How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, & Love Letting Go

                               My father burned this copy of a print of the seller and purchaser in dispute 

                               with the lawyer milking the dispute. M'reen

This is a lovely article by Leo Babuta and should you find his recommendations easier said than done then I may be able to offer a little help. Firstly you need to recognise that you are in fact procrastinating, that the things you are spending too much time with are a defence, a protection.

A defence against taking the next step that may be a little scary or a defence against slipping 

into something more serious than procrastination such as a deeper level of OCD or that this is an expression of your form of perfectionism. Having recognised this within yourself you may wish to work as he suggests or use some of the examples he gives that did not work for him as they may work for you. You may want to work with a life coach or a therapist from one of the many effective disciplines. 

Or you may wish to work on your own issues as they arise and for this I suggest that you check out my blog www.innermindworking.blogspot.com  Go for it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. M’reen

How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, & Love Letting Go

‘People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, 

they prefer suffering that is familiar.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

By Leo Babauta

The end of procrastination is the art of letting go.

I’ve been a lifelong procrastinator, at least until recent years. I would put things off until deadline,

because I knew I could come through. I came through on tests after cramming last minute,

I turned articles in at the deadline after waiting until the last hour, I got things done.

Until I didn’t.

It turns out procrastinating caused me to miss deadlines, over and over. It stressed me out.

My work was less-than-desirable when I did it last minute. Slowly, I started to realize that procrastination wasn’t doing me any favors. In fact, it was causing me a lot of grief.

But I couldn’t quit. I tried a lot of things. I tried time boxing and goal setting and accountability

and the Pomodoro Technique and Getting Things Done. All are great methods, but they only last so long. Nothing really worked over the long term.

That’s because I wasn’t getting to the root problem.

I hadn’t figured out the skill that would save me from the procrastination.

Until I learned about letting go.

Letting go first came to me when I was quitting smoking. I had to let go of the “need” to smoke,

the use of my crutch of cigarettes to deal with stress and problems.

Then I learned I needed to let go of other false needs that were causing me problems: sugar, junk food, meat, shopping, beer, possessions. I’m not saying I can never do these things again once I let go of these needs,

but I let go of the idea that they’re really necessary. I let go of an unhealthy attachment to them.

Then I learned that distractions and the false need to check my email and news and other things online …

were causing me problems. They were causing my procrastination.

So I learned to let go of those too.

Here’s the process I used to let go of the distractions and false needs that cause procrastination:

I paid attention to the pain they cause me, later, instead of only the temporary comfort/pleasure they gave me right away.

I thought about the person I want to be, the life I want to live. I set my intentions to do the good work I think I should do.

I watched my urges to check things, to go to the comfort of distractions. I saw that I wanted to escape discomfort of something hard, and go to the comfort of something familiar and easy.

I realized I didn’t need that comfort. I could be in discomfort and nothing bad would happen.

In fact, the best things happen when I’m in discomfort.

And then I smile, and breathe, and let go.

And one step at a time, become the person I want to be.

‘You can only lose what you cling to.’ ~Buddha

http://zenhabits.net/leggo/

Perhaps you’d like to checkout my sister blog www.innermindworking.blogspot.com 

and find easy, fast and efficient ways of working with the issues or little unpleasantness’s in your life.