By
” I don’t feel like it”
” I’m busy I’ll do it right after I finish this other thing”
” I’ll still have time to do it another day”
“This is the only day that I have to unwind and relax. I will start over tomorrow”
It amazes me how many different ways people can come up with avoiding a task or finishing what they start. The excuses are sometimes comical to the point of tears. The mind is so powerful that it convinces a person that they will do exactly what they promised. Yet, procrastinating ensures the promise is not delivered on time. What is underneath this bad habit?
There is a quote that simply says “A year from now you will wish you started today”. One of the leading causes of stress for people who work, attend school, or even manage things at home is procrastination. We only have 24 hours in a day to factor in sleep, work, and play. Yet, we have all sorts of responsibilities on our task list. Because of this, we’ve become experts at postponing, pretending it doesn’t exist, not wanting to take our to-do’s seriously, and overlooking it.
Ultimately procrastination involves the combination of three things: fear, laziness, and this idea that you have to be perfect.
Have you ever thought about the fact that some of the very things that you put off were in fact the EXACT things you should be doing to take your career, business, relationship, life to the next level?
Let’s beat procrastination once and for all. This doesn’t mean that you will always tackle every step 100%. This doesn’t mean that every to-do list you make will end be fully completed. What it means is from this point forward, you will recognize just WHAT is keeping you from taking action and you will now have a more STRATEGIC MINDSET and plan of action in place to control the habit of procrastination in a way that does not hinder your life.
1 / BE TRUE TO YOURSELF (KNOW THYSELF)
You know yourself better than anyone in this world. You know your habits, strengths, weaknesses, what distracts you, and what motivates you. So, the first step is to get to the root of the problem and ask yourself why you procrastinate. Why do you put off certain tasks? For instance, perhaps you do not enjoy doing the laundry (who does?) or maybe you run a business and are not fond of social media. You may have a strong dislike in clearing out your email inbox or writing full length proposals. There is a clear psychological link between our thoughts and our actions. When we convince ourselves to do something, we immediately act on upon those things.
What is the ONE THING that is standing between you and getting things done?
It doesn’t have to be anything deeply complex. Whether its pure laziness, you feel it is too time consuming, you feel it is a waste of time, zero in on what is stopping you from GETTING IT DONE.
Whatever your reason is, you have to realize that juggling and multitasking can work for some people but ultimately it leaves you stressed out, unfulfilled, and unsatisfied. A lot of chronic procrastinators also link their procrastination to issues to striving for perfection News flash: it will never be perfect for you. Now that’s out of the way, you have to give your best and let it go, otherwise you will consistently put off many projects.
2 / SET YOUR PRIORITIES
I really like this concept because a lot of our responsibilities are not as urgent as we think. Conversely, there are some very important tasks that we tend to neglect. When you fill out a priorities list, it really helps you to be real with yourself. Be more selective. Stop attempting to do 10 things at once. It’s not healthy for your mental, emotional, or physical well-being and it blocks you from living with intention. Stephen Covey gives an awesome method for assessing your priorities. Use his priority quadrant and learn how to separate the urgent tasks from the trivial tasks.
3 / FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF THE TASK AND WHAT GETTING IT DONE WILL MEAN FOR YOU
Many times we think negatively about the duties we are trying to avoid. We immediately associate all of the cons with completing this task and come up with reasons to put it to the side.
“This takes too long”
“This is a waste of time”
“I’d rather being doing something else”
Sound familiar?
I know you are wondering how one could possibly see the positive aspects of folding clothes, washing dishes, planning an event, writing an essay or cleaning a closet. But remember the consequences of NOT doing the aforementioned tasks. For instance, let’s use exercising as the goal. While in your heart, you really want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and workout on a consistent basis, something always stops you from committing to it. When someone thinks about working out, are they thinking of the positive aspects or the negative aspects? It could be that your thoughts aren’t necessarily negative. You may simply feel that you’d rather be doing something that interests you. That is in fact one of the most common factors of procrastination. Making a choice is half the battle. But, where is your mindset?
