Procrastination and The Law Of Attraction or ” Why Has My Next Post Taken So Long to Write?”

For a long time I have been planning my next blog post. Planning-really? Why not call it what it really is-procrastinating. Oh, believe me I have thought about writing a new post daily; but things got in the way, daily. Job, family responsibilities, community service, just the every-day things we all deal with. Then of course came the research; I needed to research a subject that readers want to read-after all, I had already taken so much time planning this post, I couldn’t take a chance of disappointing what few readers I have, right? So it went-a horrible cycle of wanting to write a post, afraid that whatever I wrote might not be good enough, changing my topic, reading about said topic, afraid said topic wasn’t good enough then thinking of a new topic. Next thing I know months passed and I was still staring at a blank screen the cursor taunting me with its incessant blink-blink-blink. Then it struck me-why not write about procrastination? The same day I thought of this topic I read a passage about the Law of Attraction and I thought well, those are two things I am interested in why not try and find a connection and write about that? After all, nothing I read during my research and planning had put these two concepts together. How are these two things related? First, let’s quickly review what each mean and then I will tell you how they are connected (in my opinion). While researching the definition of procrastination I found a common theme. Procrastination is simply the act of delaying or postponing something; particularly something that requires immediate attention (google.com, and dictionary.reference.com). I already knew that; I have been postponing writing my second blog post for months, so I guess what I wanted was a reason one might procrastinate rather than just a definition. Then I found a whole website devoted to the concept of procrastination (a whole website? why am I surprised). If you are interested you should go to this site: procrastinus.com. Watch the video included here by John Kelly; I think you will agree with me that he nails it. Included in the video are comments such as “procrastination is avoiding something, not being able to get started”, or “finding the most difficult way of doing something” and my favorite “doing 8 things at the same time and not finishing any of them”. That is me, I am a master at doing several things at once (not one of them the task I should be doing) and not finishing any of them. Oh, and don’t forget what I said in the first paragraph, once I decided to research the subjects of my post, well the best way to sum that up is found on dictionary.reference.com “too much research is one of procrastination’s most elegant disguises”. Aha! and here I thought I was making progress-not procrastinating! What about the Law of Attraction? Many of you may be familiar with the Law of Attraction, but just in case I will provide a quick summary. According to Wikipedia, the law of attraction is simply “like attracts like”; in other words, by focusing on positive or negative thoughts one can bring about positive or negative results. Selfgrowth.com explains the Law of Attraction as a simple concept that takes lots of practice: you get what you think about whether it is wanted or unwanted. To me the Law of Attraction means that if you are a positive, optimistic person who practices gratitude you will have positive things in your life; but if you focus on all the negative horrible things that happen, or worry all the time about horrible things that might happen the universe will give them to you. Now don’t get me wrong-I am not saying that I am another Ghandi or DePak Chopra, not by any means-I am a newbie at this way of thinking; but I have been working on looking at life differently in the last few months and I have noticed that as long as I trust rather than worry I am a much happier soul. Now you ask, what in the world do these two things have in common? Look at the reasons we procrastinate; the ones I have discovered for me are 1) fear (of rejection, criticism, etc) and 2) perfectionism (I don’t have time to write my best, I can’t start until I know I can write my best). Both of these are negative (now, I know perfectionism may not sound negative, but believe me, perfectionism for me can be paralyzing-especially in the creative sense!). Using the Law of Attraction, the more I focused on my fear and never having enough time to make a post perfect the more I put off writing a post and my blog remained empty-the exact opposite of what I really want. So dear readers, however few you may be for now, I submit to you a commitment: that I will continue to “strive to always be moving forward in some way” (stolen from @suddenlyjamie Writing from the Gray Space). So what if my posts are not perfect, and I am sure there will always be some criticism and rejection; at least I am feeding my muse and maybe doing some good in some way. If any of you have tips or tricks, or even just comments please share; I am a dry sponge willing to soak up everything you are willing to throw my way!