How can you turn procrastination into motivation?
We’ve all had those times that task that we “should” be doing keeps rolling around in your mind, maybe it’s going to the gym or doing your taxes.
But when you think about it, you dismiss it, there are other things to do or you just don’t feel motivated. So you busy yourself with the immediate things, whether dishes or kids or that television program.
And the thought of the task comes up again, but this time, its a little heavier because you didn’t take care of it, and you feel uggh. I really should do it.
Each time we put it off, the mind adds a little more self blame and guilt and it seems a bigger issue in our mind. Procrastination is only one type of sabotage.
So, how do we stop procrastinating?
Well first you really have to understand why you are doing procrastination in the first place.
Is it a simple habit? If you’ve been prone to procrastinating in the past, your mind may turn procrastination into a habit, sometimes it sounds like your self talk.
“I can do it tomorrow.” You might think to yourself, or “I’ll get to it on the weekend.”
If you have a habit of procrastination, its likely that adjusting your self talk will help alleviate the issue.
Procrastination is usually about avoidance, what are you avoiding in the task. We avoid things that are uncomfortable or that we don’t like. In the case of avoidance, you may be procrastinating because you don’t like the activity or it doesn’t fit your schedule.
For example, if you don’t like to exercise, but know you “should” do it, then you likely won’t feel motivated and other things will take priority. In this case, adjusting your attitude about the task or changing the task completely.
If you picked the goal of going to the gym, but you really don’t like going to the gym, is there a different activity that could fit the same purpose (getting in shape) but that you enjoy more, like dancing or pickleball?
Here’s an easy exercise from NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming
Try this easy exercise right now with your brain. Think of something you’ve been procrastinating ….now scale of 1 – 10, as you think about it, how motivated do you feel to do that thing? ____
When you think of that task you’ve been procrastinating, what’s the image you picture in your mind? And how does your body respond and feel?
Typically, when we’ve been avoiding or procrastinating, we think of the problem of it, we feel the uggh of it, and we are in stuck energy.
But now, imagine that task done! As you think of it done, you may feel relief from stress and accomplished. And looking back through time, how does your body respond to that, how do you feel?
Now scale of 1 – 10, what’s your motivation level now? _____
When we get out of “problem” thinking and into “solution” thinking, you can start getting your brain onbaord with focus, motivation, flow and so much more!!
Well they say hindsight is 20/20….how can it work for you now?
Procrastination is only 1 flavor of sabotage. Sabotage can show up as struggle with making decisions, undercutting our efforts and not following through.
If you’ve been procrastinating or sabotaging yourself, you can finally curtail these patterns with the powerful tools I share in this 4 hour NLP Brain Training workshop, Sat. June 15, 9- 1pm.
Check out the next upcoming online workshop to Transform Procrastination and Sabotage into Motivation and Action!
