The Real Cost Of Procrastination And How To Overcome It
Hi friend! Today's podcast episode dives deep into a topic that's near and dear to my heart: procrastination. But before you roll your eyes and think, "Oh, just another pep talk about getting things done," trust me, this is bigger than that.
You see, procrastination isn't just about not ticking off tasks on our to-do lists. It’s not even about being lazy or unorganized. it’s something that slowly chips away at our self-esteem and dreams.
Now, full disclosure, I'm no stranger to the procrastination game. It's been a lifelong companion of mine, and no shame in that. So, picture this: Andy and I had this employee who was always tardy, like, ridiculously so. And while Andy seemed unfazed, it got under my skin so badly. So, in a fit of frustration, I vented to Andy and told him that she was breaking her commitments which was why I got so irritated.
But then, he hit me with a truth bomb that I wasn't prepared for. He basically called me out on my own commitment struggles. Ouch, right? Turns out, I was breaking promises to myself left and right.
And it wasn't just about the little stuff like hitting the gym. I was putting my dreams on perpetual hold, hitting snooze on my aspirations until they faded into oblivion. Sound familiar?
So, here's the thing: many of us try to tackle procrastination by seeking external fixes, like accountability partners or rigid schedules. But guess what? That only scratches the surface.
Because beneath that surface lies fear—fear of failure, sure, but also fear of success. It's this nagging voice that whispers, "What if I'm not good enough?" or "What if I actually achieve this and it changes everything?"
And let me tell you, constantly flaking on ourselves takes a toll. It chips away at our self-trust and leaves us feeling like we can't even rely on our own word. Imagine making plans with a friend who constantly bails—eventually, you'd stop making plans altogether.
But fear not, my friend, for there are hacks to break free from this cycle. First up, start small. Forget those grandiose plans to overhaul your life overnight. Instead, stack up those little wins like building blocks of confidence.
And speaking of wins, celebrate them! Seriously, don't downplay your victories. Whether it's hitting the gym once this week or tackling just one tiny step of that daunting project, give yourself a high five.
Because here's the kicker: flipping the script from procrastinator to action-taker isn't just about checking boxes. It's about reclaiming your power, honoring your commitments to yourself, and chasing those dreams with gusto.
Alright, friend, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to the episode, and head over to listen to the episode and If you found this episode as enlightening as I hope you did, show some love by rating, sharing, and subscribing.
Transcript
Hello, Today on the podcast, we are gonna talk about procrastination and how it's really a much bigger issue and problem than just not getting shit done. Procrastination really erodes our self -esteem and it's a robber of our dreams. Now, That might sound a little or dramatic, but bear with
I'm going to start off by saying that procrastination is something that I have struggled with for most of my life. I still struggle with it. So this is a totally shame free zone here. But let me tell you a little story. A while back, Andy and I had, so let me start with a little story.
So let me start with a little story. A while back, Andy and I had an employee in one of our businesses who was constantly late. I mean, constantly. And it didn't seem to faze Andy, but I was getting more and more irritated like every time. And one day he said, like you're getting so upset about Why, like, why is this bothering you so much? And of course, me being very dramatic, I'm like,
because she made a commitment and her word doesn't mean anything. And when I make a commitment to do something, I fucking do And in that moment, Andy hit me with a huge truth bomb. He looked at me and laughed and he said, really?
And in that moment, Andy hit me with a huge truth bomb. He like cocked his head, looked at me and said, really? Hmm. How many times last week did you say you were going to go to the gym, but stayed in bed instead? And, uh, you know, you were going to launch your podcast two years ago. How's that coming along? Like, fuck, right? He just called me straight out and friends.
I do love my husband for this. I love him for So the raw truth was that I was breaking commitments to myself.
So the raw truth was that I was breaking commitments all the time, like every fucking day. The only difference was the commitments I was breaking were to Like I would start off the day with a good plan and then I would procrastinate and procrastinate until very little got done by the end of the Like it always became really important to organize my junk drawer.
or to do the laundry when I had really big projects to right? So worse than that though, is I kept pushing off my dreams and my goals. Worse than that though, I kept pushing off my dreams and my goals having an idea or starting a project and then procrastinating to the point that...
it would just kind of eventually withered into the I call it quitting quietly. I call it quitting quietly. That's what I would do. And what I mean by quitting quietly is there are times when we might set a goal and then once we start working towards it, we might decide like, you know, I just don't want to do this anymore. It's not, this isn't for me anymore. And then we decide, we make a conscious decision to pivot.
or to change course.
