Rethinking Procrastination

Procrastination is a dumping ground for excuses as to why something didn’t happen, and an overused excuse for our delay in accomplishing our agreed upon task. We identify ourselves as procrastinators to distract from our responsibility. But diving headfirst into why you procrastinate can serve you to understand yourself better and to see why it could possibly interrupt you from your brilliance.

Story: I was attempting to refinance the home I had owned for over thirty years, but I delayed, delayed, delayed. Why? Because I was afraid of the paperwork. I considered myself ill equipped to figure it out and made up a story in my mind about how I would fail, so instead of failing, I delayed trying. What you need to know is this, after a long time of delaying, I asked for help from a friend and practitioner, and through prayer support I accomplished my task, sent in the paperwork, and all went smooth and easy. I had also played this same game with paying back taxes. In the end, what I discovered was fear, fear was causing me to delay my actions.

Individuals often use procrastination to explain themselves but that does not work. There are many more meaningful questions you can ask yourself. Questions like: What am I avoiding? Why do I put off the things that I need to do? Why would I avoid the tasks that could help me express myself? Am I afraid of failing? Am I afraid of being brilliant?

These questions, asked with the honest intention to understand oneself, will gift the asker with knowledge and understanding that will reveal to them what they need to know because they had the courage to sit in the discomfort and ask.

Between being who you are currently and who you would like to be is this vast rich space. This space can appear scary and dark, but in truth it is an incubator for understanding and brilliance. To understand this deeper truth stored in this dark space: you sit quietly, intentionally and listen.

So STOP calling yourself a procrastinator. To embrace your fullness, you cannot use these damaging labels and expect to change the outcome. Return to what you know to be true, which is, if all of life is for us, then this part of your journey is also for you. Stop with the label, ask yourself, why am I resisting, and move on from there. You are more than you have thought yourself to be. Behind the story is the fullness of your expression.