Is Procrastination Real?

I sit here on April 3, pondering the blog post that I did not write in March. I thought about it many times during the month of March, but just couldn’t find the “right” topic and get my creative juices flowing. That’s the story I believed anyways.

I often hear people  say that their life is overwhelming. That they don’t have time to “X, Y, or Z”. Sometimes they come out and say that their lives are out of balance. Other times I hear the message through them saying “I’m so out of shape”, or “I’ve been working so much I am not spending any time with my family” or “I just have to hit my numbers this month…last month was awful”. The bottom line is that they have created a reality that is true to them in the moment – through thought. Nothing more, nothing less.

So how do you change the story? The first thing you need to do is notice. Then just see what happens.

Notice

The act of noticing is neutral. It brings us back to center and away from the meaning we’ve created about whatever we are thinking about. In the above example, a person may feel they don’t have time to exercise or eat properly and this is compounding every day and getting worse. The thinking around this even begins to take on new meaning. “What is this saying about me that I can’t exercise or eat properly?”

If we start to just notice our thoughts around this, it has an effect similar to a thermostat. A thermostat will bring a room back to the set temperature. Our thoughts will do this as well, if we let them. 

In my example in (not) writing my blog post in March, I noticed I’ve been creating alot of meaning about my thoughts around my blog post. “Why am I not hitting my deadline?”, “Why can’t I come up with ideas?”, “I’m busy and don’t have time to come up with any ideas”, “What do I have to say that other people would like to read?”

This weekend I just starting noticing my thoughts, and they started to dissipate.  This helped me make my own internal thermostat go back to neutral. I started getting new ideas pretty quickly.

Forgiving Yourself

Another discovery I’ve had about myself, and I’ve seen it work for others, is I’ve stopped judging myself, and practiced forgiveness. In the case of my blog, I noticed the negative thoughts I was having about my not writing my post. Then I forgave myself. Then this idea came to me to share my thoughts on my experience.

If you’re stuck in an area of your life, start noticing the energy you’re placing on your thoughts. And then forgive yourself. The rest will fall into place, just the way it is supposed to happen.

Was this helpful? If so, I’d really appreciate it if you leave a comment below or share on Facebook or your favorite Social Media!

Michael Hurd – Business Coach & Life Coach 
Email: mike@hurdmarketing.com