Procrastination \u2013 Is it really worth the effort<\/p>\n
By Rev. Dr. Elena Skyhawk, Msc.D.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s first look at the definition of the word procrastination, according to the dictionary it means: the action of delaying or postponing something. Ok, so that doesn\u2019t seem like such a bad thing right?\u00a0 You might want to think again.<\/p>\n
Procrastination is a complex psychological behavior that affects everyone to some degree or another. With some it can be a minor problem; with others it is a source of considerable stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n
Example<\/p>\n
The procrastinator is often remarkably optimistic about their ability to complete a task on a tight deadline; this is usually accompanied by expressions of reassurance that everything is under control.\u00a0 For example, they may estimate that a project will take only five days to complete; they have fifteen days; there is plenty of time; no need to start now.\u00a0 Lulled by a false sense of security, time passes. At some point, they cross over any imaginary starting time and suddenly realizes, \u201cOh no! \u2013 I am not in control!\u00a0 There isn\u2019t enough time!\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point, considerable effort is directed towards completing the task, and work progresses.\u00a0 This sudden spurt of energy is the source of the erroneous feeling that \u201cI only work well under pressure.\u201d Actually, at this point you are making progress only because you haven\u2019t any choice.\u00a0 Your back is against the wall and there are no alternatives.\u00a0 Progress is being made, but you have lost your freedom.<\/p>\n
Barely completed in time, the project may actually pass inspection; whereupon one experiences mixed feelings:\u00a0 pride of accomplishment (sort-of), scorn for the boss who cannot recognize substandard work, and guilt for getting undeserved praise.\u00a0 But the net result is reinforcement:\u00a0 the procrastinator is rewarded positively for their poor behavior.\u00a0 As a result, the counterproductive behavior is repeated over and over again.<\/p>\n
Positive reinforcement for delay is a principle contributor to continued procrastination.<\/p>\n
So what really makes a person procrastinate?\u00a0 In order to write this article I had to find someone who was a master procrastinator.\u00a0 I had to look no farther than my mirror.\u00a0 I\u2019m very good at what I do, so what I asked myself, \u201cmakes me put off until tomorrow or the next day or the next week, doing what I know I should be doing to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
In my case I\u2019ve been working on a couple of projects: 1) my biography and 2) my healing books.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working on them for a few years now.\u00a0 Most of the information is downloaded by Spirit and other stuff I\u2019ve learned through reading or taking classes and workshops.\u00a0 I spend countless hours typing diligently on my computer, but nothing ever really seems to materialize.<\/p>\n
I find myself playing games on the computer, reading novels, playing more games on the computer\u2026are you getting the picture yet?\u00a0 I know what has to be done, yet I keep coming up with excuses on why I can\u2019t seem to get to it.\u00a0 The cats need attention, the dishes need to be washed and put away, laundry needs to be done, I\u2019m just too tired and the list goes on and on and on.<\/p>\n
My guides and angels are getting pretty fed up with me, but they can\u2019t make you do something that you are not yet ready for.<\/p>\n
So, now it comes to really looking at why one would procrastinate, if what they are being asked to do would bring them clients, customers and students for their programs and put money in the bank and just make you feel good that you\u2019re helping people.\u00a0 So what\u2019s a person to do \u2013 take a good hard look in the mirror and have a talk with the sub-conscious and find out what\u2019s really going on inside.<\/p>\n
Possibly the procrastination is coming from a fear of success, fear of being powerful \u2013 like oh boy if I do what I\u2019m supposed to people will start to notice me and that might not be such a good thing!\u00a0 I must hide at all cost.\u00a0 So you give your power away, again and again and again.<\/p>\n
You curse to the Universe, why haven\u2019t YOU listened to me and given me what I\u2019ve asked for\u2026 and the Universe smiles and says, \u201cAh my child, I have listened and given you what you asked for, I can only give back to you what you put out, so if you put nothing out to help yourself that is what I\u2019m giving back to you.\u201d Darn that Law of Attraction anyway.<\/p>\n
Procrastination is a sneaky and insidious master.\u00a0 You think you are in control, but you\u2019re not.\u00a0 Unless you are brave enough and strong enough to break the bonds that have been holding you back you will stay stuck and a slave to that master.\u00a0 As human beings we are meant to live life to the fullest, which also means we are here to clear our energy, of past hurts and programs.\u00a0 Most of these programs come from our childhood, and some come from past lives that we have lived.\u00a0 Once the program has been identified then and only then can it be healed.\u00a0 This is part of what I work on with students and clients.\u00a0 It is easy to see where the issue lies with them, because I\u2019m not emotionally or mentally connected to their programs.\u00a0 It\u2019s a much different story when it\u2019s your own programs, blocks and beliefs that you are working to heal.<\/p>\n
Spirit had been telling me for weeks (ok months) to delete the game off of my phone and I just couldn\u2019t do it (ok didn\u2019t really want to), until this past full moon, which was all about clarity and truth, and I\u2019ll be darned if on Monday morning I didn\u2019t delete that silly game off of my phone (it actually started working much better) and started to write again.\u00a0 You see I finally got to my starting line and crossed over it and realized if the books are to get done then me and only me would or could be the one to write them.\u00a0 It is my story to tell and no one else\u2019s.<\/p>\n
So sometimes it takes a boulder being dropped on our heads to wake us up, sometimes a kick in the pants, and sometimes you just get tired of things not moving forward and you start to take responsibility for things not happening in your life the way you believe they should, and you take the bull by the horns and say enough is enough and you just DO IT!!\u00a0 Thank you Universe for the ever so silent nudge and the BIG whisper to get it done and quit the whining.<\/p>\n
Rev. Dr. Elena Skyhawk, Msc.D. is a metaphysical minister and doctor specializing in Transformational Healing, Workshops, and Soul Retrieval.<\/p>\n
She can be reached through her website: www.spiritual-shaman.com, or elenaskyhawk@yahoo.com, or 605-858-1931<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Procrastination \u2013 Is it really worth the effort By Rev. Dr. Elena Skyhawk, Msc.D. Let\u2019s first look at the definition of the word procrastination, according to the dictionary it means: the action of delaying or postponing something. Ok, so that doesn\u2019t seem like such a bad thing right?\u00a0 You might want to think again. Procrastination […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","osh_disable_topbar_sticky":"default","osh_disable_header_sticky":"default","osh_sticky_header_style":"default","osh_sticky_header_effect":"","osh_custom_sticky_logo":0,"osh_custom_retina_sticky_logo":0,"osh_custom_sticky_logo_height":0,"osh_background_color":"","osh_links_color":"","osh_links_hover_color":"","osh_links_active_color":"","osh_links_bg_color":"","osh_links_hover_bg_color":"","osh_links_active_bg_color":"","osh_menu_social_links_color":"","osh_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holistic-and-health-articles","category-spirit-and-soul","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n