EBook_How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Doing.One Raison d'être at a Time_22July2020

A Kintsugi Life E-Book 

How to STOP Procrastinating and Start Doing 

One Raison d'être at a Time 

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Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved. Kintsgui Life.

How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Doing 

One Raison d'être at a Time 

Picture Credit: Pixaby, Photography Gerd Altmann 

Procrastination doesn’t mean we are lazy. Instead procrastination is often associated with a 

fear of failure and none of us like to fail. Can you relate to the following comments? 

• I don’t know how to do “x, y or z.” 

• Someone can do that thing better than me so why should I try? 

• What if I invest a lot of money into this endeavor and still fail? 

Are those though patterns helpful? No, they only make us want to avoid the task at hand. 

Procrastination is also linked to behavior avoidance. We want to trade the unwanted task or 

required behavior with something we like to do. We like trading up and replacing a not so good 

thing with a good thing. 

• “I know I should clean the house, but I’d rather surf the internet and eat dark 

chocolate.” 

• “I should focus on catching up my business financials, but I’d rather write a blog or finish 

my course.” 

• “I’d rather walk the dog than ….” 

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I’d Rather Do This Than That, but the “That” is Necessary…… 

We all want to do what is pleasurable or easy for us. Who wants to add unpleasantries to their 

lives and who wants to take on challenges when things are hard enough as they are? 

What’s Happening in Our Brains? 

Picture Credit: Pixaby, John Hain 

Neuroscience tells us that our emotional brain, the limbic system, is associated with feelings of 

pleasure. Those feelings are a key contributor to our choices. We choose things we like over 

the less favorable. 

Our logical mind, the pre- frontal cortex, wants to plan to do “x”, “y” and quite possibly “z.” 

Unfortunately, far too often our emotional brain jumps in the driver’s seat and we choose the 

easy, more favorable task or option. 

How Do We Challenge our Brain’s Natural Default? 

1. Recognize what’s happening. Be mindful of your choices to do or not to do. 

2. Prioritize what needs to be done into 2 key categories: 

a. Want to do/Easy to do 

b. Dreading it/Difficult/Can’t Stand It/Ugggh 

3. Tackle that List 

Let’s face it, it’s easy to do what we like. I can get absorbed into looking at and editing beautiful 

images for my blog. I also love to write so; I’ll tend to put off an administrative business day. I 

don’t want you to think things that we don’t like aren’t important. That is hardly the case. 

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Business admin. days are critical, but there are better ways to tackle doing the things we don’t 

like to do. For example, if administrative business days aren’t your thing, automate as much as 

possible. Believe me, I’ve automated as much as humanly possible, because I’d rather spend 

my time on things I like to do. You can also consider delegating and/or deleting what isn’t truly 

necessary. 

Write it Down. Create a Plan. Make a List. 

Picture Credit: Pixaby, Photography WokanaPix 

Writing things down solidifies our commitment to that task. I find writing to be much more 

effective than adding an item to my calendar. Yes, we can all throw a piece of paper in the 

trash, crumble it up and forget about it. We can also swipe away calendar reminders. For me, 

writing connects the thoughts to something I’ve already started with my hands. It’s a 

connection to my desire to do that task. 

Once you decide how you want to create your lists spend some time thinking about the fact 

that there are 24 hours in 1 day. We do not have the luxury of adding time to the day. What’s 

important to you every day? Give those things the highest priority. I highly encourage you to 

think about things that fuel you, exercise, eating right, sleeping properly, social connection, 

even if not in person. 

You may consider using an outline like this. I use 3 key categories, Health, Work, Life. 

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Health: 

Rank Like to Do/Want to Do Dread/Difficult/Ugggh 

5 Go back to dance when social 

Use the elliptical at least 20 minutes/day 

distancing is a thing of the past 

4 Yoga – at least 30 minutes/day, 3 to 5 

days/week 

Eat 5 veggies/day 5 out of 7 days even 

when you had rather have fruit 

3 

2 

1 

Work: 


5 Finalize TTV Intro. Show Video – 31 Admin Day – 03 April 

March 

4 Finalize IMPACT Course Draft-start 

recording – Week 2 April 

Purge unnecessary emails; unsubscribe – 

Week 2 April 

3 

2 

1 

Life: 


5 Work on my refinishing project – Clean the house - Saturday 

Saturday pm 

4 Play with graphic software - Sunday Buy groceries and put away – 

no later than Monday 

3 

2 

1 

You don’t have to use charts, but you do need to hone your focus. Again, for me, organizing 

and writing things down helps me to picture my priorities, both the good and not so favorable. 

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This type of chart makes me view both categories side by side. My dislikes are equally as 

important as my dislikes once I rank them. 

