So, what’s the obstacle today that’s keeping us from doing what we know needs to be done? Shy? Tired? Scared? Ashamed? Worried? Lonely?
If we ask ourselves: “What’s keeping me from doing this?”, we just might come up with an answer.
Overshare: I used to think that 80% of the world’s population was made of highly active and accomplished people and the rest of us had bouts of procrastination. There was so much shame attached in being a person who sometimes procrastinates.
I used to think that only a minority were people who procrastinated. They were “Procrastinators”! (scary!).
Today I’d like to share a book with a loved one, a very short book, about getting on track with something we might have been putting off. I’d like this book to give us a quick way around to make us feel those good feelings that we accomplished something we were kind of avoiding.
I want to take any shame people may have out of all this!
If you are not a person who procrastinates at times or ever, maybe this won’t serve you… sorry…
Let’s do this!
Friendly reminder: I am not a motivational therapist, trainer, psychologist, therapist or anything else of the sort. I’m just a person…
As a person who does at times procrastinate (I like to say “resists”), I’ve tried to find the answer to why I sometimes fall into that trap where the smallest thing keeps me from doing something.
Tunnel, Hurdle, Wall, Ladder and Board Game
A loved one used to tell me that problems were like tunnels we go through.
Sometimes, I think of a challenge as a hurdle we jump over like a little prized dog in a competition, with a little gentle clapping from the audience when we jump over this little fence.
Then, there’s the Kool-Aid Man’s wall that he just BUSTS STRAIGHT THROUGH!
And, there’s the ladder, that we know that we pull Ourself up to the next rung, then the next to be able to make it to the top.
Lastly, is the board game. When we visualize our efforts forwards through challenges and objectives, the board game is a nice way to visualize it.
I kinda love that!
We can visualize how we’re going to handle our situation with ways to help us put one foot in front of the other in ways that suit the situation.
See it, feel it, label/identify it, do it?
In a moment of resistance (I’m not going to call it procrastination), I think a good way through is to acknowledge it.
If we know why we’re resisting: acknowledge it.
Help Wanted
Why not ask for a hand from someone?
Yeah, they will know your “deep shame” about what you consider something bad, but they’re probably a loved one who wants you to feel good, right? So what’s an hour to help you through? Sure, it might be a longer process, big deal! We stand in our own way A LOT.
Sometimes resisting means it’s simply too heavy for us to do alone and we need a hand to push the problem out of the way.
Finished! Completed! Done!
Marking something as completed feels good. Well, I’m finished with this MiniBook and I hope the little steps are helpful to some.
- Identify the hurdle
- Understand where we’re coming from
- Visualize the hurdle in the kind of blockage it is
- Add humor if you can
- Ask for help
- Do one step at a time: like in a board game, a ladder and sometimes, even like the Kool Aid Man 😉
Enjoy 🙂
Karine