Procrastination and the Power of Intention

Two polar opposites procrastination and intention.

Intention implies a willful declaration – whether written or mental – to do something. A fact before the fact. If you think of anything you do, no matter how trivial, you must utilize some form of intention.

I want a cup of coffee. I’m going to go and make me a cup of coffee. You get up and do just that.

On the other hand, procrastination is quite different. You want something, but you are unwilling to commit to making it happen.

I want a cup of coffee, but I don’t feel like making it myself. I don’t feel like going to Starbucks. I’ll get one later – I don’t need it now. It can wait.

Everyone has these moments, but what is important is how powerful our intentions are in achieving what we want. So how do we get over the hurdle of procrastination?

This morning, I really wanted to write in my blogs. I truly enjoy them, they are my friends. But I just couldn’t seem to get motivated or think of something that stirred my passion or my interest. I simply can’t write from the heart if I don’t have passion. An excitement about sharing my personal thoughts on something I care about. In a way I hope will be helpful to someone reading my work.

So, I started roaming the blogs. Since I was having a bit of trouble getting started, I did a WordPress search on writing. Two blogs had something to say that truly resonated with me, and along with a search for hot topics in the world today – got me started. The fire was lit.

So motivating were the blogs, I want to share some of the things I learned from them. The first one, Hafiz’s Class Blog: East Meets West. had a post titled “Encouragement/Motivation on Writing”. This article has a lot of great information about motivation for writers, however it was what he had to say about procrastination that really hit the mark for me:

“If procrastination is an issue in your writing life, and you’d like to overcome it, try to understand the root cause of it. Procrastination experts say that there are six main reasons why we put off things: 1. We’re bored. 2. We’re afraid to write; our low-self-esteen makes us doubt our talent. 3. We’re easily distracted by things around us. 4. We’re just plain lazy. 5. We’re overwhelmed by the task at hand; it’s just too big to tackle. 6. We just don’t like the work. When you truly understand why you’re procrastinating, you can do something about it, especially if writing is important to you.”

These six reasons can be applied to anything in your life – they’re very profound. I can see one or more of them as being the cause of many projects I continue to put off till tomorrow.

Seeing the causes so clearly allowed me to reflect on why I have put off doing come things that I really need to do.

Then I came across another blog titled The Power of Writing Things Down. Now this article doesn’t specifically state intention, however, it does clearly detail how powerful writing things down can be. It’s truly worth a read, for many reasons.

It’s a fact that people who make a lot of lists – who write things down – are the same people who get a lot of things done. Writing about the things you want to do is a clear statement of intention. And if you don’t let any of the reasons why we procrastinate get in the way – you’ll make progress toward everything you want in life.

But how does that work? Why does it work?

Our intention or our tendency toward procrastination is what fuels our subconscious mind. Everything we see, think or experience is being recorded there, and influences our daily thoughts and actions. Writing things down clearly fuels this part of our brain, and whether or not we remember all the things we’ve written, our subconscious mind is working on it, directing us to opportunities that help us achieve the things we want to accomplish and the things we desire.

If you saw the movie “The Secret”, you’ll see that is it the power of intention that is one of the keys to opening the door to the law of attraction. You can’t really rub a magic lamp and wish for all the things you desire. You have to know, with certainty what it is you want.

Clear thought and self-confidence are two of the most important components to achieving anything you want in life.

Ask anyone who has achieved some of the things you are wishing for.

New Thoughts and a Fresh Beginning

I woke up this morning renewed in a way I didn’t think possible for a long time.

Since finding Word Press, my creative juices have started to flow once again. I have so many interests, that some times getting started is the most difficult hurdle.

At this stage in my life, I have a lot of experience as well as a lot of experiences. I’ve been a photographer, a writer, a graphic designer, a publisher, a digital media designer, a jewelry designer and an artist. For the past 20+ years I’ve also been, primarily – a MOM.

After graduating a few years ago with a degree in digital media design, in an over-saturated market full of other graduates old enough to be my children – finding a job has been a dismal pursuit.

As many creative types are, I can be easily discouraged. And that is an affliction that has permeated the very core of my being for many years.

Trying my best to overcome this self imposed impasse led me to looking at life in a new way.

I found and purchased the movie “The Law of Attraction” before it was a hot topic on Oprah. And yes, I participated in every one of Eckhart Tolle and Oprah’s “A New Earth” Monday night webinars.

Yet, no matter much how I accepted and lived in the moment, focused only on the things I wanted and how positive I lived each day – it seemed that the Universe just kept slapping me in the face.

Every job I applied for – no matter how menial, didn’t result in employment. As the economy plummeted so did retail sales. So the yearly bonus my husband and I had always looked forward to vanished.

If the Universe is so abundant why are we suffering so profusely? Why am I being denied?

In spite of my admission to having those feelings, I still remained positive and hopeful. Even when I experienced a few negative flashes as unanticipated problems transpired, I would breathe deep and release any tension.

After discovering Word Press and the adventure of blogging, I now felt I had an outlet to share my voice, even if no one else was listening. My passion for writing has now been rekindled. Being a “stay-at-home” unemployed mom, with a husband who doesn’t want to talk after a full day of dealing with complaints, leaves you with no outlet to share personal thoughts.

We relocated to Florida years ago. The eternal possibility (and promises) of promotion and relocation in a “couple” of years left few chances to develop new and lasting friendships. I am basically a hermit, and sharing personal thoughts with people I don’t know doesn’t come easily to me. My neighbors like to “talk amongst themselves”, and I prefer to keep my personal business to myself. You understand.

With my background in graphic design and publishing, it was only natural that I add visual elements to my blogs. Over the past few years, when trying to create jewelry and a website, I had purchased some reasonably priced stock photo images to incorporate into my site as well as my personal logo. Over the years, I kept seeing a spot on their website to upload images. With my self image and self-confidence continuing to errode, I never once thought that my work would be good enough to be accepted. Even though my instructors told me I had a killer portfolio, continually being passed over for jobs causes one to question their own self-worth. However, I’ve always been very proud of my creative art skills. If no one else liked my work, I did.

As I was looking at the many different images on the Dreamstime website, especially the free ones – I kept thinking, I have images that are as good as these – maybe even better.

So I got to thinking of some of the images I had created that other people might be able to use to add visual punch to their blogs or graphic design campaigns.

One of the major “projects” that has been on my eternal list of things to do has been to organize the content of my overwhelming collection of CD’s. I have redundant copies of a lot of creative digital media projects that I have put off organizing as it only seemed to ignite my feelings of unworthiness.

Yesterday, I started looking at some of the images I had created – which led me to begin the organizing project. Not easy, as I have stacks of CD’s that have to each be loaded and reviewed to find all the images. Took me all day. So far I’ve found about 3 gigabytes. And I’m not finished yet!

I’ve uploaded a few to see if they’ll be accepted. Won’t know till about Thursday, but I am hopeful. Which is a wonderful place to be.

Hopeful.

People tell me we are always where we are suppose to be and doing exactly what we are meant to be doing at any moment in time. That the Universe is guiding us along a path that offers us many lessons. While I’ve always believed that to be true, I must admit I have questioned why the Universe has taken me down such a rocky road. A dry rocky road.

But I think I am beginning to see a lovely green meadow just ahead.

I just hope it’s not a mirage.