Why I Procrastinate Part II (and what I’m doing about it)
In a post last week, I described how I was having trouble getting myself started on projects.
Since then, I’ve been a lot more productive and active.
I’m attributing this improvement to my experience at the Absence of You conference. Let me explain further.
Absence of You was really two seperate events. The conference itself was sponsored by Coachville and the concept, Absence of You, is based on a program developed by Thomas J. Leonard.
The idea behind Absence of You is that the combination of human nature and social conditioning makes it difficult for us to get out of our own way. There are a million ways this shows up in every day life. Procrastinating on a project where there is a lot at stake (or at least feels like there’s a lot at stake) is a common one. Other examples are holding on to something: a relationship, a job, a way of doing something that doesn’t work any more, but the prospect of losing whatever it is, is just too painful. Judging people or situations harshly, gossiping and speculating about someone’s behavior is another. This is what most of us (including me) consider “normal.”
I’m beginning to realize that getting in my own way is not necessary.
So during the Absence of You segment, we learned about the reasons behind getting in our own way. The reasons are explained by the 12 Core Dynamics. The three major dynamics are “resisting feeling things fully,” “trying to force an outcome,” and “looking for yourself where you are not.”
There’s a lot more information at http://www.innerhumandesign and http://www.absenceofyou.
Once I understood the dynamics, the natural question was, “so what do I do to get rid of them.” There are several exercises presented at the conference.
The dynamic I worked on at the conference was “Limited Self Expression.” I felt this was the dynamic underlying my “stuckness.’
What I’ve been spending serveral paragraphs getting to was that it worked.
Last Wednesday, 1/21, I sat down at my desk and I did stuff I’d been thinking about for months. I picked up the phone and called people I needed to talk with. I got this blog going. I began writing again. I’m even drawing again. Something I haven’t done for years. Interesting.
I liked the results so much that I’m thinking of seeing a coach who specializing in “neutralizing” the core dynamics to do more work on some of the other blocks that have been bedeviling me.
Interesting stuff.
