Procrastination - How do we overcome it and move forward?
The one thing up until recently that I have been consistently good at getting accomplished is perfecting the art form known as procrastination. I have had it in sack fulls. I could have given masterclasses in how to procrastinate! It has to be the biggest stumbling block for anyone who wants to get something worthwhile done.
Why is that? Well I guess it's easy to do! "Oh, I'll just start that tomorrow" or "Well I better wait in case something else better comes along tomorrow" or "Ok I'll sleep on it and get up tomorrow and hit the ground running"..... and then I haven't. It's easy to put things off that require effort but these same things give us enormous satisfaction when achieved. It's easier to sit down and open up a packet of Dorito heatwaves and watch a good movie rather than tackle the challenges of SEO, researching keywords for page content or getting that slider to work on your homepage.
And achievement in life doesn't come without a price. Otherwise why call it an achievement. So another reason why we procrastinate is that it's hard work to achieve something. Anyone that has ever achieved a goal in life knows that.
So how do we overcome procrastination: Here are some suggestions I have taken from reading motivational books and from real life experiences:
1. We have to really want the goal we are setting. Otherwise the game is over and we have lost before even getting started. Have a serious review of where you want to be and what you want out of life.
2. We have to get organised. Keep a journal and have your goals in it. Put in all your aspirations of where you want to be. Put a timeline down (a pathway) showing where you plan to be as you move forward with your goal. Write in it everyday! Even the bad days!! Review your goals and rewrite them often so that you continually reinforce what you want out of life. This will help to spur you on.
3. Be consistent in your approach and get really protective about the time you set aside for working towards your goal. Getting a routine going is really really good. Humans lend themselves well to establishing patterns in their lives (I guess we call them habits). We need approximately 65 days to establish a habit in which it will then become automated in our minds as something we not only want to do but have to do! Thats where we want to be with how we are working towards our goals.
4.. Have that one thing every day that you must accomplish. It doesn't have to be a huge accomplishment (i.e maybe it's write a blog; Learn another tool in Wordpress; Identify Keywords and work on optimising your site. As long as you have done that one thing each day then you are working towards your goal.
So these are a few things that I am putting into practice in my own life to assist me in reaching my goals. I hope some of the above might help someone else a little.
Have a great day.
Ciao x Colleen
Recent Comments
9
Thanks Dave. Im looking forward to reading your blog post on it and gaining some good tips also.
Hi Colleen, Great post. Procrastination is a monster. As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog about that. Slay the monster. Dave. Kill The Procrastination Monster!
Hello Colleene, I really enjoyed your post, the points you made are good ones. I'm a list maker and so I create a list every morning of everything I want to accomplish that day. I don't necessarily get everything done, but the feeling of accomplishment as I tick everything off is a huge help.
Have a terrific day!
Rae Anne
Hi Rae Anne
Lists are key to getting things done! Sense of accomplishment spurs you on to get things done.
Thanks for reading
Colleen
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Colleen, you have to discipline yourself with the mindset of what needs to be done. It's a commitment to stay focused on the task at hand until it's completion. We are all guilty of it.