I often don’t start tasks right away, but I’m not a procrastinator. Traditional wisdom would have us believe that delaying, even in the slightest, on starting a project is automatically avoidance.
Intuition sometimes likes to dress up as procrastination.
She’s sneaky that way. She tip-toes around a task, sniffs it, turns it over a few times, perhaps makes a spreadsheet or list or two, then saunters away with a smirk on her face. She knows that more information is coming, that the time is not now, and that you’ll thank her for not starting when you find out the reason for the delay.
Some days, you don’t start the book, don’t pick up the phone, don’t answer the email, don’t set the meeting, and don’t implement the strategy. Some days…less is more. We have no way of consciously being aware of the myriad of information available to us at all times. Luckily, our intuition has us covered. She’s not trying to delay your gratification or your progress. She’s simply looking out for you.
Is procrastination always intuition in a masquerade? No. Sometimes you’re just plain scared. I didn’t get my publisher a sample chapter and outline for my first book until four months after they asked for it. It wasn’t my intuition. I was just scared. But I loved myself in spite of my fear instead of making myself wrong, and I got it all done in twenty-four hours when I was finally ready to put myself out there.
Trust your procrastination. She’s got some wisdom for you. She’s telling you there’s more information on its way. She’s whispering that your perfect new hire still has a few weeks at her current job before you can scoop her up. Sometimes, she’s telling you that you’re scared.
She’s NOT telling you that you’re a bad person, a screw up, a slouch, or lazy. She’s NOT telling you to get it together, buck up, muscle through, or (wo)man up.
Procrastination only shows up when you need her. She’s a trusted friend, a confidante, and your girlfriend who has your back no matter what. Trust her. Listen to her. Get curious when she shows up.
Your procrastination is wise. Listen up when she shows up.
Kate Northrup is a professional freedom seeker and creative entrepreneur and mentors entrepreneurs in creating their own financial freedom. She created financial freedom for herself at the age of twenty-eight through building a team of more than 1,000 wellness entrepreneurs in the network marketing industry. Her philosophy is that if you free yourself financially, you can be fully present to your purpose on the planet. Find out more and take her free Money Love Quiz to find out what your relationship with money says about you at KateNorthrup.com and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
