Breaking the Habit of Procrastination

Juanita Ecker

 

Everything has its “starting point.” January is often a clear starting point for those who want to create new lifestyle habits. Most likely, you immediately thought of some common new year resolutions— maybe you have some. In a recent Forbes article, they found the most common new years goals to be: living healthier, “getting happy,” losing weight, exercising, stopping smoking, and reducing drinking. In this same article, we find that less than 10% actually reach their resolutions. I would argue that many don’t achieve their resolutions because they push off the starting point, resulting in their discouragement of the overall goal. This is a prime example of how procrastination can hold us back from reaching our full potential.

 

Procrastination is a common cyclical struggle. It promotes a feeling of uneasiness and guilt. For example, clients tend to beat themselves up when they delay working on a project. Yet, they continue with the pattern (which continues their feeling of guilt), often because there are unresolved emotions that are triggering the behavior of procrastination.

 

Common Behaviors and Our Reasons Behind Them

Here are some comments I hear from clients regarding their frustration with procrastination.

  • “I can’t get my head wrapped around working on this project.”

  • “I used to wait until the last minute to do assignments in school and it turned out ok.”

  • “I find myself doing busy work or anything but the task that needs to be done.”

  • “I don’t want to do the project ahead of time because it won’t be good enough; so I’ll wait until the last minute.”

  • “I don’t want to get started because I don’t know what direction to take.”

 

We have to ask ourselves, “What is the real reason behind my procrastination?”

Is it because:

  • “I don’t have the courage to begin because I don’t have it all figured out yet.”

  • “I don’t think I’m worthy of putting in the work & time to reach my full potential. So, why bother?”

  • “I need to distract myself from the stress I feel under the weight of this project.”

  • “I don’t believe I have what it takes to successfully complete this project.”

  • “I don’t trust myself to take the ‘right’ first step.”

 

Using the Emotion Code to Break Habits

So how do we combat procrastination? Is it even possible to break the cycle of procrastination?

Many of my clients have asked me these questions. While there are many ways to help with this issue, I can confidently speak about what has worked for my clients. In my years of working with the Emotion Code, I have helped so many clients eliminate their unwanted habits by targeting the negative emotions (like the ones above) that trigger these behaviors.

 

If you feel like you’ve tried everything to fight procrastination (or any other annoying habits) and you just can’t seem to shake it — let’s talk!  We can see if the Emotion Code is an option for you. After all, it IS a new year. Don’t push off an opportunity to gain freedom from what has been holding you back for so long.