Have you ever procrastinated?

HA! .. is that a stupid question, or what? I’m willing to bet we’ve all procrastinated a MILLION times in our lives on a MILLION different tasks and it’s not doing us any favours. And since I’ve been procrastinating all day long on writing a blog post, I figured what better a topic than how to STOP procrastinating?

If you are flirting with the idea of changing your lifestyle to clear your skin naturally and holistically, but you can’t seem to stop finding excuses and distractions in order to not actually do it, then you should definitely read this post.

I remember when I came down with severe acne, and I was flailing around trying to find a quick fix for my skin so that I could continue procrastinating on changing my lifestyle. The fact was that I knew what I needed to do. I knew I needed to make a permanent change for the better and that was how my skin would be healed. But damn did it ever seem DAUNTING!!

Once I sucked it up and began… yeah, there were tough times, but now it’s paid off beyond my wildest dreams, and it’s simply just a way of life. I feel great and the healthy habits have now been ingrained in me so well that they are second nature.

Let’s begin by looking at why us mortals choose to procrastinate, and how this may relate to beginning your journey to clear skin:

• Fear

  You are likely afraid that it’s going to be really hard, that it’s going to be expensive, that you’re going to be weird or different than your friends, that it will be inconvenient, and maybe boring, or that you’ll have to give up your favourite foods forever (all of which are not necessarily true). You are also likely afraid that you’re going to put this effort in only to fail miserably. You are afraid that you will find you have no willpower, no motivation, and that you will find yourself a failure. So why start?

  Yeah. Fear – it’s potent. Fear is rarely founded in reality and it always holds us back from having the things we want and being happy.

• Looking Too Much at the Big Picture

  The reason changing your lifestyle seems so daunting is because instead of focusing on the little tasks that make up the process of “living healthfully”, the only thing we can see is this magaloid task that seems somewhat impossible.

  Baby steps, my friend, baby steps.

• Perfectionism

  It’s easy to not start something if you have the need for it to be perfect right off the bat. It’s easier to just procrastinate.

  Maybe you’ve collected all sorts of tips from my free ebook, my website, or my new book, and you have a good idea of what your new, healthy life should look like. But knowledge is one thing, and experience is another. There is a learning curve with actually putting this stuff into action – buying and trying new things out, getting used to eating different foods, or just generally playing around and seeing what works for you.

  I know you are desperate to clear your skin, but perfection and ease isn’t going to come right away and you need to accept that – and not let it stand in your way!

• Telling Yourself You “Have to” or that you “Ought to”

  The more you associate the required task with something you have to do or ought to do, the more you don’t want to do it. Plain and simple. You need to get excited about your new lifestyle for other reasons and not just because you hate acne. Get excited because you’ll learn how to do new things, better yourself as a human being, and feel more awesome than you’ve ever felt before!

  That being said, you can’t always rework a task into something to be excited about.  If you definitely think a task is going to be more work than fun, then remember this little pointer: You actually get a major psychological high when you conquer a task that you didn’t want to do.

Okay, so now that we know why we procrastinate, the logical ways for you to overcome these hurdles are this:

1. Scared? Do It Anyway.

   Yes, changing your lifestyle is scary. It’s never going to be not scary. You just have to do it anyway. No one ever grew as a person or accomplished a major goal by staying stuck in their comfort zone.

2. Change your “Have Tos” to “Want Tos”.

   Instead of telling yourself that you have to do this or that, keep your eye on why you “have to” in the first place. It’s because you want to change your life, feel happier, and have clear skin, right? So just changing your thinking to “I want to do this so that I can achieve ____” can have a big impact.

3. Stop Seeing “The Forest For the Trees”

   Seeing the forest for the trees means that someone who sees the big picture (the forest) and misses the little details (the trees). Well, in this case, we want to see the little details. The forest is just too darn overwhelming. Each tree is a small task – break it into chunks, put enough of them together and you will achieve your goals.

4. Make it Fun

   Try to make your new lifestyle as fun as possible. Get the people close to you involved – get your best friend to join a fun workout class with you, or ask your boyfriend to spend time with you trying out new healthy recipes. Meet new people in your community who are also interested in healthy living and make new connections and friendships. The more fun you make this, the less it seems like a big deal.

5. Stop Trying to be Perfect

   This is a big theme that I try to strive for in my life – so much of our stress comes from this need to be perfect – and that, my friend, is why having acne is such a stressful situation in the first place.

   If we could accept ourselves as imperfect human beings than we wouldn’t need to be so ashamed of ourselves and our flaws. We could also use this to foster enough courage to realize that we may not get everything right when we try out our new lifestyle, but that hardly means that you or your experiment is a failure. In fact, if you are big enough to learn from your mistakes, it makes any mistake a success.

Are you procrastinating on starting your new, healthier life and clearing your skin?

photo by Nina Matthews Photography