If you’re still reading and didn’t follow the urge to put the article aside thinking, “I’ll read it later,” congratulations! You are cured!

 

I’m not kidding. That’s a demonstration of your ability to act despite your thoughts in the moment. Procrastination isn’t a thing, it’s a thought. It’s a conclusion that is drawn based on our interpretation of the facts. The problem is, our brains never allow us to see all the facts.

 

The brain has something called a reticular activating system (RAS) which lets us see more of what we are looking for. This was essential to our evolution. If you are looking for berries in a field of green, being able to distinguish between the colors is very helpful for survival. We’ve all experienced this in life. For example, if you’ve ever purchased a car and then, suddenly, it seems everyone has the same car as you do, that’s your reticular activating system at work. Those cars were always there, you just didn’t notice them.

 

Think back over the past few weeks of your life. Chances are you accomplished many things both big and small. You took lots and lots of actions and produced many results and yet, you label yourself a procrastinator. Your brain ignores or dismisses all the times that you took action to support the story called “I’m a procrastinator.”

 

Is it also true that there were times over the past few weeks when you took longer to complete something than you think you should have or that you prioritized things to avoid certain tasks or projects? Probably. Everyone does that sometimes. So what? What’s the problem with all that?

 

In my experience, the biggest problem is that in the times we don’t take action, we have lots of thoughts, and those thoughts look like they deserve our reverence. When we give our thoughts significance and mistake our thinking for reality, the situation looks complicated. That is what keeps us from acting. A confused mind does not act. We get so enamored with our thoughts that we forget that we made them all up.

 

The cure for procrastination is to recognize, first and foremost, that “procrastination” is a thought. It’s not a permanent condition for you to work on or worry about. It has no existence except in your thinking. Secondly, be honest with yourself that, like every other human being on the planet, sometimes you take action and sometimes you don’t. A label isn’t necessary.

 

Consider, the only difference between the times you act and the times you don’t is the thinking that looks real to you in the moment. When you notice that you are not in action, simply take action. It works every time.

 

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Lisa Giruzzi is a peak performance coach, best-selling author, and accomplished speaker with over 25 years of experience helping people to discover their true nature and live life powerfully, free from stress, regrets, judgments, and fear. More information is available at www.TransformationalConversations.com.