The Easiest Way to Uncover the Root Cause of Procrastination and Rewire Your Brain for Action
Procrastination can look simple from the outside. You know what you need to do, but for some reason, you keep putting it off.
What makes it frustrating is that the reason often isn’t obvious.
There can be a lot happening beneath the surface:
- Your self-image may resist anything that threatens how you see yourself
- Past experiences with authority may create resistance if a task or goal feels like an obligation or expectation.
- Your core needs may steer you away from situations that could bring rejection, failure, or criticism.
So even when you consciously want to move in one direction, your subconscious can pull you in the opposite.
That is Why Overcoming Procrastination Is So Difficult
You are not simply trying to complete a task, but pushing against your self-image, authority issues, and more.
When these internal forces keep working against you, taking action becomes a constant battle with yourself.
Even if you win the battle today, you’ll have to face it tomorrow.
If you can win the battle tomorrow, you’ll have to battle it the next day, and the one after that.
The Internal Forces Never Give Up
Forcing yourself to take action doesn’t necessarily change what is creating the resistance.
So, you may complete the task, but the beliefs, fears, and expectations behind the procrastination can still be there.
In fact, they will fight with your efforts until the day you die.
This is the reason few make meaningful progress in their lives
If they do, not to the extent they hoped.
They shoot for the stars and don’t even land on the moon.
Having to constantly battle with yourself becomes so exhausting, you eventually give up.
How to Rewire Your Brain to Stop Procrastinating
There is a better solution, and that is to rewire your brain for action.
When you rewire your mind, you are not constantly battling with yourself, or at least not as much.
So, instead of always having to push yourself to take action, your mind is pulling you.
To understand what I mean, think about something you already do fairly easily. It could be checking your phone, talking with a friend, or working on something you enjoy.
You don’t need much discipline or force to do it because your mind is pulling you towards it.
It’s possible to do that with other tasks and goals, even ones you dislike.
Not only is it possible, but it can be done with relative ease.
All it takes is some positive self-talk.
What is Positive Self-Talk?
Positive self-talk are statements you say or repeat to yourself of the changes you want to have or have happen.
For example, if you want to become healthy, you might repeat statements like:
- I am healthy & fit
- I’m easily taking care of my body
- I eat well and exercise regularly
On the surface, these statements may not seem like they will do all that much, but as you will learn in this article, they are huge!
There are two main reasons I recommend starting with self-talk.
First, it'll help you find the root cause of procrastination.
Second, self-talk can rewire your brain to stop procrastinating and reinforce taking action.
This article will discuss both, starting with finding the root cause of procrastination.
1. How to Find the Root Cause of Procrastination with Positive Self-Talk
Remember, when your mind stops you from doing something, it doesn’t tell you it’s stopping you or give you a reason.
As a result, you’re left wondering, “Why?”
The natural conclusion most people come to is that they don’t have the discipline or what it takes.
The truth is, there’s always an underlying reason why your brain is causing you to procrastinate, and you can use self-talk to get at that reason.
Identify the Cause of Procrastination
The process is simple, repeat statements around the change you want, and then notice how your mind reacts.
Anytime we repeat positive self-talk, our mind will react to the statements.
Again, if your goal is to become healthy, you might repeat statements like “I am healthy & fit, I’m easily taking care of my body.”
- Your mind might say things like, “No, you’re not. You’re not fit at all.” Well, that’s a sign of your beliefs, a part of you doesn’t believe you’re fit and that belief is likely stopping your efforts.
- If memories of parents or peers come up, there is likely fear of what people will think. More specifically, the exact people your mind fears.
- If a heaviness or overwhelm comes over you, it’s a sign of how difficult your mind feels the task or activity will be. Now this doesn’t mean the task is actually heavy or overwhelming, but rather your mind believes it to be.
- If fear or anxiety come up about the attention it will bring, that’s fear of success.
- If you start thinking about all the things you need to do, that’s what your brain thinks you need to do to become successful. And if there is an unpleasant feeling around a particular task, then the resistance is from that particular task or goal.
- If a thought of an off-the-wall event comes to mind, the mind fears that happening. Even if the event is ludicrous, it can be the very thing that holds you back.
- If you can’t get yourself to even repeat the statements, that signals just how much resistance your mind has to even thinking about the task or activity, let alone doing it.