I challenge you to face your procrastination. Look it straight in the eye and figure out why you 

are putting something off. Spend some time thinking about it. Do you fear you will fail? Do 

you simply not like doing the task? 

If it’s fear of failure, then jump in. Failure is how we learn. It doesn’t matter if you fail. Failure 

is the path to success. It’s by failure that we understand how to adjust a recipe or recode 

software. Failure helps us. Embrace it. 

Getting Started: 

The Art of Doing: One Step at a Time 

1. If you REALLY don’t want to do something think about its priority. Rank that something 

on a scale of 1 to 5. If it’s a 5 you need to do it. 

If it ranks lower either delegate or delete it. 

Let’s use the “I don’t’ know how to do ‘x” example and name “x.” “X” is I don’t know 

how to cook Chicken Cacciatore and it’s my friend’s favorite dish. You want to make the 

dish but feel uncomfortable with the outcome. It’s your friend’s birthday and they had 

rather dine in and catch up. The pressure is on and you ranked this a 5. High priority. 

2. Once a priority is assigned an estimated amount of time to complete the task, e.g. 4 

hours. 

3. Break that time up into workable chunks of time, but keep in mind that once you get 

into flow, you don’t want to lose that flow. It takes too much time to recoup. Ideally 

commit to 60 to 90 minutes of focus time for each planned time slot. 

4. Plan – write down the steps. 

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Example: The” Chicken Cacciatore” Plan 

First 60-minute time slot 

You don’t know how to cook, let alone cook Chicken Cacciatore, but we live in the age of the 

internet and “Okay Google” and “Alexa” are always on standby. 

1. Research – find recipe 

2. Check ingredients and make a list if you need to purchase items 

3. Don’t wait until 1 hour before your friend shows up to get started on this! Commit to 

researching and purchasing necessary ingredients ahead of time. 

Second 60-minute time slot 

1. Shop for ingredients and consider a trail run to boost your confidence 

2. What side dishes are you going to make or purchase? 

3. Plan the entire meal, not just the Chicken Cacciatore. 

Third 60-minute time slot 

1. Day of the event – what needs to be done? 

2. Get ready for the dinner party 

• Table ware 

• Drinks 

• Present 

• How long will it take you to cook? When will your friend arrive? Coordinate 

scheduling. 

Fourth 60-minute time slot 

1. Cook dinner 

2. Enjoy 

Maybe you’re already a pro in the kitchen and would never need to plan a meal, but we all 

need to put structure and more effort around some things. We can’t know how to do 

everything and those things we are less familiar with or simply dread seem to take a back seat. 

Step into your “not so” comfort zone by breaking larger tasks down into manageable goals. It 

doesn’t matter if you are studying for an exam or building a business, embrace the things you 

don’t like to do one step at a time. 

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Delegate After You Know the Facts: 

We all have natural strengths which are not the same as innate problem- solving abilities. You 

can take your free natural strengths test at the VIA Character.org. Again, it’s free so find out a 

little more about yourself. Once you have a better understanding of your strengths use them 

to your advantage. 

Kolbe A Assessment helps you decide what to do with your “TO Do” List 

Should you delete, delegate or do in increments… 

Picture Credit: Kolbe Corp. Consultant Resource Center 

Another key assessment is the Kolbe A Index. The Kolbe index tells you your natural way of 

solving problems. Think about that for a moment. We procrastinate not because we are lazy, 

we tie a negative emotion to a task. What would it feel like if you could use your innate 

problem- solving skills and save yourself time, effort and mental energy? 

If you work on a team, then work together and use one another’s innate way to approach 

problems. Working together, using a wide array of problem-solving skills balances teams and 

builds true synergy. It’s that synergy that gets things done. When you know how you address 

problems you better understand your innate abilities and learn how to expend your mental 

energy. 

For example, if I don’t like to spend my time on administrative business tasks but know it’s a 

necessity, then I might consider delegating that task. If I can’t delegate it, I should break it up 

into the Chicken Cacciatore Plan model. Plan how long the task will take and plan to get it done 

incrementally. And one of the best options is thinking about hitting the delete button. You 

don’t have to do everything and quite frankly you can’t do everything, so stop trying. 

Celebrate Your Accomplishments and Re-evaluate What You Didn’t Start or Finish 

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Example: If my goal is to clean the house on Saturday and I don’t do that I need to ask myself 

why? 

- Did another true priority come up? What’s my backup plan for getting the task done 

and sticking to my goal? 

- Did I just put it off again, because I’d rather spend time doing something in the column 

one, my Want to Do column? 

This self- debriefing is important because you use your cognitive brain to evaluate what your 

emotional brain might be driving. I suggest writing down the why behind your reluctance to 

move forward with your plans. If you are tempted to write words like “Feel”, “Want” or 

“Ugggh”, you might be procrastinating. 

