By Figen Genco, BA.
“Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes!” (Anonymous)
Procrastination comes from the ancient Latin word procrastinatus: pro (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). Thus the word means forwarding it to tomorrow. I saw a sign at a restaurant which read: “Free Beer Tomorrow”. And if you went there tomorrow, this sign will still read tomorrow! For most people when they say “I’ll do it tomorrow!” same rule applies! If you really want to do it, you put a real date on it.
Procrastination is defined as avoidance of an action or task, and it is often linked with perfectionism. For whatever reason, when a person procrastinates, this behavior causes him anxiety, stress, guilt, and sometimes physical manifestations in the body as headaches and insomnia.
The procrastinating behavior causes loss of productivity, tension and crisis, disappointment in self and others for not fulfilling responsibilities and commitments. While procrastinating is considered normal to some degree, chronic procrastination may be a sign of underlying emotional, psychological or physiological disorders.
Main causes of procrastinating behavior are examined under three categories:
* Environmental/External: Disorganization, cluttered spaces, nagging people.
* Emotional/Internal: Feeling of overwhelm, indecisiveness, perfectionism.
* Physical and Mental Illness: OCD, ADD, depression.
We might actually to some extent integrate the last cause – Physical and Mental Illness- under “Emotional” considering with EFT education and energy psychology information, we believe that most of those challenges are caused by an emotional imbalance in the body’s energy system.
Below are some sample setup and tap-along phrases that can give you an idea how you can use EFT for yourself or your clients.
Tap with:
Even though I have been procrastinating on writing this annual report…
I love and forgive myself for not wanting to even start the report. Maybe if I ask the director and get better instructions about how he wants it, I might be able to bring myself work on it.
It seems to me I don’t start because I am afraid to make a mistake and have to do it all over again.
Even though I have been delaying in organizing the basement…
Maybe I am afraid to face those boxes from my parents who passed away some time ago. I don’t think it is the physical work that I am procrastinating on. I just get overwhelmed with the thought of opening those boxes filled with memories. I have no clue what’s in those boxes. I love myself anyway.
I love and forgive myself for not organizing those bags and bags of pictures stuffed in my bedroom closet. There are so many pictures, negatives, CDs, and greeting cards. I don’t know what to do with them.
So, I’d rather keep shoving them in the closet. Maybe if I just take a handful of them, put them in picture boxes with dates on them, I might be able to sort them and eventually put in albums.
I forgive myself for feeling overwhelmed with how much I have and continue taking tons of pictures.
If you are able to observe and discover the reason for the procrastinating behavior, it will be easy to target what needs to be tapped with EFT. However; even if you do NOT know the particular reason of your, or your clients’ procrastination, you can still successfully use EFT to unblock, and uncover the underlying challenge.
Examples:
1. Emotional Causes
Even though I don’t know why I keep postponing making this phone call…
- You might realize that you are afraid of the outcome of the phone call
- You might realize that you don’t like the person who answers the phone
- You might realize that the person who answers the phone talks too much. When you realize the core cause, it will be much easier to create a solution, or tactic. And if there are emotions and blockages attached to the procrastinating behavior, EFT will create miracles!
2. Physical Causes
Even though I don’t know why I keep procrastinating about doing the laundry, I am open to the answer come to me.
Then you might realize that it is not DOING the LAUNDRY but it is the laundry room that is stopping you from performing the related task. When you organize your laundry room, and put some cheerful posters up, or bring in plants that energize you, you might find yourself doing the laundry happily!
Figen Genco, BA.
EFT/Feng Shui/Organizing Consultant
About the Author
Figen Genco www.lovethewayyoulive.com