I don't know about you, but boy! I am SUPER struggling with procrastination. Throw in lack of motivation too- they kind of go hand in hand, don't they? Yurika, how are you doing? Are you feeling motivated and proactive or like me, are you struggling? In my head, it goes something like this: 1) I don't want to do it because I'll probably fail and I'll judge myself. 2) I'll procrastinate in order to avoid the negative feelings 3) But procrastinating is not serving me! 4) I better get started now and maybe I'll stop "should-ing" myself. -----REPEAT BACK TO 1----- 1) But I probably won't get it done on time 2) I should just save myself the embarrassment 3) But procrastinating is not serving me! 4) I better get started now... and thus the vicious cycle continues... Being mindful about my feelings of procrastination and since "powering through" or sheer will-power was not working, I tried a more compassionate approach. I began to get curious about it. What are the reasons why I procrastinate? What do I actually fear by actually taking action? What is procrastination trying to tell me? What if instead of resisting it, I accept it? Can I give it some acknowledgement, compassion and love? I journaled on these questions and wrote responses to each one. I won't bore you with my 10 page journal entry, so here is just 1 example from each section:
Every reason why I was procrastinating was an excuse.
Reason: The task is too big, there's too much to do. Response: The only way to get started is one small task at a time. One step at a time.
Every fear was unwarranted or something I didn't have control over.
Fear: People are going to judge me. Response: I don't have control what other people may or may not think.
Procrastination actually has a purpose.
Response: Its purpose is to protect me from a perceived/possible negative feeling. Thus it thinks it is keeping me "safe" by not taking action into the unknown.
Accept instead of resist, acknowledge with compassion and love
Response: Acknowledging it allowed me to see the state I was in. I also know that I can change my state by changing my physiology, my environment, taking a break, eating a snack.
I did all those things and changed my state out of procrastination mode!