Why Do I Procrastinate? How To Break The Cycle & Stop Procrastinating
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Why do we tend to lose focus, procrastinate, or forget our goals altogether? And what are we going to do about it!?
Do you find yourself procrastinating more often? Are productive and motivated days sprinkled in between days where you’re feeling beat up that you aren’t accomplishing what you set out to do?
We all want to feel more like rock stars, less like we just can’t get ahead. But sometimes, our procrastination habits have taken hold, and start to become our default choices.
The good news is, procrastinating is something we can fix.
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I’m explaining the 5 steps you need to break your cycle of procrastination and get your mind focused on crushing your goals:
Step 1: Recognize and Take Responsibility for Your Thoughts
Step 2: Get Out of the Procrastination Mindset
Step 3: Stop Procrastination in Its Tracks: New Triggers
Step 4: Get Yourself on a Schedule
Step 5: Understand the True Meaning of Living Productively
Let’s do this.
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What Procrastination Means
What is procrastination? Early definitions of “procrastination” center around simply putting off an act or task. But really, the difference between “procrastination” and simple “delay” or “de-prioritizing” something lies in our intentions.
Procrastination means acting against our better judgment. We know it has to get done. We know it should get done now. But we are choosing to do ANYTHING else but that thing.
Procrastination is the act of avoiding a task, while knowing that doing it would be far better for you than not doing it.
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Why Procrastination is Bad
Procrastination is a sneaky, sneaky defense mechanism. Procrastination helps us avoid stress and fear. In doing that, it helps us receive a quick reward (stress & fear relief).
That may sound great, but the problem is that most of the time, important stuff is a little bit scary. Important stuff seems a little bit stressful to us.
Our brains are basically protecting ourselves from our hopes and dreams. Yikes.
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Why Do We Procrastinate?
This is going to get a little deep…..
One of the main reasons for procrastination is that we tend to subconsciously tell ourselves “stories” about our realities.
When we are faced with the choice of doing or not doing the task, we immediately make up stories, whether they have validity or not, to take away the urgency of prioritizing the task.
This is because our thoughts create our feelings. Our thoughts come first, our feelings come second.
Here’s how….
When we think about performing a task, we are either:
- fine with the task (getting a haircut), or
- overwhelmed & not fine with the task (having an uncomfortable medical test, meeting with a difficult co-worker, exercising)
We think about that task, feel that it is a little scary or seems like it might be stressful, and that feeling triggers our defense mechanism (procrastination). Our mind tells us a whopper of a story to stop thinking about the task:
- I can’t make that phone call right now. I’m so unfocused since I didn’t eat any protein with breakfast.
- I’m not exercising right now. The linen closet is a mess.
- I can’t write that email, I’m so distracted because my desk needs to be organized.
Now we stop focusing on the task, and our stress is avoided (reward/relief)!! Good job, brain, thanks.
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How do I stop procrastinating?
Let’s stop the cycle of procrastination, by replacing it with a NEW cycle:
Step 1: Recognize and Take Responsibility for Your Thoughts
If you’re still with me, then The First Step is already done, which is that you are now consciously aware that this procrastination/avoidance is actually happening. So, every time it happens from now on, you’ll be able to recognize it. When your mind directs itself toward some life goal and your brain brings up that memory or story or excuse that paralyzes you, NOW you’ll say:
Hey wait, no. I’m thinking about some nonsense that has nothing to do with what I need to get done.….No. Not now. Not happening.
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Step 2: Get Out of the Procrastination Mindset
Let’s get OUT of the procrastination mindset, and into the “I’m freaking amazing” mindset:
So, what am I supposed to be thinking about?
People say often to “focus on your goal,” right? But in these times when your goal reminds you of some inadequacy or excuse or reason why you haven’t gotten there yet or can’t get there, then focusing on your “goal” is only hurting you right now. It’s not serving you.
But, no matter what your goal is, your reason why you have that goal is what is going to conjure up those positive feelings, those feelings of relief that you have been transformed in some way.
