The UGLY TRUTH About Chronic Procrastination
Hello there!
I wanted to talk to you about a very important topic: chronic procrastination.
Now, what do I mean by chronic procrastination?
Pretty much every person being procrastinates on some level. It’s normal human behavior. The mind has a tendency to distract itself and seek comfort.
But what happens when someone procrastinates so much to the point that it’s creating suffering in his or her life?
You’ve probably noticed this yourself. Maybe you always work on your projects until the very last day, which causes you a lot of stress. Or maybe your house is a complete mess and you’re embarassed to invite people over. Or maybe you have a great idea and want to start your own business, but you have done nothing about it in the last several months.
When procrastination generates emotions such as guilt, regret, anger, stress, or anxiety, then it’s safe to say it has become a chronic condition. And just like any other chronic behavior, it cannot be changed by simply “trying”.
Chronic procrastination is a compulsive behavior. It is similar to an addiction in the sense that people know they need to change, they keep trying to change, and yet they end up going back to where they started.
Once you start seeing procrastination as a compulsive cycle and not just some random issue like “lack of motivation”, then you’re ready to change.
What keeps people stuck in this cycle?
The #1 reason that prevents people from change is simply being unaware that they’re stuck in a compulsive cycle.
They would blame all sorts of things such as:
“I just haven’t found my passion”
“I don’t feel motivated”
“I guess I’m just a lazy person”
“I get distracted very easily”
Simply because they don’t understand what’s going on behind the scenes.
Without understanding, you can try as hard as you can to beat procrastination, but you will always go back to where you started.
So, understanding comes first.
Here’s what you need to know:
Procrastination is an unconscious reaction, something you do automatically, as a way to seek relief from uncomfortable emotions.
Read that one more time.
It is something you do automatically so you don’t have to deal with the emotions associated with whatever task you need to take action on.
It doesn’t matter if that emotion is fear or just a strong dislike for the task that you need to do (e.g. washing the dishes). There can be literally thousands of different thoughts generating all sort of emotions. The problem is constantly seeking relief from these feelings.
That’s why trying hard without proper understanding doesn’t work. And that’s why motivation doesn’t work either, because you can’t simply get rid of those emotions from one day to the next.
So how do we break out of this cycle?
Once you have a proper understanding of the compulsiveness behind chronic procrastination, then it’s time to do something about it.
The very first thing you need to know is that any approach that requires lots of effort or pain is just completely wrong.
Don’t listen to anyone that tells you that you need to FORCE yourself to take action.
If you’ve tried any “discipline challenge” in the past then you already know it doesn’t work.
There’s no reason you can’t do the things you need to do in a manner that brings peace and joy to your life.
Here’s what you need to know in order to break the cycle:
- Have absolute clarity about where you want to go in life. This sounds like common sense, but you’ll be surprised at how confused people can be when it comes to their goals. The problem is that they intuitively know what they need to do, but they keep looking for something else because of lack of motivation. At the end of the day, you have to make a decision and stick to it, otherwise you’ll never move forward.
- Become aware of all the emotions that are stopping you from taking action. Realize that the only reason you’re stuck is because you don’t know what to do with these emotions. The first step, however, is to recognize these feelings.
- Start taking action despite these emotions, but in a way that is peaceful and enjoyable. Forget about force, willpower, or discipline. Focus instead on living consciously and accepting whatever emotions that arise within yourself. In time you’ll notice they’ll fade away as you start making progress and getting results.
Learning how to do this is a step by step process that requires proper guidance.
If you’re looking for a simplified system for accomplishing this or if you’re interested in learning more about it, check out the following free training I have prepared for you:
Please make sure you take some notes!
Andrés
