Okay, sorry I delayed getting back to you with these anti-procrastination tips!! ( 🙂 tee hee!) Remember the world famous Nike commercial??? “Just Do It!” (It’s almost as popular as “Don’t Mess with Texas!”) As simple as it seems, that really is the best way to deal with procrastination. Just Do it.
Gee, you’re thinking. Glad this is a FREE blog site. Sure glad I didn’t have to PAY for this advice.
Seriously, especially if you are procrastinating because you feel overwhelmed by how much you have to do: Just Do Something. Take one tiny step. And do make it tiny.
Another good way to get yourself going is to think of a time when you really felt organized or productive or successful. Maybe there is a particular area of your life in which you always feel that way. Sit down with your eyes closed and meditate on those feelings of productiveness and success that you have about that one particular area or time in your life. Where do you feel that feeling in your body? What does it feel like? How big is the feeling? What color is it? Does it have a taste or smell that you can associate with it? Now amplify that feeling so that you feel it in every cell of your being. Then transfer to the task that you are procrastinating about and imagine the task completed. See yourself rewarding yourself for a job well done.
The above example is another type of anchoring technique that I use all the time in all types of situations. I just finished using it with a client who is going through a nasty divorce in which the “cheating but wealthy husband” is refusing to pay adequate support. She knows she has to be strong to get through the court battle. Like myself, she relates to Kathy Bates’ character in “Fried Green Tomatoes.” So I had her imagine the scene where Kathy’s character smashes the car of the little bimbos while yelling “Tawanda!” I also had her breathing through her throat chakra (speaking up for her needs) and her solar plexus (willpower) to increase the sense of empowerment.
So find something that is empowering to you or a time in your life, or even a favorite movie scene and focus on it to get you going. Tawanda!