A woman who has struggled with procrastination her whole life long wonders if it’s connected to her posttraumatic stress; and if there are any resources we can suggest that can help her with it…

Question:

Belleruth,
First, I want to tell you that I listened to the CD on posttraumatic stress, and it's really great.  My therapist approves, too.  

My question is this: I have been a procrastinator all my life. Do you think that's related to the PTSD?  If not, do you have anything that would help me with it?

Thanks.  
Paula

Dear Paula,

I don't think procrastination is especially related to the PTS - it usually has quite a life of its own, which can produce a certain amount of misery, for sure, but not like the misery of PTS – that, as you know, has a particular deep distress and anguish, that tends to be more intense and more painful than the agitation and worry that typically characterize procrastination.   

Procrastination is generally related to anxiety; to tendencies toward perfectionism, a fear of finishing things, and often a harsh running commentary going on inside your head that basically says mean things that go anywhere from “not good enough” to “shameful and ridiculous”.  

David Illig has an audio program with subliminal messages for procrastination - I generally don’t go for subliminal programs, but I trust David’s work.  He produces high quality resources, which is why we carry so many of his titles.

I looked around a bit and I found a program where I like the guy’s voice quite a bit – less so the music and his narrative – but you may want to check it out, because it does target procrastination and it’s free. You can find it here.

In addition, I recommend that you try one of the meridian tapping protocols for this – it could save you some time and make your efforts pay off more effectively. TFT (Thought Field Therapy) or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), for instance, are two popular examples.  There’s a tapping protocol for procrastination here. 

Mary Sise’s excellent DVD can also accommodate you with its ‘fill-in-the-blank’ tapping protocol as well.

That's all I could find to suggest at this time.  We may end up creating imagery for this if we can't find something we like well enough - we certainly get enough requests for this topic.  Thanks for the reminder.  And if any of you know of something we should check out, please don’t hold back!

All best,
Belleruth