This special report is about letting go of procrastination and regaining your motivation through the use of mindfulness practices such as meditation and yoga.

1. TRANSCEND I NG
PROCRASTI NATI ON
A Three-Step Plan
For Regaining Your
Focus In Your Work
CHRISTOPHER R. EDGAR

2. You know what you want to do, but you just can’t seem to do it. You know
you want to look for a new job, write that book, clean your desk, or something
else, but it just never seems to happen.
It’s one of the most common and frustrating human problems, and there’s been
no shortage of efforts to solve it. You know the usual “tips and tricks” for getting
your work done: reorganize your e-mail inbox, color-code your folders, make
more streamlined to-do lists, and so on.
Unfortunately, if you're like most people I've worked with, these tools do
disappointingly little to help you get efficient and motivated. Often, although
people learn these tips and tricks with the best intentions, they never “get
around” to using them. In other words, they procrastinate about overcoming
procrastination.
This is because, when people try to use these productivity tools, they’re
confronted by the same thoughts and sensations that come up when they’re
doing their everyday tasks. That heaviness in their stomach, tension in their
shoulders, or some other discomfort arises, and they stop working because they
don’t want to feel uncomfortable.
In the end, no system can work unless you can work—unless you have some
way to handle that discomfort. That’s what we’re going to talk about here.
Inner Productivity Principle: No organization or time management system
can work unless you can work.
A while back, when I was a lawyer working long hours at a big law firm, I started
looking for ways to reduce the stress I felt in my job. In my search, I came
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3. across what are often called "mindfulness" or "spiritual" practices, like meditation,
yoga, qi gong and tai chi.
With the goal of relaxing in my rare off hours, I started a regular routine of some
of these practices. Although they helped me unwind after work and get a good
night's sleep, the most interesting and unexpected thing I found was that they
also brought me focus and peace in my work. The deeper I got into my
meditation and yoga practices, the more easily I could concentrate, and the
calmer I felt, on the job.
Among other benefits, the ideas and techniques I learned gave me a whole new
perspective on what procrastination is and how to deal with it. In this report, I'm
going to share that perspective with you.
What Is Procrastination?
How do you let go of your habit of putting things off? First, I believe, you need to
understand what procrastination is and why it happens.
I'll tell you a story that illustrates well what procrastination is all about. My friend
Dan is what some productivity websites would call a "productivity ninja"—he
religiously follows books, articles and blog posts on organization and time
management.
Dan’s latest goal has been to reduce the time he spends checking e-mail, so he
can focus on more important tasks. His plan sounds promising in theory: check
e-mail only twice a day, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Unfortunately, despite a month of trying, he’s never been able to stick to this
schedule. When he arrives in the office in the morning, he’s usually able to get in
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4. about half an hour of fully-focused work. For that brief period, he manages to
hold out even if he’s nagged by curiosity about what’s waiting in his inbox.
But soon, Dan’s curiosity about his e-mail starts getting so intense that it actually
begins to cause physical discomfort. His shoulders start tensing up, and if he
tries to keep working, the tension intensifies into an ache, and sometimes even a
sense of shortness of breath. At this point, he can only endure a few more
minutes before fleeing for the safety of his inbox to relieve the tension.
We Put Off Working To Avoid Unwanted Experiences
Dan can't seem to make his e-mail checking strategy work because, when he
tries to use it, uncomfortable thoughts and sensations—what I call inner
experiences—come up. Because he doesn't like those sensations, he distracts
himself from them by checking e-mail.
Many people I've talked to can relate to Dan's experience. For each person, the
uncomfortable thought or feeling that comes up while they're working is different.
For some, like Dan, it's tension in their bodies. For others, it's a painful memory
from the past that keeps nagging at them. For you, it may be something totally
different.
But the way most people react to that inner experience is the same: they run
away from it. Instead of just letting that thought or sensation be, they check e-
mail, play Minesweeper, instant message with friends, or do something else to
take their minds off what they're feeling.
The trouble with distracting ourselves, of course, is that it keeps us from getting
our work done. We can't draft that board presentation while we're messing
around on social media.
