According to Carol Look in Stop Feeling Lazy: How to Break The Procrastination Cycle Once And For All, there are four reasons why we procrastinate, all of which serve the basic human need to feel safe.
She says procrastination keeps us safe in some way and protects us from an outcome we fear. It takes no effort, no special skills, no conscious thought, and is a status quo arising from inactivity. She says “When we procrastinate, we don’t have to do anything, really, except exist.”
There are essentially four reasons why we procrastinate:
1. Project Not “Ripe” Yet
If you’re lacking motivation or inspiration and can’t line up the energy to begin a project your idea may be underdeveloped and needs more time to gestate. You may think that you’re ready to start, but your brain knows otherwise.
2. Fear of Failure
You may put off a project because you’re afraid the end product won’t turn out as good as you imagined, or you failed to finish something because you were afraid people would judge you or criticize the results.
3. Fear of Success
If you’re afraid to shine, your procrastination stems from a desire to not stand out, to hold back or appear ordinary. You lay low and embrace the average, conforming to whatever standard you imagine is most liked by your community. You fear success will upset your day-to-day life and how it will cause others to perceive you.
4. Rebellion
You might dislike rules and deadlines and are tired of being treated like the proverbial cog in the machine. You’re trying to assert control over your life in some small way, and you procrastinate because it feels like a “should” to you, and you hate anything that feels like a “should.”
But what it really all comes down to is – you’re delaying or postponing something because you’re not yet in alignment with it.
Here’s what Abraham-Hicks says about procrastination:
“Procrastination feels like stuck. It feels like no momentum. It feels like I need to try harder. It feels like effort. It feels like going about it the hard way. It feels like not utilizing the energy that creates worlds.”
“Procrastination simply is you trying to take action before energies are aligned… You’re trying to move something forward with action instead of moving it forward with the momentum of alignment. That’s what it always means.”
“Procrastination is the wisdom to not try to force something that you’re not vibrationally ready for. Because if you did the energy work, you’d be feeling it.”
“Procrastination is what aligned people do when they’re not in alignment. You don’t try to force it. You don’t try to make it happen. You understand that there’s not enough action in the world to compensate for energy that’s not moving.”
“Procrastination is a byproduct of being out of the vortex. Procrastination is the way you feel when you’re trying to fill in your own grid.”
So how do you stop procrastinating?
It’s simple – wait for the feeling of alignment before taking the action.
Here is more wisdom from Abraham-Hicks regarding procrastination:
“Don’t make yourself do anything you don’t want to do… Instead, reach for some aligning words, like “This must not be a good time,” “Things are always working out for me,” “When the time is right I’ll feel it,” “I really do want to get this done,” “I want to do inspired action,” “My Inner Being knows what the path of least resistance is,” “There’s no virtue in the path of great resistance,” “Everything in nature flows with the path of least resistance.”
“The leverage of alignment trumps everything. And so, as you make yourself do fewer things out of requirement and you feel the inspiration of wanting to do them, you’re going to discover the cooperative universe just makes it easier and easier and easier…And ease is a good thing. Ease is the path of least resistance.”
“Find the reason you want to do it, or don’t do it.”
“Procrastination is the opposite feeling of inspiration. So when you feel procrastination, procrastinate. Don’t try to push through it, because you can’t buck that current anyway. Go do something fun.”
To help shift the energy from procrastination to alignment, try prepaving before you go to sleep at night, or segment intending, or meditation, or a rampage of appreciation, or focusing on some positive aspects.
Do this on a consistent basis and you’ll get the feelings of inspiration to get things done.
In the meantime, don’t force yourself, go do something fun and wait for the feeling of alignment.