Simply repeating a set of statements about your end goal can give you a lot of detail about why you are procrastinating on it.
2. How to Overcome Procrastination with Positive Self-Talk
Second, self-talk can actually remove the effects of procrastination.
The more you repeat the statements, the more the resistive feelings will subside, and the easier it’ll become to start moving forward.
Words Are Powerful
Whether they come from you or someone else, they have a huge influence on your mind.
And I mean HUGE!
To illustrate, recently I was having lunch with a friend who was updating me on his life since we last met.
He told me he started seeing someone and that he really saw a future with this person.
Then our conversation turned to the power of words.
To show the effect words have on us, I told him, “You know that girl you’re dating? Well, I saw her the other day with another guy.”
Instantly his expression shifted as he fired “What!”
I followed with, “Yeah, and the way they were talking, it looked like they were more than just friends.”
Those words really set him off!
I could see the emotions of fear, jealousy, and even a hint of anger coursing through his body.
Here is the thing…
I never saw his girlfriend with another guy.
I made that up.
In fact, I had never met his girlfriend, so I didn’t even know what she looked like.
Yet, and this is a big yet, those words triggered all sorts of emotions in him.
Words don’t just trigger emotions, but also actions, reactions, and behavior.
If I hadn’t told him the story was made up, he would have likely done something he regretted.
That’s the Power of Words
If you think about it, majority of your issues in life came from words
- Parents saying you can't sit still
- Teachers repeating your work is no good
- Peers and bullies making fun of and judging you.
They were just words, but they seep into your unconscious and create the resistance you have.
Other things do it too, but words play a big role.
And it’s not just about receiving negative words, but not receiving positive words.
If a person doesn’t receive positive encouragement, especially when growing up, the brain automatically defaults to the negative.
Words Have the Power to Bring You Up
If words can bring you down, they naturally have the power to bring you up.
By changing your words, you can influence your behavior in another direction, a better direction.
The challenge is that the mind puts more weight on negative words than positive words, so it takes more positive words to neutralize and counteract the negative.
That’s where positive self-talk comes in. By repeating positive statements, you can move your mind in a positive direction.
The way to do that is to create a set of 5 to 8 statements that describe the change you want in a specific area, and then repeat each statement 10x daily.
This can be done to:
- Start a habit, like diet or exercise.
- Improve a skill, like memory or baseball swing.
- Or change aspects of yourself, like confidence or self-image.
Positive Self-Talk Example #1
For example, to start exercising, I created a set of statements like:
- I am healthy and fit
- I take good care of my body
- I eat well and exercise regularly.
Positive Self-Talk Example #2
To improve memory, I repeated:
- I have an excellent memory
- I remember anything I choose
- I recall information with ease
Positive Self-Talk Example #3
To overcome shyness, the statements I used were:
- I am a strong, confident communicator
- I am capable & proud
- I believe in myself and my abilities.
Positive Self-Talk vs Positive Thinking
Many people confuse self-talk with positive thinking.
Positive thinking is about seeing the glass half-full and looking on the bright side of a situation.
Self-talk is about repeating a set of statements that describe the change you want.
They are two very different things.
Positive thinking does not rewire the mind.
Positive self-talk does.
You want to repeat the statements over and over
You can repeat the statements:
- Waking up in the morning
- Going to bed in the evening
- In the shower
- While driving
- Or any other time of the day
The key is to repeat the self-talk statements.
The more you do, the more the brain rewires to move you in that direction.
In the beginning, repeating self-talk feels ridiculous
It can feel like you’re some imposter playing a joke on yourself.
But over time, those words slowly seep into your unconscious, and you begin acting out the behavior the words describe.
It’s like magic. After two to three months of repeating the statements, you’ll find yourself in the new behavior without really trying.
As long as you affirm the words, the behavior will continue.
All you have to do is to make sure you affirm the words.
In fact, to this day, I have a set of statements I repeat regularly.
Conclusion
This is how to rewire your brain to stop procrastinating.
If you want to overcome resistance, it really helps to change what’s going on internally.
It’s not easy, but self-talk can make it easier.
It might seem crazy that long-standing struggles can be overcome with words, but try it.
Do it consistently for several months, and you’ll see changes naturally happen.
As with anything, there are right and wrong ways of doing things, so there is more to self-talk than what I’ve discussed here.
If you'd like to go further, you'd enjoy my bestselling book:
