Open for: Interactive Workshop on Stop Procrastination
Members may link through to Kick Procrastination Success Community and team up with Power Partners for additional materials, ideas and support.
We all know that procrastination can be a killer. It kills ideas, it kills dreams, and it kills opportunities.
This usually happens because we are too busy killing time doing things that may be less meaningful and important.
The feelings procrastination may generate can range from mild anxiousness to depression, depending on the circumstances.
It can keep us trapped behind our success barriers, feeds into low self-esteem and have a negative impact on our confidence.
The excuse that we will do something someday because now is too soon—often moves into: now is too late.
Our future is purchased by the present.
There are many different reasons people procrastinate, but the results are the same. Besides the feelings of regret from waiting the negative consequences can be devastating. Someone once said, “The greatest losses in life are the achievements that never take place.”
Who knows what wonderful achievements and blessings lie buried in the graves of countless millions? Developing a get it done mentality goes a long way in reducing stress, multiplying opportunities and improving the quality of our own existence.
Overcoming procrastination requires a change of behavior. We need to start by evaluating what activities and behaviors we have that we procrastinate with most often.
Then we need to figure out why we procrastinate with those activities. The better we understand the situation, the easier it will be to make the necessary improvements.
First Decide if it is Procrastination!
Get out a notepad and at the top of a sheet of paper, write the tasks you feel you procrastinate with. Then draw a line down the middle.
On the left side of the paper, write all the reasons you should do this task, and on the right side of the paper write all the reasons why you’re not doing it. If the reasons you should do it out weigh the reasons why you are not doing it then you are procrastinating. However, if the reasons why you are not doing it out weigh the reasons why you should do it then you are not procrastinating, you are prioritizing.
You can eliminate the guilt because you are actually making the appropriate decision not doing the task. So you can decide if this task can be disregarded, delegated or diminished in some way.
Causes of Procrastination
The following list contains some of the most common reasons for procrastination. Your list may include some of these and a few more in your own personal analysis.
- Fear of Failure — Being afraid something will go wrong — a common cause because of uncertainty or lack of confidence. It could be the fear of rejection, embarrassment or loss. It could be a conscious fear or a subconscious fear. If it’s a subconscious fear, you may always have an excuse but not really be addressing the real reason or issue.
- Boredom — The task you have to do may seem monotonous, tedious or uninteresting.
- Confusion — Not certain what to do or where to start the project. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with the size or complexity of the task.
- Not Having Clear Priorities — It’s too easy to jump from one task to another without completing many of the ones you’ve already started.
- Dodging Responsibility — Succeeding in accomplishing certain tasks would lead to greater levels of achievement, which in turn leads to more responsibility.
- Poor Time Management — You run out of time to do the important things because you were too busy with less meaningful activities.
- Low Level of Commitment — You’re not really as committed as you say or think you are to the success of the goal in question.
- Temperament — It requires a different temperament than what comes naturally to you. Maybe you’re an extrovert, and the task is an introverted activity like bookkeeping. Or maybe you’re an introvert, and the task requires an extroverted activity like meeting strangers or public speaking.
- Form of Manipulation — If you don’t do it, someone else will. An example may be the person who falls behind in certain work activities. He or she knows others will help. Someone else may end up doing it for you because they need it completed so they can finish their own work.
- Low Energy — If it’s physical, check your diet and exercise program. If it’s chronic, get a blood test to make sure you’re OK. If it’s mental, you may be spending more time thinking about the problem than the solution. Thinking about problems drains our energy and thinking about solutions energizes us. This is one reason why personal goal setting is so valuable. It mentally moves your focus from problems to solutions.
- Laziness — You feel you can’t get moving on the project. This could be due to lack of vision or purpose in your life or to low self-esteem. Maybe you’re not looking at the bigger picture. Sometimes it may feel like you are just a spectator in your own life. As the basic law of physics has stated, a body at rest wants to stay at rest. The longer you sit or lie there waiting for something exciting to happen in your life, the more difficult it becomes to blast yourself into action.
Ten “Get it Done” Suggestions
Make the Commitment to Get it Done — If it’s a task that is necessary in getting the results you wish to attain, then you need to commit to either delegating it effectively or to doing it yourself adequately.
Analyze the Situation — List the pros and cons as suggested earlier. Become aware of the benefits and costs of the circumstances surrounding the situation so you can make conscious and logical choices to move forward with this task and in your life.
Develop a Healthy, Positive Attitude about the Task — Misery is a personal choice. There are two ways to get an attitude, by accident or on purpose. Make the logical and emotional choices that create the least amount of stress and the maximum amount of the right activity that leads to results.
Visualize — Mentally rehearse the image of the completed task goal or assignment in your mind. The more our mind accepts an idea, the easier it is to find the motivation to make it happen.
Create Incentives — Formulate some kind of reward system for the task you find most challenging. The more challenging it is, the greater the reward. Possibly even denying certain privileges due to lack of performance is necessary to get yourself to take action. The key is to follow through on your threats to yourself and to reward yourself only when you earn it.
Sub-Divide — Break larger tasks down into smaller segments or portions. Organize the procedures so you feel a sense of accomplishment along the way. Start with a leading task to build the momentum you need to finish the project.
Keep Promises to Yourself —We are more likely to keep a promise to someone else than to ourselves. We can even create a habit of breaking personal promises we make to ourselves. Start by making the promises that are easier to keep, and then keep them. Do what you told yourself you were going to do. With each success you will be re-training your belief system that you actually follow through on the commitments you make to yourself.
Make your Commitment Public — Tell others what your intentions are. The more public your commitments are, the more pressure you will feel to keep to your word.
Develop the “Get it Done” mentality — your success is directly related to your ability to take action and get things done. When you make taking the appropriate action a natural and automatic part of your character, the ability to consistently improve the quality of your life will follow.
Keep Track of your Achievements — List your personal successes along the way. A sense of achievement builds self-esteem, and self-esteem builds achievement. The more we review past victories and become aware of our personal progress, the better we feel about ourselves. The purpose is to get a sense of your own momentum for success.
We all remember that law of physics – “A body at rest wants to stays at rest”. Here’s where the other side of that law of physics comes into action – “A body in motion tends to stays in motion”. Many people live with regrets for not taking the action they wanted to take when they had the chance. It may have been something as simple and as endearing as telling an elderly family member how much you appreciate and love him or her.
Everything in life changes sooner or later. Our children grow up, and our loved ones pass away. The time is now to let those whom we care about know how much we appreciate them. Acts of kindness go a long way to backing up those feelings with action. It’s been said we should live each day like it is our last. Someday we will be right.
All of these suggestions and more are integrated into the Kick Procrastination Community. Get into Power Support Teams and make the necessary commitment to once and for all eliminate procrastination from your life. Watch and see what achievements take its place!