If you are a chronic procrastinator, you probably have horror stories about procrastination. Have you ever found yourself sitting at your desk, knowing that you need to work on a project, even getting angry emails or instant messages from your boss or a client, missing a deadline at that very moment, but completely unable to do the work? Not just unwilling, but feeling absolutely stuck, literally unable to do the work you’re supposed to be doing?
I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. You’ve probably had the same experience I’ve had, of knowing that you’re probably going to lose this project, maybe that you’re going to lose your job, or that you’re going to have to pay back a deposit you’ve received, or that you’re not going to get paid, but you simply cannot make yourself move forward and do what you’re supposed to do. You know the consequences, but knowing them doesn’t make you move. You cannot move.
When this happened to me, I always felt that my life was a train wreck, and I often had the sensation that I literally was watching everything go off the rails, right before my eyes, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I felt that I was completely out of control of what was happening to my life and in my life.
The weird thing was, I was behaving like someone with a serious problem—someone who was on a drinking binge or with a drug problem. Maybe someone who was cracking up or having a mental melt-down. But none of that was happening. At least, I didn’t think it was, and I still don’t think so. I wasn’t melting down, I just wasn’t acting like the person I knew I was. I just wasn’t doing the reasonable thing and doing the work, because I couldn’t, but I didn’t know why not.
Procrastination was ruining my life, and it was more than a bad habit, but no one else could understand this. They could see the train wreck, but they couldn’t see what was causing it. They could see me self-destructing, but to them it was just me not doing what I should.
I had to figure it out on my own, that this was not just laziness or my needing to “get off my butt.” I had to learn what procrastination really was, and how to stop it, and discover how goal-setting, time management , stress reduction and decisions figured into overcoming procrastination.
But I did overcome it, and it can be overcome. I want you to know that your life does not have to stay off the rails.
Angie Dixon is now a successful author and coach, but once struggled to get through the day. Suffering from mental illness, Angie set out to discover how to live after spending a total of a month on the psych ward and finally finding effective medication for her physical illness. In the years since, she has mastered procrastination and learned to live her real life. She is the author of Procrastinate Later, The Leonardo Trait: Create the Life You Were Born to Live, Your Heart's Work, and too many other books and programs to mention here.