Welcome to this live event about procrastination.
I will start with a few mini meditations.
The first one is about grounding and awareness.
I want to start by bringing ourselves in our bodies and in the present moment.
So I invite you to sit with a straight spine.
Close your eyes.
Put your hands in your lap and your feet on the floor.
Where we breathe in through the nose for four.
Hold it.
And then breathe out slowly for around six seconds.
Out through burst lips.
And it might look and sound something like this.
Where you breathe in.
You pause.
And you breathe out through burst lips.
Another deep breath in through the nose.
Pause.
And release.
Now I want you to breathe in procrastination.
Hold it.
And breathe out being present.
Breathe in procrastinating behavior.
Hold it.
And let go of fear and shame.
Return to your natural breath.
Well done.
Because according to a 2013 study in PLOS One,
Mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing can lower cortisol levels.
And we will procrastinate more with more stress hormones.
So it's really important to lower those cortisol levels.
And this reduction in stress helps with reducing procrastination.
And it helps with anxiety and feelings of shame.
What did you think about doing that small mini meditation?
So are you ready for the next one?
Where we will do a quick body scan for relaxation.
You can close your eyes if you haven't done so already.
And say hello to that body of yours.
And it's important to keep your feet on the ground.
Because we will start there.
Press your feet into the floor.
And now press more with your left.
And move over to your right.
And now press both feet firmly into the floor.
And keep breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And let go of the tension through your feet.
Now we're moving more upwards through your calves.
And your legs.
And we are releasing tension by breathing in and breathing out.
And we're moving upwards to your thighs.
Where you take a deep breath in and release tension throughout your mouth.
And we're going to continue to your hips and your abdomen.
Where you breathe in and let go of tension.
We're moving upwards to our chest and our arms.
Where we breathe in and release tension through our mouth.
And finally we're moving to our jaw and our complete face.
Where we breathe in and release tension with our out breath.
Great.
And now hopefully you feel a tiny bit more relaxed.
So you can move in to visualising.
Where I want you to visualise yourself completing the task you're procrastinating on.
Visualise yourself doing the admin,
The housework.
Working on your resume,
Whatever it is.
Visualise yourself completing that task.
And imagine how you would feel when your task is complete.
Would you feel accomplished?
A tiny bit lighter?
Happy?
You feel proud of yourself?
Feel these feelings.
And not think of this as a possibility.
This will happen.
And you can breathe in deeply and let it all go with a loud out breath.
So research from the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that physical relaxation will help.
So doing a body scan and relaxing body parts will help reduce your mental burden of a task aversion.
Which is of course procrastination.
Which is of course procrastination.
If your brain signals that your body is safe,
That your environment is safe,
You will reduce procrastinating behaviour.
In another study published in NeuroImage,
They found that practising motivation and visualisation can reduce the mental distance between starting and finishing a task.
So if you see yourself finishing that task,
It will become easier to get started.
And also focus on the outcome that can release dopamine.
And even feeling those feelings in that visualisation is already helpful because you will work towards that feeling.
And for the next tip,
It's a simple one but difficult in practice,
Is to break down the big task into smaller bits.
So can you think about what you've been procrastinating on?
And what is the first small step you can take towards completing it?
And try to make it not as just get started or just get finished.
That's actually an inner critical voice.
Think of a small step you can take.
And then break it down into smaller tasks.
And focus on the next step.
So a 2018 study in behavioural research and therapy,
They really found that breaking tasks into smaller chunks reduces the feeling of feeling overwhelmed.
A major cause of procrastination.
And when I'm working with clients who procrastinate,
For example,
On writing a whole dissertation,
My first step is to always break it into smaller tasks.
And my final mini meditation for today is about self-compassion.
Let's turn on self-compassion,
Which is essential in overcoming procrastination.
So if you have been hard on yourself for procrastinating,
We're going to let go of that judgement for a couple of minutes.
And recognise that it's a common experience.
More people have this problem.
And it doesn't define your worth.
It doesn't define your ability.
And you can do that by placing your hands on your heart.
And we're taking a deep breath.
And we're going to pull up our shoulders.
And with the out-breath,
Release that shame and that guilt.
So breathe in through the nose.
Hold it.
And release.
And affirm with me,
Out loud.
I forgive myself for procrastinating.
I forgive myself for procrastinating.
I am capable of starting fresh in this moment.
I am capable of starting fresh in this moment.
Each small step is a victory.
Each small step is a victory.
And let go.
Excellent!
Great job.
In 2010,
In a study in personality and social psychology,
In 2010,
In a study in personality and social psychology,
They found that self-compassion is key in reducing procrastination.
Because if we are kind to ourself,
We reduce our emotional barriers,
We will start and restart again,
And we will work with our guilt and shame.
So thank you for being here.
And I wish you a lovely day or night ahead.
Namaste.
