Relief from Procrastination
EFT Tapping Meditation for Procrastination Relief
In order to reduce or eliminate procrastination it’s important to know the reasons why we procrastinate. Often we think, if only I had a better system, I would get so much more done. Perhaps I need to organize my office a different way or have a more efficient filing system or maybe it's that nifty new calendar app.
Certainly there is value in exploring the systems that will best support us. However if we aren’t exploring the emotions, the blocks and the unhelpful stories that are not serving us then having the best systems in the world are not going to solve the procrastination puzzle.
It’s similar to if you wanted to learn to surf. If you go out and buy the best surfboard but you’ve never taken a surf lesson there’s going to be a limit to how much that board will help you. That however is still merely a surface layer.
If we look deeper, even if you think it looks so fun to be riding the waves, if you have an intense fear of drowning, you're going to find it hard to relax and enjoy the process of learning to surf. If you don’t like being cold, or if you're always thinking about all the creatures under the water that might attack you or perhaps somewhere in you're brain is the memory of being forced to learn to swim as a child, all of these things are going to impede your progress no matter how good the board is.
Likely you'd find reasons (that may even seem logical) not to go surfing at all or to end a session early or simply not take the effort you might make if you were actually at ease and enjoying what you were doing rather than being ruled by all the unconscious fears and blocks.
The same is true for anything we are trying to do but can’t seem to take action on.
In the book “EFT for Procrastination” author Gloria Arenson MFT writes “Procrastination is your way of avoiding your fantasy of reality.” In the above example, your fantasy of surfing rather than the reality of it.
Dr. Tim Pychyl professor of psychology and a procrastination researcher says “Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem.” And it’s often not a motivation problem either. We may be very motivated and still not be able to move forward.
Procrastination is about trying to make ourselves feel better in the short term despite the longterm implications which include lowering our sense of self worth and self trust. When we procrastinate we are distracting ourselves from facing the negative emotions we don’t want to face.
As an example, I noticed all my habits of procrastination coming up as I thought about writing this newsletter. The ways we procrastinate are as numerous as the reasons and could be an article all it’s own. Just a few of mine include, getting something to eat, cleaning the house, going for a walk, watching Instagram videos for hours on end and many, many more.
Sometimes the thing I use to procrastinate is something I want to do anyway or some chore that needs to get done. When that is the case, I still may end up frustrated that i did not do what i set out to do. Even worse than doing something constructive to procrastinate, often it’s something that i’m not actually interested in but I’m using as an excuse for or distraction from doing the thing I had set my mind to. Either way, I’m being ruled by my emotions and not having the freedom to make empowering choices. Freedom to actually do what i planned to do.
In my newsletter example the emotions that came up for me included both some of my generic fears (“It’s too hard”, “I don’t know how.” and “I’m going to do it wrong.”) to more specific ones like, “I don’t know what to say.” or “Of all the ideas I have, I’m feeling overwhelmed of which one to choose.” or “Nobody will find value in what I’m sharing” or even “I’ll look stupid and be embarrassed.” It's always the unhelpful stories and our emotional response to them that are the real limiting factors to our ability to take action and stop procrastinating.
EFT Tapping is one tool I use to explore these fears. Sometimes I’ll do that on my own and sometimes I do it with the support of another practitioner as i did today.
With or without tapping, the key to your ability to take action is to explore the particular stories blocks and emotions that are causing the procrastination in the first place. There may be some common themes and it may also vary depending on the particular thing you are procrastinating on.
Sometimes what is getting in our way is conscious and sometimes it is in our subconscious. In a future newsletter I’ll explore some of the ways you can explore and reduce the impact of what is stopping you.
In the meantime, I’ve created a tapping meditation that I hope you’ll find helpful if you are struggling with procrastination. You can find it on my Youtube channel here:
EFT Tapping Meditation for Procrastination Relief
If you’d like more targeted support reach out and we can have a conversation about the specific blocks getting in your way.