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Time Management Home
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A breakthrough method for dealing with procrastination and getting what you want
I hope you said yes. Without further ado, here is a simple exercise that can help you beat the scourge of procrastination. It relies on what some call a 'contrary intention' or 'paradoxical intention' process. Irrespective of what it's called, it works wonderfully well. I hope you make the effort to use it. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results. Think of a task you want to finish, but have been putting off. At the beginning, it may work better to choose something that is not inordinately difficult and about which you do not have powerfully negative feelings. Also make it a task you can accomplish in a reasonably short period of time - not something that will stretch on for months. Get a pen and paper and write down how you will accomplish the task. Chunk it down into smaller sub-tasks. Pretend that you are writing a note explaining the task to someone who is not familiar with the job. Now make yourself comfortable in a chair, while sitting erect. This process seems to work better if you are relaxed but comfortable in a sitting position than if you are lying down or slumping. Imagine that you are doing the first sub-task. Go through the entire sub-task in your mind, seeing and feeling as much detail as you possibly can. While doing this, take note of the feelings inside you. Quite possibly, you may be experiencing emotions that tend to inhibit your performance of the task. These emotions are your 'contrary feelings'. They cause the procrastination habit. Make absolutely no effort to fight these feelings. Instead, try to feel the emotions fully. Try to intensify the emotions. All the while, keep performing the first sub-task in your imagination. Bring the power of your intention, will and energy to focus on the sub-task. In other words, keep doing the job with determination while simultaneously feeling those 'contrary feelings'. Carry on till you finish the sub-task in your imagination. Repeat the whole process a few times. Next, repeat this process with the second sub-task. Keep going until you have done all the sub-tasks in your imagination. You have now completed the entire task in your mind. The point is to fully feel those 'contrary feelings' that inhibit your performance of the task, while you are doing the task with determination. Make it a habit to repeat the above steps anytime you want to do a task but feel 'lazy', 'bored' or 'blocked' about it. Be sure to perform the task in your imagination with energy and determination. If you practice this for sometime, you will discover that doing a task in your mind has become ridiculously easy! All those 'contrary feelings' have lost their power to stop you from doing the task in your imagination. At this point, go out and actually do the task in the real world. Like you did during your mental exercises, work with determination and focus all the while feeling the blocking emotions as strongly as possible. Think of this procedure as a game or hobby. See how many of these 'blocking feelings' you can feel in a day. In a few days of weeks, you will find that procrastination has just vanished from your mental make up...gone like the mist in the summer sun. You would have mastered procrastination. You now have the power to go out and accomplish whatever you decide you want to. And that's real freedom!
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