How to make peace with procrastination.

The Make Peace with Stress method transforms every challenge into a catalyst for growth—even procrastination.

Learn how to apply this simple method. N.O.W. is an acronym:

N is NOTICE—step 1 is noticing your experience.

O is OPEN—step 2 is to open to the opportunity for growth.

W is WELCOME—step 3 is welcoming what you want.

NOTICE.

Knowing why you’re putting off doing a difficult task, or anything for that matter, is the key to dealing with procrastination. First, know it’s not a character flaw, it’s an emotional issue‚ it’s some form of either fear (What if I fail?), faulty thinking (It’s too hard.), or simply not actually caring about accomplishing the task.

NOTICE this: The perfect time to get clear about what’s going on is when you find yourself procrastinating. Be self-compassionate, you won’t gain insight through shame, instead, get curious, take on a scientist’s mindset, and keep asking yourself why you’re avoiding the task at hand. Writing it down might help.

OPEN.

When feelings such as fear, overwhelm, or apathy (which is actually not feeling) come up, you have a choice: ignore/suppress the feeling and have to deal with it later (In other words, more procrastination!), or work on it so that you can learn more about yourself and, ultimately, overcome what’s holding you back.

OPEN to this: The yogic tool of cultivating the opposite can work really well here. Think or journal through this like this What’s the worst-case scenario? What’s the best-case scenario? What’s the hardest part of this? What’s the easiest thing I can do? What will happen if I don’t do this? What might happen if I do?

WELCOME.

Often times habits like procrastinating are fueled by a belief that we’re bad at or not good enough for something, or that procrastination or whatever it is is an issue or weakness we have, and/or that we don’t think we can change. This type of painful belief can actually be the root cause of habits that aren’t serving us.

WELCOME this: A simple and strong mantra can do wonders for rewiring the brain from beliefs that undermine to one that inspires and empowers. Try something like I see failure as a part of greatness. Or I’m the type of person who can do hard things. Or I’m doing this so that I will be able to / can ___.