Procrastination - The Silent Killer
We've all dealt with it before. Procrastination is one of the hardest things to overcome when trying to do any productive. It sneaks up on us in so many small ways:
- Doing something else to justify not doing your work
- "Promising" ourselves that'll we'll do our work later
- "Setting excuses as to why we can't do our work
- Doing a bit of work and using that to justify putting it off
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone has their own little procrastination habits that add up over time. The worst part about procrastination is that once it's started, it's extremely difficult to stop doing. If you justify procrastinating even one time, it will be easy to do it again.
People who procrastinate long enough will be tempted to just quit. After all, if the work doesn't get completed, then results will not follow. At that point, it's no wonder why people wouldn't want to persist.
It's the same reason why people quit the gym after going for a few weeks; procrastination is a dangerous slippery slope that can be a nightmare to stop once it gains enough momentum.
It stands to reason, then, that the best way to fight procrastination is to stop it before it gets started. Some ways to do it that I can think of are:
- Avoiding situations that procrastination can be a possibility
- Setting dedicated times that prevent excuses being made
- Realizing that work done today is work that doesn't have to be done tomorrow
- Finishing the work once started. If that's not a possibility, try to aim for at least 1/2 completion. That makes the remaining work less daunting to return to later.
Of course, all of these things require one key thing:
DISCIPLINE
Without discipline, we cannot hope to combat procrastination in any meaningful way. It's essential towards progress, and it's something that needs to be developed in each one of us.
Discipline is what guides and drives us when motivation is nowhere to be found. Motivation/Inspiration comes and goes, but discipline is always with us. If you can master discipline, then you can master just about anything.
What do you guys think? How do you guys implement discipline in the development of your online business?
Hopefully I can get a few ideas; I'm not above procrastination myself, but I do try to recognize when it happens and fight it off.
Recent Comments
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One of the things I noticed with the habit of procrastination, at least in my life, is that I can easily justify it because of the mistaken belief that I have more time to burn in my week than I truly do. But I started utilizing 3 tools that have totally turned my old procrastinating ways around.
First, I made a little index card titled "168 Hours"...the total number of hours in a week. Then I broke down my week, starting with the absolute necessities, subtracting the required time for these activities from the total remaining.
For example, SLEEP -56 hours (which is 8 times 7). Now, a full 8 hours sleep seems like a luxury I can't afford, certainly I never give myself, but by using this technique, I am sort of figuring out how to design the ideal use of my time. Next, was WORKING AT MY CURRENT AWESOME DAY JOB AT WHOLE FOODS -32 hours. So at this point I am down to 80 hours remaining.
Continuing this way, I was amazed to find that with all my activities, all the time I need to learn, write, and build this next phase of my career, plus still at least show my face to my friends, I have less than 3 hours a week to blow off! WHAT?!?! Considering the fact that I stopped watching TV when I was 18, don't play any video games, don't spend any time but what is required online, and I abhor all social media as a sinkhole one might fritter one's life away in and therefore also avoid, you can imagine how ambitious a weekly schedule I am trying to run. Most people at least have TV and internet surfing hours that wittle away at their time which they could easily drop. Not me. Clearly, procrastination is a thief and I cannot continue to allow this thief into my life!
So then the second tool was to take the items on that index card and lay out the picture of my ideal week in Excel. Basically, just create a graph with Sunday through Saturday columns at the top, and 430am to 10pm times to the left. Then, I filled in my week with color coded blocks of time. Now I have a picture of where and when everything will fit! (I would be happy to email anyone what I built if you think it could help you!)
Finally, the last, and, in my opinion, most important tool of all: praying and meditating with divine light to release procrastination and build up dynamic power, balance, motivation and discipline. I am a metaphysician of the ancient and sacred Kingdom of Light tradition, and the foundation of our practice involves daily communion with God through meditation with divine light. There is a light ray of purification, a light ray of God life force, plus numerous other rays with specific God attributes like courage, willpower, motivation, enthusiasm, organization, prosperity that one can call up to help build up the consciousness of these qualities in you. Then, you apply that consciousness through action to make it a permanent part of you. These energies, called down and applied over and over, build up within you until you are a completely transformed soul. Everyone receives blessings of divine light from God every day, it is a natural process of life and how He reaches us. But by working directly and consciously with these rays, you greatly enhance their power for you.
I am a completely different person now than I was 7 years ago thanks to my work with the light! So if this last tool speaks to you, feel free to contact me and I will be glad to give you some pointers. If not, no worries! Like I said, God does this for us all daily whether we are in a spiritual path, religious, metaphysical, atheist or not!
Using these three tools, I am quickly becoming a human dynamo, casting off procrastination, and accomplishing what seemed unimaginable before. Hope this helps, and I LOVED your post DenverS!
You certainly seem to have a handle on dealing with procrastination. I'm glad to see you tackle it with such enthusiasm! Making something as fleeting as time into a concrete numbers game is a great way to ensure it doesn't slip away.
I wouldn't mind taking a look at either of the tools you offered to share. There's no such thing as too much information, so I want to know it all. You can reach out to me via PM where we can exchange emails, if you'd like.
I'm always up for a chat, at the very least!
Great post! Thanks for this. I recently read a great little book called DO THE WORK by Steven Pressfield, and it's all about overcoming resistance to getting our good work done. It's such a powerful little book, a quick read that can have a huge impact in helping us overcome resistance/procrastination & achieve/create/do the things we want to do! I highly recommend it. Now let's go do the work! :)
I'll be sure to check it out! It sounds like a book filled with useful info that I'm sure we could all use.
We're all in this journey together. Let's do the work indeed!
Procrastination is one of my biggest problems. I've actually used it to describe my personality. Great post
In today's times, everything is instant and entertainment is just a arm's length away. It's no wonder why people tend to struggle so hard with procrastinating. The temptation to do so is everywhere, which makes it all the more important to develop strong discipline.
By doing just that, you'd already be putting yourself ahead of so many people. I understand the struggle to get there, though!
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Great post! Thanks
Thank you! I appreciate the warm response!