How to Stop Procrastinating: We All Suffer From It

It is said focusing on the future causes anxiety, focusing on the past causes depression, so focus on the present.

Procrastination. It’s an affliction we all know too well. This blog post in itself has been a long time in the making. Here are some techniques and tips on stopping procrastination and getting started on your goals.

1. Overcome your Anxiety to Even Begin

Some say procrastination is caused by anxiety on projected results and subconscious fear of success.

Those of us who are perfectionists are especially prone to this. We toil over whether what we want to produce will be good enough. We go over details in our head we want to get correct, over and over and over… What is the antidote? Well shut that stuff in your head up and dive in like you do into a chilly pool or the ocean. Its not helpful to worry over the future we have no control over when any small action in the present time will have impact. There literally is no way around this cliche. Take one step at a time. Yes, basic and cheesy, but it’s literally true.

Iteration over perfection. Purposely aim for imperfection.

2. Ask Yourself How You’re Feeling About Your Life. Seriously

Some say procrastination is caused by stress of life and burnout.

In this case you must reset and take time to take care of yourself. You have to pay attention to your body. Sometimes stress can pile up and lie dormant and jump out in the form of an emotional breakdown, losing your temper or sudden panic attacks popping up, just to list very few.

So you must pay attention to the things that upset you and cause you to turn to bad habits and vices. Also pay attention to people and environments that seem to lower your emotional vibration or drain your energy.

Most importantly, in this world of currency, you will be working to get by in some way. So since a large chunk of our lives is dedicated to work it must be something you can tolerate without depression. Notice I didn’t say it must be the job of your dreams. The reality is some dream jobs have to be created through your own side work. So if you are not there yet, you’re gonna want to get a job within your reach that can pay your expenses, is enjoyable MOST days and even more importantly: Allows free time and rest.

Why is that last part important? Because regardless of the job or dream career you do, your mind and body needs rest. We scientifically and anecdotally know this. So to have the energy to pursue your other goals or business, your main job cannot drain the life out of you.

3. Check These Overlooked Serious Hinderances

Some say procrastination is caused by lack of dopamine, either bad habits or medical condition.

Sometimes some of the most insidious hinderances to getting your goals done are overlooked habits that you could probably do in your sleep. These habits can drain both your energy and dopamine. Alcohol for example gives a relaxation “feeling” in the moment but over time it is a depressant on the brain. So as you take the edge off over time you’re actually slowly deteriorating your mood.

Also a little known fact is many of the chemicals the brain uses for your mood are generated in the gut. Scientists discovered that not only is the brain and gut connected and if you pay attention you can feel moods in your stomach like excitement or anger, but also that microbes in the stomach help produce serotonin aka the mood stabilizing chemical. Many antidepressants are serotonin reuptake inhibitors aka SSRI’s.

Speaking of which, the even more hidden hindrance that can wreak havoc unnoticed, are undiagnosed medical conditions you probably inherited. You may have gone through school or your early career not knowing you had ADD/ADHD but you noticed particular difficulties that are textbook symptoms of certain conditions. Conditions like Adhd means your does not produce or uptake as much dopamine as it needs to and that is basically the motivation chemical to seek reward. So you can imagine the lack of interest in getting things done, if one is unmedicated.

And all of us are vulnerable to depression which can range from seasonal to severe, debilitating our ability to muster the energy to get even the most basics of survival done. This is why on your journey to productivity you must remember to check on yourself.

Now let’s talk about where some of these tendencies to ignore our mental and physical health in the name of production which ironically reduces production, comes from.

4. Take a TEMPORARY look at your Childhood and OVERCOME it asap to heal.

Some say procrastination is caused by patterns and coping mechanisms from childhood.

Along with medical conditions you may have genetically inherited, you may have unfortunately inherited bad habits from your childhood. It’s certainly not your fault, but since you were left to hold the bag, you must sort through it, take what you can use and drop the rest of the heavy load.

You may be subconsciously or blatantly following a path set by your parents or guardian. Maybe they outright demanded you follow a path they expected of you. Or maybe you fought all your life to be a golden child and get their approval so you find yourself slipping into decisions you hope would get their recognition finally.

These things can hold you back because if you are following a path you did not set for yourself you will never be passionate about it. And without passion when times get hard you may get bogged down instead of reenergizing. Not to mention you would be missing out a piece of joy in your life. also aiming for perfection and pleasing others will have you bogged down with planning and ideas and never even starting.

