SYNOPSIS
We all want to be the absolute best when it comes to our mission here. Thereby, things like staying aligned with our higher purpose, progress, how we use our time here, becomes something that matter.
Hence, we need to go over procrastination.
So we don’t get stuck.
Procrastination, energetically, comes down to three things: fear, unclarity or shame.
How we notice we are procrastinating? We are not moving forwards, we are not making progress, we don’t do the action, we don’t do the thing, we are staying the same, we are circling or our energy or our effort or focus might manifest scattered. Scattered energy is a reflection of fear, lack of clarity or clutter in the energy field.
Solution to procrastination and scattered energy is simple, to remove the block.
And this is why working with others makes you grow and achieve faster – ’cause all of these gets removed faster with support.
HOW DOES PROCRASTINATION OUT-OF FEAR LOOK LIKE
There is a difference of how procrastination out-of fear, shame or unclarity looks like. You can spot procrastination out-of-fear from actions that are like:
- Constantly making excuses or finding reasons to delay starting or completing
- Catastrophizing potential negative outcomes
- Excessive worrying and anxiety around the task
- Avoidance behavior – like staying busy with other minor tasks
- Self-sabotaging by missing deadlines
Procrastination out-of fear sounds like: What if I fail?”, “I’m not ready yet. I need more time.”, “I’m waiting for the perfect moment”, “This is too risky”, “I’m not in the right mood right now. I’ll wait until I feel inspired.”, “I work better under pressure. I’ll do it at the last minute.”, “It’s too late to start now. I’ve already wasted so much time.”, “I probably mess it up anyhow, why bother?”.
If you find yourself talking to yourself like this, you can easily tell that the reason is about fear.
It looks like:
- Delaying anything
- Putting off starting anything
- Avoiding
- Postponing
PROCRASTINATION OUT-OF SHAME
To see if you are procrastinating out-of shame, this is what you would look for:
If you are:
- Feeling paralysed before taking action
- Having negative self-talk or low self-worth around the issue
- Hiding efforts from others
- Downplaying your accomplishments and abilities
Procrastination out-of shame sounds like: “I’m not good enough”, “People will think I’m XYZ”, “I don’t deserve XYZ”, “I should be able to do this without struggling or XYZ”, “I don’t have the right to ask for support/help.”, “If I start now, people will see how XYZ I am”, “If I try and fail, it just confirms what I knew.”, “There’s is something wrong with me”, “I’m too broken/flawed/etc”, “I don’t deserve to feel good about doing this, because of XYZ (this is a tricky one)”, “I’m different from the others (who are able to do the thing)”.
So, different from procrastination out-of fear or unclarity.
It looks like:
- Neglecting to do the things
- Delaying asking for help or assistance or support (there’s feelings behind it)
- Avoiding
- Putting off effort and action
- Not doing the things that will take you where you want
PROCRASTINATION OUT-OF UNCLARITY
Procrastination out-of unclarity is different – as there is no emotional component to it like there is when we are procrastinating out of fear or shame. At least, not to the same degree.
So it looks different.
If you are:
- Lacking direction or purpose with the work/task/thing
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Researching more than acting on it
- Switching between different approaches
It is telling you that the procrastination is because of unclarity.
It sounds like: “I don’t know where to start”, “Where do I start?”, “I’m so confused”, “Maybe I should try something else”, “What am I trying to achieve?”, “It’s not clear”, “I need more details!”, “I need more information”, “I don’t know”, “I feel stuck”, “What?”, “I don’t understand this”, “Where to put my effort?”, “Where to put my focus?”, “What to do?”, “What do I do?”.
It looks like:
- Not spending your time, focus and energy well
- Stopping
- Not knowing what to do
- Indecisiveness
- Delaying and postponing action
- Excessive thinking and contemplating
But the easy thing is, that the answer to unclarity is highly simple:
asking the right questions.
CONCLUSION
When you are not procrastinating, you go steadily towards your visions and goals, take consistently action and are feeling motivated and confident – ‘cause you know you are advancing. The challenges don’t feel overwhelming and these is emotional neutrality in our internal perception. Things move forward. If you are procrastinating, the easiest part is to realize and find out out of those three, what the reason is for you.