Positivity is a vital tool in building a successful life and business. However, it’s not easy to sustain a positive mindset all of the time. Sometimes, keeping up the positive self-talk can be a chore. Because a lot of the time, a setback or bad day might plague us, weigh us down and drown out that whole positive conversation we’ve been keeping on loop in our minds. That’s when our ego shows up and defeatist thoughts and fear begin to seep in, and it takes a lot more work to drown them out. But these procrastination tips will help you become more mindful of your self-talk.
I believe we all have a baseline of positivity. Sometimes our minds just get crowded with self-doubt and fear. Sometimes we’re just having an off day. But all we need to do is clean out the negativity and get back to our positive baseline. The problem is, cleaning can take effort which is often times avoided. We don’t have time to clean up our messy minds, we have work to do! We have a business to run and a family to maintain and a relationship to grow. But, as we all know, without that positive baseline, those things will not flourish. So these procrastination tips can help trick ourselves into doing the cleaning.
Odds are, if you have a task you’re avoiding, you’re avoiding it by procrastinating. You’re putting off the work of cleaning out your negative mind chatter by becoming “busy” with other things. Notice that. Notice what it is you’re using to distract yourself from the work. And then become mindful about it. Are you scrolling through facebook desiring everyone else’s super successful lives? Are you on pinterest planning the wedding you’re worried will never happen? Are you applying to hundreds of jobs online that you don’t want? These activities are being done with negative energy and therefore are going to produce negative results. Instead, practice mindful procrastination.
Procrastination tips to be more mindful during down-time.
FACEBOOK: Our generation’s biggest time-suck. But it doesn’t have to be. We can turn mindlessly scrolling through facebook into a productive and positive experience with one little trick. If you’re on facebook seeing all the posts about people who are achieving the things you want, practice praising them. Like their status, comment about how happy you are for them. It may feel like you’re faking it at first, but the more you do it the more you’ll see you genuinely feel that way. Your ego was just tricking you into being envious. But through mindfulness you can trick it back. I also wrote this post about how to avoid the comparison game, which can be a super buzz-kill.
PINTEREST: Instead of scrolling through other bloggers content on Pinterest worrying about never having that many followers/clients/success, create a vision board! Make a board to pin what you want your life to look like in 5 years. Include the clothes you’ll want in your closet and the lifestyle you’ll want to live and the job you’ll want to have! Include some wedding posts if that’s something you see for yourself. You’ll see the change in your energy going from pinning with remorse for all the things you desire to pinning with excitement for all the things you are going to manifest into your life.
JOB HUNT: You aren’t doing yourself any favors applying to every single job on Indeed.com. Instead of mindlessly sending out resumes to places you DON’T want to work, make a list of your top 5 dream jobs. List them from the biggest dream to the most attainable. Then research those companies or fields. Scour linkedin for people to connect with. Ask questions. Introduce yourself. Focus your energy on putting yourself in those jobs. Your positive and productive energy will then lead you where you need to be.
CLEANING: This is my guilty procrastination pleasure. Whenever I am avoiding a task or trying to deny a negative emotion I don’t want to feel, I clean. I clean the dishes, I organize the house, I rearrange my closet. There is always something physical that I can tidy up instead of tidying up my messy mind. So, what do I do instead? I make the experience a productive one. I listen to a podcast or inspirational vlog about whatever I am avoiding dealing with. I’ll find a TED Talk about success or a video blog about letting things go. And i’ll listen to that as I color-code my closet and let the perspective realignment happen on its own, the positive vibes seeping into my head, silently kicking out the negativity.
COMPLAINING: Lastly, let’s stop talking about how “busy” we are. I go into this a bit in this blog post. Busyness is a chronic disorder at this point and complaining about it is the worst side-effect. We all have a lot going on. Rather than going on about how hard work has been or how your kids won’t let you sleep or how you can’t find a man, BRAG about all the good things going on it your life. Practice an attitude of gratitude. Next time someone asks, “How’s it going?”, even if you’re first thought is “Awful!”, swallow that down and instead respond with “Great!” And then list a few of the great things going on in your life. They might not come to mind as quickly as the bad stuff, but I promise you they’re there. This is a way for you to remind yourself of all the positive accomplishments you’re negative thoughts are drowning out.
What do you do to procrastinate from positive thinking? Whatever it is, I know there is a way to turn it around and make it a more mindful and productive experience. Positivity takes work, but it will always be worth it. Do you have some procrastination tips you can share with us in the comments? Let’s hear ’em! Sending you all positive vibes ♥
WATCH NOW! Check out my vlog about mindful procrastination tips. You can listen to it in the background while you’re procrastinating from whatever task you’re avoiding today 😉 I want my positive vibes to seep into your mind and drown out all that negative self-talk!