Have you fallen into the gap between procrastination and your own potential?

It’s the time of year when it is normal for a lot of us to feel a bit disillusioned, a bit lost and a bit stuck 

It’s a tough feeling

We are stuck in the gap between the deep understanding and New Year’s optimism of our own and life’s potential and the hard drudge of the first months of the year

We know we are capable of more. More fun, more achievements, living life more the way we want to live it – hence why we so confidently and purposefully made our New Year’s resolutions

Yet, once the fresh sparkle of hope and optimism of the first few weeks has worn off and the harder slog of embedding our new habits kicks in, we notice procrastination also sneaking in. We are starting to put things off, stay a bit longer in bed rather than go for that run, we are breaking our promises to ourselves and so we feel disillusioned and stuck. What’s worse, we are then beating ourselves up, seeing this as evidence that we are not worth the effort improvement takes

A quick glance through news and social media reveals we are not alone

Many of us are so overwhelmed by the size of the new habit we want to create, the old habit we want to ditch, or simply fitting the new activity into the already overwhelming task list of our busy days, that nearly 80% of us are feeling burnt out, procrastinating and are giving up on the potential of our New Year’s resolutions by February every year, according to Forbes

The thing is, it is in exactly these moments when we really need a strong supporter. Someone who believes we are worth the effort improvement takes so we can avoid procrastination and keep taking the small steps forward, keep making progress and keep letting go of these toxic negative thoughts which restrict our progress. The toxic negative thoughts which keep us procrastinating rather than progressing

A strong supporter is someone who can remind us during the tough times that the answer is to remember to swap perfection for progress, so we can keep moving forwards, not allowing our mistakes and missteps to trip us up on our journey towards making more of our potential and living a better life. A strong supporter who simply sees these mistakes and missteps as a normal part of doing something new, embedding a new habit or behaviour. Small steps, even the tiniest steps, still move us along a new path towards a more fulfilling future 

To make progress in our lives we need to dumb down the rubbishing inner voice and forget the way it mocks the mistakes, the missed meditation sessions, the promised daily workouts, the broken healthy eating plans - as the much-loved, ever optimistic football coach from the 2021 multi Emmy Award winning Apple TV+ comedy, Ted Lasso would say: 

"You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It's a goldfish. You know why? It's got a 10-second memory"

When we feel stuck between procrastination and our potential, we would all benefit from being goldfish. Simply forgetting the toxic negative thoughts, forgetting the rubbishing inner voice and focussing on moving forwards. We would all benefit from being our own Ted Lasso, our own kind-hearted, compassionate, ever optimistic inner supporter, rather than harsh, judgemental, inner critic

Because in our hearts we know we can't change the past, but if we do something now, we can change our future

So to change our future, one of the biggest things we can do today to stop the procrastination and fulfil our potential is to become our own supporter, swapping perfection for progress and letting go of the beliefs behaviours and mind-sets which restrict and hold us back so that we can embrace, usher in, roll out the red carpet for different perspectives, assessments, evaluations on what we can do to fulfil our potential and make progress in our everyday lives, at home, at work, in our whole lives

So how do we actually do this? Become our own supporter, our own Ted Lasso? The great news is we have some help 

The great news is to help us do this, Progressfull have created a Progresslift (our name for a chapter) called 'welcoming feedback from me, myself & I’ where we share content and tools to help you Be for yourself (not against yourself) and be your own supporter. So you can ensure your feedback is affirming and supportive even when challenging. This is Welcoming Feedback from me myself & I

Welcoming Feedback is about how we embrace, usher in, roll out the red carpet for different perspectives, assessments, evaluations on what we can do to fulfil our potential and make progress in our everyday lives, at home, at work, in our whole lives.  Developing the belief's, behaviours and mind-sets that help you Welcome Feedback and become your greatest supporter  

Let’s use our emotional energy to help ourselves and Welcome Feedback, be present, in the moment, every day, step by step by step, bite by bite swapping perfection for progress, embracing new perspectives, new habits and new ways to fulfil our potential, realising that we are worth the effort improvement takes

We share the content and tools and also how you can adopt and apply them to your own life, in our Welcoming Feedback Upskill (our name for course or masterclass)

Tap the link here to discover more about how you can buck the trend and bridge the gap between procrastination and your potential by becoming your own biggest supporter, being happy like a goldfish who keeps on moving forwards, living a life of full of progress!