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Why Wait & Waste Time, When You Can Act & Make Miracles
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These pictures were taken in Oslo…the first one reminds me of how when we procrastinate, we are running away from our tasks and the second one (taken at the Olympic Ski Village shop) reminds me of how we feel when we have not completed what we are supposed to….
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Procrastinating
The world that we live in today is replete with distractions. Be it alerts on your mobile phone, email notifications, social media posts, Instagram reels, or an intriguing web series that everyone is watching—no matter where you turn to, there is always a rabbit hole waiting for you to take a chunk of your time.
As a result, what starts with ‘just a few minutes’ ends up taking an afternoon or a whole evening. When deadlines stack up, pressure piles up, and we pay the price of delaying or procrastinating on an important task, with unmanageable stress and poor quality.
However, if you think that procrastination is a phenomenon of this millennia, you will be gravely mistaken, for this problem has plagued human civilization right from the ancient ages and continues to do so in the 21st century. In fact, the problem was so prevalent back in the day, just as it is today, that Greek philosophers Aristotle and Socrates also developed a word called “Akrasia” to describe the particular behaviour.
The word “Akrasia” loosely translates to ‘an individual who is acting against one’s better judgment.’
Akrasia simply means, that instead of doing what is needed, you end up doing something else, which you know quite well that is not important. The Latin word “Pro-crastinus” from which ‘procrastination’ has been derived, means ‘belonging to tomorrow’. This again implies what needs to be done today is being pushed as a task for tomorrow.
When we procrastinate, we know we are delaying an important action or a meaningful task by performing trivial activities or concentrating on meaningless tasks. This begs the question, “Why do we still do it then?”
The Science of Procrastination
The answer lies in the science of procrastination, which tells us exactly why this problematic behaviour has stayed with us for ages and ages. The human brain is a software which understands reward, gratifications, goals, and pleasure. And it is wired in a way that a phenomenon called ‘time inconsistency’ exists in it. In simple terms, time inconsistency makes the human brain think that short-term gratification is much more rewarding than long-term benefits.
Let’s look at an example, which will show how each one of us has been a victim of procrastination at some point in our life, even when we have the best of our intentions not to fall into the trap. Many of us have imagined ourselves in ten years to be in proper shape, and living a healthy life, right? However, how many times have you entertained that thought only after looking at a donut on a plate and thinking, from tomorrow I will hit the gym and be an exercise animal? Almost all of us!
Again, we all know that, when we grow old, we need money to survive and therefore, we need to save from our 20s or 30s. Yet, the dazzling shoe or the elegant dress catches our eyes and instead of saving some money for tomorrow, we end up spending $100 today. From next month we will definitely save, right?
Now, you may think that, these are not delaying but, just making bad decisions and judgments. Well, that’s procrastination at its core. You go to bed thinking about bringing a big change in your routine but, when you wake up the next morning, you fall back on your old patterns and habits. Simply because your brain values today’s gratification more than the future rewards!
Instead of ‘investing’ time—you actually end up ‘wasting’ time.
When you invest your time in the present doing something meaningless, which you are very well aware of, and console your future self by saying that everything will be alright from tomorrow, instead of ‘investing’ time—you actually end up ‘wasting’ time.
The more you hesitate and postpone, the more time you keep on wasting, the more life slips away–
One of the biggest negative impacts of procrastination is that, we ignore the only invaluable commodity on this planet; that is time. The reason why it is invaluable is that, unlike money which can be earned, borrowed, saved, and spent, time is limited and finite for each one of us. You cannot save or earn time—either you value it or you waste it.
If all of us get this simple realization that, every single second we waste daydreaming, thinking about acting, and waiting for the right moment, mood, or motivation, that second is gone forever.
The moment you fall asleep at night and wake up the next morning, you can make changes to your life and routine but one thing no one can change is that you are older by a whole day. This means you have 24 hours less than your limited time on this planet. If you think along the lines of how important every moment is, how productive each second can be, and how much you can accomplish in an hour, you won’t waste a second rushing, worrying, over-stressing or doing nothing.
Instead, you will have ample time to take an evening stroll, smell the roses, look at the blue sky, and feel the blissful breeze at the beach. However, if you keep on wasting time, just to feel a momentary pleasure in the present, instead of memories you will have a life of regrets. In fact, many research papers have shown that, when people grow old, they hold on more to their regrets of what they could have done in their lives with their time, rather than highlighting the achievements they have accomplished in their lifetimes.
How can hypnosis help?
If you want to be free of this overburdening feeling of regret, you need to get rid of procrastination and get back into action. Hypnosis could help you in doing exactly that. This is an effective tool that unwinds the wiring of the brain, that is causing an individual to stick to their comfort zone of waiting and delaying, rather than taking the task by the scruff of the neck and simply acting!
Hypnosis understands what’s holding an individual back and as per the problem, the solution of self-control and self-discipline is given to the individual. Hypnosis will never judge and tell you how bad your procrastination is, instead, it will give you the alternatives of good and bad procrastination.
Good and Bad Procrastination
Yes, you have heard it right—there's good procrastination as well. Good procrastination is realizing, that getting rid of the habit of procrastination does not always imply that you do not think, do not plan, do not schedule, and just rush from one task to the other in a haste. This will only result in poor quality of work or more unmanageable stress to get all the work done without any delay. Good procrastination is when you take the time to assess the job and do it properly. Hypnosis will give you the key to understanding your personality, your emotions, and your feelings. This key will tell you how to go about your tasks, deadlines, projects, and everything. With this key, you can schedule properly, think calmly, perform optimally, and the best part, have a lot of time to yourself.
Ceasing to procrastinate does not mean that, you always rush from task to task, without thinking or understanding. As the Chinese proverb goes, “Thinking without acting is daydreaming and acting without thinking is a nightmare.”
Hypnosis will give you the power to understand and communicate with your conscious and subconscious minds in a way that the outcome becomes always positive for you in the present, as well as in the future.
Now, if you are thinking about whether to go for Hypnosis or not, it’s better you see for yourself and then contemplate whether you would like to be your own magician with extraordinary magical powers.
The more you spend your time thinking, remember, you might be waiting, however, life is simply passing!
If you would like to stop procrastinating, but don’t know where to start....
Book a free HOW TO LEAD A FULLER AND LIGHTER LIFE STRATEGY SESSION so we can get you moving in the right direction. Just click on my calendar LINK and let’s book a time together so you can get started today!
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Sainoor Premji B.Sc, M.Sc (Holistic Nutrition), RNCP, MHt, Master Hypnotist, Akashic Reader, Holistic Nutritionist, Montessori School Teacher.
An expert in mind-body-spirit connection, Sainoor has travelled widely on her journey through life- the feedback she received most often from her clients is how wonderful it feels to be free of fear, doubts, and yo-yo dieting; how they now live their lives with hope and lightness.
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