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5. So, this is what I think procrastination is, in a nutshell: we procrastinate when we
run away from an uncomfortable experience that comes up while we're working.
Inner Productivity Principle: We procrastinate when we run away from an
uncomfortable experience that comes up in our work.
Step One: Awareness
How do we stop putting off our work? By learning to accept those troubling inner
experiences, without resisting them or distracting ourselves from them, and move
forward in what we're doing.
This is easier said than done. Most of us aren't even aware that we procrastinate
because we don't want to deal with certain thoughts and sensations. We've
become so accustomed to running away from those experiences that we're no
longer conscious that we're doing it—it just seems to "happen" automatically.
Think about what it's like to drive a car. When they see a stop sign approaching,
experienced drivers don't need to consciously decide to stop. They do it
automatically, without even thinking about it—they just find their foot putting the
right amount of pressure on the brake pedal, as if it were acting on its own.
In the same way, when an uncomfortable inner experience arises as we're
working, most of us habitually, unconsciously turn to some distraction—whether
it's e-mail, instant messaging, or something else—to take our attention off the
thought or sensation. We suddenly "find ourselves" playing FreeCell or surfing
the web.
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6. So, the first step in letting go of procrastination is to watch ourselves closely as
we work, and notice the experiences that tend to bother us and the ways we
habitually avoid those experiences. We can only gain control of our habit of
putting off our work if we understand how and why it happens.
Inner Productivity Principle: The first step in letting go of procrastination
is to watch ourselves closely, and notice how we're running away from our
experience.
An Awareness Exercise
Here's a great exercise to help you do this kind of self-observation. Pick a spot
somewhere in the world—perhaps an object on your desk, or a point on the wall.
For five minutes, simply hold your attention on that spot.
As you focus on that point, you'll probably find yourself getting bored or
frustrated. Ordinarily, when you have this kind of experience, you may be in the
habit of turning your attention to something else.
But in this exercise, instead of turning away, closely observe the thoughts and
sensations coming up inside you. For instance, is some part of your body
tensing up? Are you thinking about things you'd rather be doing—the vacation
you'd rather be taking, perhaps?
Once you get some understanding of the inner experience you're having, gently
return your attention to the point you're looking at. Afterward, if the boredom or
agitation comes up again, take a close look at it again. Repeat this cycle until the
five-minute period is over.
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7. The purpose of this exercise is to make you aware of what's happening in your
mind and body, in that "clutch" moment right before you start putting off your
work. In other words, the goal is to help you see exactly what it is that you're
trying to avoid feeling when you procrastinate.
The mere act of understanding the experience you've been avoiding, I think you'll
find, can help make that experience easier to tolerate. As Fritz Perls, the founder
of Gestalt psychology, said, "awareness, in and of itself, is transformative."
What you'll start to see is that the thought or sensation you've been running from
is just that—a thought or sensation. It's not actually a threat or danger to you.
For example, you may realize that just allowing your curiosity about your e-mail
to be, without giving into it, isn't going to hurt you.
Inner Productivity Principle: Just becoming aware of the experience you're
avoiding can make that experience easier to tolerate.
Step Two: Acceptance
Once you become aware of the inner experience you've been using
procrastination to escape, the next step is to accept or allow that experience,
instead of running away from it. Simply allow that experience to be, exactly as it
is, without resistance.
Here's one way to practice this: The next time you're working, and you find that
difficult thought or sensation coming up, don't run away from the feeling. Instead,
relax your body, and breathe deeply, until the experience passes away.
Focusing on our breathing reminds us that, no matter what we may be
experiencing on a mental or emotional level, we’re still alive and okay. As Dr.
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8. Miriam Adahan writes in Living With Difficult People, Including Yourself, “when
you keep breathing calmly or moving purposefully, your muscles will teach your
brain that there is no real danger.”
Suppose that, like my friend in the earlier example, you start to feel a burning
curiosity about your e-mail. You experience this curiosity as a tension in your
chest and shoulders that gnaws at you while you're trying to work.
In this situation, most of us would habitually give in to the urge to check e-mail.
