I’d recommend checking out this post I made, since it covers motivation and low energy in general (things that worked for my adhd) and it’s already relatively long - Depression don't let me practice magick and therapy/meds aren't helping - #9 by tox1n
Besides that I’ve found Beelzebub can be a very good choice for getting rid of any inner issues which may be leading you to procrastinate or cause perfectionism. Beelzebub has been helping me heavily with it for the last 2, maybe 3 years now, can’t remember when I started working with him exactly.
I first had Beelzebub call to me in a dream years ago and strongly rejected it as I didn’t want to work with him. Around that time a friend of mine told me that he sees the flies of Beelzebub as a symbolic and intense mental image that he uses on purpose to show weaknesses in our mind and force us to confront the “filth” and maybe even overwhelm us with it until we can develop enough indifference or power that it no longer affects us and instead get along with it. What I’d suggest is working with him to address any underlying inner issues that you may not notice. Procrastination can come from many different things such as perfectionism, fear of being seen, fear of failure, impostor syndrome, being sensitive to how other people may see your work, poor self-esteem, anxiety, expecting to fail so you don’t even bother trying, and so on. There’s practically endless inner factors that could cause it and the chances are that you can alleviate a lot of the difficulty by discovering and then addressing these factors.
Personal example of mine is that I had that dream where Beelzebub overtly called to me. More than a year after l had finished doing a ritual with EA and some other friends, I went to go meditate. I realised that I was literally in the dream, in the exact same spot, exact same position with very similar surroundings. In my dream the surroundings had been disgusting and full of flies, mess, blood and even excrement. None of that was actually there, but it was imagery designed to make me realise how I perceived certain things, certain parts of my life and even certain parts of myself. That is also why I had such a strong aversion to working with him for a year. With him you have no real choice but to confront the disgust and feelings you’d rather bury and from there you’re able to understand yourself better and know what actually holds you back. You don’t just get the symptom “procrastination” you get the list of specific reasons for it. In my case (adhd) this was no “cure”, but it helped me address certain factors that were otherwise exacberating my issue, alleviated my issues a reasonable amount and gave me more direction in life.
Some other things I’d suggest:
Think about the place where you normally do your work or need to get things done. Go there (if possible, or mentally go there otherwise) and focus on how you feel and how this place feels to you. Does it feel like somewhere safe where you’re able to give things your attention? Do you feel overwhelmed there? Do you feel like it’s somewhere you aren’t worthy of being? Do you feel like it’s just another place with no significance? Do you feel like you’re too good or too bad for this place?
Spend some time asking yourself questions like this and contemplating them. They’re yes or no questions but think about them and contemplate them. Use this to understand your feelings about your work environment.
Your goal is to first reach a point where you feel comfortable and secure there, and like you actually belong. If your body is there but your mind has a million reasons why this environment is trash, then you won’t be able to give your work your undivided attention. You might notice that some people get a surge of motivation and focus at night, it’s because they feel free and secure now that the world is quiet. There’s no outside distractions and they feel safe and comfortable enough to let themselves focus on what they need to (or just doomscroll).
If you don’t work at a workplace, and don’t have a work uniform or specific place only for work, then you need to incorporate some type of daily “ritual” that separates your normal self from the working self. This could be as simple as dressing up in nice clothes or lighting some incense. It should be something you can easily do any day you’re working so you can build a routine. You’ll notice that it begins to act as a type of trigger or induction cue that helps you get into “work mode” and actually focus after some time.
Outside distractions should be limited as much as possible. Get noise cancelling headphones if needed. Music is fine if it helps you focus, if lyrics are distracting you may benefit from listening to something without vocals. Make a rule that if you want to procrastinate and not work, you’ll instead do nothing. Just sit there and do nothing for some time instead. Never give in and do something like watching videos or playing games. This helps you reaffirm your power and self control by not giving into your impulses and after some time, the “doing nothing” will actually help improve your focus (even better if you meditate). If you feel restless or overwhelmed, just stop everything and pace around for 10-20 mins. Make sure you don’t use your phone or anything else during this. This will especially help if it’s the case that your energy is actually high and your activity is low.
Sleep and how you wake up dictates your day a lot too. You should try and get your sleep schedule as consistent and healthy as possible, 6-8 hours a day. Due to hormone-related reasons, if you wake up and go back to sleep, even just for 5 more minutes, you’ll feel a lot worse than if you’d just woken up the first time. For that reason you should try and get up the first time you wake up unless you really didn’t get enough sleep. For me, 6 hours is the minimum but it’s healthiest to get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep daily. I woke up around 8am today, giving me 6 hours of sleep, I could’ve slept for another hour but chose not to because I knew I’d feel way less energetic if I did so I just got up instead.
Which brings me to the next point, that is how you start your day. If you start your day and check your phone first thing, you’re probably gonna be in for a shitty day. Even worse if you check social media. I only check important notifications and have them disabled for all other apps and people, and I don’t do that until I’ve been awake for a while. The first thing you do after waking up shouldn’t be feeding your brain with cheap dopamine. You’ll be way better off getting some quick cardio in, having a cold shower. Both of these will help your brain, productivity and focus instead of zapping it. Cold showers cause a sustained and big boost to dopamine and other norepinephrine that lasts for a decent amount of time and doesn’t have a crash like other things that boost them. After that, a high protein breakfast also has its own benefits. I usually just chug a protein shake which isn’t a perfect way to go but it works for me.
What’s most important is avoiding all cheap dopamine and stimulation and only letting yourself get “clean” dopamine. Think of it like a diet or workout plan for your brain. Avoid as much cheap dopamine as you can, that includes things like junk food or super processed food, porn, social media (yes youtube counts), alcohol and drugs, gambling, etc. You may want to try and remove these things individually and gradually one at a time to make it more manageable. You can also tell if your brain is in a state where it’s seeking cheap stimulation when you feel restless and feel an urge or impulse to constantly check notifications or social media feeds, or do things that you logically know are a waste of time/unimportant.
It helps to stop trying to get everything done all at once. You don’t need to get 15 steps ahead of things at a time, you just need to get one step ahead now. Don’t overplan and just push yourself to do something, anything, that actually counts as work. Once you do that, then start to plan the less things you can in advance. I like to make a list of important tasks for the day. You should break down your list into actionable, short tasks that don’t need any thought and can be done immediately. That way you know exactly what to do, you know anyway but now you have no excuse and your mind can’t make you think you’re missing something.
These are all things that have either worked for me, worked for others, and/or are proven by some type of research that I’ve came across. I could give you a list of beings to help with procrastination but really the only true “fix” comes from doing the hard inner work and doing your best to make sure your environment is conducive.
I also recommend checking this article out Pete Walker, M.A. Psychotherapy - very interesting viewpoint and can explain the underlying cause of some issues.
Meditation, breathwork, and similar can all help significantly too. I recommend reading the first book in Liber ABA by Aleister Crowley, there’s an online copy here https://sacred-texts.com/oto/aba/aba1.htm
Check it out.
