By Dr. Joseph Mercola
I’d like you to take a little quiz with me.
Have you ever …
… Put off your biggest project at work, until it became a complete nightmare?
… Rushed to write a report or presentation the night before “the big day”?
… Turned in an assignment … after it was due?
… Felt as if your best hours were being frittered away on nonessential and unimportant activities?
… Bought a “Time Management” program and then never used it?
If so, then keep reading – this article is for you.
According to Psychology Today, around 20% of people consider themselves chronic procrastinators. Even more people struggle with procrastination from time to time.
Maybe that explains the huge offering of books, articles, and programs to help procrastinators learn how to become more productive. But, as you probably know by now, to-do lists and daily planners don’t always cut it. There has to be a better way of ending the procrastination habit.
Victor Hugo, the famous author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, had a particularly creative method for dealing with his tendency to procrastinate. He would order his servant to confiscate all his clothes for a few hours at a time. With little temptation to leave his room, he was forced to sit down and write.
Of course, that was back in the 19th century, before the Internet. Nowadays, poor Hugo would probably end up checking his email and reading his favorite blogs.
In any case, you’ll be happy to know … There is a better way to end procrastination. And increase productivity as well.
The Real Story behind Procrastination, and How to End It
Perhaps you’ve started blaming your lack on productivity on lack of ability. Maybe you’ve started giving yourself negative labels: “lazy” or “stupid” or “incapable”.
But experts agree that one of the top causes of procrastination is fear. That’s right, fear: Fear of failing. Fear of disappointment. Fear of success. Fear of criticism.
Ending procrastination isn’t a matter of scheduling your time more efficiently, or even hiding your clothes.
Ending procrastination starts with ending negative thought patterns and ends with creating new, empowering thought patterns instead.
This means …
- Silencing the voices inside your head that make you feel worried, discouraged, or self-doubting
- Recognizing and addressing fear, and transforming that energy into motivation instead
- Giving yourself permission to make mistakes
- Learning how to effectively clear your mind, achieving concentration and focus and letting go of stress
- Recognizing your tasks as something you choose to do, not something you have to do
- Viewing your work in small manageable pieces, rather than one large and unconquerable task
- Installing new mental habits that stop procrastination in its tracks and reinforce your productive focus
- For many people, the negative thought patterns and habits that lead to procrastination are deeply ingrained. Procrastination is a deep-seated habit. But you can transform the way you approach work. To do so, you need to target your habits and thinking patterns at the core level.
Now, here’s my exciting news: an easy, enjoyable, effective way to change your habits at the deepest level.
Hypnosis Is a Clinically Proven Method for Changing Habits
As far back as 1955, hypnosis was empirically proven to be beneficial in helping people end procrastination. A Duke University sociology professor, Hornell Hart, developed a study in which participants were given posthypnotic suggestions through self-hypnosis. Over 2/3rds of the participants who chose to combat procrastination reported complete success, and all participants but one reported partial success. These impressive results laid the groundwork for much more research into this area.
In a 1981 study published by the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, another researcher investigated the role that negative thought patterns (which the author termed negative self-hypnosis) hold in reinforcing problematic behaviors. Positive self-hypnosis was suggested as a useful method of cognitive behavior therapy to deal with these negative patterns.
Now, in the early 21st century, hypnosis has become widely recognized as a valuable method for helping people change their behavior and though patterns. A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Altered States: Hypnosis Goes Mainstream,” detailed the many ways that hypnosis is being used by medical practitioners to help their patients address mind-body problems. And the Psychology Today article quoted earlier in the article advises that procrastinators learn to change their habits through “highly structured cognitive behavioral therapy”.
During hypnosis, you enter a highly relaxed yet focused state. In this state, your subconscious and conscious minds are able to communicate the most effectively. With the right psychologist’s help, you can start to control the way you respond to your environment.
Productivity Psychology
There is a branch of psychology 100% focused on increasing productivity. Corporations pay thousands of dollars to psychologists with this focus because executives who get more quality work done in less time save them a lot of money.
Productivity psychologists first help you eliminate procrastination and then help you move beyond what you would normally consider “productive.”
When you combine a top notch productivity psychologist with advanced hypnosis techniques, you get a method for improving productivity that is un-matched.
We found a productivity psychologist, Dr. Neil Fiore, Ph.D., with over 30 years of hypnosis experience to help us create such a program.
Dr. Fiore is widely recognized as one of America’s top productivity experts. His Clients include executives at Levi Straus, The Smithsonian, Shell Oil and many others. We had him take the same techniques he uses with his well known clients and record them in a strategic home use program – so that anybody could experience these benefits without having to pay corporate prices.
Please follow this link to find out more: Using Hypnosis for Productivity
*About Doctor Mercola: Dr. Mercola has made significant milestones in his mission to bring people practical solutions to their health problems. A New York Times Best Selling Author, Dr. Mercola was also voted the 2009 Ultimate Wellness Game Changer by the Huffington Post, and has been featured in TIME magazine, LATimes, CNN, Fox News, ABC News with Peter Jennings, Today Show, CBS’s Washington Unplugged with Sharyl Attkisson, and other major media resources. Dr. Mercola’s website is www.mercola.com.