Recently I’ve been procrastinating on a project of a bigger scale than I have done before. It was the sneaky kind of procrastination, below the radar, where I didn’t notice I was putting things off until the task became urgent. Then it was so clear, and my internal alarm bells rang. Time to fix it.
Why would anyone procrastinate? Let’s pick it apart. Procrastination is an ‘I won’t do it’ action, or rather inaction. What underlies inaction is unaligned values (I don’t want to do it) or fear (I can’t do it).
‘Unaligned values’ means that the task goes against what you believe to be right, good or true. If you feel obliged to do it anyway, procrastination is a kind of rebellion, passively trying to assert your beliefs. Sometimes these beliefs are unproductive ones, like entitlement or a demand that someone else rescues you from this task. Once you are aware of these beliefs, you can then speak up and state what you want to happen, or take some responsibility. Either way, the need for passive rebellion, and therefore away.
Fear is a far more common driver of procrastination. Fear of failure, mistakes or ridicule, or fear of success that would be followed by expectations for you to repeat that success, which can be an overwhelming burden.
Fear is generated at a deep emotional level by the ego, with the purpose of keeping you safe from all harm. While fear is useful when encountering a snake on the path, it’s useless when trying to achieve more than you ever thought possible. The ego tries to keep you ‘safe’ from work challenges by keeping you small and within your current experience. It works in opposition to growth and meeting new challenges.
So it’s perfectly natural that a big project with lots of unknowns and challenges outside of our realm of experience would lead to ego-generated fears. Those fears then magnify the potential risks – and your next step turns into a giant step that you’re not sure if you can climb. It might just be too big.
How do you manage magnified fears?
Luckily we can make the brain work for us instead of against us. Our minds create an internal representation of the outside world, using information from our senses. However, we can also create an internal version of the world by visualisation. When visualisation is done well, in plenty of detail, the mind treats this imagined scenario as real too.
If you’re thinking the secret is to visualise a positive outcome for your big project, you’re part way there. The problem with visualising the big project is we can get locked into an internal debate with the fears. The ego loves to say ‘what if?’ and you can have an ongoing battle between imagined fears and imagined success.
To these ego-fears, visualise not the step you want to take, but two steps further on, with a much bigger scale or importance.
For example, if you’re anxious about speaking in front of a group of 30, then give your success visualisation an audience of 200. Imagine that talk going well, a standing ovation, with you feeling delighted and pleased to be sharing your message with 200 people. Bring in positive emotions, feel your confident posture and breathing, smiling and enjoying yourself, and do this over and over. With continued practice, you will feel more and more comfortable in front of an imaginary 200 people.
Once an audience of 200 seems achievable, go back to your talk to 30 people. It will now seem much easier, and definitely something you are capable of. Your internal experience has expanded to a greater degree than you ‘need’ and an audience of 30 will now seem cosy, intimate and more relaxed. Now your next step is in better perspective, without magnified fears.
Big steps always look smaller once we’ve climbed them.
Next start to look at the experience you already have. List the parts of the big project that you have done before, to any degree. When you notice the similarities between your past accomplishments and your big project, you recognise that the project is not one big unknown, but contains many smaller, familiar parts.
By shrinking the fears and reducing the unknowns, the ego can relax. There is no great danger here after all.
And once the fears dissolve, then the reason for procrastinating simply goes away.