Procrastinator’s Power-UP!

• Feel energized and supported
• Learn the 5 secrets to freedom
• Turn breakdowns into momentum

Experience the value of Professional Group Coaching!
Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 • Ongoing group, limit 8
$59.00 per month • Contact Heather for more details and to register

heather(at)heatherflanagan.com

360-379-0322

Also, see this posting at PTguide – City Guide to Port Townsend, Washington

Unlike therapy, life coaching is not focused on reprocessing past experiences or discovering why you have the challenges you do. Life coaching looks at the present moment, as Eckhart Tolle would say, “The Now”. And where you want to go. Coaching is about achieving tangible/measurable results. We’re less likely to focus on the why but more on the what, when, and how?

Life coaching is about helping *you* to take greater responsibility for the results you get in your life. One of my mentors was fond of pointing out, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” It’s not so much about figuring out the right thing to do, it’s about changing habits, experimenting with your choices, and seeing what gets the best results. It is a powerful thing recognizing that you have an expanded amount of choices in your life. We do and say so many things on autopilot. But by getting a little more conscious and embracing your free will, you can make amazing positive changes.

It all starts by being open to possibilities. By being open to the possibility that  how things have been can be otherwise. Being open to the possibility that you have what it takes to change your world.

I have spent much time and energy trying to figure out how to work with myself instead of against myself to achieve my goals and intentions. Getting stuff done is not just about completing projects and paying your bills and making sure to take a shower before people start to talk behind your back. In my mind, getting stuff done means expressing your valuableness into the world and being of service to people in a way that is meaningful to you. When we play a smaller game in order to stay comfortable or avoid fear, it not only impacts our experience of ourselves as trustworthy authorities in our own lives but it really amounts to withholding our gifts from others upon whom we could be making a positive impact.

What positive impact would you like to make more of in your life?

What one thing can you do right now to move forward? Write it down! And do it. And please do tell me about it in the comment section below.

Just yesterday at my Chamber of Commerce meeting, I wanted to make a quirky but bold announcement about a discount promotion for Chamber members. While I feel comfortable about telling them about my 3rd Thursday Free Seminars, I felt very uncomfortable speaking up about my special offer. I could tell that I might decide not to say anything about it ”on the fly” as it where.

So you know what I did? I told a woman about my announcement while in the lunch line. Now I was truly committed. And, yes. My palms got sweaty as my blood ran cold. I was fully terrified! I have learned to love that feeling. I have learned that it means I am really moving forward.

And this is how you thumb screw yourself. (Well that came out wrong, but you know what I mean.)

You know the day. You are sitting on the couch wondering what you should do with yourself. You can’t think of any one thing that holds enough sparkle to get you off the couch. So you sit and beat yourself up.

Procrastinators are masterful self-flagellators.

Here is a tip to save the LPD: When you are not feeling sloggy, come up with a default activity that feels like forward movement for those days when you can’t figure out what to do with yourself. This has two results. One, you will unstick yourself. The other, is that you won’t have the opportunity to go more deeply into depression from all that self-defacement.

My default activity is to read a book about how to promote my coaching business. I get to make an espresso, sit in my chair (my secret fortress of sanity), and do important research about my goal. I have worked with myself and not against myself. Call it ADHD. Call it depression. Some days I just can’t make myself stand up and deliver. But those days don’t have to be wasted anymore. I feel good about bettering myself with information.

What will your default activity be?

Procrastination is a behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. [Why do today what we can put off until tomorrow?] Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. [Sometimes it is more of a matter of waiting for there to be enough anxiety to motivate us to action.] Psychology researchers also have three criteria they use to categorize procrastination. For a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying. [I think this lets a lot of us off the hook! I procrastinate by doing productive things like sitting around feeling sorry for myself. It *produces* a sense of failure.]

For an individual, procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of personal productivity, the creation of crisis and disapproval from others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments. [Did they put a camera in my house?] These combined feelings can promote further procrastination. While it is normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. [What's that word again? Nnnnor-mmmmaaaal? What is that?!] Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder. [Mine is not underlying. My disorders are quite obvious!]

Well, anyway… I feel like I have a whole new handle on what procrastination is. However, I am left with the question: How does *defining* it help one *overcome* it? What stands out in this article to me is the role of anxiety. I do experience anxiety before starting a project. There is a sort of overwhelm that sets in. There are too many steps. My sparkly brain is just too good at imagining all those steps at one time and falling into exhaustion. I feel like I have to take some time to gather strength before I start the project.

This pause to gather strength looks like my waiting to be in the “right mood” to do something. This mood sometimes never comes. One way I have discovered to trick myself into starting a project is to set a timer and promise myself that I will only work fifteen minutes on my taxes, say. How can I have an anxiety attack about working for fifteen minutes? Often times, I choose to work longer just to get back at myself for trying to trick me. Whatever works!

Notice, then, what I haven’t done. I haven’t guilted myself into doing my taxes. I haven’t beat myself up or waited for the last minute. The bulk of the anxiety happens just prior to starting. Once the starting wall has been reduced to a threshold, I can usually connect with my flow and actually have fun! I love doing my taxes. I just hate starting them.

Please enjoy using my timer technique for your next project. Just fifteen minutes is all you need to commit to.