That is what you should focus on right now.
Because your end may seem really, really far away right now, and sometimes thinking about the goal will cause us to focus on that distance (“stressful,” “scary,” “too much to do”).
So you need to think about that future you, transformed, in as much detail as possible.
Here’s how…..
Close your eyes, relax your facial muscles and visualize your ideal life. What will our life look like once you have reached your goal? Think about this:
- What does your day look like?
- What are you wearing?
- Who are you with, are they fictional people you haven’t met yet? Which his great!
- What does your bank account look like?
- Where is your money coming from? Visualize that place, and imagine the money coming toward you. What are those places? (Maybe it will spark a new idea or goal!)
- Where are you, are you in the sunshine, or are you on a stage, are you in a classroom?
- If you are inside, what does the view from the window look like? What kinds of trees are there, what kinds of buildings are around yours?
- Are you giving something to someone, are you receiving something from someone?
- What do your feelings feel like? Are you excited, or content?
This is great, but how do I get myself to think about these things?
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Step 3: Set Yourself Up to Stop Procrastinating in Its Tracks
The easiest and fastest way to do this is to have an arsenal of triggers & reminders that will bring your brain to your ideal “happy place” of success, productivity, or transformation. This can be:
- A vision board.
- Affirmations relevant to the kinds of tasks you regularly push aside. Google “affirmations for [thing you hate doing]” and I bet you there’s somebody who already put together like 50 of them for you to read through. I just googled Affirmations for Cooking Dinner & a bunch came up.
- A few words to jerk you out of your negative mindset. Mel Robbins uses a countdown – literally saying out loud “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” to distract & break the negative thought process.
- A bracelet or ring that you wear every day. I suggest not spending money on this, but making one out of 2 or 3 pieces of colored yarn, or using a favorite hair band. It is something you look at when you find yourself drifting into oh-I’ll-do-it-later land. Don’t be like, “I’ll do this when I can get one at the store.” That’s literally procrastinating.
- A set of small, daily “performance” rules that you make up for yourself, and can tape onto your computer or workspace (Thanks Mat D’Avella for this great idea!):
- “I will do it for 5 minutes.”
- “I am not touching my phone.”
- “I check emails at 2pm only.”
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Step 4: Get Yourself on a Schedule.
I know, this is way easier said than done. I personally can’t seem to consistently wake up as early as I want to.
But having a schedule is extremely important. This is because structure takes away the need for choices. Having to choose whether or when (1) takes time and (2) leaves you open to choose procrastination.
Your schedule can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be, but It’s a safety net of sorts. It needs to be there in the background.
If you need a schedule idea, here is a YouTube video from Thomas Frank, talking about Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule, it’s pretty cool:
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As a side note, I’m loving the left side of Ben Franklin’s schedule. Having a daily morning and evening question about your mission is an excellent trigger for focus and keeping your goals in mind as you make choices through the day.
Whatever you decide to put on your schedule, know that it’s not superglued there. Try it, tweak it and move it around to see what works for you personally.
Related: How to Plan Your Work Week for Maximum Productivity
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Step 5: Understand the True Meaning of Living Productively
The Last Step is to check yourself, before you wreck yourself.
There is no one on this earth who happily and consistently gets everything done, every single day. Life likes to kick pebbles into productivity’s windshield at 60mph. The sooner we acknowledge and accept that:
- there is no such thing as being perfectly productive,
- there is no such thing as perfection, and
- every day brings a new experience – we are all lifelong learners,
the more we will have room in our minds and hearts for joy and fulfillment.
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If you liked this post, make sure to leave a comment & Pin it!!!
XO,
-Mina
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P.S.: Checkout my other Blog Posts & be sure to follow me on Pinterest, I have TONS more great content!!
Here are some more posts that might be helpful:
–10 Crazy-Easy Small Habits to Boost Productivity Today
–How to Really Use a Planner to Get Your Life Together
–6 Workouts You Can Do At Home + Tips for Overcoming Excuses
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