When you procrastinate due to confusion and overwhelm

It’s not uncommon for us to procrastinate because we are confused.

But it’s one thing to be confused because you learn something new, get the clarity and move on it’s entirely different thing to get stuck and indulge in confusion,

In this article I cover three things:

how to tell if you are stuck in confusion
possible underlying causes of confusion. How does it serve you.
3 actions you need to take to get out of this state.

I will be referring to a creative work of all sorts, but you can apply it to other areas of life.

We tend to get stuck in worry, confusion, doubts, anxiety, and when you look back at your life – notice that there is nothing useful that is created from them. Of course it’s natural to feel confused, worried or doubtful, but when we get stuck in them – those emotions create negative consequences.

PART 1

How do you know if you are stuck and indulging in confusion?

One way to check if you are stuck in confusion is to look at your results

If you know you have all the information, all the skills, and you see no produced results, it’s still in your head. And you feel it’s been too long. You are stuck in confusion.

You spend most of the time thinking about it, asking yourself wrong questions with answer that don’t leas anywhere useful.

Now you are not stuck if… You look at your results and you see the idea manifested or in the process

Because your actions are deliberate, there is a clear path. You made the decision, You know what to do. That happens when you are clear. Confusion cannot create anything.

PART 2

The reasons your confusion (and overwhelm) keeps you procrastinating

Possibility# 1 You don’t want to “Leave the other ideas behind”

If you are anything like me in the past, you probably have a lot of ideas that you start but don’t finish. Because having to choose one and focus on one is your greatest nightmare! It feels like something inside your brain is kicking and screaming.

So let’s see what’s going on here. Why is it a problem for you to choose one idea, or project, or style.

Let’s say you have 13… or 130 ideas.

You are not choosing any of them to work on, because you don’t want to leave the other ideas behind. What really happens here is, you are leaving all of them behind, because you don’t work on any of them.

What is the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen after you choose one thing and work on is, that after a while you will quit and come back to square one. You will return to the place you need to pick what to work on. And you are free to do this… But before you give up, ask yourself why you are giving up – make sure you like your reasons.

So… the worst that can happen is that you will be back to where you are now.

What is so horrible about it then? 🙂

Possibility #2 Subconsciously you are avoiding action.

You tell yourself that you don’t know what to do and what to choose – and you believe it – because if you choose one thing, you will need to DO IT.

And what’s so hard about doing it? That it’s uncomfortable and it requires that you spend energy.

Avoiding action is natural because your brain doesn’t like discomfort, it prefers things to stay the same and it prefers to preserve energy. But we need to overcome this natural tendency in order to grow.

Ideas come easy to you, but work doesn’t , so you get confused and lose interest when you move forward…. If you had to pick something now – what would you need to face? What ‘s come up for you?

Possibility #3 You have a belief: “It supposed to be easy”

You may be procrastinating because you thought that, if you are on the right path, if you married the right person, if you have chosen the right idea – things from now on should be easy. Is this belief serving you?

What if at times things should be easy and at times they should be more difficult ? Instead of arguing with the reality, we accept it and make the best of it.

Obstacles will always be there.

Now, some obstacles may be helping you realize that you want to keep going. and some obstacles may be not worth the effort and the price and will redirect you to another thing or a person.

Surprising discovery: I often feel bad doing things, that when done, make me feel amazing!

Every time I want to quit working on something it’s because things got harder: now I need to think more, push thru discomfort. This is why often I take a break and go to another project. But when I stay with the one that is difficult I prove to myself I can do it.

Possibility # 5 – you are stuck in overwhelm.

It’s very convenient how overwhelm works: you feel like you have a lot to do – but you don’t do anything or move chaotically from one task to another not finishing anything.

If we start indulging in overwhelm – procrastination is guaranteed. You may think you have no time sit down and make a list or a plan. But the brain does a poor job holding the list and thinking – it’s not made for storing information. It’s made for processing it.

This leads us straight to the solution:

Part 3

What are the three actions you need to take, to end confusion, and through this – procrastination?

Make a decision/ Choose. (Drama? What is the next logical step? Or: what are you most passionate about now?)
Commit (commit to the task and expect obstacles)
Take action (in the process you will experience discomfort, but sometimes it will be fun and easy. But the rewards will be unmatched by the doubtful pleasures of procrastination)

If there were no more secrets to end procrastinating because of confusion. What would it mean for you, now?