EP21 Busting Procrastination

Do you often procrastinate and get in your own way, when you know you should be doing things to get you closer to your goal?

Today's episode actually came as a result of me actually procrastinating to record!  A lot of these things I will be talking about are things I have gone through myself and that I help my clients work through.

strong>So here are my 10 steps to bust through procrastination.

1. Give yourself Grace - Be nice to yourself 
2. Gain clarity 
3. Reconnect with you WHY & remember the bigger picture 
   • How does this action influence your mission and vision?
4. Pinpoint the fear and challenge the unhelpful belief 
   • Reframe your mindset and “excuses”
   • Reframe your failures 
5. Connect to the feelings of accomplishment and pride 
   • How will you feel when you finish this task
6. Take one practical (small) step forward 
   • Action is catalyst for clarity 
   • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable 
   • Use triggers to take action
   • Better done than perfect
   • 5,4,3,2,1… Launch off and DO IT! 
   • Just do it! 
7. Get real with time
   • Break down the time you have to get this goal done 
   • Ditch the To-do list and say hello to your calendar
8. Experiment with different kinds of working styles 
   • Block Scheduling 
   • Small Breaks
9. Motivate and Encourage yourself
   • Create accountability and find a community 
10. Reflect, rinse and repeat!

Soul Activation/Homework:

• Choose a practical step to take forward and do it!
• Give yourself Grace
• Go check out weekly breathwork sessions on instagram @carla11marconi

Full Episode : Busting Procrastination

Do you often struggle with procrastination? It seems like no matter what you do you can't seem to get out of your own way and get things done, even though you know all the steps you need to be taking?

If the answer is yes then I’m here to tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Procrastination is something I have struggled with since before high school, actually this week's podcast episode is a direct result of it. I kept putting off getting behind the mic and hitting that record button. I actually had a different topic lined up for this week, but given the circumstances I felt that this was an important topic to address.

Perfectionism is a form of procrastination. It's basically us getting in our own way thinking we’re not going to do this thing until it's totally perfect. We make excuses for not taking action. And you know what, Perfectionism is actually a moving target, there is no such thing as perfect because everyone's idea of perfect is different. You're just making excuses for not doing something you should do. So we are going to talk through 10 steps I use to really bust through procrastination, which is what I did this weekend with the Soul Rhythm Podcast! I had been wanting to record and I had a bunch of other topics to talk about, but I just kept pushing it off and procrastinating. So I sat down and evaluated what was really going on and finally got it done. 

The truth is my Life has been so crazy lately and I have had so many things going on. Right now I am actually coaching my husband to take over my position at our family business so I can finally coach full time! Which is so exciting! But because i am training him, I've been doing my job at the family business, So I have been feeling super tired and was trying to find ways to give more tasks to my virtual assistant, which has been great and she is incredible and i love her for it. I feel so supported, but obviously there are things, like the podcast, that I love doing and that I can't exactly hand over to her.  So I had to come to terms with myself and say hey yeah I know you're tired, but this is something you need to do. And what it really comes down to when I’m procrastinating is first I need to get super clear on why it's so important for me to do what I need to do. Because when we connect to the why, then we remember the bigger picture and why we are doing what we are doing. The purpose of my podcast is to share to the community really cool coaching tips and life tips in order for you to become a better version of you. My mission in my business is to help people elevate themselves to their next levelselves. Because when you reach that next level and start doing what you really love, you start to feel expansive and then your frequency goes up and you become magnetic and that affects everyone around you! So it's through me becoming my best self and then helping you do the same, that I can help make the world a better place. 

