I don’t know about you , but I’ve been a procrastinator in the past. I’m not anymore, and I like to think I’ve got it licked. I can’t afford to be – my business requires that I produce work according to a schedule, and that’s exactly what I do.
To some degree I don’t want to let other people down, but for the most part I don’t want to let myself down. That’s why I’m going to post a few words about escaping the success-stealing demon of procrastination.
This is a short story about procrastination. If you’re prone to procrastination, I think you’ll find something in it that you’ve never thought about before…
Jane looked like a desperate fugitive on the run from coursework completion. Dark under-eye circles, pale, energy utterly drained – and that was just me after listening to her for a whole hour.
Not that she wasn’t nice, she was. It’s just that hearing reasons why people haven’t been doing what they should have been always has this effect on me.
She had two weeks to complete her degree dissertation. The culmination of three years of study, the key to her chosen career – and was she getting down to it? No.
As she told me bitterly of her endless procrastinating: “I’m a rabbit caught in headlamps!”
That’s what procrastination feels like. The intention is there but the action isn’t. “Inactivity is the grave of good intentions,” as I think someone once got around to saying.
Indeed, Jane was a professional procrastinator. “I work hard at not working. I have upped my social life, started singing lessons, found new TV shows to watch. I’m spending more time tending my garden. I’m doing everything but what I should be doing.”
Not doing stuff is full-time work!
“I know what will happen! I’ll get to the point where not doing it will feel much worse than the thought of doing it, then I’ll cram it into the last couple of days. I’ll do okay, but it won’t be anywhere near as good as it could be!”
“Mark, why do I procrastinate?”
Good question.
Well, why do we procrastinate?
Don’t rush me; I’m getting there!
Well, ‘conditioned rebellion’ plays a part. As kids we’re told what to do:
“Get to bed now!” I don’t want to!
“Do your homework!” I don’t want to!
“Finish your food!” No!
We can become used to feeling reluctant when it comes to stuff we have to do.
This automatic ‘rebellion’ can slide into adulthood. Sure, Jane had chosen to do her degree, but she still felt as if she ‘had to do it’. I always loved reading but at school, I would not read novels on the English curriculum (‘on principle’), only ones I’d chosen.
Procrastination isn’t just about laziness. We all want to control stuff in our lives, and procrastinating can be an unconscious attempt to do things (or not) on our own terms.
But it doesn’t work, because procrastination leaves us feeling less in control.
The next time you catch yourself procrastinating, reflect on whether you might just be rebelling against… what?
Perhaps our hypnosis download on Overcoming Procrastination will help.
To your stellar success,
Mark Tyrrell
Hypnosis Downloads | For SelfHypnosisUSA.com
