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Stuck Procrastinating - Anticipating Pain - Get Unstuck

Creator: @7motivation

Question: Do you procrastinate to regulate your negative emotions?

 

Do you focus on:

- Anticipating emptional pain of doing an unpleasant task?

- Avoiding that emption pain rather than dealing with it?

 

Does that make you:

- Avoid even trying to solve a task?

 
Does just thinking about doing a task:

- Cause you great emotional pain?
 

Putting it off feels good for a while:

- Procrastination temporarily solves the negative emotion problems


But procrastination doesn't solve the root problem.

Procrastination actually makes the problem worse:

- Now you have less time to do the task

- Then you end up worrying about it more and more

- Time available gets shorter and shorter with procrastination

- You'll end up doing the task worse

- You gave yourself less time to do the task

- You spent more time worring and had much more pain overall

 
So why is it you felt forced to procrastinate?

- Why do others not feel that way?


Your problem is how you:

- Dealt with your strong emotional avoidance reaction

- Dealt with your complex emotions about the task


The non-procrastinator:

- Dealt with their emotions first quickly with less drama

- Avoided falling into a vicious procrastination cycle

Instead, non-procrastinators focused on:

- Finding an easy first step to get going

- After that finding it easier to do the next steps

Solution:

Learn to constructively manage:

- Your complex negative emotions about the task quickly

- Focus then on just doing the first simple step to get momentum

For details see:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-adaptive-mind/201901/how-overcome-procrastination-starting-now 

 

How can you apply what you learned above?

 

You can type your ideas in the box below for fun.

Or you can use the 7Cups Notes Tool (click HERE) to save them. 

 

Link to give comments or ask questions: https://www.7cups.com/@7motivation