Instead, see if you can relax and keep breathing, without giving in to the urge,
until those intense sensations pass away or at least start to feel more
manageable.
What I think you'll find, if you try this exercise, is that the thought or sensation will
pass away quickly. Like any thought or feeling we have as human beings, the
uncomfortable experiences that come up as we work are fleeting—that is, they
don't stick around for long. When you find this out for yourself, the experience
you've been fleeing from will become easier to be with.
Inner Productivity Principle: The uncomfortable thoughts and sensations
that come up as we work pass away quickly when we don't resist them.
As you get more comfortable and familiar with the experience that used to bother
you, you'll feel the urge to procrastinate less often. In other words, you'll become
more able to persist in the task you're doing, even when that nagging thought or
sensation is coming up.
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9. Step Three: Choice
When you get enough practice accepting, rather than escaping from, an
uncomfortable inner experience, it tends to fade into the background. Because
the experience no longer seems so painful and troublesome, you don't notice it
so much anymore.
However, it may take a little while before this happens. You may need to spend
some time sitting with that burning curiosity, or whatever you're feeling, before it
stops bothering you. While you're getting more comfortable with the experience,
it's important to remember what I call your power of choice.
By the power of choice, I mean your ability to choose what you're going to focus
on, even in the face of intense emotions, thoughts, and sensations. When you're
confronted with an urge to check your e-mail or otherwise distract yourself, it's
the power to acknowledge what you're feeling, but keep moving forward in your
project anyway.
The "Yes, And" Mindset
One powerful tool for persisting in your work, despite difficult inner experiences,
is to meet those experiences with an attitude of "Yes, And." Saying "Yes" to an
experience means letting it arise and pass away, without resistance. The "And"
part is about the action you're going to take, despite the experience you’re
having.
For instance, suppose you're working on a project, and you feel a tightness in
your jaw coming on. Many of us, when faced with this kind of sensation, would
try to distract ourselves from it by calling friends on the phone, playing Solitaire
on the computer, or something similar.
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10. Instead of escaping from the feeling, try saying to yourself "Yes, I'm feeling
tension in my jaw, And I'm going to keep my attention on my project." That is,
you're saying "Yes" to the feeling—you're accepting that it's there—but you're
also recognizing that you can still choose what you do with your time, and you're
choosing to move forward in the task you're working on.
Or suppose you're drafting a presentation, and a painful memory from the past
surfaces. Instead of trying to distract yourself by surfing the web, try saying to
yourself "Yes, this memory is coming up, And I'm going to finish this
presentation." That is, you're allowing the memory to arise and pass away, but
also choosing to continue with your work.
Inner Productivity Principle: Remember your power to choose to move
forward in your work, even when faced with intense inner experiences.
As you do these exercises, it's important to treat yourself with compassion—this
new approach to work I'm talking about can take some getting used to. If you
find yourself lapsing into old patterns of putting off your work, it won't help you to
criticize yourself over it—just see if you can gently return your attention to the
task you're trying to do.
If you sincerely put this three-step process into practice, I believe, both your
efficiency and your sense of peace at work will greatly increase.
Next Steps
If you've read this report and tried the exercises, it's probably becoming clear that
we've only scratched the surface of how we can radically transform our
relationship to our work.
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11. If you want to delve deeper into the ways mindfulness practices can help you
enter a deep state of calm, focus and motivation in what you do, I'd definitely
recommend checking out my full-length book, Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path
to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work.
Inner Productivity, which Getting Things Done author David Allen calls "a great
read and a useful guidebook for turning the daily grind into something much more
interesting and engaging," offers a fresh "inside out" approach to getting more
done with less effort—from meditations and visualizations to help readers hold
their attention, to forms of conscious breathing to help them reconnect with their
passion for what they do.
The book is available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle formats, at the
links below:
Paperback Version
Kindle Version
If you'd like to find out more about the book, visit www.InnerProductivity.com,
where you'll find videos, radio interviews and articles describing the book's ideas,
and information about live events and teleconferences where you can work with
me, in person, on the challenges you're facing in what you do.
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