I had to smile to myself today.
Less than two weeks ago I stood on a stage and presented to a room full of people about how to manage the emotional rollercoaster of building a business by using mindfulness techniques. I covered off three main points: overcoming fear, comparisonitis and finally the big one, procrastination.
Even if I do say so myself it was a pretty compelling presentation. The audience were taking notes, nodding their head, virtual light bulbs were going off above heads, I even heard one woman turn to the person next to them and say ‘this makes so much sense, I can’t believe I haven’t realised it before’.
Fast forward 11 days and I (the person who delivered this epic talk) find myself in the throes of procrastination. And while it is somewhat ironic, I have at least developed my own sense of self awareness enough to understand what is going on and how to deal with it.
Today I have procrastinated about updating my LinkedIn profile.
I’ve never been a big fan of LinkedIn. I find it clunky, not very attractive (which is interesting because I am not a visual person) and it is also a link to ‘the past’. I don’t have a lot of connections on Linked In because I don’t spend much (or even any) time there and the majority of my connections come from my former life in the corporate world.
However I’ve got a seedling of an idea of how Mindfulness for Busy People can reach a bigger audience and that means not just delivering to individuals but also delivering it to organisations.
I’m not quite ready to do that. This whole picking the kids up from school every day is still pretty high up my priority list but the time is coming.
And I need to start building relationships now. It can take a while for an individual to make a decision to purchase something but Lordy it takes an organisation a super long time to decide!
But back to my procrastination… what is stopping me?
Well first of all FEAR.
Yep…. Fear.
What if people that I used to work with saw me post about what I am doing now and thought I was stark raving bonkers?
Those that know me (or knew me) would think I am the LAST person in the universe who would be teaching the principles of mindfulness.
Now, I can appreciate that is what makes the courses I run all the more powerful. I’ve been there (overworked, focusing on all the wrong things), done that (daily for years), worn the t-shirt (proud to be on the hamster wheel doing ‘all of the stuff’) and now see a different, happier, more joyful way of leading my life.
But it’s still scary to come out and say that to those that may still be on the hamster wheel. I don’t profess this is the way for everybody but it was for me and I’m so much happier as a result.
Then there was the lack of structure.
I go onto Facebook and I know what I have to do. I go on to Instagram and I just about know what I have to do. I go on to LinkedIn. Oooooff, where do I start?
First of all I’ve got a bazillion notifications, I’ve got a load of requests to connect with me from people I have never even heard of or have no idea how they found out about me and then I start to wonder how do I post an article and I disappear down an unfamiliar social media rabbit hole. The Facebook rabbit hole is a well trodden path but this is all new!
I then start to think ‘I really, really don’t want to do this’. Despite knowing that LinkedIn will be a great way to build relationships with decision makers in the SME and corporate world. I KNOW that it is the right thing to do. I know that to get the invaluable learning from my Mindfulness for Busy People course to more people it is the right thing to do. But it’s hard.
The good news is that I know what is going on in that head of mine!
I have finally got to grips with how my procrastination works.
I understand these emotions that I am feeling and instead of saying, ‘LinkedIn, it’s too hard, I don’t like it’, I will continue to push on through. I can acknowledge them and take action anyway.
That is the secret to overcoming procrastination. Becoming aware of the negative thoughts and emotions. Let them be there. Accept them and then do the right thing despite them!
So I’m going to spend more time hanging out on LinkedIn. If you are there already then come and find me. And if you know of anybody that might be interested in finding out more about Mindfulness for Busy People and bringing it to their organisation then please give them a nudge and send them my way. I’m feeling kind of lonely over there, I need some LinkedIn LOVE!
