Everyone procrastinates sometimes. Surprisingly, there’s reasons it’s there, and it varies greatly from person to person on it’s source.There’s some interesting things it might mean about you when you’re procrastinating, but first, I’ll share some tactics you can use to help yourself stop your procrastinating.
Let’s go! If you’re set on beating the ‘distraction demon’, here are a few things for you to try:
Have Compassion
Feelings like; loss of interest in once-stimulating activities, lack of motivation, fatigue, and problems concentrating are common.
But combined with pessimism, anxiety and perfectionism this can be a near-perfect recipe for depression. When feeling depressed there’s a depression-procrastination cycle. That’s where depression leads to procrastination, which in turn creates more depression, which causes more procrastinating, and so on.
Self care, mindfulness and self compassion are required. Be gentle with yourself and create some time for your favorite ways to decompress. If you’re looking for some new ways to do that go here for my free ebook.
Divide Up The Task
Often, when procrastinating, if you feel you’re facing a massive task. Some part of you doesn’t think you’ll be able to finish well.
Put a stop to this thinking. You’re totally capable.
Make it easier by breaking up the task into more manageable pieces.
For example, if you want to clear out a room, resolve to clean one of the four corners each day instead of trying to tackle it all at once.
This tactic can help make any task more manageable and feel less overwhelming.
ONE THING AT A TIME can be rewarding. Speaking of rewards..
Give yourself rewards.
Like, you can go eat a piece of chocolate after you finish writing the blog (what I’m promising myself right now). Or, once I complete this report, I’ll take a break. Or, once I paint this room, I’m going to splurge on that awesome painting for the big wall. Make it good. Something that turns you on.
Make A Deadline or schedule
You tell yourself, I’ll do it “later.” You could, instead, set a strict timeline for yourself, with sections of your goal having deadlines.
This way, you know definitely when you’ll be completing something. It may also help to have a small break for yourself along the way. An example could be like, a beautiful, magical woman trying to create images for her website. And for each webpage she completes, she could reward herself with fifteen minutes of phone time. She may need a timer for her breaks, so she doesn’t fall down the rabbit hole, though. (who me?)
Also, don’t underestimate the fact that calendaring is powerful. When it goes on your calendar it’s more real. You can create a daily rhythmic schedule based on your bio-rhythms. Like, for example, if you really are a morning person, you own it and do the productive stuff then. If you always feel fried and frazzled at 3pm, don’t try to be productive at that time! If this approach appeals to you, I’ve got a time-bending workshop you’ll love. Here!
Stop Your Common Distractions
Sometimes, when you procrastinate, it’s for the same reasons each time. Like when you were going to clean the kitchen, but then you just had to check your phone. Down the rabbit hole again! Put a stop to this by eliminating common distractions or procrastination tactics for yourself. If the phone is a distraction for you, maybe it’s time to put it in another room.
Other people can be a distraction too. Boundaries are important. Tell coworkers or other distractors what you’re working on and how you have to keep going with your work…and no, you can’t help them with their fabricated emergency right now. (this has an added benefit of accountability, I’ll get in to that in a minute.)
But, maybe your common distraction is children, or someone else you’re caregiving for. This distraction will not stop. Laugh and roll with it, and see the above section on calendaring and scheduling to try to mitigate their neediness.
Your work-space or place can be distracting if it’s cluttered. As long as your goal is NOT de-cluttering right now, you gotta clear the decks just enough for you to work with a bit of ‘white space’ in your desk or area, to be clear and focused.
Spend Time With Motivated People
There is nothing quite like hanging out with someone motivated to boost your own motivation. Find a friend, colleague or coach whose motivation you admire, and resolve to spend more time with them.
Or get a buddy, friend, or family member in on your plans and decide to help keep each other accountable. Either way, it’s much easier to stop procrastinating when you’ve got others around you who are also accomplishing amazing things!
Talking through frustrations and roadblocks can help you find solutions. Sometimes you need a different perspective. Surround yourself with other positive people, and you will soon find you procrastinate less. (More about how to motivate yourself here.)
OK, Here are possible GOOD reasons you’re procrastinating:
Bet you didn’t see that coming right??? Well, there ARE good reasons you’re putting stuff off….Hear me out.
- Procrastination can encourage productivity, by delaying your energy output. You’re conserving energy for a wild sprint of productivity.
- You’re delaying is pointing out the glaring fear of criticism, fear of failure, lack of interest, and perfectionism. Why is this good? You need to SEE it, and acknowledge it in order to heal it.
- Surprisingly, procrastinating can be good when it comes to making amends or apologizing. The delay in your response will help the ‘offended’ party to know your thoughtfulness and sincerity when you finally go to smooth things over. They’re also less likely to be acutely upset about the situation if you wait a bit.
- Procrastination can be helpful when you’re stressed. Knowing that you just don’t have the headspace for certain tasks is an honest assessment, sometimes, and managing your emotions must take priority. Be careful, though; it’s at the expense of the future you, who’s then saddled with an even more onerous task: a shorter amount of time left to get your work done.
- Procrastination can be a tactic for better decision making. When you’re faced with a decision, you can and should assess how long you have to make it. Waiting until the last possible minute in this case will challenge and strengthen your deliberation and discernment skills. Which is a good thing.
- You can admit that you actually, truly, really enjoy the the arousal of the adrenaline rush to get it finished, finally..in the nick of time.
- You can own the fact that you’re hedonistic and enjoy the sunshine or any-other-wonderful-thing more than this crap-task. If it’s too boring, unappealing, or annoying, it may be your glaring initiative to outsource it! (Permission granted.)
- You can gift yourself the award for most optimistic. Really. If you’re procrastinating maybe it’s your unshakeable faith that tomorrow will come, and it will be a much better day to get it done.
One last thing, Louise Hay says, “I am unworthy” Creates Procrastination. If one of your inner belief systems or thought patterns is, “I am unworthy,” then one of your outer effects will probably be procrastination. After all, procrastination is one way to keep you from getting where you say you want to go.
It’s literally DELAYING your good.
You deserve better, Dahling. Get going.
Ready to see how easy it can be to reach the goals you’re procrastinating on? I want you to get what you want. I know if you’re reading this, you want more love, vitality an kindness in the world.
Create a magical plan each month with me in the COSMIC SANCTUARY. I share the tools to rhythmically move forward with pleasure and ease while working with the unified forces of creation for the greater good of all.
