A note on procrastination

You know what I freaking learned today? Procrastination is not as negative as you may think. It’s not associated with laziness or unwillingness to get tasks done. If there’s a task that is important, but you are avoiding it at all costs, there’s actually a reason for that. You are likely stressed out about the task so you avoid it by procrastinating, which then leads to feelings of guilt, which thennn leads to extra stress. 

I’m happy to report that you can actually solve your procrastination by understanding and addressing the root cause of it. If it sounds scary then that’s a good indication you need to do it all the more. 

I had a weird week. I feel like I couldn’t get my most important task for the week done. My personal goal for the week was to write this article nice and early. I like to write in increments. I usually tackle the majority of my writing on Monday when I’m fresh for the week. Then I’ll leave it alone, return to it on Thursday, and publish on Friday. For the life of me I could not focus on a single day of the week leading up to today, Friday. My brain was foggy, scattered, and no amount of meditating or journaling was helping a girl out. 

This of course caused me to procrastinate. I would read, watch a crap ton of YouTube videos, play video games, spend extra extra time on self care and I found myself feeling super guilty. In hindsight, there’s not much wrong with these tasks. But of course my brain immediately goes to why am I “wasting” so much time when I could be putting all of my focus into my article? These thoughts brought about, what I learned today, additional stress. 

I read a post on Instagram that stuck with me. It said, “Unlabeling procrastination as lazy, asking instead: “What discomfort am I trying to avoid?”” And it dawned on me. I am definitely trying to avoid something by avoiding my article all together. 

I have written for the better part of my life and I was never comfortable sharing my work. Back in high school, I used to share poems and lyrics on Myspace. Back in middle school I had a written story that kids would read at recess every now and then. Outside of that, I had never really shared my thoughts in the world because truth be told I was never very confident in my writing. The thought of writing scares the living shit out of me because it forces me, a person who is not very open with their feelings, to be vulnerable, to open up, and to put my authentic self out there. And let me tell you, that is not an easy thing to do, but it feels so necessary.  

So anyway, I started to think to myself that if I can’t write my article then I’m not going to force myself to do it. I physically paused and asked myself in the moment, “What is the one thing that I could do right now to help me out of this funk?” I cycled through a few possibilities, but Mel Robbins was the first thing that came to mind.

If you haven’t read The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins, I highly recommend it. I have the audiobook and whenever I feel like I need a personal life coach in my ear I throw it on. And today, what a dang coincidence! I started listening right at the part where she talks about procrastination and how to beat it. 

Mel Robbins says there is productive procrastination and unproductive procrastination. So today I decided that I wasn’t going to feel bad for productively procrastinating. I set a timer and went to town on a 2 hour home reset. I basically refreshed the house so it’s back to looking neat and spotless. And the entire time I had Mel Robbins in my ear telling me what I’m doing is perfectly okay.

By mindfully practicing productive procrastination and understanding what I was trying to avoid, I no longer felt guilty about “wasting” time.  And to top it all off, I ended up enjoying doing my tasks and putting a lot of love into them. After the two hours were up I went into my office and began entering this post as a journal entry and I said why the heck not turn it into a post?

The bottom line is, if you are stuck in a funk and find yourself procrastinating then I encourage you to find the source of your procrastination and work on that. You are not lazy for wanting to avoid stress, but you must address the source of that stress so you can move forward and continue smashing your goals. 

If you have found yourself procrastinating and found tricks to get back on track, share it in the comments below. I would love to hear your stories! 

Thank you so much for reading. Sending you love and light <3