For those who had tougher childhoods you maybe battling toxic ideas brainwashed into you like “If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” “Things are too good to be true right now,” or verbal abuse or bullying you face. Being told you aren’t anything special, no one care what you have to say, being told you ruined your life by chasing your dreams and facing inevitable obstacles. It is a good idea for those of you who can afford it or have insurance to just try out therapy. I will be real with you, it may take 2-4 try outs of therapists before you find one that clicks. You also have to make sure its not your discomfort with facing difficult truths in your life and a genuine mismatch. For those of you who cant afford that please check out books at your local library and watch free YouTube channels of LICENSED therapists who are finding new ways to help people. One of my favorites is Doctor Ramani who covers narcissistic parents and other relationships.

You’d be surprised at how you will come alive and discover passions when you create your own closure on trauma and dysfunctions from childhood that may be secretly weighing you down.

5. Lastly Ask, Am I stabbing myself in the back?

Sometimes the obstacle we face is just allowing negative thoughts to flourish.

If you have this you might as well cancel every single other tip I gave you and any other tips in the world because you will keep going back to Self Sabotage like an ex friend you know you should stay away from because they only bring the same old trouble.

You are your friend and you were the one who had your back when others turned their backs on you or handled you unjustly. You didn’t mess up anything for yourself. You didn’t ruin anything. You are NOT stupid or dumb. Albert Einstein said “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Do not do this to yourself. Give yourself credit for effort. Allow yourself rest and rewards in moderation of course. Give yourself more gentle compassionate love than the tough love you may be used to.

It may sound cliché but you need positive self talk and encouragement from yourself FIRST, ALWAYS to even believe in yourself to start and to push yourself when results are delayed. Most importantly when you mess up, don’t throw away all your progress like “I ruined everything,” just start again. What you want is to pile on practice and days of consistency, that will have compounding results later.

Some other tips that will keep self sabotage away, is working in some allowances in moderation. If you work for an hour straight allow yourself a set time gaming or internet break. Get your environment clean and organized to the best of your ability which can actually make you feel less stressed. Decorate your room or area where you work, with things that make you feel good when you look at them.

Also make it easier for yourself to access things you need to stay productive. Sleep next to your notebook, or place your laptop on your desk with your to do list for the next day, keep your laptop charger in a convenient place near you always, keep healthy snacks near for when you start to get restless and want to raid your fridge or stress eat junk (remember earlier we talked about the stomach helps regulate your energy and mood). You want to make it easier to work undistracted and remain in a good mood for as many hours of potent efficiency. Some argue that this is at the 4 hour point if you’re working absolutely non stop.

Please use these tips to get started on your project. In a later post we will get into techniques on how you push through to FINISH your task. But FIRST… one step at a time.

From the ground up.

Back to basics.

Use these tips to build a strong foundation and get the momentum going and look out for our coming blog on pushing through and staying efficient.

Sending you positive energy vibrations.

This is what I call the TLDR (too long didn’t read) portion.

Here I get more into my own personal struggles. For me, I honestly skim articles for immediate actionable tips. So in the interest of time for people like me I wanted to get straight to the meat and potatoes. But for those interested in how I turned things around for myself please read further.

The irony is, this particular post took me the longest to finish in getting my blog up and running.

In the end, what I did to accomplish my goal, was take these same pieces of advice and put them into practice. I kept ignoring this advice that I was hearing from book after book, motivational speaker after motivational speaker, Instagram quote after Instagram quote, as too simple. Too basic.

I wanted to take it to the extreme. If I wasn’t going all in, like did as an overachiever in highschool, knocking it out in a single furious 3 hour session at 2am, then it didn’t count as “blood sweat and tears hardwork”.

It was an interview of Inky Johnson on Lewis Howe’s Youtube Show, that changed my perspective; Inky says, ” ‘I’ll get to it tomorrow’ I’m like who promised you that? ‘I’ll get to it a month from now’ I’m like Who promised you that? because life changes so quick…” He had a life altering injury, on a routine day during his football game. I had to count my blessings of where I was and remember I have my own laptop and access to wifi to create what’s in my heart.

So I began. I went all the way back to elementary school basics. Outlines. As a kid I’d be so impatient and want to knock out my assignments and lucky for me as an avid reader, I could squabble something of quality down quickly and get a good grade. However, at my age with all the technology and social media that hit during my adolescence, I no longer can sit still like I used to as a dreamy eyed teen. However its not permanent. I learned by watching some of Cal Newport’s talks on deep work, that we have to work on focus like a muscle. Like a skill that needs to be worked on constantly.

So I started small. Literally sentences at a time, editing one page one day, choosing and editing photos one day, writing a small outline on a new idea that popped in my head another day, going back and writing a few more sentences….

And here we are. Once again I hope this article helps you and you realize I’m no different from you. I’ve just gotten started and got some momentum going. Join me…

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monatru3@hotmail.com

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