Overcoming Procrastination with Kindness & Understanding

Overcoming Procrastination with Kindness & Understanding - Jophael Reiki, Hypnosis & Coaching Blog

The rush of achievement is heady and profitable. But even with coaching, I find many of my clients struggle to keep on track. Considering the cost of procrastination high especially when it concerns relationships, job, taxes or health; I decided to explore the common reasons why we put off doing important things. As always, I try to frame things in a kind, more mindful way. Bringing about change in ourselves by understanding rather than reprimand is a great way to effect successful life-long positive habit formation. In no particular order, they are:
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1. Instant Gratification - Would you rather write up a report your boss wants ASAP or check out what your friends are up to on social media? While both might be gratifying to accomplish, one is more enjoyable. A way out of this is to isolate what you have to do and make it difficult to access the distractions eg. remove the facebook app from your phone so that you have to login with a browser.
2. Chore or Motivation - If you view whatever you seem to be putting off doing as a chore or a drag because you find it unpleasant, boring or triggering, then chances are your mind will find a way around doing it. Using if-then statements usually help you get going with the task/goal. eg: I will work 30 mins on my project first if I want to check social media for 30 mins, or if I work out at least 3 days a week then I can take a cheat day on one of the remaining days.
3. Timing - The time it takes to reach an end goal and each sub-goal matters. Everyone knows exercise is important and extends life-span, betters quality of life, reduces health costs, etc. Yet how many of us post-pone daily exercise for one excuse or another.  Why? Because the joy of an extra hour of sleep is more immediate than the future benefit of daily exercise. It takes time to build a gym body however modest the expectation. A bit like instant gratification. The way out of this sticky situation is positive mood/feeling association. In the gym example, make it easy to succeed at your daily goal by pinning a picture of your goal near your bed, envision how you feel each night in this new body. Recall the feeling of achievement after each successful day that you accomplish going to the gym. Keep gym bag, great fitting gym wear, light snack, hydration ready the night before. Go to bed on time and then when the alarm rings, don’t think - just jump out of bed, grab your stuff and GO!
4. Anxiety - Picture prepping for an interview. You know that you need to write down your pitch, practice it a couple of times by yourself or with a buddy. But we keep avoiding it. Fear holds us back. The fear may be – of succeeding or failing, advocating our skills, public speaking, other’s opinion or news of failing health, etc. The way out is to practice what has worked well in stressful situations before. Deep breathing, doing a bit of the work each day, finding a supportive buddy to gently prod you, feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Know that denial does not make the issue go away. It makes it harder to make things right.
5. Overwhelmed or Intimidated? - Delaying something could be our way of feeling in control. After all, if we don’t do it, it can’t go wrong! This could be another form of anxiety. The way out of this is to cultivate mindfulness - acceptance of yourself, using each small prior success to bolster trust in yourself, self-reliance and a knowing that even as you let go each night when you go to sleep, everything is fine when you awake!
6. You think you work well to deadlines - If you have been lucky enough to produce passable or good work just in time to meet a deadline – then kudos to you. But eventually as life gets complicated or with multiple deadlines looming, a putting it off until the last minute approach does not always work. And all the while you know it still needs to be done. Don’t be so hard on yourself and at least plan for any task/project/deadline.  This will give you an idea of what it will take to get the work done well and within time-frame. See if you can delegate some parts of it. Managing other people seems easier than doing it all on your own. Always remember to reward yourself for meeting deadlines way on time. It cements a good habit.
7. Perfection - If you are a self-confessed perfectionist, then you might find it difficult to take action unless you know you can do a job with which you will be totally satisfied. The way out is again cultivating a mindset of acceptance, non-judgement (impartial witness to our experiences) and letting go. There is never a perfect time or perfect job. Mistakes do not define you. They are just opportunities to learn. Do your best and know that everyone else’s opinion is bound to differ from yours. Simple.
8. Low Energy Levels - Apart from not being interested in the goal at all is there a practical reason you lack motivation and enthusiasm? Are you getting enough sleep, water, not going too long between meals and then snacking on whatever you can grab which usually ends in an energy crash. Is there a medical reason for your low energy levels? The way out of this is to do a reasonable job of taking care of your daily health & nutrition habits with apps that remind and track progress and if things don’t get better, get in touch with a doctor to check for underlying medical/addiction issues.
9. Lack of knowledge - This one snuck right past me till it was pointed out very gently by a mentor. Lack of knowledge was making me put off the work. I did not know where to begin and what needed to be done. Don’t fall prey to this common procrastination reason. Invest in a class or find the answers from online forums or mentors or peers. Have patience because the learning curve is a process. There is movement just not in the way you are expecting it. Keep checking in with your mentor/peer group to know when you have enough knowledge to get back on track with your end goal.
10. Setting the bar too high - It’s important to set the bar high enough to encourage you to take action, but not so high that you are likely to fail (which isn’t good for your motivation and drive and fear of failure/fatigue sets in). Set yourself some inspirational-yet-attainable goals. 

​When procrastination hits, pull up this sheet and see what’s holding you back. Ask yourself gently, which of these apply and follow the tips to overcome it. I cannot guarantee the end of procrastination, but at least now you have a solid tool to use when it rears it’s ugly head. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments below or shoot me an email if I can help. Remember to frame your contributions positively.

Procrastination Reason	Possible Solution
​Get Distracted Easily?	​Make distractions harder to access
​Too monotonous?	​Use if /then conditional statements
​Taking too long to complete?	​Strategic positive association with sub-goals
​Feel Anxious about goal?	​Practice self-calming techniques
​Feel Overwhelmed?	​Mindfulness - self trust & letting go
​Working to deadlines?	​Estimate, delegate & reward planned behavior
​Need Perfection?	​Mindfulness - acceptance, non self-judgement, letting go
​Lacking the energy required?	​Self care/nutrition, treat medical conditions/addictions
​Lack of Knowledge?	Learn/develop new skills, seek peer/mentor counsel
Finding the going too difficult?	​Set inspired yet attainable goals