Category / Time Management

by tracymauro

An Unexpected Cure for Procrastination

The procrastination cure may not be what you think….

It may require soul searching and evening therapy to root out what may be blocking your progress rather than yet another self help book or career coach.

I’ve struggled with procrastination my whole life. I’m only now learning that I’m not lazy or inefficient or a whole slew of other things I may call myself.

This journey is different for everyone, but it was a drilldown to a root of shame that is setting me on a journey toward freedom from procrastination. In my childhood, most attempts at participation in anything – from playground games (I was small and awkward) to simply speaking to classmates (I had a severe speech impediment) were met with ridicule and shame.

Fast forward several decades….. Even though I’ve long outgrown my skinny awkwardness and I even do public speaking now, I often find myself putting off the most simple of tasks. You see, certain responses were burned into my brain during my formative years (and, unfortunately, reinforced by some destructive relationships in my adulthood). To avoid the pain of relentless bullying on the playground at recess or lunch, I would simply avoid the pain of participation by hiding out in the library or the bathroom. So even in adulthood when faced with something to do, my first response is to dodge.

That’s when I have to tell that little girl that hid in the library or bathroom that it’s not her show anymore. “Grown Tracy” is taking charge now and realizes that in this present moment, avoidance in the form of procrastination will only bring pain rather than being a rescue from bullies that now exist only in my brain.

So, perhaps…. untangling from shame is the hidden key to unleashing focus and productivity.

by tracymauro

Frozen by Feelings

I’ve been there…. way too many times.

  • I’ve lashed out at a loved one because I felt so strongly that they needed my version of help – bringing a cold chill to our relationship.
  • I’ve procrastinated to the point I couldn’t preform my best because I didn’t feel worthy or capable of the task at hand…. I simply “froze up”.

In short, I’ve been frozen in my tracks from doing the very things my Maker designed me to do because of my feelings.

But, I’m not going to be able to turn my feelings off. Nor should I. Feeling things deeply and intensely is simply part of my Maker’s unique design of me.

I’m learning to love myself and the way I feel things so deeply – even though I’ve spend much of my life wanting to turn my feelings off. And I’ve been told by many well-intended people that I could and even should simply not feel so deeply.

Again… there is just no “off switch” for these feelings of mine.

The lesson I am learning is that I can choose to do the things I need to do in spite of deep sensitivity and strong waves of emotion….. or even learn do things with my own unique brand of excellence because I am learning to channel the depths of these feelings into what I’m doing rather than being frozen in my tracks because of them.

When Maker instructed us to “Choose life that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19), there was no caveat of “unless your feelings don’t let you”. But He will give us the strength to follow His steps through the midst of those feelings, much the way he led the Israelites out of Egypt through the middle of the Red Sea. (This story is found in Exodus 14:19-31)

All of this is why this quote from Mel Robbins hit home today:

“Your feelings aren’t a choice. Your behavior and your actions always are.”

May “the same power that rose Jesus from the grave” (Romans 8:11) give you the strength to embrace everything your Maker has for you to do and be in the midst of everything you’re feeling today.