Going forward, train your mind to think of the positive points of completing a task. It will help to transform the connections you have with doing it and you will be more likely to take an energetic initiative to get it done.
4 / CANCEL OUT DISTRACTIONS
Distractions, distractions. This is the number one challenge in a procrastinator’s life, especially with all of today’s advancements in technology. Think about it. How many times do you reach for your phone, engage in social media, turn on the TV, browse different videos on the internet, or engage in other forms of leisure to avoid getting it done? By now this is an automatically habit, but you have to recognize that it is a distraction. Your distractions are NOT your priorities.
Do not let your distractions control you or own you. If they do, you will look around to find that the most valuable things in your life have taken a back seat to those distractions. Distractions block us from true success, from greatness, and from our purpose. So, how do you cancel out distractions?
Discover the one thing that can help you focus while fulfilling a job or errand you dislike. Play energetic music to speed up your progress or listen to an inspirational audio book that can motivate you while organizing files or cleaning up. I’ve found that instrumental jazz really makes me enthusiastic and more prone to getting it done. Ask a loyal friend to come over and be your accountability partner. Support goes a long way for self-improvement.
5 / IMPLEMENT THE POWER HOUR METHOD
I really love this concept because so many things can be accomplished in one hour. We rarely think about it, because in the course of a day, it seems that there isn’t enough time meet our deadlines. The power hour idea is simple. Commit to making one hour in the day your power hour. Whatever it is that you want accomplished, work on it at that appointed time. The great thing about it is you can split up the hour into three 20-minute intervals. For me personally, it would be working out, organizing, and reading.
For your power hour, choose a time when you are at a high state of energy. This way you can maximize your action. Here’s what is great about the power hour – if you work pass the hour and stick to completing the task, that is okay. This exercise is a wonderful strategy to build discipline. The idea is to make the commitment that for this particular hour, you will concentrate only on 1-3 tasks. Your goal is to have the willpower to follow-up on your promises and to teach your subconscious that these things are important to you.
6 / BREAK DOWN THE TASK – WORK SMART
I firmly believe in working smart and maintaining a hard work ethic. This is different from working hard. Working hard can be stressful and is not in the best interest for people in general. When you work smart, it makes for a more productive day. You begin to establish your top priorities and then break them down into steps. In essence, you create your own rhythm for how you approach your day.
How do you begin?
Take an assessment of your current schedule and then write down your ideal schedule. How do you want to spend your day? What are your high energy times and low energy moments? What can you delegate, automate, or reserve for certain times of the month? These are great ways to beat procrastination.
7 / OPERATE FROM A PLACE OF LOVE
Last but not least, operate from a place of fun, passion, and love. I say this because there are so many different tasks that have a tendency to control our moods and perspectives. Whether the chore is mundane or complex, you cannot let these things have power over you. Procrastination is essentially a form of power. Procrastination is fear, laziness, indifference, and other disagreeable adjectives. When you come from a place of gratefulness and love, then you embrace the freedom you have to live in your own way. This doesn’t mean neglecting your responsibilities, but finding what works for you and choosing to do it in an enjoyable way.
LET’S KICK PROCRASTINATION TO THE CURB!
I hope to have a really given you another way to look at procrastination. Here at EricaDallas.com and my Stationery Site LivelyPlanner.com, prioritizing and planning with purpose is important to me. I fully understand the precious gift of time and in truth would rather spend ALL of my time with family, making memories, and having good times. Some of the mundane duties we share are not pleasant, but it is our goal to figure out the smartest ways to maximize our time and let go of what doesn’t make sense. I am of the firm belief that you should life your life aligned with your purpose and vision.
Take steps to transform your life, beat procrastination, and designing an awesome way of living with a planner agenda. A Lively Planner is the perfect tool to write down your goals and action steps to make it happen.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
How are you going to beat procrastination? I’d love to know!
What do you think?