Mindfulness...A Cure For Procrastination
We’re all irrational human beings. Who hasn’t set their alarm clock for an ungodly hour, believing they’ll wake up like a spring chicken the next morning to seize the day, only to press the snooze button way too many times?
I know I have.
Do you ever find yourself scrolling through social media, organizing your closet, pulling weeds in your garden or doing anything else you can to distract yourself from the very thing you need to be doing?
Why in the world do we procrastinate, even when we know that avoiding our priorities will bring us more dissatisfaction in the future?
The definition of procrastination is “the voluntary delay of an intended action despite knowing that one will probably be worse off.”
Sometimes, deferring an action could be a good thing. Like taking a break before writing an angry email or meditating on a thought before sharing a big idea.
Most of the time though, procrastination is not like those things. It usually looks like choosing random and pointless activities to pass the time instead of accomplishing an important task.
Why do we procrastinate?
It’s not because we’re lazy. There’s nothing lazy about pulling weeds and organizing your home.
Procrastination is actually more related to how well we regulate our emotions.
In a 2013 study, Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Sirois found that procrastination is “a form of self-regulation failure that involves the primacy of short-term mood repair and emotion regulation over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions”.
Which basically means that if a task on our to-do list stirs up negative emotions, we’ll prioritize dismissing the discomfort over completing the task itself, if we don’t know how to properly address our moods.
Every week I sit down to write a blog post about something I find interesting (and hope you find interesting too!). And every week, I procrastinate. Sometimes, I’ll read an extra chapter in a book, check Instagram or try out a new recipe in the kitchen instead of diving head first into work. These structured procrastination activities add value to my life in some ways, but also impede on the time that I’ve allocated to meet my weekly deadline.
The reason why I sometimes put off my work until the last minute is because I’m not always confident in my writing skills, which brings unpleasant emotions like anxiety, worry and self-doubt. I’ve struggled with this limiting belief my entire life and it takes conscious and continual effort to overcome it.
How do we stop procrastinating?
While there are many ways to fight off this paralyzing pattern, the best place to start is to become more self aware through creating a mindfulness practice. Research shows that the more mindful we are, the less we’ll procrastinate which affects our psychological well-being in a positive way.
Mindfulness also gives us an opportunity to meet ourselves with kindness and self-compassion. The more we show forgiveness and compassion to ourselves, the less likely we are to procrastinate in the future.
Want to broaden your mindfulness practice?
Here are a few habits that I use often:
Meditation - ranging from 5 minutes to 1 hour a day. If you’ve never meditated before, it’s all good. Don’t worry about doing it wrong. Distractions will come and they’re totally normal. Start small and try 1 minute per day at first, then tack on more minutes as you build a consistent practice.
Journaling - typically in the morning, but anytime of day will do. Sometimes I’ll do a brain dump of whatever I’m thinking about. It can be frivolous topics or very meaningful. When I get stuck, I simply write, “what I’m really trying to say is…” and that usually gets me flowing again.
Nature walks - I like the beach! But even walking around the neighborhood works. The mixture of being outside and moving my body gives me more access to my inner world.
Naming my emotions - this one is easier said than done, and it’s a powerful exercise. When we name our emotions and express our internal experiences, it gives an allowance for them to get unstuck and flow through you. You can download my FREE guide on this here.
Therapy & Coaching - helps me dig deep into my blindspots that I might have trouble seeing on my own.
Today is yesterday’s tomorrow. And instead of getting down on yourself for not doing ALL THE THINGS, take a moment and pause. Slow down to speed up. It might seem counterintuitive but going inward and listening to yourself more intently might give you the insight you need to break through the hard habit of procrastination.
Which of these mindfulness techniques would you like to start doing?