Banish Procrastination with Hypnotherapy
Procrastination is the practice of putting off important and timely activities until a later time. It is a process that has probable consequences. In order for a behaviour to be classified as procrastination, it must be: needles, delaying and counterproductive (Steel, Piers, 2010)
Procrastination is something that we learn and it is often reinforced by our automatic negative thoughts. More than a simple act of avoidance, procrastination involves a process of interconnected thoughts, emotions, and actions.
A decision to delay something brings immediate relief and allows us to draw our attention away from the consequences of procrastination. These feelings reinforce the procrastination decision and make it even more likely to happen in the future.
Persistent procrastination is a serious problem as it may result in stress, a sense of guilt, reduced productivity, as well as social disapproval for not meeting commitments and responsibilities. People experience the effects of wasting time and not meeting deadlines is devastating on a personal and business level. For many people, this contributes to stress-related health problems and crises.
Despite the fact that researchers of procrastination do not associate it with laziness, the public perception is that it is a sign of irresponsibility, laziness, and low willpower.
What Causes Procrastination?
- Fear of failure. When we fear failure, we try to avoid it by never taking action. By avoiding a task, we save ourselves from disappointment and feeling hurt.
- Perfectionism. We all want to perform well but sometimes we set too high standards for our goals and they become unattainable. Perfectionists choose not to do something unless it is 100 percent perfect.
- Lack of confidence and self-criticism. If we are overly critical to ourselves or if we lack the confidence that we have resources to achieve something, our mind tells us to put this task off.
- A distracted mind. Most of the time distraction is intentional. People look for unnecessary distractions because they are more enjoyable than work.
The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.
Alexander Graham Bell
Hypnotherapy is a very powerful tool for overcoming procrastination because it allows us to bypass the critical part of the mind and communicate directly with the deeper subconscious part of the mind.
Avoiding challenges prevents us from failing but we also miss out on opportunities to grow personally and professionally. Hypnotherapy allows the therapist to recognize and remove those negative thinking patterns that are holding you back, to release stress, and to stimulate new positive and proactive behaviours. When it comes to procrastination the power of hypnotherapy can help you to re-establish your confidence and to overcome fears of failure and perfectionism.