So I really love being on the podcast and sharing these things with all of you, so I had to ask myself okay so really what is the reason i am procrastinating so much. And I think that boils down to that underlying fear. Start pinpointing that underlying fear. Whatever that unhelpful belief is that's preventing you from doing what you love. And this can require some journaling or meditation on it. For me, the last few episodes of the podcast didn't get as many downloads as I had expected so that created this chain of thoughts like “ Oh no, is the podcast not good?”  and I started doubting myself. I’m sharing this because we all go through this at some point or another whether it's in your business or in your personal life, or maybe your 9-5. We are always seeking to succeed and when we don't our subconscious mind is trying to protect us so we don't fail again.  So we don't do things that risk failure again and obviously we need to overcome that because that's very unhelpful. The truth is that if I all of a sudden don't have very good ratings on one episode, that doesn't mean that it's bad, there are so many other factors that could cause that. When we are pinpointing that fear then we have clarity. 

Another thing is connecting to the feeling of accomplishment. Think of how good it's going to feel when you're finally done and you've accomplished what you set out to do. It's that feeling of “I did it.” For example, working out. Let’s say you keep putting off working out, day after day and you still haven't done a workout. And how are you feeling, probably lethargic, and stressed out because you want to work out, but you just haven't. Well, now think how good does it feel when you've just finished a workout? The accomplishment, the endorphins running through your body, that workout high. That's a really good way of catapulting yourself into doing a task. 

Next would be to take practical action, and that can be a very small step. It's having a trigger to do it. I have two triggers that I use, one is “Better done than perfect” For example, I have hit pause and record on the podcast so many times because sometimes I get in my head and don't think it's perfect enough. But you know what, if it's not perfect that's okay. I want you all to get to know me in the most authentic way possible. Another trigger is “ 5 4 3 2 1 GO” Scientifically your brain has 5 seconds to get in your own way. So when you wait more than 5 seconds to do something your brain has the time to start reasoning with you and that can cause you not to do something. We tend to get in our own way because comfortable feels better. Say 5 4 3 2 1 and do it! No arguing with yourself or talking yourself out of it, just do the thing. I can't take credit for the 5 4 3 2 1 rule. That's from Mel Robbins' book, which is all about how she implemented this rule to go from being bankrupt to being a world renowned speaker. The point here is that taking action is always going to move you closer to accomplishing your goals and to stop being a procrastinator. Now Life has its ebbs and flows and earlier i said I have been working through procrastination myself, there are times where i can tell you i'm not a procrastinator because i'm on my A game and i'm in my flow, but there are times that things come up, life gets busy, your energy is maybe feeling depleted and so all of a sudden i can become a procrastinator, which is something i've dealt with for a long time. But consistently taking action and becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is going to help you move past your procrastination. Oftentimes when you take your first step it can be sloppy, but that's okay because when you take mess action things start to fall into place and flow. Which for me has been huge, as a recovering perfectionist. 

Now, before I list my 10 steps to busting through procrastination, I highly encourage you to go ahead and give The Soul Rhythm Podcast episode 21 “Busting Procrastination a listen to learn more in depth on each step! Stop procrastinating, get out of your own way and bust through those procrastination habits! Let me know if you have any questions or have a topic you'd love to hear about on the podcast, shoot me a DM on Instagram @carla11marconi and leave a review to let us know what you thought of the episode! 

10 steps to bust through procrastination.

1. Give yourself Grace - Be nice to yourself 
2. Gain clarity 
3. Reconnect with you WHY & remember the bigger picture 
• How does this action influence your mission and vision?
4. Pinpoint the fear and challenge the unhelpful belief 
• Reframe your mindset and “excuses”
• Reframe your failures 
5. Connect to the feelings of accomplishment and pride 
• How will you feel when you finish this task
6. Take one practical (small) step forward 
• Action is catalyst for clarity 
• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable 
• Use triggers to take action
• Better done than perfect
• 5,4,3,2,1… Launch off and DO IT! 
• Just do it! 
7. Get real with time
• Break down the time you have to get this goal done 
• Ditch the To-do list and say hello to your calendar
8. Experiment with different kinds of working styles 
• Block Scheduling 
• Small Breaks
9. Motivate and Encourage yourself
• Create accountability and find a community 
10. Reflect, rinse and repeat!

XX,

Carla Marconi @carla11marconi

Holistic Business Coach || Mindset & NLP Expert

Breathwork & Yoga Facilitator || Hypnotherapist