Conquering Procrastination: The Art of Lining Up Your Energy

I meant to write this blog post many times over the past few years, but I never seemed to get around to it.

All kidding aside, most of us have experienced procrastination and lack of motivation at some time in our life: Knowing we need to get something done, but just not feeling like it, putting it off over and over again…and worse, we then begin feeling guity about putting it off, possibly even beating ourselves up over how many actions we have not completed. At least, that has been my experience.

If there was a way to conquer procrastination, would you do it?

Please allow me to introduce you to the concept of lining up your energy and how it can help you conquer procrastination. I read a quote by Abraham that began my learning about the process of lining up energy:

“Take the time to line up the Energy first, and action becomes inconsequential. If you don’t take the time to line up the Energy, if you don’t find the feeling place of what you’re looking for, not enough action in the world will make any difference.”

—Abraham-Hicks Workshop Excerpt, San Diego, CA, Sunday, August 3, 1997

Maybe you have noticed that sometimes you get an idea, and despite every effort you cannot get excited to do it. Then, one day, you’ll get the same idea, it feels really good, you get excited about it, and take action right at that moment. Have you also noticed that at those times, the action itself seemed almost effortless? Has it seemed like the idea itself contained within it the energy to complete the action? This is what Abraham means by “lining up the energy”.

When your energy is aligned with the task, then the action is inspired by Source Energy. Everything flows easy and joyfully. The process almost feels effortless—particularly when you compare it with how you feel when you are forcing yourself to take action.

I’ve personally experienced this with housework. I’ll go for a while where I just cannot get motivated to clean house. Then, one day, I’ll wake up, think about it and *feel jazzed*. Within a few hours, the house is cleaned from top to bottom and I *enjoyed* the process of taking action the entire time.

When your energy is not lined up, the process seems unbearably difficult. Every effort seems to take Herculean effort. No matter how much effort is put forth, the results are far less than expected. And just the thought of having to take another action puts you in a place of vibrational exhaustion: Any excuse will do to keep you from having to face that issue. How many times have you forced yourself to take action when your energy was not properly aligned?

Sometimes we want to take action, but we don’t know where to start or what to do first. We’re filled with doubt, or maybe even fear. Oprah Winfrey has said that doubt means NO to her. To me,  doubt means I need to go inside myself and resolve the discrepancy I’m feeling about the subject. We may truly not know where to start. Or our ego may be telling us to take action, while our subconscious has slammed on the emergency brake. It’s important to know why your subconscious is blocking you and determine if the belief it is operating from is currently serving you. Your subconscious could be acting on a decision you made when you were much younger. Those decisions are not likely to line up with your current desires. Meditating on the subject or journaling can help bring up unconscious feelings or beliefs that might be blocking you.

Other times, we just need a little while to get adjusted to the idea before taking action. A while back I was working on a project for an illustration client. I had a full week to complete the project, which is usually plenty of time. After getting the client’s input, I let the idea percolate in my mind so that when I sit down to start the project the ideas are already flowing. For this particular project,  however, the ideas were not flowing.

Time was ticking. Days went by, without any inspiration.

The deadline was looming.

The day before the project was due, I finally forced myself to sit down and begin *something*. Nothing was flowing. I was getting frustrated and irritated. Outside, the sunshine beckoned. After wasting an hour with no creative ideas, it was very clear that my energy was not aligned with this project. At this point I did something I’d never done before: I recognized the lack of energy alignment and compassionately gave myself permsision to be in a place of not knowing. I told myself to go outside for a walk and come back to the computer when I was *ready* to create. I imagined myself meeting the deadline easily, the client being thrilled, and how great the experience felt.

I did just that. I spent the afternoon relaxing, trusting that good ideas were on their way. Again, I imagined myself meeting the deadline easily, the client being thrilled, and how great the experience felt. Then, I took a nap! (Not exactly the kind of action most coaches advocate. LOL!) After dinner, just as I was putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher—ding!—a great idea popped into my head. I raced to my computer and began working. The idea was brilliant and just  flowed. I completed that project just before midnight, well before the client’s 8am deadline. Yes, the client was thrilled with the results.

I probably could have forced myself to complete the project, but I guarantee it would not have had the same outcome!

So, now when I know I’d like to do something but don’t know where to start or don’t feel motivated, I lovingly remind myself to line up my energy. I put my attention and imagination on the final outcome I’d like to experience (a clean house, an organized office, a thrilled client, etc.), and feel what I imagine that outcome would feel like. Then, I go off and do something else that feels enjoyable. I know that when my energy is lined up, inspiration will cause me to act in the most appropriate way.

Personally, I’ve found that taking the time to line up the energy not only gets me to the place of completing the action much quicker and with less effort, I’ve also found that I stopped beating myself up over not completing a project.

I’d love to know your experiences with conquering procrastination and lining up energy. Please take a moment to line up your energy and share your thoughts below.

Tagged as: action, energy, feel good, inspiration, motivation, procrastination, self-care, self-love