3 Proven Paths to Overcoming Procrastination
Do you know why you procrastinate? Is it because you are inherently lazy, lacking self-discipline or just don’t have enough will power?
Even though we often don’t know why it is so hard to start certain tasks we all know how frustrating and how time and energy consuming procrastination can be.
Maybe I’m Simply Too Lazy
I repeatedly hear clients wonder if they are just too lazy to do the work required to achieve their goals. More often than not they find themselves doing what is pleasurable instead of what needs to be done and hence feel frustrated and disappointed in themselves.
What many people don’t know is that our brains are designed to take the path of least resistance i.e., to go down pathways of thinking and doing that bring us pleasure and avoid pain. Of course, what is considered pleasure and pain is different for each one of us and depends on personality and past conditioning.
However, we probably have all experienced many versions of the following example: We know what we should be doing but procrastinate by having another coffee, tidying up the desk or checking Facebook to see how many likes our latest post has received - in short, we are attracted to do what comes most easily.
Could it be that what you label as laziness in yourself or in your children is simply the brain’s way of preserving valuable energy; a function that is part of our survival mechanism?
Yet, the question remains: How do we motivate ourselves to tackle the difficult and tedious tasks and stop procrastinating?
The 3 Proven Paths
1. Develop Your Inner Power And Agency Through Yoga*
In over 20 years of teaching yogic tools, I have been privileged to witness lasting changes in students’ ability to stay grounded in times of turmoil and attend to tricky or unpleasant tasks with greater equilibrium and less emotional overwhelm.
It is what I love about yoga, the way it helps us stay anchored within ourselves and attend to what is in front of us rather than drifting like a boat without a rudder out on the open sea.
Many people have reported how their yoga practice has helped them develop a greater sense of inner power and agency over their life.
The beautiful thing about yoga is that it gently works on all layers (koshas) of our being and most directly on the physical body (annamaya kosha), the energy body (pranamaya kosha) and the mental body (manomaya kosha). It loosens our inner struggles and mental tensions and, as demonstrated bellow, makes it easier for us to create the change we want.
One of my long-term yoga students used to frequently indulge in smoking cigarettes. She knew smoking was bad for her health but she wasn’t ready to give it up. However, after several months of attending weekly yoga classes, the subtle but powerful effects of the practices led to her dropping her smoking habit without any inner struggles or need for self-discipline. She told me that she never even decided to stop smoking. Her desire simply vanished.
Yoga, if practiced regularly and with discernment, can literally change your life.
2. Resolve Your Conflicting Values
I have always been interested in creating change from within, change that is lasting and far reaching. That is why I love yoga and why I am so excited about some of the coaching techniques I learned recently from one of my teachers Ben Harvey from Authentic Education. I have personally practiced these tools and shared them with my clients with promising results.
The intention behind the techniques is to encourage the brain to create new neurological pathways that are in support of one’s vision, mission, and goals. Instead of getting caught in our internal dialogue of “yes, but”, as for example, “Yes I want to get fit but going to the gym will let me have even less time with the kids”, we teach our brain all the reasons why becoming fit will give us even more time with our children in the short and long run.
If done correctly, the brain literally starts insulating (myelinating) the new neurological links that connect “getting fit” with “having more time with the kids”. Metaphorically speaking, this goal-supporting neural pathway has now been upgraded from a difficult-to-navigate track to a well-built highway, which makes it of course much easier for messages (electrical impulses) to travel along. Remember, that the brain is designed to preserve energy.
Instead of having the two opposing desires leading to inner conflict and procrastination, they now act in support of each other making it much easier for you to take action toward your desired goals.
Going to the gym is now the path of less resistance.
What is so exciting is that changing your neurological pattern does not depend on years of practice but can be done in a few relatively short bursts of intense and focused practice coupled with other processes that reinforce the newly formed connections.
3. Chunking Down
Something I have learned to do lately is to implement systems for my business that free up my mind and break down tasks in such a way that it chases procrastination out the door.
Even just writing about this change I can feel my mind slowing down and my breath flowing more slowly and deeply leaving me with a sense of inner spaciousness.
Breaking down tasks into small chunks can help you overcome procrastination and is probably the most frequently applied tool in coaching. While it does not create deeper and more lasting changes within one’s mind or psyche it is a technique that is practical and can be instantly applied and worked with.
The trick is to break the tasks down far enough so that no resistance is experienced in the action taker. The tasks become doable without any hint of overwhelm.
This more cognitive and linear approach of chunking down stands somewhat in contrast to the deeper and more far-reaching changes possible when engaging in regular yoga* practice or the value conflict resolution techniques. Luckily neither of the three are exclusive of each other. While each has its place and time, they become even more powerfully life- changing when combined.
If you want to learn more, please book a free discovery call with me, Uschi Heyd.
* When I talk of yoga, I don’t mean just asana practice (physical postures) but the integral system of yoga which includes a multitude of techniques to support your physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing and help tap into the intuitive wisdom that lies within.
Photos by: Drahomír on Unsplash, Phil Aicken on Unsplash, Mallory Johndrow on Unsplash