Procrastination is the biggest self-sabotaging villain of them all! But just to make sure, let me do some research and I’ll get to you in a little while.
When you think and/or say “Just hang on a minute” or “I’ll do that soon” … that ‘minute‘, or that ‘soon‘, can very easily and inevitably turn into tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year … you see where I’m going with this.
That inner voice inside of us tends to want to keep relentlessly bombarding us with the “you should do this or that” , or “you should have done this or that”. Like who needs that kind of bullying! I call it “shoulditus”, and it is definitely a clear state of internal dis-ease!
What a complete waste of our valuable mental real estate! Right? I mean we could be doing so much more with our time & energy … what I prefer is this “coulditus”!
In my personal experience, there are 5 different types of behavioural styles that come to mind when we talk about procrastination:
1. The Over Doer
2. The Perfectionist
3. The People Pleaser
4. The Fear Monger
5. The Distractinator
THE OVERDOER: This multi tasking person who just keeps on: adding things to their ToDo List; creating new ToDo Lists; losing their ToDo Lists … even though they know very well that it is going to be near impossible to get ‘er all done, they still need to write it down and put energy towards it. The Overdoer overdoes because they have subconscious thoughts that it is essential for the success in their life, and if they don’t get ‘er done … then all hell will break loose. If the Overdoer just keeps adding tasks to their List, then they will keep busy, and … keep keeping busy and that way, all the things that are important, like really important … will always stay there, waiting with anticipation for you to do them one day. And we know that in this fertile soil, overwhelm & anxiety will grow.
Reminder: Your inbox will never, ever be empty so give yourself a helping hand and stop adding to it!
THE PERFECTIONIST: You know, the one who says “umm, not yet … it’s not quite right, I’ll have to keep at it to make it right … I’ll just have to do some more stuff until it’s the way I want it ” By wanting things to be perfect, and I mean ALL THINGS, the Perfectionist becomes less productive, and potentially talks them self out of reaching their big goals, because they are not quite ready. A cousin of the perfectionist is the comparisonist – always trying to match or be better than what they see around them.
Reminder: It won’t become the best. Release the need for perfection while your energy is still in motion, and stop harbouring stress!
THE PEOPLE PLEASER: Face it, if you keep focussing on pleasing others, you just can’t focus on what’s important for you – and you can’t get to those things that your dreams are made of … and you can’t be “let down”! OUCH! The fear of rejection runs deep in people pleasers.
Reminder: You are enabling others from being able to figure out their own stuff. Prioritize you and your needs, and the rest will follow. I promise!
THE FEAR MONGER: Fear of rejection, fear of uncertainty, fear of discomfort … judgement, failure, success, criticism, abandonment, etc.. Bring on all the reasons why it is unsafe to go ahead and do what you want. All of these hide behind the mask of procrastination, and will do anything to stop you from doing what you want.
Reminder: Your brain will keep believing you if you constantly tell it the same story. You have to step into your fear and walk with it, and listen to the stories and the beliefs that are hidden behind and under the cloak of procrastination because that is where truth lives!
THE DISTRACTINATOR: This one is a hard one to manage, but is so incredible when you learn to catch it and turn it into focus. You know that time when you are fully ready to start a simple 10 minute project, and after half an hour or more, you still haven’t started it! Let’s take the simple task of setting your phone alarm prior to going to bed, oh may as well just click on FB to see if there are any messages, oh look at this reel, oh and this one on tic toc, the dancing cow isn’t that incredible … you see!
Reminder: You will be distracted when your subconscious mind is telling you that you need to be and stay comfortable. Your mind always does what it thinks is comfortable and safe for you, so the real work lies in making the uncomfortable comfortable!
You guessed it! It’s all about the special combination of habits, patterns, thoughts, beliefs and action.
We all have something we want to change about us, whether it is in the physical, emotional, spiritual, social or mental realm. I find great solace in creating new habits to push the icky ones away.
Sounds simple right, but you’ve got to work at it.
What’s one simple change you want to make?
How important is it for you to make this change? Like really think about it! On a scale of 1-10 (1 being “doesn’t matter” and 10 being “sooo uber important).
How important is it for you to make changes in your life that align with your values, strengths, desires and passion?
I always, always start with curiosity. That’s why you’re here, right? Then we move through the ladder from awareness, to acknowledgement, to clarity, to articulation, to decision to action … all essential rungs on the ladder of change, held together by the side rails of support!
I’ve created an easy to use magical morning habit tracker to help get you to the top rung. You will get to use your own creativity to choose the things you’d like to do in your day. It’s like a big pool full of things that you love, that you get to choose from every single day. Imagine the freedom and the fun that you can have with this. No, you don’t have to do the same thing every single day, nor do you have to do it only in the morning. You’ll find a short video on how you can customize your own tracker with have given you my amazing pool of ideas that you may wish to fish from.
Integrative Health Coach, Hypnotherapist, Poet
Specializing in Women’s Empowerment & Play
Janine McJannet 
Looks like I am a mix of a few above mentioned types. Hurry up and wait!
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