In my previous article, I revealed a few types of procrastination that happen when the conscious, rational thinking part of your mind and the unconscious emotional part of your mind have different ideas about what's important for you.
If you missed it, you can watch it here or read it here.
Today, you'll learn how your deep mind creates procrastination and then learn keys to solving it.
Do you ever find yourself procrastinating on something that you know is important to you? You consciously want to do it, but something inside of you is holding you back? If so, you’re not alone. In this article, we’ll explore two common types of procrastination and how to uncover the real source of your procrastination.
Type #1 - You Consciously Want to Do It, But Your Unconscious is Trying to Keep You Safe
The first type of procrastination happens when your unconscious mind thinks what you need to do might be in conflict with a core need - like safety, autonomy, or connection. If your unconscious mind believes doing what you need to do will be in conflict with your core needs, then it will pull you away from it.
For example, one client needed to send an important email to their community. This person had an unconscious belief that “I always make people angry when I ask for anything”. Their mind connected that if they made the receiver angry, it would permanently damage their relationship with them.
This person also had a powerful, unconscious fear of losing connection with people, and this would fire off, even when they didn’t have a close relationship with people they were sending the message to.
Type #2 - You Consciously Want to Do It, But You Don’t Believe It’s the Right Thing to Do
The second type of procrastination happens when we have consciously decided we need to do something, but there are other unconscious beliefs that are in conflict with that decision.
For example, one client was procrastinating to create a presentation that would allow them to take more leadership in their job and grow the team they loved leading. When we mapped back into their deep unconscious beliefs, there was a traumatic experience in their early life that created the belief that if they asserted themselves, they would hurt people terribly.
While they consciously wanted to grow their career and team, their deep mind was convinced that if they asserted their leadership, they would hurt the people on their team they cared about.
How to Uncover the Real Source of Your Procrastination
So how do you get to awareness of what is really going on?
Remember to notice the moment you find yourself procrastinating. How are you doing it? If you don’t catch it in the moment, that’s ok. Go back into your memory and see if you can find that moment just before you divert your attention.
Notice what choice you are actually making? When you are really procrastinating, you will notice resistance, the feeling of moving away from what you need to do.
Notice specifically how you feel in your body about what you are not choosing? What negative emotions are present? You may feel anxiety, sadness, guilt, or shame.
Once you have identified the emotions, then ask yourself - what does this feeling, in this situation, remind me of?
What does this feeling in this situation represent to me? The key is to follow your first instinctive response. Your unconscious mind works very fast and it knows how everything in your life is connected.
The real trigger for procrastination will reveal itself when you zoom in to that moment your attention shifted! And once you understand how you are doing it, what the real root cause is, then you can consciously catch resistance to what you need to do and get back into action!
Conclusion
Procrastination can be a tricky thing to understand and overcome. By understanding the two common types of procrastination and how to uncover the real source of your procrastination, you can start to take control of your life and unlock your full potential.
If you want to understand what's really going on in your deep mind so you can unlock your full potential, check out our Busy to Balanced masterclass in the link below to learn how to work with your unconscious mind to overcome procrastination, overwhelm, and even how you can shed it all and get hours of your week back.
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