The Roots of Procrastination

Procrastination is a life-ruiner. But it doesn't have to be that way. Recovery is a well kept secret.

If you have ever truly entered into the dark heart of procrastination you will know that time management training, action plans and reward schemes are not the answer. Sometimes painful, even devastating consequences, are not strong enough to take on the power of procrastination. For it is a veritable superpower in the battle to get stuff done.

Procrastination is an enigma too. It resides within yet it feels like an invisible, outside force that physically bears down on the afflicted to keep them from the tasks they themselves have elected to do. This is the hardest part to fathom - it is not just the distasteful or the difficult task that is put off - but also the long dreamed of one. The mind divides and turns on itself.

Of course people do procrastinate what is disagreeable to them, what serves another but not them, what appears complex and burdensome. This kind of procrastination can have serious consequences but it has shallow roots. It is amenable to reform through strategies, training and reward or the simple revocation of the task as a goal - I no longer wish to do this! This kind of procrastination is objectively and emotionally logical.

No, the procrastination of which I speak - though it may also share those characteristics - springs from a deep underground source. Undoubtedly it has a logic but the rationale is hidden. That source is a place where to strike out and write the essay, complete the paperwork, set the wheels in motion is as impossible as if one were indeed being held down. The lucky ones will be visited by the spirit of productivity just in time but will be hurt and saddened by the inferior outcomes and the anxiety-soaked weeks that preceded action. The unlucky ones will watch their hopes and dreams, even the mundane chores that make up a life, slip away. In time, the promises to start tomorrow will cease to be given as they reluctantly conclude that some people just aren't meant to have a life. At its darkest, procrastination is an emotional suicide.

And yet, there is a way to overcome it, to reach down to the deepest roots and pull them out for good. A little-known group of simple (yes, simple!) techniques called energy or meridian therapies have sprung up over the last 20 to 30 years and they penetrate the unconscious by calling the problem to mind while tapping or holding points on the face and hands. Problems do not have to be relived, or endlessly discussed - they just dissolve. Of course, just as becoming a procrastinator was a process, so it is a process to 'unbecome' one. Shallow roots may be pulled in just one or a handful of sessions but deep ones will take a number of sessions to eradicate. There are now many of these EFT, TFT or TAT practitioners around the world. Many work over the 'phone or by skype.

I urge anyone who sees themselves in this article to get help now. If you sit on it for another year the only thing that will change is that you have lost another year and you will be one year more regretful. Your life is waiting for you and it is a beautiful place.

Eimear Mc Allister is a lawyer and a meridian practitioner who specialises in helping people overcome procrastination. When she worked for the Law Society advising and inspecting solicitors, she saw up close how devastating procrastination can be for all concerned and resolved to help people overcome it. Her unique combination of investigative skills gained at the Bar, intuition and energy methods make her a superpower worthy to take on procrastination. Find her at http://www.freedomfromprocrastination.com/. Give her your take on procrastination or ask about her services. She is based in the UK and works in person and by Skype.