"Change by hypnosis" |
Who doesn’t put off something s/he finds unpleasant, painful, hard, scary, or boring? That’s normal.
The “last minute” gets a lot of things done, and if they are not done to perfection, well, at least they
are done enough that we can dust our hands and heave a sigh of relief.
At the dangerous end of the procrastination spectrum, you will find those hostile folks who
automatically balk at any “have to” keeping company with the meek and terrorized who believe you
can’t fail if you don’t try.
In between, you will notice the more friendly types who don’t want to quit fun to start work joking
with the whiz kids who regard their undone tasks as so easy that they can do them in “no time at all”.
What all of us procrastinators have in common is that we are attempting to avoid the unpleasant
feelings we associate with the task, not the task itself.
But, when we stop to analyze it, the feelings we are avoiding - anxiety that it is too hard, or that we
are inadequate to do it right, or that it’s going to hurt (us, or someone) - are often easier and nicer
than what we feel BECAUSE we don’t just go ahead and do it. So, instead of just worrying that we
won’t do it right, we ALSO feel stressed, anxious, depressed, guilty and frustrated because we haven’t
done it YET.
In short, we usually feel worse for not doing it than we would if we just felt the feelings we are trying
to avoid. So what’s the point of all that suffering, since we STILL have to do it anyway?
Think about it. Isn’t that true?
And, anyway, the only really hard part is GETTING STARTED, isn’t it?
But, let’s pause a second.
I wonder if you noticed something. Did you notice that the only thing that is holding you back is the
desire to avoid the negative feelings that you associate with the task? To associate is to link…to hook
a couple thoughts or things together that don’t have any cause/effect relationship. Associations are
like coffee and cake, mashed potatoes and gravy, speeding and sports cars – they don’t have to go
together. You were taught associations. What if they aren’t necessarily true?
What if it turns out to be not that hard? What if it isn’t really scary or painful or boring? What if you
are making it a big deal because of what someone whom you may not even remember at the moment
once told you? What if it is more like doing your homework in sixth grade than writing War and
Peace? What if it is more like meeting a political candidate running for office than confronting a fire-
breathing dragon?
After all that fuss, would you dare admit it?
But, let’s get back to getting started. That’s really the issue.
All those “WHY’s” that you use to justify being frozen in place just suddenly stop being important once
you get started. Poof. All gone. Just like magic.
So, how DO you get started? Well, how did you do it last time? This isn’t the first time you ever
procrastinated, is it?. And it’s not the first time you procrastinated and got over it. So, how did you do
it before? What got you going? What do you think would happen if you did that again?
There are two ways that almost always work. One is JUST DO IT. The other is MAKE A PLAN THEN DO
IT.
Long-term complex tasks like building a house require a plan. Painting a room or starting a business
go better if you have one, too.
A plan simply breaks the task into chunks that can be done in segments of available time. If you are
committed to a completion date, your plan provides the time frame. Your plan also allows you to
define the materials or resources you need so that you have them when you need them. If you divide
your task into 30 minute segments, you can feel good when you have COMPLETED (Yep, that’s the
word, and doesn’t it sound wonderful?) that chunk.
Then, you review your progress, your time frame, plan the next chunk, and REWARD yourself with
something fun. This is so that, in the future, you will have a NEW association, which is “I complete a
task someone said was ___(hard,boring, scary, painful) and I feel GREAT!”.
A plan is a way of doing what you are going to do anyway, but you do it more efficiently and with a lot
less stress, anxiety, and self-punishment.
The “last minute” gets a lot of things done, and if they are not done to perfection, well, at least they
are done enough that we can dust our hands and heave a sigh of relief.
At the dangerous end of the procrastination spectrum, you will find those hostile folks who
automatically balk at any “have to” keeping company with the meek and terrorized who believe you
can’t fail if you don’t try.
In between, you will notice the more friendly types who don’t want to quit fun to start work joking
with the whiz kids who regard their undone tasks as so easy that they can do them in “no time at all”.
What all of us procrastinators have in common is that we are attempting to avoid the unpleasant
feelings we associate with the task, not the task itself.
But, when we stop to analyze it, the feelings we are avoiding - anxiety that it is too hard, or that we
are inadequate to do it right, or that it’s going to hurt (us, or someone) - are often easier and nicer
than what we feel BECAUSE we don’t just go ahead and do it. So, instead of just worrying that we
won’t do it right, we ALSO feel stressed, anxious, depressed, guilty and frustrated because we haven’t
done it YET.
In short, we usually feel worse for not doing it than we would if we just felt the feelings we are trying
to avoid. So what’s the point of all that suffering, since we STILL have to do it anyway?
Think about it. Isn’t that true?
And, anyway, the only really hard part is GETTING STARTED, isn’t it?
But, let’s pause a second.
I wonder if you noticed something. Did you notice that the only thing that is holding you back is the
desire to avoid the negative feelings that you associate with the task? To associate is to link…to hook
a couple thoughts or things together that don’t have any cause/effect relationship. Associations are
like coffee and cake, mashed potatoes and gravy, speeding and sports cars – they don’t have to go
together. You were taught associations. What if they aren’t necessarily true?
What if it turns out to be not that hard? What if it isn’t really scary or painful or boring? What if you
are making it a big deal because of what someone whom you may not even remember at the moment
once told you? What if it is more like doing your homework in sixth grade than writing War and
Peace? What if it is more like meeting a political candidate running for office than confronting a fire-
breathing dragon?
After all that fuss, would you dare admit it?
But, let’s get back to getting started. That’s really the issue.
All those “WHY’s” that you use to justify being frozen in place just suddenly stop being important once
you get started. Poof. All gone. Just like magic.
So, how DO you get started? Well, how did you do it last time? This isn’t the first time you ever
procrastinated, is it?. And it’s not the first time you procrastinated and got over it. So, how did you do
it before? What got you going? What do you think would happen if you did that again?
There are two ways that almost always work. One is JUST DO IT. The other is MAKE A PLAN THEN DO
IT.
Long-term complex tasks like building a house require a plan. Painting a room or starting a business
go better if you have one, too.
A plan simply breaks the task into chunks that can be done in segments of available time. If you are
committed to a completion date, your plan provides the time frame. Your plan also allows you to
define the materials or resources you need so that you have them when you need them. If you divide
your task into 30 minute segments, you can feel good when you have COMPLETED (Yep, that’s the
word, and doesn’t it sound wonderful?) that chunk.
Then, you review your progress, your time frame, plan the next chunk, and REWARD yourself with
something fun. This is so that, in the future, you will have a NEW association, which is “I complete a
task someone said was ___(hard,boring, scary, painful) and I feel GREAT!”.
A plan is a way of doing what you are going to do anyway, but you do it more efficiently and with a lot
less stress, anxiety, and self-punishment.
Mastering procrastination is simply substituting one habit for
another. Habits are usually the result of repetition, but they
happen much easier and much faster through hypnosis. "Master
Procrastination" is a complete hypnosis session which is
designed to implant the pleasure of accomplishment and the joy of
completion into your subconscious mind. Order MPCD#1 for
$29.95. It also makes a great gift.
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| "You CAN Master Procrastination!" |