That is quitting on purpose, and that's a very, very good reason to quit. But I wasn't doing that. What I was doing is setting goals for myself and then just not following through. And friend, I did this all the time.
So let's talk more about this because a lot of women will come to coaching and try and fix a procrastination Like they think they have someone, they think that if they, they think that if they have someone to hold them accountable, it'll solve the problem. And while we surely can do that, you know, set goals and timelines, and I can work with you every week and hold you accountable, it doesn't really get to the root of what's causing the procrastination.
And so what happens is once we uncover the root problem or the root cause, then it really solves the problem on a bigger universal scale so that you don't have to have someone holding your hand and keeping you accountable for every project you have.
And usually when I'm working with women and we start to explore what's underneath, like what's really causing the procrastination, guess what we find? We find fear. It's like that not wanting to take risks. It's not believing in themselves. It's not having the confidence to go after what they really want. It's fear of failing. But honestly, what's even more prevalent than fear of failure is fear of success. And I know that might sound crazy, but I promise it is there
so then what happens when we constantly put off our dreams and we
continuously like don't show up for ourselves the way we said it would, it erodes our self -confidence and it erodes our trust. I mean, I want you to just imagine that you plan to meet a friend for lunch on Thursday at And so you get to the restaurant and sit down.
And then she texts you and says, well, something came up. I'm so sorry. I can't make it. Let's meet next Thursday instead. Now, if it happened once, it probably wouldn't be an issue. But then next Thursday rolls around and she does the same shit. And then the next Thursday and the next Thursday, and every time you plan to meet, she just blows you off. I promise that wouldn't happen very many times before you would just not be friends with that person.
Because you can't trust her. She doesn't value your time. Her word doesn't mean anything. And friend, this is what we're doing to ourselves, like every time we make a plan and then Like every time we push off working on that project that we said we were gonna do, like every time we push off working on that project.
every time we don't follow through for ourselves. And over time, it really can wreak havoc on the confidence that we have in It gets to the point where, like for me, it was like, well, I'm not even gonna put go to the gym on the calendar because I know I'm not gonna fucking do it. Like, what's the point, right? So if you get stuck in procrastination, okay, so if you get stuck,
procrastination. If you find yourself here very often, then there are a couple of easy hacks that will help you rebuild your confidence and to get wins. To make
So if you get stuck in procrastination, then there are a couple of easy hacks you can use to rebuild that self -confidence and get wins. The first one is to make it more For instance, like when I wanted to start going back to the gym, I told Andy, I look, for instance, when I plan to start going back to the gym, I looked at the schedule and I told Andy, ooh.
I'm going to take that 6 30 a .m. body pump class and then I'll get up early and go to the gym and all this shit. Right. And he looked at me and laughed and he said, love, why don't you start with something a little bit more realistic? And he said that because Andy knows that the only time I'm awake at 6 30 is if I have a flight to catch. I am not an early So, but by trying, but riser.
but I had this whole plan of like, I'm like reboot my whole life. And I was just setting myself up for So we wanna stock up the little wins.
Okay, so then that leads us to stocking up the little wins. trust is built over time. And when we've eroded that trust in ourself by continuously breaking our commitments over and over, it takes time to rebuild that. And we do it with little wins.
For instance, if your goal is to work out five times a week, and you're currently not doing why don't we start with just once?
And then if you happen to go five times, that's great, but let's just start with a goal of ones. Or if you have a huge project that you want to work on, I want you to break it down into the smallest, tiniest little steps, and then just start with one.
okay, and this last one is you have to celebrate your little wins. And this is so important because what I found when I was deep in procrastination is I would always constantly beat myself up at the end of the is that I would
constantly beat myself up at the end of the day for not getting enough done, for not meeting my deadline or achieving the goal I set out for But then what happened, but then when I did get things done, I didn't celebrate at all. I didn't even acknowledge that I had followed through for myself. So every time you follow through, you have to celebrate it.
And this might sound silly, but it is life changing and is the best hack for flipping the script from being a procrastinator to being someone who gets shit done, follows through on herself and goes after her Okay, friend. That's all I have for today. If you found this episode helpful, please re rate. Okay, friend. That's all I have for today. If you found this episode helpful, please rate.
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