This month we have another speaker who will knock your socks off!

To get you thinking about this month’s talk

Kat Fernandes-Kinsella has a few thoughts for you.

Prokatstination: Gentle Change

by Kat Fernandes-Kinsella

Don’t read this.

Go do something useful. Or something un-useful.

There are eleventy-billion more interesting, addictive, time-killing things to do than to read this. Untold earth-shattering riddles to solve. Has Lubalin dropped a new drama?* What if we lost gravity for 5 seconds? Can you explode bad kitties with word scrambles? And what is that cloud formation?

You’re still here.

We have important things we should be doing right now. We have interesting, significant things we could be doing right now. We have banal things we’d love to be doing right now. We could be learning this. And we have multi-billion dollar industries that are desperate for our attention, money, addiction and information which make things appalling.

Yet here you are.

And here I am.

A life-long, chronic procrastinator who has struggled against dallying while reveling in dallying. However, I have found ways of working effectively despite myself and collaborated with non-procrastinators without them killing me.

The pro-active, time-royalty have probably stopped reading by now. But perhaps my kindred-spirits-in-putting-things-off may still be here, in which case let me share some experiences in making tiny changes which gently alter my intention and journey.

Perhaps you can make gentle changes too.

Yes, we can change and there are many wonderful, practical tools, techniques and strategies which can reshape our day and our impact.

Foremost for me, though, is a daily practice of intentional pausing, breathing and reflecting.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. It may take a few minutes or longer.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. It could just be a beat.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. It might open the gap between stimulus and response.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. A chance to recognize some truths, however ugly.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. Want to hear some?

The Ugly Truth I: I have natural intelligence, a hint of charm and a history of very manageable challenges, flexible deadlines and mundane consequences. This is preprogramming for sloth (and the fear sloth induces).

The Ugly Truth II: I don’t like feeling uncomfortable and starting something I don’t like or something unmanageable feels awful (until the hyper-focus comes). This makes idle ideal (and the fear idleness generates).

The Ugly Truth III: I am a sucker for distracti…oooh! Camel! I click the bait and gleefully dive headfirst down rabbit holes. This creates excuses (and the fear of getting caught in an excuse).

The Ugly Truth IV: The further away the reward or punishment, the greater the apathy. Why start now? In fact, why start? This creates the fear of never getting started, never knowing if I would have made it, and the fear of the fear.

The Ugly (But Really Wonderful) Truth V: I am not alone. I know some of my brethren are nodding their heads now). I am not so unique after all. This creates… possibilities.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. Maybe there are greater truths underlying these.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. Last month, a storyteller wrote of kindness and compassion.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. Starting with kindness, curiosity and compassion to ourselves is a wonderful idea.

Pause. Breathe. Reflect. And perhaps there are more gentle approaches to be explored… when I get round to it.

* At time of press, Lubalin has dropped nothing new. But still I wait.