Procrastination is like an ‘invisible force’ that keeps you from doing the things you know you must do. With increasing demands on our time and attention there seems to be an increase in procrastination as a chronic problem, especially amongst those people that want to succeed the most. Procrastination usually sets in when you feel overwhelmed by all the ‘have to’s’ in life and instead of making steady progress you take on too much without ever getting any of it done.
Feeling out of control takes away all your power to shape and direct your own life. Yes, there are many things over which you have no control, but you always have control over what happens to you – what really happens to you is a mental process independent of the circumstances and events of the outside world. Being empowered means you have the power and the ability to take action. Here are five tips to help you deal with procrastination.
It’s Inside
Procrastination is an internal process and although it might feel like it’s happening to you, you are in fact responsible for it. Procrastination is not an external force, but an internal response and evaluation. The simple realisation that it’s ‘you’ that are doing it to ‘you’, gives you the power to do something about it.
It’s You
When procrastination drags you down it’s all too easy to think that ‘it just is’ and that you can’t do anything about it. There are two important beliefs you need to develop to help you break free from procrastination. The first is that you CAN overcome procrastination and the second is that YOU can overcome procrastination. No one else can do it for you and because you created it, you can un-create it.
It’s in Your Head
A reason why people remain stuck in patterns of procrastination is because of fear. To overcome the fear and the procrastination that comes with it, you need to confront and do the things you don’t want to do. When you take charge, it no longer has control over you. The ironic thing is that fear only exists in your imagination – it’s something that hasn’t happened yet. Procrastination is not real – it’s the way you evaluate things in your mind.
It’s about conditioning
Success in life relies on consistency. The way you get consistent is through conditioning. When you do something repeatedly it becomes ‘normal’ and when it’s normal you don’t have to think about it – it becomes automatic. The challenge is that this principle works both ways. Whether your conditioned responses support you or pull you down, your nervous system does not make that distinction. If procrastination is your conditioned response, you will feel out of control, because that’s what you’ve ‘learned’ to do. You need to ‘recondition’ yourself to a new response; to teach yourself to respond in a different way.
It’s All about awareness:
We only procrastinate about things that have value to us. At some level, either directly or indirectly, you believe that taking action will benefit you. Be grateful for procrastination and use it as a guide to ‘know’ what you need to act upon. Being aware of this and developing an awareness for what you do and fail to do can empower you to be in charge of yourself on a much higher level.
When you are empowered, you are in charge, and even if things seem to go wrong on the surface, underneath you know that you have the power to deal with it effectively. Procrastination is disempowering and it takes away your ability to take immediate action and deal with any situation.
Remember you are ultimately in charge of you.
