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OK, procrastinators, it’s time to face the music. (Does anyone here actually NOT procrastinate?? First of all, how dare you? And second, kindly show yourself out.)
It seems like everyone is forever trying to overcome procrastination. A lot of us believe that if we just read enough “life-hacking” articles we can force ourselves into submission. But if you couldn’t guess, we aren’t down with that.
In this month’s Side Chat, we’re talking about:
- When procrastination means something deeper, and when it’s not a big deal.
- When your intuition uses procrastination to try to send you a message, and how to interpret it.
- Using education and research as a form of sneaky procrastination.
- When procrastination masquerades as perfectionism.
- How you can release the pressure so you don’t feel the compulsion to procrastinate as often.
After you’ve listened, leave a comment to let us know how you’ve been procrastinating and how this episode resonated with you!
FREE WORKSHOP ON JANUARY 28!
We’re hosting a free, LIVE online workshop on Monday, January 28, at 1pm Eastern, and we’d love for you to be there!
How to find your passion in 2019.
If you’ve been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, confused, and uncertain about your direction in both your life and career, this is a REALLY great place for you to start.
We’re packing everything we’ve learned in the last 7 years about how to figure out what to do with your life into this workshop (well, everything that will fit in an hour, at least!).
We only do these kinds of free workshops a few times per year, so join us while you can! There WILL be a free replay video for people who register, so sign up even if you can’t be there live.
GET ON THE PPVE VIP LIST!
Our twice-yearly online group coaching program, the Passion Plan Virtual Experience, is going to be opening for enrollment on Monday, January 28!
It’s a 6-week course (with a mix of videos, workbook assignments, and live Google hangouts with the two of us) that helps you figure out what to do with your life. Think of it as the “AP Life” class you should have taken in high school, but never got the chance!
If you’re on the VIP list, you’ll be the first to know about our early-bird pricing and the handful of free coaching sessions we’re going to be giving away!
We’re only taking 50 people in this round, and enrollment is first-come, first-served. If you want in, you’ll definitely want to be on this list.
So I’m just getting around to listening to this podcast because let’s be honest, I was procrastinating on it. In fact, I have about 20 unopened emails from you all that I have been procrastinating on (sorry!!) Clearly I needed to listen to this podcast and it very much resonated with me! I have lots of thoughts floating in my head right now but I guess the main one is, how do you know why you’re procrastinating?
For example, I’m thinking about becoming a professional organizer. I’ve been carrying around Marie Kondo’s book in my purse for 2 months and I haven’t touched it. My therapist wonders if I’m scared of having to do something with the knowledge that I get from the book. I’m wondering if I haven’t touched the book because I really don’t want to be a professional organizer and then it will be back to the drawing board. I have no idea what it is but I beat myself up every time I see the book for not being able to do something as easy as read. Is there a way to tell why exactly I’m procrastinating???
Hey Sarah,
It sounds to me like a potential reason for your procrastination is that you’re putting a TON of pressure on yourself. Like, reading Marie Kondo’s book can’t just be a fun and enjoyable exercise. Apparently when you read it you have to know or not know if THIS is the thing you want to do FOR THE REST OF YORU LIFE, which is SO much pressure, and which saps the joy out of it completely. It’s like someone who wants to write a book but has terrible writer’s block because whenever they sit down to do it, they feel pressure to write A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!! And then they can’t, because who could possibly write something that good?!
Obviously this is a nuanced issue and deserves a lot more personal attention than we’re capable of giving in a blog comment. But I suspect that you can’t start things because you think everything you do has to MEAN something or be really productive or clarify your path in some way. You’re not allowed to just experiment and see where things go, or go with the flow. You’re constricting yourself so much! You’re allowed to not know what’s going to happen. It’s OK for you to just read the book and see if it resonates. You won’t be lost forever if you don’t end up liking the idea of becoming a professional organizer. I hope this resonates with you! 🙂