Procrastination- Maybe you are not lazy and incompetent!

So many creatives find themselves procrastinating on things they want to do. We have all been there and it sucks.

First the most obvious- it does not help to berate yourself! It actually makes you feel bad and creates an internal friction that makes it harder and harder to get anything done.

It saps energy.

So when you start to hear the berating internal voices saying things like you are lazy and incompetent, it is a signal that you need to look at some questions:

1. Am I giving it the time that it needs? This is both the amount of time and a time of day where there is the energy and focus. If you are trying to get yourself to do it at a time of day when you are exhausted for example, your inner rebel will wake up to protect you.

2. Are you thinking of it as one BIG thing? If you break it into steps and focus on just the first thing, you will not feel as overwhelmed by it.

3. What is competing with it for time? There might be other priorities that you need to weigh. What is the most pressing thing that you want to attend to? Maybe it is OK to wait for this other thing to be complete. Or maybe you can have a more realistic understanding of how long it will take.

4. What is it about the thing that you are trying to do: Do you need more support, either co-working/accountability or to talk it through with someone? Do you need to do more research or learn some skill in order to move forward?

Listen for the message that your resistance is trying to give you!

You may need to think about what you can edit out of what you are doing with your time, or figure out a way to budget your time so that you can get the self-care, rest and nourishment you need in order to do the thing you want to do.

Remember as you ask yourself these things to bring a sense of compassion.

​Say to yourself "OK, I am not bad, so what is it that I need in order to move forward?"