Focusing Tip #623 – Procrastination and negative beliefs

Are you procrastinating because a part of you believes your work is not good enough? Read on…

Jim writes:

I procrastinated for months on delivering a project to a client. Finally I got to it yesterday, and as I drove to his business I heard an inner voice saying “I don’t believe my work is good enough.”

This didn’t feel like the critic. It felt like a belief. I tried to respond with an accepting “welcome” in the way you suggest. I’m wondering, do I need to do more? Is this enough?

Dear Jim:

So as you drove to your client’s business, you realized something about why you had procrastinated for so long. It’s because “something in you” has a belief that your work isn’t good enough. Very good so far!

How would you work with this?

To start with, I’d try saying it this way: “Something in me believes that my work isn’t good enough.”

That phrasing allows you to start forming a compassionate relationship with the part of you that has the belief.

There’s an exciting difference between “the belief” and “the part of me that has the belief.” How can you form a relationship with a belief? But the part that has the belief… that’s another matter!

This part has the belief for a reason… it has a history… maybe some hard things happened a long time ago… maybe it’s trying to protect you from being rejected… there’s so much potential when we call it “a part that has the belief” rather than “a belief.”

So after you say “Something in me believes that my work isn’t good enough,” pause and bring gentle awareness to that part. It probably feels something like downtrodden… ashamed… shy… You’ll find the right words when you spend time with it.

And whatever it actually feels, you will say to it very kindly, “Yes, I get it, that’s how you feel…” and then sense again.

It’s amazing what can happen when we listen compassionately to ourselves. I see “miracles” all the time.