Procrastination

Procrastination – its one of those words we often don’t want to hear, especially applied to ourselves. I have never met anyone who doesn’t procrastinate. Now given that I have not met even 1% of the people on the planet, it is more than likely that there are people out there who don’t procrastinate.

But for the rest of us, procrastination can be a near and not so dear friend. It is what stops us from accomplishing all those plans, goals and dreams. It is another form of the inner critic who can tear you up better and faster than your worst enemy. It also convinces us that we do our best work two hours before the deadline – that was my favourite excuse in university. You know: “oh, I do my best work under pressure.” I wonder now, how much better those essays would be if I’d actually done them earlier and then had an opportunity to revise and edit?

Procrastination can be a mask for fear. If I do this, this say this, or write this, what will happen? And we begin the fear story: they won’t like me, they won’t approve, they’ll laugh at me. And all of that is mindless conjecture, giving people power over our lives that they likely don’t want and certainly don’t know about.

One way to handle the procrastination habit is to pick one simple thing to do and set a time it must be done. Start small, by tomorrow morning I will have …. and then do it. If you are facing an overwhelming task, break it down into all of its steps. Chose one easy one. Just do it. Then having started it becomes easier to move forward.

My simple step: write my blog the day before it gets published not the day of. I will let you know how that goes.