Let’s Procrastinate!

The other day, I read this sentence in Brene Brown’s book, “The Gifts of Imperfection:”

“I also have a terrible procrastination pattern: I always put off writing by reorganizing my entire house…”

In the margin, I wrote, “NOOOOOO!!!”

The source of my exclamation points?

I was taught to see my getting up from my workspace—whatever it was—to straighten a bookshelf or sweep the floor or reorganizing my entire house as procrastination. Procrastination was a bad thing. A sign of weakness. A word to show the world how unworthy I was because I put things off.

And, if Brene Brown, whom I regard as the Godmother of becoming aware of and releasing us from shame is vulnerable to this feeling and experience of procrastination being undesirable, what chance do I have of squirming out from under that rock?

My Friend and Coach, Jacqueline Gates, helped me put the perception of “procrastination-is-bad” to rest.

Because…here is what—invariably—happened when I put down my pen, frustrated because nothing was coming out of it, and went off to sweep my kitchen floor. Or do the dishes. Or put in a load of laundry. Or go for a walk in the woods. Or all of the above.

I returned to my work and everything that had been blocked inside of me flowed forth with grace and alacrity, with clarity and confidence.

Every. single. time.

The shift happened because I used the world around me to support the world within me.

When I trusted my inner knowing and got up from a frustrating blockage to go do something else, that something else worked with whatever was going on inside me and helped to clear it up.

Instead of “exercising discipline,” instead of forcing myself to “work through it,” I trusted the nudges and stepped away. And when I stepped back, whatever was unclear was cleared. And I finished my work in far less time than if I had stayed the course and forced my way through.

I use this evidence to support my practice of using what’s around me to support me—in my work, in my creativity, in my play, in my life!

What I learned from Jacqueline was ways and means to channel this “get up and do something else” INTENTIONALLY.

What I created for myself with her encouragement was a repertoire of things to do and ways to approach these blocks. Cuz we all know they happen.

Instead of blaming and shaming myself for not being disciplined…for “procrastinating…”

I learned to embrace the nudge and, when I went to sweep the floor, said out loud as I swept, “My path is clear; I see my next steps.”

Intentional action.

Intentional language.

Applying the Hermetic Principle of “As above, so below; as within, so without.”

So when this block happens; when I feel stuck or restless or bored or confused or uninspired/uninspiring or just plain unable to proceed, I let my intuition lead me to the most helpful item in my portfolio of “home-tending to help me focus and create.”

Here are some examples:

Example One:

I’m writing a handbook to be read and understood by employees and I’m not clear on what exactly I want to say. My words and ideas feel jumbled. If they’re not clear to me, how are they going to be clear to the people reading?

So, I go clean a mirror and I say something like: “Wiping away the smudges and smears, I see what I need to say.” OR

I go clear off a really loaded-with-stuff counter, saying, “Everything gets to have its own place and when it does, it clearly says what it needs to say.”

Example Two:

I’m creating a course and I have so many ideas that I don’t know which way to focus. Everything is jumbled about and I’m bringing in too much from too many places.

So, I go organize a book shelf (including taking some things off of the shelf) and I say to myself, “The things that need to stay, stay. The things that need to go, go.”

And, in each setting, I’m lead to return to my work or to go do more home-tending things to make my work even more clear.

And each time, I go back to what I was doing and it’s done almost as soon as I sit down.

Do you see?

It’s not bad or wrong or shameful to step away and tend to your home!

Your home is tending to you when you tend to it.

So, I say, “Let us procrastinate.”

“Let us listen to and trust our knowing even if (or maybe especially when!) it tells us to do something that has historically been disparaged.”

Let’s NOT do by force!
Let’s allow ease to come into our Being so that our work flows from us.

Let’s use our inner awareness as an intentional tool to bring us to the places we choose to be!

“Let’s procrastinate!”