Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 457: What’s Going on When You’re Procrastinating? | Jay Michaelson

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

Acknowledging the hard feelings that accompany procrastination can help you alleviate avoidance and accomplish the task at hand.About Jay Michaelson:Dr. Jay Michaelson is a Senior Content Strategist at Ten Percent Happier and the author of seven books on meditation, including his newest, Enlightenment by Trial and Error.  In his “other career,” Jay is a columnist for The Daily Beast, and was a professional LGBTQ activist for ten years. Jay is an ordained rabbi and has taught meditation in secular, Buddhist, and Jewish context for eighteen years.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Procrastination Medication,” or click here: https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=5d0ef603-6af6-4b9d-bc81-7920fbda1efa.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it even mean to live a good life? Is it about happiness, purpose, love, health, or wealth? What really matters in the pursuit of a life well lived? These are the questions award-winning author, founder, and interviewer Jonathan Fields asks his guests on the Top Ranked Good Life Project podcast. Every week, Jonathan sits down with world renowned thinkers and doers, people like Glenn and Doyle, Adam Grant,

Young Pueblo, Jonathan Height, and hundreds more. Start listening right now. Look for the Good Life Project on your favorite podcast app. This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey, everybody. Happy Friday, time for a bonus meditation. On the show this week, we talked to Oliver Berkman about time management.

And we spent a decent amount of that conversation talking about the issue of procrastination. So we thought we would drop a meditation today to help you deal with procrastination. Our teacher, Du jour, is Jay Michelson, who is a senior content strategist at 10% happier in the author of seven books on meditation, including his newest, which is called Enlightenment by trial and error. In his other career, Jay is a columnist for the daily beast and was a professional LGBTQ activist for a decade. Jay is an ordained rabbi and has taught meditation in secular, Buddhist and Jewish contexts for 18 years. And I realized that that bio makes him sound like anything but a procrastinator, but he is human. And he deals with it just like the rest of us. So here we go now with

my friend, Jay, Michael. Hi, this is Jay. Many of us struggle with procrastination or finding focus in our work and our home lives. I know I do. This guided meditation will help you identify what's really going on when you're procrastinating. With the intention that after you've listened to it one or two times, you learn to do a shorthand version on your own whenever you notice that you're not doing that important work that you know you're meant to do a shorthand version on your own, whenever you notice that you're not doing that important work that you know you're meant to do.

So, let's begin. We'll start just by settling the mind, resting in the body, coming to rest in this moment. I suggest you close your eyes, find a stillness in your posture, and maybe take a nice deep breath just to start. All right. Alright, so if you're procrastinating right now, we're going to shift the attention to whatever is happening in the body and mind as you procrastinate. If you're not in a procrastinating loop right now, just take a moment and bring to mind

that task that you're putting off. Try not to get too lost in the content of your thoughts. Just immerse enough, you can get a feel for what it physically and mentally feels like to be procrastinating. First, check in on the level of the body. Is there a physical feeling that's predominant for you? For example, you might feel your heart racing, or some tension in your shoulders or arms, or a heaviness in the chest. Just notice the physical sensation, not trying to make it go away, but investigating it with some curiosity. Next, is there a feeling that's predominant in the mind that maybe goes along with that

physical sensation? Sometimes the link is so familiar, it's obvious. Anxiety, heart racing, restlessness, resistance, or if you're procrastinating because you want to do something else, desire, energy, distractedness. But take some time to really check this out. See what's actually taking place in the level of the four-step process. Keep bringing to mind what you're procrastinating.

Don't go into the content too much. See what's actually happening in the mind and body as opposed to images or stories. And see if you can try to overcome it. It's to just explore, acknowledge and coexist with the feelings that are really going on underneath the avoidance. As you get in touch with those feelings, you'll find you don't have to indulge them. They can just be there, and you can do what needs to get done. Try this on your own, the next time the urge to procrastinate arises.

What's really going on? And can I just be with it? And if you like, you can open your eyes now if they've been closed. You're ready to go on with your day. Thanks again to Jay and one important thing to mention before I let you go. The Insight Meditation Society or IMS co-founder, Joseph Goldstein, who also happens to be my teacher and a friend and one of the founding teachers on the 10% happier app.

Joseph is offering a special group mentorship program for meditators seeking to deepen their practice. Beginning on June 7th and running for three weeks, you will have the rare opportunity to ask Joseph questions and to receive customized instruction while being in community and learning from one another. Sessions will include meditation instructions and short sitting periods.

All are welcome to join this unique group mentorship opportunity. This sounds very cool. For more information, go to dharma.org, click on the IMS online drop-down menu, and then click on learning center. All right, that's it for me. We'll see you back here on Monday for a brand new episode. We're going to be talking to Adrian Marie Brown, who, and I think this is relevant to the meditation we just did,

she's going to talk about the crucial role of pleasure in helping us be more effective in the world and for the world. So we'll see you on Monday for that. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. Before you go, do us a solid and tell us all about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.