Procrastination
It has been a while since my last Blog and this is most definitely has nothing to do with Procrastination. Let me share with you what I have been doing in the last 2 months.
I had the fantastic opportunity to attend a 16-day course with my partner, completing our Master Practitioner training together in NLP, TLT and Hypnotherapy, which was a phenomenal experience. I was very unwell with a cough that I caught whilst at my course, which saw me with high temperatures and a great deal of sleeping. I went to Melbourne for a basketball tournament with my son, the Nunawading Spectres Tournament which was a fantastic experience of growth and development for the whole team and I released my new Webinar recently, which was very exciting.
Whilst those may sound very much like excuses or reasons to you, I should to clarify the sickness part. The course I attended was with the world-renowned Dr Adriana James. It was incredible, content rich and such an honour to experience this with the Master Trainer Adriana herself.
However, we were in a room of 88 people and by the end of the course more than half of us were coughing and sneezing, sharing the viral load, actually I think we can almost thank Adriana for this virus, as she was one of the first to be sick!
I rarely get sick, so when I do, it is generally a massive hit to my body, taking me over 4 weeks to finally get rid of the tickly cough!
Now let’s talk about Procrastination. What is it and how does it impact your life? What can you do to get rid of it? And how will fertility treatment exacerbate this habit?
Procrastination by definition is – the action of delaying or postponing something.
The impact of procrastination in your life is unfinished projects and the inability to make decisions. One recent client spent 5 years deciding whether or not she was going to complete a course, 5 long years! I understand the course was expensive for her, however 5 years is an extraordinarily long time to make a decision.
If we give you the Myers-Briggs personality test, the answers to the questions are designed to show how you make your decisions and how you look at certain things. As with all tests there are no right or wrong answers and the tests are designed to look at your strengths, contribution to society and how you relate to others. This test will show how easily you make decisions or perhaps not.
Procrastinators have certain statements that are linked to their habit, these are the ones I have received from clients …
If I don’t try, then I cannot fail.
What is the point, I can’t change anything anyway!
I have no faith in the system.
It is not messy; it is a creative space.
I will wait until I have 7 things to do and then I will do the task … this is a perpetual procrastinator … beware of this one!
Procrastinators ultimately lack the strategy and confidence to move forward towards a decision.
When we look at the habit of procrastination, we dig a little deeper for the root cause and elicit the strategy that is used to make a decision. The strategy chain for people who procrastinate, is a very long one.
What is a strategy? A strategy is a series of steps that you use to come to a decision, motivation, love, buy or do something. Everyone uses strategies everyday in your life, for everything that you do. You rarely think about them as they are automated.
You have a strategy in the morning when you get out of bed, things you do in a particular order. You have a strategy when you are purchasing something, whether it be a service or an item of clothing. You would have used a strategy to choose your fertility doctor and the clinic. The important thing to remember is that all of these strategies can be changed, if they are no longer fit for purpose in your life.
So, what do I mean by that? For example is you are a person who procrastinates – this may be impacting your work, as you are not getting projects completed on time and this could limit your chances and opportunities for promotion and growth. In relationships, you do not help consistently in the home, or follow through on your word, this is a major cause of conflict in the home environment. When you start fertility treatment, this will only amplify the existing problem, whether it be injection timing or getting to appointments.
I had one client who lost their trigger injection, because they put off getting all the injections and equipment in one place and then ended up with refrigerated items in multiple fridges along with food and somehow this injection got separated from the rest of the fertility kit. This was a late night emergency call, but thankfully we located the injection among the fruit and vegetables at around midnight!
Putting off things will not serve you well when fertility treatments are all about timing, precision, accuracy and action ultimately! These people will find their cycles much harder than they need to be.
Procrastinators have too many steps and loops in their strategies which result in no decision or finalisation of anything. Making your strategy chains shorter will change your life significantly and eliminate procrastination.
Our standard solution used for procrastination is Hypnosis. However, our coaching techniques will uncover your strategies and determine if they are working for you, if you decide to change them, then we can do this easily and effortlessly.
What are the benefits of not procrastinating? Projects are finished and tasks completed without any more frustration. I had one client who had ½ painted a room, for over 10 years. The room was 2 colours and full of junk. After one coaching session, this client started cleaning out that room, then painted it and moved on to clear out the entire house. Her family wondered what happened, as this woman was now on a mission, to get everything in its place and completed as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Procrastination has caused some clients to delay seeking investigations and undergoing treatment. For others it was being unable to choose a clinic, to the point where we sat down to go through all the pros and cons. Choosing a sperm donor, can take an very long time for a person who procrastinates and this means you can miss out on your 1st choice or a sibling for your donor conceived child with the same donor, I have witnessed this many times.
Relationships are strained when you are living with someone who procrastinates, it causes frustration for the partner who is able to process and decides upon things quickly. The one who puts off doing things will inevitably feel more stress and anxiety, as 1 thing becomes 10 and soon the task list seems insurmountable. Relationship must be equitable in terms of contribution, if the procrastinator is taking 10 times longer to get that washing hung out, prepare lunch, get ready when you are going out somewhere, this causes a significant shift in the partnership and resentment starts to build.
In the meantime, what are some things you can do, prior to coaching, because ultimately this is the only way to get rid of the habit completely.
Start by writing an effectiveness check list and clearing space in your everyday routine –
- Write a daily/weekly to do list/refer to it daily
- Scratch off anything that you are unlikely to complete, especially those useless Udemy and Smartly courses that are great as a hobby, however do not contribute to your career in any serious way
- Clear your office and desk space
- When you leave a room pick up and take something with you, in no time your home and office will be neat and tidy
- Get your accounts in order, cancel any direct debits that are no longer required or most likely that you have forgotten about
- Make your bed every morning, when you get up
- Clean your car inside and outside
- Clean out your filing cabinets
- Exercise 3 times a week, the endorphins make you feel good and increased energy to levels will help you to complete tasks throughout the week
- Eat with purpose to fuel your body
- Get sufficient sleep
Everything that you have not finished and have as a possibility in your life, is taking energy from you, like spinning multiple plates or juggling balls, either complete it or get rid of it. This will eliminate unnecessary tasks from your life and reduce the number of potential things that you will procrastinate about.
It is time to stop Procrastinating and book your FREE introduction call now, here is the link so we can get started … https://ivfcoachingclinic.as.me/intro
Kind Regards,
Sophia Baseotto
Fertility Specialist Scientist & Coach