I have often been asked how to overcome a habit of procrastination. My answer has been to set a goal on whatever you have been procrastinating about "doing" and then follow the 8-Step CALM Process for achieving goals, doing this over and over again in your subconscious mind. At the last CHI Seminar several participants wanted more than that answer as they were having challenges regarding procrastination as an issue in their lives. Questions arose such as "Why do we have procrastination?" and "What is it really?" and "How come it's a habit that is really holding me back?" Because this explanation was really relevant in the CHI Seminar I felt I needed to pass it on to others - hence this E-Report.

Habits

When you have a habit it means that it's firmly implanted in your subconscious mind.  The subconscious mind wants everything it's got ... it's like your Comfort Zone.  Even if you have a bad habit you'll keep on doing it; you see the subconscious mind (where habits reside) doesn't judge good or bad.  If you have the habit, the subconscious mind wants it and it keeps bringing the habit to the surface.  Just imagine for example the habit of "smoking", even though people know it's not good for them - it's "stuck" there as a habit.

The job of the Subconscious Mind

 I say that the job is to "Keep you where you are now".  In other words, the subconscious mind wants what it's got - it doesn't want what it's not got.  How does it do that?  The real answer is with sabotaging self talk.  An example could be self talk, which says "I'm no good.  I'll never get it.  I don't deserve it.  I haven't been practising.  I'll fail anyway.  I hate it."

Have you ever heard those words when talking to yourself?  Yes, most of us have - it's sabotaging self talk which we put there and allowed it to perpetuate.  The end result of this is, whatever it is we want to do, we are stopped because we now have the entrenched negative habit.

Can we change, or put into the subconscious mind whatever it is we do want?  Of course - that's what I teach!  I have two main methods: one involves using goals in the Alpha Brainwave state and the other involves using Active Meditation in the Theta brainwave state.

We can change self talk to, for example "I'm getting better and better. I'm really good at ...............  I've been practising and deserve to win .............. Yes, I've got it!"  When the subconscious mind has got these messages then, and only then, will whatever you want have a chance of happening.

 

So what is procrastination?

When procrastination is a habit, then another way of expressing procrastination is that the subconscious mind is doing its job. That is, it - the subconscious mind - is keeping you where you are now.

In other words, whatever it is that you need to do, you will not do, because the subconscious mind is keeping you where you are now. You will keep procrastinating, preventing you from doing it, because that's become the habit. The habit is to put off doing certain things. We can all procrastinate over individual small things and sometimes procrastination can loom so large - regarding almost every aspect of our daily life - that procrastination itself has become an entrenched habit.

So how can we change that? How can we achieve

Set a goal and use the CALM 8 Step method to "do the goal" moving it into the subconscious mind. So, even if procrastination (about a certain task) is a habit and you wish to really achieve something like for example "exercise" then you set a goal - "I love exercising every day for thirty minutes". When you do this goal by visualising the end result and using emotion, then you are expanding the subconscious mind with the new goal.

Don't race off and exercise immediately! That would then be using your willpower? and you'll probably hate doing the exercise and thus create stress. Why? Because you have stepped outside your Comfort Zone.

So you "do the goal" first - over and over - and achieve it in your subconscious mind. You are actually creating a new neural pathway in your mind.

With this process you are expanding your Comfort Zone.You'll know when you're ready to move forward.You'll be bursting out of your skin to exercise, you will be ready to step into the expanded part of your comfort zone - that is, expanding your subconscious mind with the new goal so that you now exercise, enjoying it and achieving without stress.

How can we change the habit of procrastination?

If it's the actual habit of general procrastination you wish to change then use the same way as described - by putting the new goal into the subconscious mind - expanding it. A new goal for changing the habit of procrastination could be: "I enjoy the process of setting and achieving goals by deliberately expanding my comfort zone".

Once you have that goal in your subconscious mind you will not procrastinate any more. Will you remember that you used to be a procrastinator? Of course! Just like one remembers they were a smoker. However, you have overlayed the old habit with the new habit in your subconscious so that the newer habit, the new neural pathway, will come up first.

Easy isn't it? I would like you to develop the mental picture of walking in life towards something you want. That is, 12% of the conscious mind is going towards what you want; 88% of the subconscious mind is sabotaging you because it hasn't got it yet. So it's pulling you back. Which one wins? The subconscious 88% of course. Now expand the subconscious with the new goal. Now you have 88% and 12% working towards whatever it is you want and that's when you get it faster!

So, just do goals and remember the job of the subconscious is to keep you where you are now. The job of the conscious mind is to put into the subconscious whatever you wish to achieve.

Enjoy the Success Stories below, and .................