Recap - 7 Steps to Stop Procrastinating: 

Picture Credit: Pixaby Photography by Gerd Altmann 

1. Make of list of what you need to do in 3 key categories: Health, Work, & Life 

2. Divide that list into 2 parts: 

a. Want to do 

b. Dread to do 

3. Prioritize and Rank 1-5 

4. Commit to working on items in BOTH columns and start with the highest priority in 

each. 

5. Write your “Chicken Cacciatore” plan for conquering the tasks that require more effort. 

Break down the plan up into manageable segments based off the expected time to 

complete. 

6. Celebrate your accomplishments- celebrating helps your brain associate the 

accomplishment to your feel- good hormones. You are more likely to establish good 

patterns when you incorporate mini celebrations. Dance a little gig, allow yourself to 

eat a sweet treat or do something you consider to be special. 

7. Evaluate and Tweak – Make certain you reflect on what you did or didn’t do. Tweak the 

plan and go after Take 2, or 3. Don’t give up. Keep tweaking. 

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Remember procrastination doesn’t mean you are lazy. Procrastination means you are human. 

Spending some time evaluating what you like and don’t like to do will help you better 

understand yourself. Write it down and put that list front and center. 

Focusing on the Why Behind Your Procrastination Will Help You: 

Picture Credit: Pixaby, Digital Art, Pete Linforth 

• Prioritize necessities and call them your raison d'être. That’s French for “the most 

important reason or purpose for someone or something’s existence.” Now that’s making 

something a priority. The things you choose in BOTH columns become a priority when 

you call them your raison d'être. 

• Delete those things that don’t require your attention 

• Balance the things you enjoy doing with the things that will make you grow as a person, 

both personally and professionally. 

Raison d'être Challenge: 

Ready, set, go! Let’s commit to starting and finishing one thing we’ve been procrastinating. 

What will I do? I’ll pick 1 thing from my “want to do” and 1 thing from my “dread to do” 

column. 

Want to Do: 

My commitment: Finish writing and recording my introductory show for Transformation T.V. 

and post by first week in April. 

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My “Chicken Cacciatore” Plan: 

1. Set up camera, adjust height by Sunday 

2. Set up camera, adjust height by Monday 

3. Record the show by Wed. 

4. Edit and load by Friday 

5. Plan includes an extra day to work out kinks [Thursday] 

Celebrate: When I achieve my raison d'être. 

Tweak: Evaluate and tweak if I didn’t get it done. 

Dread to Do: 

My commitment: Go through files that desperately need to be shredded or tossed. 

Chicken Cacciatore Plan: 1 file per day x 5 days or pick a day or two to equal at least 5 file 

folders. 

Celebrate: Celebrate when I achieve my raison d'être. 

Evaluate & Tweak: If I don’t get rid of at least 5 file folders then I need to ask myself why? 

1. Did I make it a priority? 

2. Did something more urgent take up that time? 

3. Am I still procrastinating? If so, why? 

Keep in mind, we experience the most growth outside of our comfort zones. And it’s inside our 

raison d'être where we will find our purpose. Let’s be purposeful about stopping 

procrastination in its tracks! We can do it! 

About the Author: Kimberly Sheldahl is a former executive, turned Kolbe Certified Consultant 

who is also an Integrative Health Coach. She has a science background and a degree in 

psychology. She loves positive psychology and is passionate about the integration of 

productivity and well-being. 

Kimberly is the host of BOOM Baby BOOM, a T.V. show/podcast which will begin airing in 

September. She is the author of the #1 Best Seller, Hack Into OZ, Get the Most Out of Life, 

available on Amazon. Her course, IMPACT Your Merge includes science backed modules focusing 

on building happiness (positive mindsets), self-belief (efficacy), self-control (regulation), building 

habits, and staying motivated. She also uses her signature MERGER class to help others 

successfully extract their past expertise and turn into their What’s Next Masterpiece. 

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Free Tools: 

Grab Your Free MERGER Journal Here! 

Take the Procrastinating? What’s Stopping You? Assessment! 

Sign up to be notified when I run my FREE Challenge! 

What’s Stopping You? 

Turn your Expertise into Your Masterpiece! 

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A Note from the Author: Kimberly Sheldahl 

Thanks for reading How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Doing! It is my hope that you now have 

viable tips to get moving in the right direction. 

You may also like my book, HACK into OZ & Get the Most Out of Life! You’ll enjoy a new trip down the 

yellow brick road. Discover your OZ and learn how to maximize your Operational Zones! 

If you think you are ready to merge your expertise or want to learn more about how to stop 

procrastinating your What’s Next, please join my Challenge! 

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