Procrastination…..
This is something that so many people tell me that they want to reduce or eliminate. In fact, my own son had this cute little sign that his girlfriend gave him in high school, and it says ‘I put the pro in procrastinate’. We like to joke about it.
It’s something that everybody wants – to lose 10 pounds and stop procrastinating, right? Today I want to talk to you about an unusual way to achieve this.
We’re going to dial it down to the root cause: fear. Carl Jung said “where your fear is, there is your task”. You can read on, or watch the video.
What is behind procrastination?
Uncertainty, or a lack of clarity. Behind that lack of clarity is usually fear. Fear catapults us into action, and it also stops us in our tracks. Fear is based in the reptilian brain, not the cerebral cortex. We can’t talk ourselves out of fear. In a battle, your reptilian brain, your brain stem, will always win because the brain really wants you to stay alive. That’s why you can’t “logic” yourself out of something that’s scaring you to death.
But there are things you can do. You can move the needle forward slowly so that your reptilian brain doesn’t go to ‘alert, alert, alert, you’re going to die!’ How about some real examples? I was thinking back into certain situations where I was procrastinating- based on fear.
First of all, when you notice yourself procrastinating, you really want to ask what it’s all about. Don’t beat yourself up and say “Oh my God, there I go again, procrastinating”. Rather, ask yourself, “what is it all about?” I remember a couple of years ago, I really procrastinated about going on ‘Obamacare’ and it was because I had this fear that I couldn’t afford the health insurance that I wanted and that I’d be out on the street and that my chronically ill son would not be able to be taken care of. That’s a pretty big fear. And what I did was I did it anyway. I was scared to death, absolutely frightened beyond belief, but I did it. And this year in the same way, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but the difference is that I’ve done some deep work and I know that I will figure myself out. I will apply and we’ll see if we get health insurance; we’ll see what happens. We might get rejected, but I know that I’m not going to die. I know that it’ll all work out because I’ve experienced it working out.
What about when you haven’t experienced it working out? That’s pretty scary. The only thing you have is what hasn’t worked out before – so most of the time we procrastinate. We don’t make decisions, and we fear the future because the only truth we have is the past, which hasn’t worked out. So, we say “well shoot, if it hasn’t worked out before, whatever, I want this, but I don’t ever believe it’s going to come because it hasn’t worked out in the past, and that’s my only proof.” Then it doesn’t work out. Then we prove ourselves right, because it hasn’t worked out before. So, I’m inviting you to use my example until you have “proof” of your own success.
The other example where I was procrastinating was buying a house. I was scared to death to buy a house. I thought I couldn’t afford it. What about if something went wrong, who’s going to help me? And when I made the decision to buy that house, the right things came together. The DECISION (in the face of fear…not because the fear went away) allowed things to fall into place.
So, borrow my courage and know that it’s true. You can achieve things that you don’t really think you can. The things you are procrastinating about.
I’ve got you. Reach out!