‘I didn’t always enjoy sitting down to write. It was a constant, inner struggle to begin with, but I loved how great I felt after i had written. ‘
There are things in our past that we would be wise to hold on to, others that we would be wise to let go of. If we have always believed that we are failures, that we couldn’t possibly do this or that, then it will be difficult to change our belief system, though this does not make it impossible. Just because things always turned out a certain way in the past does not mean that they will in the future isaimini. Past experiences, whether good or bad, are lessons for our growth. Our failures are stepping stones to our successes. They do not determine our future other than to help us to grow and evolve ever upward, ever forward.
HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU PROCRASTINATE?
Do you feel lazy? Unmotivated? Do you envy those who finish the things they start, the ‘lucky’ people who have careers they enjoy? Do you believe that this is how you will always be? The reason you feel this way is because you reinforce this belief on a regular, daily basis. You believe this because this is your inner chatter, the words you say to yourself each time you acknowledge that hours, days, maybe weeks have gone by and you are still waiting for the inspiration, some spark that will motivate you to sit down and write. I will tell you right now before we go any further that this isn’t going to happen. If your writing depends on a spark of inspiration, a brilliant light bulb idea that will send you rushing to your desk, or bed in my case, as that is where the majority of my writing gets written, you are waiting in vain.
‘Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. ‘
~ Chuck Close.
Every time that voice in your head reminds you that you never finish anything, you reinforce this belief. If this is the nature of your inner dialogue, no amount of affirmations to the contrary will convince your subconscious otherwise and it is the subconscious that we need to convince.
How can you change this ongoing cycle and move forward with your goals? Negative, limiting beliefs and feelings of failure and inadequacy have to be replaced with positive beliefs, a new dialogue. We all know that nature abhors a vacuum. This is true in every area of life. You cannot get rid of a thought, a habit, an addiction, if you have nothing with which to fill its place. If you attempt to change a habit, kick an addiction, banish a tiresome thought, without replacing it with another, you will find that in no time at all the old thought/addiction will return with a vengeance and you will be worse off than you were before as you will have reinforced the belief that this is who or how you are.
The vacuum that is left has to be filled with something that will make you feel a little better about yourself. It does not have to be anything drastic. Something simple, that you can realistically believe and accept will do. It would be foolish to tell yourself that you will publish three full length novels in the course of the next two years. It may happen, it does happen, but you don’t really believe that, as you wouldn’t be reading this now if you did. So, how do we go about changing our belief system? We start by finding ways to feel better about our track record. We cannot believe something unless we feel it to be true.
IS THERE A WAY TO FEEL BETTER?
‘No matter what I think, say, or choose to believe, the answer will always be ‘Yes. ‘
There definitely is! Take a few minutes now and think of three things that you have finished, anything that you have seen through to the end. Is there something in your past that you never thought you would ever manage to do, yet somehow you did it? Probably, in hindsight, you no longer think that it was anything major, nothing to boast about, but I would wage that before you saw it through to the end it seemed insurmountable. The fact remains that you did it. You did what you had to do and saw it through to the end. You did not procrastinate.
Some things we naturally give priority to; the basic, everyday necessities. We eat, we bathe, we go to work, we make sure the children arrive at school on time and we chauffer them to their extra curriculum activities. We fetch the shopping and pay our utility bills before we are disconnected. Doesn’t all this prove that we are not procrastinators? We don’t dilly dally with the important stuff. We may hit the snooze button a couple of times in the morning but we get up and do what we have to do. Does this mean, however, that we only move our butts if something is at stake? Does this mean that we need to have an incentive to get anything done?