If you read this, I bet you know one or two things about procrastination. I do too. We all do. Procrastination is a natural phenomenon and even the most purposeful person is tempted to put off what she/he can do today until tomorrow. There is always a « good reason » for it, especially when an important change in your life is at stake.

"before" and "after" images of yourself

Make a list of your excuses for not taking action on what you would like to accomplish. Then read it aloud : does it make you feel uneasy ? Good ! Discomfort is a sign that deep inside you know that nothing justifies your inaction and that you are ready for change. Rewrite your excuses with a confident statement. For instance, if one of the excuses on your list is « I’m not ready », you can write : « I’m not ready, this is not the perfect moment, but then the perfect moment may never come, so let’s take action today, before adding ‘it’s too late’ on my list of excuses. » Visualize yourself as an excuse-maker and as an excuse-killer. Try to get inspiration from your list of excuses and draw your self-portrait as an excuse-maker. Don’t try to make a work of art, just draw a sketch expressing clearly your fear of commitment. Do you like what you see ? No ? Great !



Now read again your list of confident statements and reshape your self-portrait as an excuse-maker into your self-portrait as an excuse-killer and a doer. Again, this is not art. I find my self-portraits quite ludicrous but, at least, in the second one I stand up !

Click to enlarge Try to get inspiration from your list of excuses and draw your self-portrait as an excuse-maker. Don’t try to make a work of art, just draw a sketch expressing clearly your fear of commitment. Do you like what you see ? No ? Great !Now read again your list of confident statements and reshape your self-portrait as an excuse-maker into your self-portrait as an excuse-killer and a doer. Again, this is not art. I find my self-portraits quite ludicrous but, at least, in the second one I stand up !



Make a vision board of your excuses. You can search for symbolic images on the Internet (or in some magazines). I, for my part, chose to visualize my three main recurrent excuses. I think the images I found speak for themselves, but feel free to add captions or a collage of words.

Click to enlarge



Finally, make a vision board of self-confidence , showing symbolic images that are the opposite of the ones you chose for your vision board of excuses. You can keep your two vision boards and your two self-portraits side by side (close to the vision board of your goals, if you already made one) and contemplate them as «before and after» images of yourself. Which they are.

Each one of these excuses is fear of commitment in disguise. A sly hydra, as I see it, who lures you into a well of unproductive exhaustion. To beat the hydra, you first need to discover her many faces. This is much simpler than it sounds : all you have to do is follow self-growth experts’ advice and write down what you would like to accomplish, then write down your excuses for not taking action and challenge the reasoning behind each of them.But you can do more : create a visual representation of your excuses and of yourself as an excuse-maker. Then transform these visions into visions of action and self-confidence. You can use vision boards, virtual galleries, drawing software, or just pen and paper, plus some glue.Here are my method and my vision boards and sketches, based on my «favorite» excuses : « I don't have enough strength for a fresh start », « I don’t know where to start », « I’m too old for this ».