The Art of Procrastination

By Kenrick Cleveland in Business on April 22nd, 2008

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by Kenrick Cleveland

“We shall never have more time. We have, and always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going… Concentrate on something useful.” –Arnold Bennett

I’ll admit it, sometimes I don’t feel like working or writing or answering my e-mails or my phone. And in occasion, I’ll fess up here, I don’t love going to the gym. And when I get into these mindsets, I have an uncanny ability to scare up a few dozen other things I could be doing instead, things as varied and fascinating as organizing my receipts or walking the dog or catching up on some reading.

Sometimes I’ll even procrastinate on one thing by doing something else which I had been procrastinating on, but which somehow seems preferable to the more pressing thing to put off. Like, sometimes I don’t want to write and that I will choose the gym over writing.

For the most part, though, I’m lucky. I love what I do and I have overcome my minor bouts with procrastination by working with my other-than-conscious mind and working with my intention to set my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly courses, setting watermarks along the way to make sure I am succeeding in my goals.

When we procrastinate, we’re simply avoiding something. I suggest, that there are times when we can find value in procrastination. Sometimes when we avoid one thing, it’ll push us to do something else.

We’ve all heard the saying ‘time is of the essence’, and most likely, we’ve felt the impact of it as well. Time management is key for success and if you’re a procrastinator, having a way to manage that is important. Procrastination is a habit that can be broken and/or rerouted (depending on how severe). A great way to break a new habit is to replace it with a new, healthy habit. For example, smokers have many levels of habit to overcome when quitting, from the physical addiction, to the hand/mouth habit and I’ve seen people use carrot sticks as a temporary alternative.

Understand that your intention is what is setting you on the path to avoidance. And by switching this intention and having a solid resolve for what you want to do and how you’re going to do it, you are setting your other-than-conscious on a mission. This works only if you and you train your other-than conscious mind properly.

Have a conversation with your other than conscious self. Ask it for it to help you turn a new leaf on accomplishing what you need to accomplish. You will want to set small goals at first, goals that you are absolutely certain you can keep. In this you are training your other-than-conscious to work on your behalf. So if you say, ‘I’m going to t’, take out the garbage. That’s totally doable. And if you say, ‘Okay, tomorrow I’m going to make two phone calls which I will follow up on with letters’, make those two phone calls and write those two letters.

Visualize yourself keeping your appointments with yourself, following up on your intentions, and getting things done. By creating this synergy with your intention, other-than-conscious, imagination and your deep desire to accomplish what you need to accomplish, you have the ability to push past any procrastination problems you might encounter.

About the Author:

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.