The Dragon of Resistance: Gain Power Over Procrastination

If you’re like me, you’ve got big plans and goals for 2014. But what happens when procrastination rears it’s ugly head and stops you from your intended tasks? Like a vicious dragon, resistance is deadly.

The month of January is a time for reflection and refocus on our priorities. I’ve been reading plenty of blogs and articles on the importance of setting goals and success strategies for achieving our goals. All good stuff – in theory. But the true measure of a good read for me is “how has it changed me?”

The book that really resonates for me is Stephen Pressman’s The War of Art. I read it over the holidays and found myself putting the book down from time to time, reflecting on the words and what they mean for me. I even heard myself gasp a few times!

It’s one of the most intelligent and inspirational books about why we put off doing the work we actually really want to do.

I’ve been struggling with that very thing. Who doesn’t struggle with procrastination? It’s a universal condition.  Here are a few nuggets I found most helpful. They are changing my way of looking at my work. These wise words are shifting how I think about my battles with procrastination. I am confident that I will approach 2014 with better armor to fight the war against procrastination…

• The enemy of creativity is resistance, the destructive force inside human nature that rises whenever we consider a tough, long-term course of action that might do for us or others something that’s actually good.
• Resistance is a shape-shifter that comes with many disguises, cunning, baffling and powerful.
• The stronger the desire to succeed at something that truly matters to us, the stronger the resistance.
• To overcome resistance requires that we become more cunning, more patient, more persistent than it.
• Resistance loves excuses, fear of failure, and our “bullshit”.
• Our talent, intelligence and persistence is the only thing that stands a chance against resistance but only when we sit down and do the work.

So it really doesn’t matter that all of the distractions in the world, our lack of time, our overwhelming schedules, our fear of failure are real or imagined reasons for procrastinating. Each time we use them to justify “not doing,” we feed the beast of resistance. It grows stronger.

What if we stopped doing this? What if we decided that January and all the months of 2014 will be dragon-free months? Resistance free? Might we not once and for all free ourselves of Resistance?

Probably not. Remember I said it’s cunning and clever? It always comes back. So here’s what I’m doing, here are my tips for how I am putting my beast on a starvation diet:

1. Even though I consider myself an expert, I’m always learning from others.
2. I use a coach, in fact, more than one, to keep me focused on the tasks I intend to accomplish.
3. I know it’s easy to slip into feeding the dragon with excuses, so I’m careful to find workarounds instead of putting off work.

No matter what, certain tasks are non-negotiable. Writing on my blog is not open for discussion. If something interferes with blog writing time, then I reschedule it for another time, or get help from my blogging coach.

What are the things you put off that you really want to accomplish? Sometimes it’s hard working alone. Don’t be afraid to reach out to coaches and other experts to help you master resistance. Smart sales people and those who need help with their sales processes and presentations are the ones that call or email me for help.

(Image: freedigitalphotos.net)