6 of 7: (How To Be The Hero) Why Procrastination Is Genius In Disguise

Here’s Reason #6 in the “Why Procrastination Is Genius In Disguise” series:

Go HERE to get your recording of this information (it’s waaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of the page): http://www.getitdoneteleclass.com/fall/

So far we’ve covered:

1) Procrastination is Genius because underneath the pain of it (the hunger pain), it reminds you of your true desire.

2) The nonstop nagging isn’t working (never does).

3) You haven’t moved forward yet because – for whatever reason – it just hasn’t been the right time. And maybe you’ve been a bit scared, which is OK, but we’re not going to let our fear make our decisions for us.

4) You need to get unstuck from the past, bless it correct, forgive yourself (easier said than done, I know) move on in the only way we can: from right here, right now.

5) Allotting some time and money each day to your project allows for incremental progress (baby steps!) and feels GREAT.

The Most Fun, Wackadoodle, Creative, Intuitive, Ingenious 5-Minute Breakthrough Exercise That The Get It Done Workshop Has Ever Invented (so far)

Now – the fun part!

This is a fairly new exercise, so I’d love to hear about your experience with it.

It is designed to help you access your intuition and your inner wisdom, and to help you think about both your project and your procrastination in a new way.

Once again: there are no rules. You can’t screw this exercise up. There is no “right” way to do it.

It’s also designed to be completed in less than 5 minutes.

So take a deep breath, get centered, and allow your imagination to play for a minute or two.

Work right off the top of your head. No pondering allowed.

Imagine A Piece Of Paper

Or, if you feel like drawing, grab yourself an actual sheet of paper.

Now, we’re going to create a little one-frame Fairy Tale about you and your project.

(And if you know anything about the power of myth in our lives, you know that this exercise is not quite as frivolous as it seems.)

The Princess

1) In one of the right-hand corners of the paper, draw an image, symbol or word that represents your project. This is the “princess locked in the tower.”

Again – don’t ponder – whatever idea rises to your mind first is the right one. If it turns out to be not-quite-right later on, you can always revise it. But for now, stick with your FIRST idea.

Maybe you’ve drawn a book cover, or maybe it’s a heart. Maybe it’s an actual princess wearing a nametag that says, “My Happiness.” Whatever you’ve drawn – hooray! Good start.

The Dragon

2) In front of the princess I want you to draw the dragon that stands in the way. This is the dragon of your procrastination.

Give the dragon a name and a shape. Maybe the dragon is a big ball of fire, or a brick wall. Maybe the dragon is a clock or a pile of clutter. Maybe it’s an actual dragon named, “Fear.”

Whatever occurs to you first is just perfect – just sketch it out quickly and don’t evaluate.

The Hero

3) Now in front of the dragon, in about the middle of the page or so, draw you. You are the hero of this story. Draw an image or word that represents you – don’t be afraid to have fun and be silly with this.

The Sword

4) Draw your weapon. This is the sword you will use to fight the dragon. So maybe it’s a sword named, “Good Taste” or it’s a light saber labled “TALENT.” Maybe it’s a smoke-screen or a bow and arrow or a pen or a camera or a flower. Allow yourself to imagine how this weapon is going to help you slay this dragon.

The Sidekick

5) Standing beside or behind you, draw your sidekick. Your sidekick is the person, organization or quality that you know you can count on, no matter what. Maybe it’s a friend or partner, or maybe it’s your sense of humor or your Inner Wisdom. Maybe it’s an angel or spiritual entity, or maybe it’s your MacBook. Just go with your first idea – one that makes you smile – and draw the image, word or shape that represents your trusty sidekick on this journey.

Your Loyal Fans

6) Excellent – almost done. Somewhere else on the page – wherever you like – I want you to draw an image or word that represents me and the participants of the Get It Done Teleclass. Whether you are enrolled in the class or not, I want you to know that we are with you, we are on your side and we have your back.

We believe in you. So if your faith in yourself ever falters, please borrow confidence from us – we know you can do it!

So you can draw us as another sidekick, or as an international army of artists marching over the hill to help you. Maybe we’re the stars in the sky shining down on you, or maybe we’re sound of applause. Whatever makes you feel supported, loved and cared for – draw that image or word.

Fabulous! You’re done! (The End.)

Make whatever finishing touches you like, and then take a moment to notice what this drawing has to teach you.

  • What are you taking away from this exercise?
  • What surprised you?
  • Did anything strike you emotionally?
  • Are you inspired to take any new action based on this drawing?
  • Has there been any shift in your attitude about your project or your procrastination? If so, what?

Feel free to use this exercise anytime you want to get unstuck from some old thinking and show your imagination a good time 🙂

If you want to get the recording of this information, go to www.GetItDoneTeleclass.com/fall and there’s also some more information about the upcoming 6-week Get It Done Teleclass (we start TOMORROW!) at http://sambennett.wpengine.com/workshops/get-it-done-workshop/

Confessions Of A Recovering Perfectionist, Part One

For years I resisted the word “perfectionist.”  I thought that word sounded simplistic and anal-retentive.  It reminded me of surface-obsessed people running white gloves over lampshades and endlessly rearranging boring red long-stemmed roses in cut crystal vases.

“Perfectionism” sounded like a hobby for people who didn’t have anything better to do with their time.

But at the same time, I found myself exhibiting the following behaviors:

  • endlessly thinking everything all the way through and not really being able to stop

  • not really trusting anyone else to do things properly
  • feeling that if I couldn’t succeed, I probably oughtn’t to try
  • being convinced that other people were constantly judging me and my work
  • needing other people to notice and appreciate how hard I was working all the time
  • unwilling to start something unless I was pretty sure I could rely on the outcome
  • having unrealistic, if not impossible, expectations of myself
  • having unrealistic expectations of what I could accomplish in any given time period

Now, it’s true that the above behaviors are exhibited by almost everyone at one time or another.  And for an artist, well, “achieving the impossible” is practically our favorite thing.

Some of the greatest works of all time were the result of some artist pouring totally insane amounts of money, time, energy and life-force into a project everyone else thought was totally crazy.

But perfectionism wasn’t causing me to pour energy into my projects; perfectionism was preventing me from working.

Has that ever happened to you?  How did you break the cycle?