Creative Wellness Letters - Can't someone else do it? 😵

Hi Reader, 

Procrastination is something that many of us struggle with, in our creative work and otherwise, and I definitely have a deep history with it, too. Have you ever said, “I'm such a bad procrastinator,” and got a twinge of self hatred as you say it? (I sure have!)

There’s nothing inherently wrong with putting off a task until later - sometimes that’s just prioritizing - but when we procrastinate, we usually know that we're avoiding something, and it makes us feel bad about ourselves.

Procrastination is not just being bad at time management, or about laziness. It's really about feelings and emotionally regulating yourself when you’re feeling fear about doing a task.

Further complicating the matter is that we actually perceive our future selves more like strangers than as a part of ourselves, so, to your brain, it feels like that undone task is someone else's problem!

Also, the amygdala (the threat detector part of your brain) can get hijacked in these moments. If you perceive a task as a threat, your amygdala is wired to want to remove that threat right away, which might just be doing something else so you don’t focus on the problem anymore.

For artists like us, this can show up from the vulnerability of sharing your work, a belief that we don't know how to do something like marketing or technology, or perfectionism making us fear that we’re just not good enough. This all can lead to a lot of overwhelm, and paralysis that keeps us from moving forward.

There's nothing inherently wrong with putting off a task, but the problem is if it makes you feel bad, and holds you back from creating your art - doing what’s most important to you.

As much as we might try not to, procrastination still happens (we’re humans, after all), so here are my best antidotes:

• Make yourself feel as safe as possible in taking the next step, by self-soothing and calming your nervous system. (Deep breaths are great!) Remember when you’ve accomplished something similar before, why you are actually capable of doing this thing, or about your ability to figure things out in the past - any evidence that you can definitely do it again!

• Practice forgiveness, self compassion, and curiosity. When I find myself coming back to those procrastination behaviors, I like to remind myself that my brain is familiar with procrastination, and sometimes it reverts back to the familar, even if it's something that I have trained myself to do less.

1. It's normal to want to avoid something uncomfortable. Remind yourself that you can do hard things, and use curiosity to notice how you're feeling, both mentally and physically. You might notice some patterns that are really valuable knowledge for figuring out what's causing the procrastination. Looking at it with curiosity is a great way to meet yourself without judgment.

• Give your brain a bigger reward than avoiding the task. You might be able trick your amygdala by making it more appealing to actually finish the task than to avoid it. Even if you’re feeling critical and wondering why it took you so long to do a simple thing, really celebrate when you finish, because even if it “should have been” easy, it was difficult for you and you did it anyway!

• Add barriers to the distractions that you like to procrastinate with (like blocking social media or hiding your phone). You can also remove the barriers that keep you from doing the task. For example, if you keep procrastinating on setting up your art table, which makes you not want to paint, could you leave it set up so that it's always right there and ready? Make it as easy as possible to follow through.

• Break your bigger tasks down into smaller steps. Even if your bigger project is causing more overwhelm by looking at so many different tasks, ask yourself, what's one step you can complete right now to break that spell of your paralysis?

1. If that feels like too much, and following through on that one step is still overwhelming, ask yourself in a hypothetical way, what's the next step I could do? Defining the next step is so helpful, even if it’s a tiny one, like opening a Google Doc so you can start writing. Starting is often the hardest part, and even a tiny step can break the spell.

I hope that these tips are helpful, and allow you to get unstuck on the next step of whatever creative project you’re working on now! 

If you identify as a procrastinator, I see you, and just know that even if it's something you struggle with, you can always change and improve, even if it doesn't seem like it right now. Small increments can really go a long way!

For more on this topic, check out the latest episode of Being A Whole Person - listen or read the transcript here.

Are you working on anything you're excited about right now? I would love to hear about it. Hit reply if you'd like to share!

Stay well, my friends - I'm always rooting for you. My inbox is always open, so please feel free to reach out if I can help in any way. 

I always love hearing from you!

Have a lovely week! ⁠

Rebecca

• Effortless Effort: Relaxing While Trying Hard - Another (seemingly paradoxical) gem from Zen Habits!
• Outhorse Your Email - You can let horses in Iceland take over your email autoresponder next time you're in vacation. (Seriously!)
• Eunbi Kim in Residence: It Feels Like - Last week in NYC, Eunbi presented 4 nights of conversations with creatives, an "interactive collage of personal inquiry, taking the audience on a truly creative adventure", and I was bummed to not be able to attend, but they're now available to stream!

• E63: Overcoming Procrastination With Self Compassion

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