Awareness: KEY To Shifting To Success From Procrastination & Self-Sabotage

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Awareness: KEY To Shifting To Success From Procrastination & Self-Sabotage

Written by Griffin A. Hamilton on February 7, 2022

Awareness is the one thing that must be present at any point when we want to make a major change happen. Without it, there can be none.

Think of any point in your life that you've succeeded in making a major change from how you were previously, and ask yourself if you were really not aware of anything at all. More likely than not, you were aware of one or more of the following:

1. Something causing you discomfort & pain

2. What you were doing that was perpetuating it

If the problem is simple enough or your pain is bad enough, you will often be able to simply use this top layer of awareness and find a way through immediately.

If there is some complexity to the problem though, it can be even more helpful if we are aware of the situation on a higher level, including some of the following elements:

3. Awareness of why we make painful decisions we do (such as when it comes to self-sabotage or procrastination).

4. Awareness of how to change our behaviors in this specific context

Knowing these things, you are more empowered to create change than ONLY knowing what the problem is itself.

I've found it even more valuable to be aware of a fifth element:

5. Awareness of our psychological systems for creating change (regarding our own personal issues)

But even once we understand the systems and processes for creating change (tools, techniques, steps along the way), there is one kind of awareness which is absolutely crucial to everything. What is the CORE of awareness?

Comprehending

WITH self-honesty

what is ACTUALLY going on

accurately

Upon initial consideration, that general concept might sound like something almost no one with any intelligence should have any problem with whatsoever. But the truth is, self-deception and even just unawareness due to our own cognitive biases are so incredibly common.

Massive blind spots are core elements of the human condition in modern society.

Even if our mind CAN see the situation accurately, self-deception can be incredibly gratifying to the side of ourselves that wants to satisfy our short-term urges (and thus we may lie to ourselves-- which is why hiring someone suspicious like me to keep you accountable can be a real game-changer).

But as for accurately assessing our own situations, many of us simply don't audit what's actually going on because we consider so many things SUBJECTIVELY rather than analyzing them with OBJECTIVE metrics (another way to constrain our capacity for self-deception).

If you want to get in better shape, you ought to be aware of (and audit) the following objective elements:

• how often you are getting exercise

• what kinds of exercise you are getting

• which foods you are eating

• how much of these foods you are eating

• your time-eating window (relating to the benefits of intermittent fasting)

And so you have a good understanding of what your 🎯 target routine should be, you'd also want to be informed regarding which inputs are needed to produce the proper results.

Similar concepts will apply to self-sabotage and procrastination when it comes to academics.

If you want to achieve higher grades, you ought to be aware of (and audit) the following objective elements:

• how many hours you are working on assignments and studies

• how many hours you are doing ANYTHING else

• what you are doing besides assignments and studying

• under which objective, trackable conditions are you more efficient (getting more work done faster?)

How powerful would it be to actually realize there were certain conditions under which you got 50%, 100% or even 200% more done per hour?

What if you knew how the following related to your productivity, and therefore your grades at the end of each semester?

• your most productive times of day

• most productive locations for you to study in

• the most productive background music / noise for you to listen to

• the keystone habits and activities for you that actually make the rest of your day more productive

• how (and this is a big one) the power of your THOUGHTS actually impacts your productivity?

... and HOW ON EARTH would you even be able to audit those?

How would you even begin to organize an audit of your thoughts...

And how would you even develop consistent awareness in the moment to catch thoughts that were getting in your way?

For these reasons I guide clients to...

SYSTEMATICALLY MAKE THE UNCONSCIOUS CONSCIOUS (so we can then work with it).

Not only is it powerful and foundational to realize how your own thoughts -- the conversations you have with yourself -- your inner world profoundly influence the outer world...

It is amazingly powerful to actually be aware of how you can most systematically and efficiently direct this towards achieving productivity and results in your life.

If you have this problem, it can help to know what your reasons for procrastination are.

Common Reasons For Procrastination:

1. Fear of Failure

2. Fear of Success (yes, one can fear the responsibilities and consequences of our own success & achievement)

3. Psychological Drive to Rebel Against Authority

4. Not Believing You Can Accomplish The Goal (separate from the "fear" component)

5. Negative Emotions (in general) - (e.g. chronic, low-grade situational depression)

Those reasons are not mutually exclusive for one another and are often inter-related. You may in fact be facing more than one. For me, personally, it would have helped to know I was dealing with a combination of reasons 1, 3, & 5. From there, it would help to realize there are actually specific prescriptions for each of these on a surface level and that there might be another way to deal with all of these issues at the core (such as having clarity and alignment in your vision for the future and your own self-image).

Just knowing what these various common reasons for procrastination are as well as their prescriptions can help guide you confidently towards making the right decisions which will allow you to accomplish the goals so you can live the life you actually want, making procrastination / self-sabotage a thing of the past.

Griffin A. Hamilton

Griffin A. Hamilton helps post-secondary students struggling with issues like ADD, ADHD, procrastination, self-sabotage, and lack of self motivation and self-discipline who struggle to get the work done turn around their academic careers and earn higher grades. He is an expert at helping students efficiently organize and execute on their workload, plan effectively, overcome their mental blocks, and legitimately enjoy the process of self-transformation to realize their potential in alignment with their dreams.

If you're interested in getting un-stuck from the mental blocks holding you back in school, then definitely reach out and request a free strategy session today.

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