End Procrastination with Meditation & Hypnosis?
To Do or Not To Do - That is the Question ... but is that the right question?
Procrastination is a delay in actions we know we either need to, or want to take. We feel a sense of resistance and often use avoidance tactics to prevent us just getting on with it.
One of the most obvious causes is overwhelm.
Simply thinking of too many things on the to do list.
This is why chunking information is very helpful.
That is to reduce the list down to chunks of activities that are related to one another and /or focus areas with the priorities at the top.
For example.
Write a list of the things you need to do in each category such as
Home
Garden
Business
Health
Health might include
book dentist
renew Gym
find holistic Doctor
research best supplements
Business might include
contact website designer
plan content topics for next quarter
map out new product range
bookkeeping & VAT
Whatever list you work on, make sure you write your priority tasks at the top, the tasks that could really do with being completed soon and everything comes after that.
Prioritising allows for greater focus.
It’s true that the priorities will change as the date for completion draws closer so you might opt to add that.
What happens to our brain when we have a jumbled set of things to do, scribbled lists everywhere and demands on our attention hiding in the background?
We become confused with information and the demands on our attention = overload!
Why do you Procrastinate?
Do you wonder why you get stuck? It's all about the Focus.
I hosted a coaching session with a group of people whose mission and goal was the same but whose lives, habits, reasons and beliefs were all very very different.
My role in the session was as the Mindset Coach and the format was very relaxed and fluid. As with every coaching or therapy session - I learn as much as the participants.
What struck a chord for me was the main trigger for feeling good about their goal and staying the course - was what they focused on.
The most contented and happy folks were also focused on their gains, not the losses.
And this is of course the same as what underpins failure and procrastination.
You know that whole phrase 'you get more of what you focus on'...?
Well ...
Scratch that for a moment and think about this.
You get less of what you want when you focus on what you don't.
You may need to read that again.
Working With A Client ~ Deep Diving Into Procrastination Only To Find Trauma?
It was extraordinary to discover what was being triggered in my client when he was stuck with his writing. As a journalist by trade, writing a book wasn’t going to be an obvious cause of procrastination and yet … there he was - stuck!
We used Hypnosis combined with a technique called ‘parts therapy’ (though it’s called many things these days!). The combination allowed for the hypnosis to relax his conscious ‘critical’ mind and reduce all distractions.
Part's Therapy (that I’ll write & create video’s on soon), allowed for the enquiry of his deep mind to shortcut overly analysing what the true trigger was.
The outcome of the work we did, helped my client get to the true root of the trigger for his procrastination, so he could challenge it, release the emotional charge and set in motion the positive beliefs that underpin his motivation for writing.
You can read about the sessions and the outcome on my practice website: https://practice.enhancedlife.org/procrastination-eliminated/
Meantime …
An Exercise To Overcome/Analyse Causes of Procrastination
Your brain won’t help you but thinks it is …
Your brain's hardwiring is designed to protect you.
Imagine you're a computer and your hard drive has an anti virus protection setup.
It's triggered whenever it senses any resistance.
Resistance comes from underlying beliefs that often aren't obvious.
Any resistance is a suggestion of potential danger and your brain is hardwired to move away from that.
We move away from pain & towards pleasure
Let's say you want to grow your business and you've studied the best methods and you learn tons of tips.
So you absolutely know WHAT to do
But you still aren't doing it.
That's because your focus is all wrong
Consider for a moment all the thoughts you have around the task you find yourself avoiding and write them down.
When you think about the tasks you need to do, WHAT SPECIFICALLY comes up?
By identifying the thoughts you automatically think, you're identifying the focus and therefore what your virus protection is stopping you from doing.
The magic really happens when you change the thoughts or reframe them so they feel different.
As you identify each negative, draining, fear based thought - reframe it.
Like so ...
- I don't want to tidy my desk, it's boring
Boring is not just a word - it has meaning unconsciously. That meaning is that it’s PAINFUL!
Your mind will protect you from pain and aims to assist you in seeking pleasure. So when you reframe the task by adding something that makes it enjoyable the task becomes ...
- To make tidying my desk interesting I'm going to listen to my fav audio book.
And ...
- When I've tidied my desk I will celebrate with a fifteen minute break.
A more serious cause of resistance is the fear of failing.
- If I try to do this business project and fail, everyone will say I'm an idiot for believing it could work and wasting my time
So you find a way to write that task down so it feels different for example;
- Whilst doing this project I'm going to learn a ton of what works and what doesn't do that I can share my experiences with others and develop a more efficient plan. When I share what I've learned with others, they'll be impressed with my tenacity and determination plus I'll have resources to teach / sell.
And ...
- I'll feel excellent to have completed the project despite the challenges
So first organise your lists of things to do and focus on one category at a time. Check what you focus your thinking on and reframe the way that feels.
When you feel good about your tasks, you’ll find the resistance dissolves!
NLP is also a technique I use a great deal and I’ve found it incredibly helpful in my Coaching sessions to help clients move through the overwhelm and out of procrastination. There’s a few helpful NLP Coaching Questions on the website that you’ll find useful.
So to the question heading this article …
Can Hypnosis or Meditation stop procrastination?
Well the fact is … when you calm your mind, silence the overload, quiet the inner chatter and dissolve the anxiety that surfaces from overload - you can view the things you want to achieve and what might be holding you back.
A calm mind also becomes clearer. And meditation reduces the effect of anxiety, therefore lessening the effect on your mission.
Hypnosis as I’ve mentioned in other articles, is very similar to meditation as the state of brain wave activity is the same. Anything from alpha to theta will enable you to accept positive affirmations but also, as with my audios, they are designed to trigger awareness and analysis of the issues, therefore the opportunity to overcome them.
Below is the Members only content. You’ll find a Stop Procrastination Meditation that will suit you if you want to listen during the day. The audio guides you into an awake state, fully refreshed and re-energised for the day ahead!
You’ll also find a Hypnotic sleep inducing version. This is embedded with calming relaxing instructions, where many listeners report not remembering having unplugged headphones and have drifted off to sleep whilst listening to the powerful life enhancing audio.
There will be new life, behaviour, health and mind enhancing tools and audios coming soon.
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