April snow showers bring…..poor road conditions, red weather days, and NO SCHOOL!
Maybe Spring is procrastinating.
What are you procrastinating?
Maybe it is your taxes, or cleaning out your closet, or writing a weekly email!
Why do we procrastinate?
We procrastinate because we are avoiding feelings. We put off items on our To-Do list because we have thoughts about those To-Do’s which likely lead to uncomfortable feelings.
Our Primitive Brain loves to run/hide from pain…only it doesn’t really know/understand that doing our taxes really won’t physically hurt us, we are just experiencing EMOTIONAL pain.
For example…We put off doing our taxes because we know we might feel frustrated, disappointed, or irritated. Suddenly, it seems like a great idea to clean up the kitchen or finish folding the laundry (that has been sitting there, in the basket, on your floor for three days!).
These feelings come from thoughts like “I really should keep better record of my donations”, “This would be so much easier if I was just more organized”, “I hate having to pay in every year,”, and the number one procrastinating thought is “I’ll do it later”.
Now notice how much time you think about what you are procrastinating from…then we feel more stresses out what we are not doing.
These thoughts and feelings lead to inaction & procrastination.
The good news is that we can learn to recognize this, and use this to evolve ourselves.
Ask yourself why are you avoiding doing the taxes? “Because I am so unorganized with my finances, it will take some much time to find all the documents I will need to do the taxes, and I don’t understand most of it.”
This will show you an area of your life that needs some attention. In the above example, it is clear that there is some work to be done in organization of papers/documents.
Now, I know what you are thinking….but I always end up getting the stuff done at the last minute. I really do work better under pressure.
The reason why this happens, is not because you suddenly got organized and love doing your taxes..it is because your thought shifted….It went from “I’ll do it later” to “I will have to pay a fine if it is not done and submitted by April 15th” which leads to the feeling of motivation and therefore drives your action to get the taxes done.
How do we stop procrastinating?
Tell ourself the truth. I’m avoiding doing this task because I don’t want to feel _____.
We have to let go of the idea that we should WANT to do the task. You don’t have to want to do your taxes to go and do them.
We decide with our Pre-Frontal Cortex that we are going to do something, then we have to deal with the objections our Primitive brain comes up with and overcome them.
This is all normal and is part of being a human.
Think about how amazing it feels to complete things. How good did it feel to get those taxes done? To finally stop thinking about not doing them! So good.
When you have something that needs to get done, try thinking about how awesome it will feel to complete it, and use that feeling to drive your action of getting it completed. If you get it done ahead of time, you will have more free time to do something you love to do!
I realize I just gave you examples on taxes (because this may or may not have been me very recently), but this totally applies to weight loss too.
Many of my clients procrastinate with meal planning, exercise, or writing in their food journal.
All the same things apply as above!
Go grab a piece of paper and a pen, we are going to do a little exercise.
- How does procrastination show up in your life?
- Think about the last time your procrastinated…why did you?
- Can you identify how you were thinking and feeling?
- What was the benefit of procrastinating
- Were there any consequences to you procrastinating?
- How might have the work gotten done faster and easier with out procrastination?
- How are you going to prevent procrastinating in the future?
Now go, take some action and stop procrastinating!!
xo. Valerie
PS. If you want help from me, send me a message or use the blue “Book Now button” to book a FREE consultation call.