally let this worry and anxiety and if I am literally thinking about every little detail and how I'm going to overcome it in a worrisome way, that's not very empowering.

Jason Shelfer:

Right, and if you keep wondering how you're going to overcome, you're going to create things to overcome.

Jana Shelfer:

No, I started making a list of things that I might forget, oh and that is, reverse manifesting. That is what that's doing, and you need to make a list of what you need to take.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, just make the list of the things you're going to take. This is, and the thing about this is, we know all this, we know all this, we coach this when you get into it, and this is why we have these discussions.

Jana Shelfer:

And yet, we are in the midst of it and we, we are aware that we are human. We are human beings.

Jason Shelfer:

When the storm hits, you forget your umbrella. That's the that's the problem is. When the storm hits, you forget your umbrella. That's the problem is when the storm hits, you forget your umbrella. And that's why you talk about all the time going back and listening to the podcast. It's because these little 10-minute, 15-minute episodes are nice little nuggets to just kind of go back, get that taste in your mouth, get that flavor in your mouth to say, oh, I remember that now.

Jana Shelfer:

And so I know. Jason said that I was moaning and groaning throughout the night. I was literally in my head going through my ski passes and then I was thinking, okay, what happens if I was going into the? What ifs?

Jason Shelfer:

What if I forget that? What if I fall here? What if I do that?

Jana Shelfer:

Instead of saying what if I land that?

Jason Shelfer:

What if I break the record too soon?

Jana Shelfer:

What if I'm just so awesome that all of a sudden I'm like you know what? I've got my top score. I'm headed home for the day. I'm going to the conference to join Jason so that I can join the family cafe which there is no food Before the storm hits.

Jason Shelfer:

Practice perfectly in your mind. That's where the meditation comes in. That's where all that happens, and we've talked about this on multiple podcasts before this, so we know.

Jana Shelfer:

And I've grown up with that.

Jason Shelfer:

Do you know?

Jana Shelfer:

how many coaches I've had that say it's not practice that makes perfect, it's perfect. Practice that makes perfect is perfect practice perfect visualization, visualize success.

Jason Shelfer:

Visualize success and your brain will make it happen. Like it might not happen perfectly in the world, but when your brain recognizes that it can happen, you're going to be closer to it and that's it. And I'm visualizing a perfect day for you. Yes, I'm visualizing a perfect day for me.

Jana Shelfer:

Where we connect with so many people.

Jason Shelfer:

Yes.

Jana Shelfer:

To where they're all like. I just want to check out your podcast, your coaching, so that I can hear what really wrecks you are.

Jason Shelfer:

Right Now we're all just on this big ball of clay trying to figure it out together, because even though we've had the training, we've had the schooling, we have gone to so many different coaches.

Jana Shelfer:

I mean, we've spent our life on self-development and really just honing in on the power of the mind and the spirit, and yet we still find ourselves sometimes in these situations.

Jason Shelfer:

That's right. Well, we're constantly putting action behind it. So we're constantly testing the theories. And when you're constantly testing the theories, sometimes you're going to make a mess.

Jana Shelfer:

Now, if I come back on Monday and say guess what, guys, I pooped my pants and I crashed and I forgot my ski and see, that's not where we're going to go, that's not what we're doing today.

Jason Shelfer:

That's not what we're doing, but if it happens, it happens for a reason. And guess what? We're skiing again on Wednesday in Tennessee, so we just let it go, it's all good. And we show up again and we continue to do our very best and remember not to think that way when we go into the skiing on Wednesday.

Jana Shelfer:

Oh my gosh.

Jason Shelfer:

We're going to have a big time this weekend.

Jana Shelfer:

See so much to remember, but we are so excited. I hope you can feel our energy and I hope you come out to the family cafe and join us. Send me good vibes this morning as I go do my ski competition.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, if you get out to the family cafe and you've left a review about the podcast, come get some merch. We've got hats, we've got shirts, we've got backpacks and Yoga mats yes, so we're giving away about $5,000 worth of merch today.

Jana Shelfer:

We really are. So if you come to our booth, you will be Living Lucky®. We will make sure of it.

Jason Shelfer:

That's right. Thanks for joining us. Have a great day. Bye-bye, keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer:

If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at www. LivingLucky. com.