Hello unique learners and welcome to this mini meditations for procrastinating behavior.
My name is Dr.
Rivet,
I'm a former procrastinator and I love to do these talks and these little mini meditations to help you deal with procrastinating behavior.
Just a fair warning,
I'm a quick paced meditation teacher,
So if you feel like you need to slow it down,
Press that pause button.
And we will be doing a couple of mini meditations,
Or as I call them,
Little exercises,
So that we can deal with our procrastinating behavior.
And for my first mini meditation,
I would like to do the three deep breaths reset.
It will help calm your nervous system a little bit and bring you to the present moment.
So we are going to sit with a straight spine,
We're going to open our palms in our lap,
And we're going to take three slow breaths and it will be inhales through the nose,
And then on top of it we stop,
And then we breathe out slowly through first lips.
And with each breath you can say silently,
Or out loud,
I am here,
So with each in-breath I am here,
And out-breath I'm ready.
So the out-breath is I'm ready.
So you can join me by breathing in,
Hold it,
And exhale I'm ready.
Inhale I'm here.
Exhale I'm ready.
Inhale I'm here.
Exhale I'm ready.
Now return to your natural breath.
And we're going into the second mini meditation immediately,
Name it to tame it,
Where we will pause for just a minute.
And I want you to keep your eyes closed,
Or close them again.
Take a deep breath in and release.
And ask yourself,
What am I avoiding right now?
And why am I avoiding it?
Now try to label what you're feeling.
Is it because you're overwhelmed,
Bored,
Afraid of failure?
Can you breathe through it and say,
This is just a feeling,
I can take one small step.
What sometimes might help before you get started,
Is the one minute focus anchor.
It's a mindfulness technique,
I will set a timer for 60 seconds.
And I'm going to ask you to focus on a single object nearby.
This could be a candle,
A lamp,
Well don't look into a lamp directly.
But something nearby,
Next to your phone,
Next to your laptop,
And focus on this object.
Where you will let your thoughts pass by.
And you're going to look at the object,
And I'm going to ask you a couple of questions.
Are you up for it?
I will start the timer.
So please really look at this object.
And once you're looking at it,
Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Don't go into your head,
Let it pass by and refocus again on the object.
And then is this a big or a small object?
What color does it have?
Would it feel cold or warm if you touch it?
If you get distracted,
Again refocus on the object.
Breathe in and breathe out through the nose.
For the next mini meditation,
I want you to sit again with a straight spine.
Close your eyes.
And this time have your palms inside of your lap or face down.
And I'm going to say a couple of sentences.
And you can check out whether or not you relate to being this type of procrastinator.
If you know what type of procrastinator you are,
It might be helpful because there are different tips you can do.
My other tip is always to not lean too much into a I'm this type,
I am a procrastinator kind of talk.
Because it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I rather state I have procrastinating behavior tendencies.
I'm more than a procrastinator.
I am a human,
I am a mother,
I am a teacher.
And so are you.
You are more than just a procrastinator.
But please listen to the following sentences and check out whether or not you can relate to them.
So if you are being a perfectionist,
It's where you avoid tasks because you're afraid of not doing them perfectly.
If it isn't going to be perfect,
You might not want to start.
You might overthink and tweak things endlessly.
So if you can relate to this,
You might tune into the label of perfectionism.
Perhaps you love big ideas,
But you struggle with the execution.
You get excited about it,
But you struggle to finish.
Then you're a dreamer.
You daydream more about ideas than you act upon them.
And,
Or,
You can be multiple ones.
You are the worrier.
You worry you fear change or failure,
So you avoid taking action.
You feel anxious and unsure if you can handle it.
And you hesitate and worry before taking action.
And then you have the overdoer,
Where you take on too many tasks and you get overwhelmed.
Where you perhaps wait until the last minute to feel motivated.
But you say yes to too many things that eventually will get you overwhelmed.
Or you just do all the things except the one thing you really need to do,
Then you're the overdoer.
So I've just discussed the types.
The perfectionist,
The dreamer,
The worrier,
The overdoer.
You might relate to all of them,
Some of them,
And there are more types.
Go check out my profile if you're interested in what type of procrastinator you are.
But there is something you can do about it.
If you're a perfectionist,
You can set goals and deadlines with an accountability partner.
For example,
I am a dissertation coach and a procrastination coach.
And I often work as an accountability partner.
You could always work with a teacher or a trusted friend.
And remind yourself that done is better than perfect.
For the dreamers,
It's really important to break big ideas into small actionable steps.
Time management might be good for you.
To-do lists with deadlines might work.
And set rewarding gifts or give yourself a gift when you complete a task.
And for the worrier,
It's especially the mindset that's important to tackle.
Where you challenge negative thoughts and ask,
What is the worst that could happen?
I've been doing this lately and then accepting that fear and working on emotional regulation.
For example,
If I don't do this perfectly in my job,
They might fire me.
And then I ask myself,
Is this really going to happen?
No,
They're happy with me.
And I needed to work on my mindset and my self-talk.
Focus on progress,
Not perfection.
The overdoer.
If you're the overdoer,
Also like me.
I also have multiple types.
Learn to say no and prioritize tasks.
Also,
Time management might help,
But say no.
And delegate when possible.
And also,
I work for example with clients.
I am not responsible for them.
They are responsible for their own work.
I am there to guide them.
There's also a difference,
Right?
Maybe you can also do that in your work or whatever task it is you are avoiding.
And what has helped me is to really time block to manage my workload.
I have the color green for free time.
I even plan free time.
But then again,
I have to change my to-do list as well to not overdo it.
And the accountability buddy again is helpful here.
So hopefully I have given you some general tips for all these types.
That will help you to deal with procrastinating behavior.
But it is a practice.
We have to do multiple things.
It will take time.
There's no quick fix.
But we can do things about it.
Now I have the final mini meditation exercise.
That we can do the Just One Thing intention setting.
Which has helped me so much.
And please join me in this Just One Thing intention setting.
Where we will narrow our focus and overcome overwhelm.
So I invite you to take a final deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Listen to the singing bowl.
And ask yourself for the task you are avoiding.
What is one small thing you can do right now?
What is one small thing you can do right now in less than five minutes?
Try to visualize it.
See it.
And set the intention to do it immediately after this meditation.
It will just take five minutes.
Do that whole thing.
Not the whole task.
The task you are avoiding.
Just that small bit.
If you haven't done so,
You can open your eyes.
Slowly come back.
And I thank you for being here.
How was that?
You can always go through my profile.
Check out all my meditation tracks on procrastinating behavior.
And I wish you good luck.
Thank you.
