Is Procrastination A Hidden Fear?
Updated: Jul 18, 2022
Written by: Kawtar El Alaoui, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Do you ever find yourself staring at your desk, with your screen on, onto a blank page for hours? In the meantime, you scroll all the way to the end of your social media feeds. Maybe you get a drink, grab something to eat, and listen to some music.
Anything but getting started on your work?
As time passes, the anxiety of not getting your task done on time increases in the background. You may even secretly feel embarrassed or ashamed of yourself, wondering what’s wrong with you for never getting started on time when your mind knows you should?
Just reading this might make your thoughts start to race. So, breathe. Take a couple of deep breaths. Perhaps there is another way to see this situation and break the cycle.
If you look for information on overcoming procrastination, you will have a lot of short-term fixes, and some of them may work. Yet, the real reason for your procrastination still lurks in the back of your mind making you feel inadequate.
Today, I will share with you the three main reasons I found for procrastination in working with my clients, and you might find them quite surprising. I will also share some tips that might help you see procrastination differently.
1. Fear of failure. While it may seem like procrastination is only a surface-level behavior; it often covers up deeper fears, especially the fear of failure and the feeling of inadequacy. Your mind can keep you spinning for hours with immediate “feel good” fixes to protect yourself from shame.
Unfortunately, this often means you are experiencing a more profound feeling of shame and disempowerment that you cannot address because you cannot even see it. If this is your case, you can learn to support yourself out of this feeling. As soon as you notice yourself in the avoidance-shame cycle, pause.
Notice what is happening inside of you. You can ask yourself: “What am I worried would happen if I started this project? “What would happen if I sent this proposal?” or whatever you are not doing yet?
Notice there is a part of you trying to protect yourself from some pain by making you use avoidance strategies, resulting in procrastination. Give yourself a few minutes of self-compassion, thank this part of you, and ask yourself: “What can I do to ensure I can move even with this fear present?”
Sometimes just acknowledging the fear dissipates it. Other times, you may need to take some actions like getting additional information or seeking a different perspective from a trusted friend or colleague.
2. Boredom. This one surprised me. I have found that for some clients, if the work or task ahead of them feels unimportant or meaningless, they can take hours doing other things instead.
So, a good question to ask yourself is, “Am I avoiding this because it’s boring? If so, what’s important about doing it, even though it’s boring, and how can I do the task in front of me in a way that’s more fun or pleasant?”
Perhaps you can add some background music or give yourself a 5-minute break of something you enjoy every 30 minutes. This is a nice short-term strategy. However, it does leave the bigger question unanswered: why are you doing work that is so uninspiring? We can discuss that more on the call. For now, let me share with you the third reason I found my clients procrastinating.
3. Overwhelm. Oddly enough, I found this particularly true of highly committed clients. They tend to have multiple projects on the go and be engaged in various areas of interest.
Occasionally, they get into a sense of overdrive that leaves them feeling scattered and unable to start even though they know what they have to do. This is a good indication that it’s time for a break from commitment and time to do something fun or relaxing. Sometimes, a simple shift like making a list to manage time makes a big difference before taking a break.
Procrastination is not just self-sabotaging behavior. No one wakes up with the commitment to sabotage themselves, so be kind to yourself and see which behavior is procrastination covering up.
Here’s a quick review: sometimes, procrastination indicates a hidden fear to be released. Other times, it is an indication that you need some simple strategies to shift into productivity. And yet there are times when it is simply an indication of an overwhelm of creative ideas needing an outlet. What procrastination is not, however, is a good reason to be unkind to yourself.
When you become compassionate and supportive of yourself, you start to show up for your future more consistently than ever before. If you would like to know more about making this shifting reality in your life, join me for the free taster session on Showing Up for Your Future on June 1st at 9 AM ET. You can register here.
Kawtar El Alaoui, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kawtar El Alaoui. LL. B, PCC is a thought leader, global conscious leadership coach, facilitator, and mentor. Her work redefines leadership from the inside out and enables leaders and teams to reach their highest potential. Kawtar's conscious leadership model weaves self-awareness, conscious communication, and collaboration, conflict transformation, social equity, trauma-informed relating, and values-driven decision making.
She is the Founder and CEO of Conscious Togetherness, Inc.
Kawtar is Faculty and Mentor with Leadership That Works India, Facilitator with the Business Plan for Peace in the UK, and Leadership Advisor with She Did It! Ell a osé! In Canada.
