I want you to read the next sentence really carefully and then read it again to make sure it soaks it as it can really change your children’s lives.
Procrastination is not you. You are not a procrastinator; it’s something that you do.
As soon as I realized this, it blew my mind away because I suddenly realized that procrastination is not an all-encompassing dream or dark cloud that follows us wherever we go. This is within our control and it’s something that we can actively change.
Personalities are hard to change but a habit (something we do) is so much easier to change.
But my friends, you’ll have to join the training program as we’ll get into the nitty gritty of it and take action to move past this and get our tasks completed —– CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!
However, if you know me, I’m sure you know that I love giving you actionable steps in my article as well, so let’s get into it.
We’re going to talk about a mindset shift first, then we’re going to delve into two ways to take action. Cool? Let’s get started!
Mindset Shift
I’d like you to realize that for the most part, we tend to use procrastination as an excuse to get away from doing something that causes us stress.
What do I mean by stress? The task could be something that we find overwhelming, too difficult for us to complete or we might feel that it’s way beneath our educational or professional level.
Is this something to be embarrassed about? Absolutely not! Because we all feel like this at some point or another, so don’t feel bad about it.
The key is to stay with this for a little while but not indefinitely.
How do we do that? Keep reading!
Actionable Steps (2 Methods): Address The Stress
Method 1: Voice It!
Now that you understand that procrastination is related to stress, what can you do next? It’s simple!
Step 1: As I mentioned in my previous blog post, you need to state exactly why the task is causing you stress. So, ask your children. Sit them down and ask them what’s holding them back.
Have them voice this out. They can journal it out if they want to use it as a means to gather their thoughts, but they should voice it out because it feels different when you hear something said out loud vs. when it’s written down.
Step 2: Once it’s been voiced it out loud, work through the problem with them.
Step 3: Come up with a solution together
Note: Check out the video for the example
Method 2: Write It!
For those of you who need to work through things on your own or those of you who have children that prefer to do it this way, let’s get started. We’re going to write.
Step 1: As I mentioned earlier, have your children state exactly why the task is causing them stress. Write it down.
Step 2: After that, write down at least two objections the counteract this statement. While this may seem really strange to them, this will help to change their mindset from a deficit model to an action model.
Note: Check out the video for the example
Over time….
THIS WILL BECOME A HABIT.
Let’s Recap:
- Procrastination is not you; it’s something that you do.
- We use it as an excuse to deal the stress that the task is causing us
- We looked at two ways to deal with it- a verbal and a written method
Next Steps
The above steps are simple, yet valuable.
It can be implemented before an assignment is due or if you see your children are drawing a blank when you’re teaching them.
Ready to get started? CLICK HERE.
If you are a teacher or a homeschooling parent, I have two FREE resources for you:
- Educational Resources created for you – CLICK HERE
- Educational community for intermediate teachers & homeschooling parents – CLICK HERE
Final Thoughts
One of the topics I mentioned today was stress. A few weeks ago, on my Youtube channel (the link is associated with this video), I did a video about Anxiety. After that, I had people calling me and asking for additional support. It blew my mind to know that people were struggling with this issue, so for next week’s topic, we’re going to change direction for a bit and address the issue of stress as it flows perfectly from today’s topic.
Thank you so much for joining me. In the meantime, remember to create, experience & teach from the heart
All my best,
Charlotte