9 Simply But Strong Strategies in Ending Procrastination

Pause a little guys, before we get into this today- just take a look at this:  Procrastination Is A Waster Avoid It!

     1.  Write down your goal and give yourself a deadline. A goal without a deadline can be put off indefinitely. Having just one deadline for your work is like an invitation to procrastinate. That’s because we get the impression that we have time and keep pushing everything back, until it’s too late. Break down your project, then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task. This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date. Your timelines must be robust, too – i.e. if you don’t finish this by today, it’s going to jeopardize everything else you have planned after that. This way it creates the urgency to act. 

      2.  Partition your goal into small pieces: The bigger your goal or the change you want to make, the more quickly it can send you into overwhelm. So if your goal feels daunting, break it into manageable, bite-sized steps. Remember, you don’t have to know every step of the way; just the next few steps immediately ahead.
 Your next steps will become obvious as you move along. Hear Dale Carnegie: “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”

   3. Change of Environment: Different environments have different impact on our productivity. Look at your work desk and your room. Do they make you want to work or do they make you want to snuggle and sleep? If it’s the latter, you should look into changing your workspace. One thing to note is that an environment that makes us feel inspired before may lose its effect after a period of time. If that’s the case, then it’s time to change things around.

     4.  Hang out with people who will inspire you to take action: Identify the people, friends, colleagues who trigger you – most likely the go-getters and hard workers – and hang out with them more often. Soon you will inculcate their drive and spirit too. Learn to study them and pick the positive things out of them.

      5.  Harness fear:  Theodore Roosevelt once said “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”  Fear is a powerful emotion that can keep us mired in excuses. Yet, by focusing on what you don’t want, you can harness it in your favor. So write down how you will feel a year from now if you do nothing. According to Denis Waitley “Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy.”
    Be brave and really honest with yourself about the cost of continued inaction. After all, if nothing changes, nothing changes!

     6.  Have a close friend:  Because having a close companion makes the whole process much more fun. Ideally, your companion should be someone who has his/her own set of goals. Both of you will hold each other accountable to your goals and plans. While it’s not necessary for both of you to have the same goals, it’ll be even better if that’s the case, so you can learn from each other. 

      7.  Seek out someone who has already achieved the outcome: What is it you want to accomplish here, and who are the people who have accomplished this already? Go seek them out and connect with them. Read the biographies of historymakers, people who made it past and present. Seeing living proof that your goals are very well achievable if you take action is one of the best triggers for action.

      8.  Reward Placement: Set up a reward system to ensure you celebrate progress and small successes as you go along.  Whether a fun activity with friends, or a treat for yourself, make it something that acknowledges your progress and effort.

     9.  Just do it:  “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King, Jr. At the end, it boils down to taking action. Don’t just sit there and relaxed, get to work! You can do all the strategizing, planning and hypothesizing, but if you don’t take action, nothing’s going to happen. Building momentum is crucial as you start out. “Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.” --David Allen, so commit to stepping out of your comfort zone at least once per day.  Beginning today – before your fear-laden excuses, disguised as sheer laziness, kick in again.  It can be something really small. After all, it doesn’t matter how fast you are going, so long as you are stepping forward in a direction that inspires you. So take that first step, then another, then another… after all – life rewards action! Finish it “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task” --William James
      YOU CAN MAKE IT! JUST GO FOR IT GUYS!

Enoch 'DB'