Overcoming Procrastination Through Inner Work

Many people in the world today have learned to measure success by markers that have been socially determined and have affected our individual ideas of worth. Success is measured through these markers, such as levels of income; “earning $X100,000” per year; having X amount of vacation time and benefits; gaining a certain security goal; having “reliable” credit; and relationship measures such as marriage or parenthood.

One measure of progress that is particularly vague (but definitely present) is the time it takes a person to reach their goals. This is different for each of us, being only measured by feelings of balance enjoyed between tasks. Procrastination feels different for each one of us because balance is personal.

For some, deciding to come back to a task is ‘no big deal’, and can be walked away from fairly easily. For others, the option of leaving something for later results in them feeling less-worthy in some way, or afraid.
Struggling with procrastination hurts, and this is why the question of how to overcome it is a common topic in therapy and self-help efforts.

Higher-consciousness methods of change that delve into the psyche have proven again and again that overcoming procrastination is possible. People, no matter how entrenched in their habits are fluid, flexible and continually relearning through a changing experience of life. Fortunately for those on the path of consciousness work, changing a procrastination habit is possible through self-investigation, Wholeness Work, and Core Transformation.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a field of techniques that use the structure of mind to change the way input produces a habit. When the response is changed, the original input no longer produces the same result. Talk therapy uses verbal and conceptual understanding of a problem’s roots to think in a new way. This works on a certain level of process, but for problems that are largely unconscious- verbal methods of change don’t work as quickly.















Procrastination is ultimately a battle of fighting against or getting stuck in expectations vs. reality. One part of us may want to have freedom whenever feeling chained to a task, and another part may have a serious fear that to leave something unfinished means never reaching real happiness. This inner battle is summed up as an experience of procrastination, which has a negative connotation and suggests an avoiding of something that shouldn’t be avoided.

Without the negative spin on it, what is procrastination other than deciding to do one thing instead of another? To resolve procrastination we work with the process beneath why procrastination hurts.

In Core Transformation we explore. Together we slow a situation down to find out what the steps look like that spark the hurt of procrastination. It could be something like: “Every time I turn away from my to-do list I have a nagging sense of guilt. Then a voice comes into my thoughts that says, ‘See, you’ll always live like this, and you’ll never make enough to be happy because you can’t stick with even the most basic tasks,”. The fear of staying stuck is an underlying process of procrastination.















Everyone has a process that leads to unwanted behaviors, and with consciousness-based methods we find out what the process is for you. 'Shoulds', or thoughts that circle around guilt are called 'inner-authorities', which can be dissolved in this kind of change-work.

Often people find that when tensions from shame or fear relax, a new energy that more easily gets things done remains. When the energy that has been spent holding stress in place is released from the nervous system it is free to be used where it is most needed. The decision to pause and then return to a task can become less loaded and a trust in one’s self to know the best time to see it through to the end can be much more clear.

Procrastination is simply a Western term for the play of avoidance and expectation. Both areas of stress can easily be worked with using Core Transformation and Wholeness Work with the tangible result of having more energy to finish tasks and having less shame around not.











With the tools of self investigation I hope that you, too can be relieved- through knowing that procrastination is a temporary stress that is possible to overcome. I believe it is in your power to step onto the path of curiosity about your inner process to finally have some relief.


Author's Addendum:

I must say that since writing this post I have discovered some very important books by black women in America describing the ways in which white supremacy and the imperialism of patriarchy have driven current ideals of success- primarily to the dehumanization and exclusion of black women. Coming from a position of ignorant white privilege, I can honestly say these texts have opened my eyes to see that the goals toward which we often strive are the trophies of a racist and sexist economy: a capitalist belief system in which materialism is the religion and 'ownership' is God.



In Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto (2022) Tricia Hersey tells us how to

"Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. ...[She] encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice." -Google Books












After reading this alongside bell hooks' Ain't I A Woman, I'm considering the ways in which I, (identifying as female in a white body), perpetuate race/sex hierarchies. I'm also finding a new curiosity about the ways oppressors are victims themselves of a doctrine of materialism. Capitalism is based on rivalry, and like in war- nobody wins.

In Hersey's book she urges readers, especially black woman readers, to reclaim their divine nature, discover the power of rest, and reject 'grind culture'. Let us see that"procrastination" is a subtle linguistic device that perpetuates the belief in grind-culture, having us feel it is something we should participate in. Competition to maintain status above others is deeply seated in how we tell ourselves to gain more, and as a white woman, I highly recommend white women begin an investigation into the inner authorities that prop up the belief that more is happiness. It is only capitalist materialism dictating this belief.
I commit to the work in myself to dethrone former ideals of worth and status while also being active in my community, spending less time participating in materialism and more time making connections in person with people, with women I don't know, and with all beings of every manufactured distinction.















Following Hersey's lead, I further encourage American women to examine areas of subtle striving- and then promptly see through and discard them. What are they for? Rivalry. What are we for? Peace. There is no happiness or peace in striving. In order to really shed the illusion of separateness between us, we must- we MUST see through the cultural trappings that perpetuate the belief in procrastination- the demand that we do more, more, more and the socialization that taught us that when we rest we are falling behind, losing ground. Wholeness Work deconstructs identification as a body, as a gender, as a race, as a machine- but we cannot forget these identifications span all aspects of life- and deeper, more subtle beliefs are drivers for so much mistaken identity and shame.














Seeing through and doing the work to shatter the status-myth, the caste system of America, and the Idols of Materialism- I believe we can live from a place of oneness, sharing the fundamental truth that we function by, through, and of the same One consciousness. Our shared divinity has been enshrouded by rivalry; how much room for harmony is there when we no longer gauge success by a rung on the materialist ladder?

By investigating the nature of ourselves with the ultimate goal of undoing separateness- our shared goal becomes the liberation of all beings and the honoring of all life.