Procrastination – An Open Letter to Myself

Dear Procrastinating-Me

I feel it’s time I tackled the issue of procrastination, and specifically, the frame of mind you seem to be in at the moment. Because, for someone who writes about goal setting and success, you’ve been allowing yourself too much procrastination time lately!

It’s so easily done, isn’t it? You’ve been in work all day, the commute has been endless and there are still chores to do when you get home, so I guess you’re tired and at least a little bit fed-up with the merry-go-round of get up, go to work, do chores, go to bed…. Who wouldn’t be?

I’ve noticed that your energy levels are low too. Are you looking after yourself properly? Of course, I know the answer to this and it’s not pretty. It’s hard to keep burning the candle at both ends and still expect excellent results.

All credit to you though. You made a commitment to maintain your morning routine, and that’s exactly what you’ve done. You’re out of bed as soon as that alarm dings at 5am, 6 days a week (I know, Saturday is your lie-in day!). I know you feel the benefit of a regular meditation and some quiet time before the day really gets going, so I won’t be badgering you to change this routine. But, why do you insist on staying up so late?

I’ve seen you there, laptop in front of you and you’re falling asleep! How can that possibly be productive? Are you afraid you’re going to miss something exciting?! I’ve seen you still staring at that screen after 9pm, 10pm, 11pm and later! You know you’re not one of those people who can survive on five or six hours sleep…you need your shut-eye girl!

But hey, let’s run with it for a moment and see if those long hours you’re ‘working’ really are helping you to get ahead.

Do you feel good the next day? Are you alert and productive…was it really worth the effort of staying up so late or has the tiredness negated your efforts the next day? I think I know the answer.

So maybe a lack of sleep is making you a bit less productive and maybe even causing you to procrastinate because you just can’t muster up the energy to get going?

Now, what else? The thing I keep noticing is that you make really good progress for a while and then, boom! You just stop! Do you have any idea why this might be the case?

I was wondering about the idea of self-sabotage and whether there are issues with some self-limiting beliefs? It’s feasible, given that this behaviour seems to be a repeating pattern. Maybe it’s time to upgrade your daily affirmations? The affirmations you’re currently using have supported you well over the last eighteen months or so, but things have moved on and perhaps it’s time to review your current list to see what is no longer in alignment with your desired outcomes? Just a thought!

But, before we lose the plot on this, let me commend you for the progress you’ve made up until this point!

Up until a couple of years ago you had no idea how to set up a blog and then fill it with wonderful blogs! Facebook and Twitter were also complete mysteries to you, but, you took the initiative, did the research and the work and you’re now a daily user! Did you know that you have now written over 100,000 words on your blog?! Furthermore, you’ve written and published an eBook!

So, whilst there might be some procrastination going on at the moment, this clearly isn’t your default setting. So what’s got you floundering in the doldrums?

Again, a few things that come to mind.

I think you’ve set yourself some large goals this year…good for you! After all, to quote David Joseph Schwartz :

Think little goals and expect little achievements.  Think big goals and win big successes.

So you might as well go for it! But it’s two-and-a-bit-months in now, and somehow, the enormity of the tasks ahead have become very real! Maybe it’s not a surprise that you’re procrastinating, that’s a scary goals list you’ve put together. But, hey, it’s also an exceptionally exciting goals list you’ve put together! Imagine how it would feel to reach the end of the year and to have achieved even half of them? What about 70% or even 80%? That would be some achievement!

So don’t be down on yourself because things have slowed up a little, that’s probably just a little bit of personal internal re-setting going on before you have another energy and enthusiasm burst to carry you through to the next stage!

So what can you learn from this?

1. Well, firstly, get enough sleep! How on earth can you expect to be energised if you deprive yourself of the ‘recommended eight hours’?

2. Perhaps it’s time to review and revise your affirmations to align them with your current goals.

3. Accept that it’s ok to feel overwhelmed by the size/number of the tasks ahead, that’s natural. Also, accept that you don’t need to do everything all at once! You’ve given yourself a whole year…twelve full months to achieve these outcomes, so chill a little and take it one step at a time and don’t forget to break it down into chunks.

4. Appreciate how far you’ve already come – it’s not even the end of the first quarter yet and you’ve already lost nearly a stone in weight, you’ve produced and posted 13 blogs, you’ve made some technical changes to the back end of the blog, you’ve made some extra money, you’ve visited two cities and have another two lined up and you’ve read a few books…phew!

5. And finally, chill and enjoy the journey. It’s not a race, it’s most definitely a marathon and furthermore, it’s your marathon! You’re not competing against anyone else, this is all yours!

So go get ‘em girl!

To your success!

Nicola

This was a cathartic exercise to undertake, so well worth the effort, but we can all get hit with the procrastination stick sometimes, so I hope there may be something in there to help you too when it’s needed!  If anyone has any helpful hints, please leave a comment and share!

Photo: AllieKF