All the best,

 

Success Stories

Dear Sandy, Here is my testimonial. It took me a couple of days to write and to get it to roll smoothly and to cover the study tapes, seminar and the CD Seminar ... Hope you are doing well ... We are so grateful ..We, my mother who is 74 and I, LOVED the seminar! Many blessings to you ! Love, Elita

It was 1996 and I was a single parent working mother of two sons?when I returned to University?to gain degrees in psychology.It had? been over 30 years since I had studied.I had bought Sandy's tapes, "The Students Steps To Success."?I would listen to the tapes?every night before I went to bed?with headphones. Thanks to discovering Sandy's tapes my self?confidence levels increased and my ability to relax and actually enjoy studying increased. Yes, that is right! I ENJOYED studying. How is that possible?Learning to?build and "get into" my peaceful place within seconds played a major role in overcoming test anxiety and developing?effective study techniques. Without question Sandy's study and exa m techniques are profoundly invaluable and empowering!

I would visualise the grades I was aiming for and? see hear and feel how the?outcome would be after I?had achieved the exam results. I was actually EXCITED when I entered the exam room for the first time - confident that I had retained all the information I had learned by using the techniques on the tape. Prior to using Sandy's tapes my confidence was at an all time low and I suffered exam anxiety. Not this time! ... I walked into that exam room and to my desk, smiling and felt somewhat apart from others, who were looking nervous. When it was time to turn over the exam paper in preparation to begin the exam?I actually SMILED!?Previously taking this approach prior to an exam was not something that would fit for me. Smiling turning over an exam paper!?But yes, smile I did and didn't I feel good. ?I even found myself saying "The exam is easy -- it is as though I wrot e it myself".. as Sandy suggests on his tape.

In one exam paper I remember there were 100 multiple choice questions -- all containing lengthy possible answers. If I encountered a question to which I was not aware that I knew the answer to I would say to myself "the answer is coming" and then move along to the next question OR drop into my peaceful place for 30 seconds or less and guess what? The answer would come just as Sandy had said on the tape -?typically within 2 or 3 questions further along. This tape was invaluable to me and gave me the confidence, clarity and focus?I needed to succeed in exams and study. I used it over and over and was able to visualise the grade I wanted and how I would feel when I was handed back the graded exam paper. I have to say it was one?of ?most effective techniques that assisted me during these University years. Very Powerful!

Student's Steps to Success?enabled me to relax in 30 seconds flat and to understand the power of the subconscious mind in retaining information and accessing it at the right time ..... The subconscious mind is a?vast storehouse! I would set myself goals and achieve them without stress knowing that my confidence was growing and stress was going and most of all to love myself. Unconditional love is a major factor without a doubt. Self confident. Thanks to discovering your tape back then I breezed through my study and exams. Getting into my peaceful place in the exam room helped me beyond measure

Then in September 2007 I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy when I attended the 3 Hour Active Meditation Seminar/Workshop. I had recently moved to Northern NSW. I was?undergoing a major adjustment/ adaptive process in a?new geographical area. I had recently relocated after 20 years and missed my previously established social network. In addition to this major change?my husband and best friend died from cancer 18 months ago. It was a loss of immense magnitude, exacerbated by the geographical relocation - many changes in a short space of time which significantly effected me at all levels.

I can't begin to explain the shift in consciousness that I experienced after attending the Active Meditation. I was totally transformed by it and had the opportunity to practise the Peaceful Place and apply experience and apply Sandy's techniques first hand. Sandy is amazing ... I can't sing his praises enough. During a seminar one feels as though one knows him personally.

The key to understanding how creative visualisation works is to first understand that your subconscious mind does not know what is real and what is fiction. It simply creates your reality, based on the image that you visualise. You will learn about the freedom of Forgiveness and to expand your comfort zones -- this is freeing in itself.


I also purchased the Life Skills Seminar DVD and CD Program. This incredible system teaches and shows you how to use all your powers so that?your conscious mind and subconscious mind are working for you -- for the rest of your life! Developing these powerful forces is much like rai sing a child. You need to work with them gently, constantly nurturing them. Sandy's seminars and Audio and DVD programs show you how to do this. Here you will begin to learn and understand the power of the mind and how it can be accessed through Sandy's incredibly awesome and?effective system. You can learn the?ability to relax and release stress any time, anywhere. Meditation and creative visualisation can improve our communication with the subconscious mind.

I now use these techniques with my clients who have also achieved awesome and life changing results. Thank you Sandy you are an inspiration to us all and a walking example of how love heals and how powerful the mind is. Th ank you again Sandy and I hope to meet up with you again soon. With deep gratitude. Elita Purcill, Holistic Psychotherapist and Life Coach. NSW.

Hi Sandy just wanted to tell you I have made fantastic progress since my brain surgery the doctors call me their miracle, but I give the credit to you and others like you who have helped me win this battle. Thanks again - I continue to use your techniques with great success, hope this find you well, thank you for keeping in touch. AT, NSW