procrastination

7 Life-Wrecking Dangers Of Procrastination

7 Life-Wrecking Dangers Of Procrastination

7 Life-Wrecking Dangers Of Procrastination

Putting things off from time to time may not cause too many problems in your life. On the other hand, chronic procrastination can consistently jack up your stress levels. It lowers your self-esteem and can cause severe mental and physical health problems.

The negative effects of procrastination can range from something as simple as missing a deadline on an important task, or it can be something more long-term, such as a missed opportunity that kills a dream.

Some of us may be lucky enough to identify our procrastination habit in time and may be able do something about it.

For others, it can have long-lasting effects that resonate throughout their lives.

The reasons that people procrastinate can be incredibly varied and they may not always obvious. Sometimes, it is a hidden fear that we don’t want to acknowledge, or it could be simply not wanting to do something because it just doesn’t motivate us.

Here are 7 life-wrecking dangers of procrastinating you should remember the next time you are thinking about delaying some action or task you know you need to be doing today.

1 – You Lose Valuable Time

Odds are you already feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day. Why procrastinate and make the situation even worse? The most fleeting and valuable commodity you have is time. It can’t be replaced.

Procrastinators often look up with deadlines staring them in the face at the last minute and think, “Where did all the time go?”

When you have to fly around at the last minute trying to cram a few days’ worth of work into a few hours because you’ve been procrastinating, you realize that you’ve wasted precious time that you can’t get back.

2 – You Miss Out On Valuable Opportunities

Any time you do one thing, you are costing yourself the opportunity to do something else. Putting things off until later, when later finally arrives and you absolutely must take action, doesn’t allow you to be free in case a wonderful opportunity arises.

Procrastination doesn’t allow you to answer when opportunity knocks.

3 – You Never Realize Your Full Potential

Studies show that if you procrastinate once, you’ll do it twice. Procrastinate a couple of times, and you begin to plan procrastination into your regular routine.

The people who create their dream realities make effective use of their time.

When you waste time and put things off, the results you finally achieve are watered down and rushed.

Everyone has incredible potential inside them, and when you lazily and continually “wait till later”, you kill your inner desire to better yourself in one way or another.

This means you rob yourself of living the greatest and most fulfilled life that you possibly can.

4 – You Sabotage Your Career And Relationships

Procrastination is the enemy of efficiency and productivity. When you put things off in the workplace, you kill your chances of advancement. You might even get fired.

When you consistently procrastinate in a relationship, you’re telling the important people in your life that you simply don’t care. This means you run the risk of damaging, or even permanently ruining, relationships that are important to you.

5 – You Crush Your Self-Esteem

Low self-esteem and procrastination are comfortable bedfellows. When you put things off and put things off until you have to rush around at the end and get them done, you feel bad about yourself.

You wonder, “Why can’t I just do what I need to do?” You ask yourself, “Why can’t I take action in the pursuit of things that are so important to me?”

This leads to thoughts that you deserve failure, since you must obviously are programmed for poor performance and a lack of motivation. This low level of self-belief and self-esteem leads to more procrastination, and a very unhealthy mental cycle develops.

Negative emotions like self-hatred and self-doubt create stress, and stress is at the cornerstone of all chronic disease. It is in this way that …

6 – Not Meeting Goals

Procrastination seems to become a major issue when we start to think about setting goals or wanting to achieve or change something.

Don’t get me wrong; you really may have a strong desire to change, but you just find it impossible to take that vital first step.

This can be incredibly confusing and frustrating; you might find yourself thinking, “Why is it so difficult to go for something that I know I want so badly?” Only you can answer that; you’ll have to explore a little deeper to try to find out why you are resisting and effectively sabotaging your own personal growth.

We set goals because we want to have a better life, and these can be business, career, relationship type goals. If you don’t even attempt to reach these goals because of procrastination, you reduce the possibility to better your life.

You need to find what the root cause is behind your procrastination, especially if it’s preventing you from achieving your goals, or you may never attain them and you may be losing out on some of what life has to offer you.

7 – Procrastination Can Quite Literally Kill You

You may think that statement is a little harsh or “over-the-top”. Actually, it isn’t. People who procrastinate constantly make poor decisions. You put off going to that doctor’s appointment, justifying your decision by saying that you probably won’t be able to afford his bill.

You find excuses for putting off exercising all the time. You know you should eat better, but you can always start your new diet tomorrow.

Aside from the poor mental health that comes from a lack of self-esteem, procrastination can lead to physical health problems that have serious consequences.

Stress is related to the top preventable causes of death. Procrastination is a powerful stress booster. Put off taking care of your physical health for years, and you increase the odds that you’ll die from a serious illness or disease.

Stop procrastinating. It’s a killer, a job and relationship wrecker. Putting off important tasks and responsibilities leads to so many negative results. Chronic procrastination can make it virtually impossible to live a life of fulfillment and success.

And remember, one way to beat procrastination is to stay focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊

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Stop Procrastination In Its Tracks And Get Your Time Back

Stop Procrastination In Its Tracks And Get Your Time Back

Stop Procrastination In Its Tracks And Get Your Time Back

We’ve all heard the quotes when it comes to procrastination. ‘Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today’ or ‘Action today can prevent a crisis tomorrow’… and so on.

Yet, millions of people procrastinate daily. So why do we not do what we know we need to do?

The answer is simple. When you view a task as unpleasant and tiring, your mind immediately starts cooking up excuses to prevent you from being in discomfort. This is your self-preservation instinct at its finest.

Your mind is trying to protect you. While this is good when it comes to dangerous situations, for the most part it’s unnecessary and actually holding you back.

Knowing how to act is crucial to avoid procrastination. If you keep procrastinating, your work will pile up and your schedule will become a mess.

You won’t reach your goals or meet your deadlines. It’s impossible to have work-life balance when you’re always playing catch-up. So, here’s what you need to do to stop procrastinating…

What’s The Plan?

Make a list of ALL the things you need to get done. List them in 3 categories:

  1. Urgent
  2. Important
  3. Others

Get the urgent matters out of the way ASAP, then focus on the important tasks and finally clear the other tasks as and when you can.

Do You Have 2 Minutes?

Many times, you may feel like you’re not in the mood for an activity. This could be exercise or writing or cleaning your house, etc. Whatever the activity is, your mind is already making excuses for you to avoid doing it.

You’re thinking of skipping the workout. Or maybe you’d rather organize the folders in your laptop than write that blog post you need to.

Clean the house? Pfft! You can always do that next month.

Your mind NEVER lacks excuses and they’re all very plausible and highly convincing. Quite frankly, we usually don’t need that much convincing to procrastinate.

So how do you beat this problem?

Simple. Just give yourself 2 minutes to do the task. Tell yourself that you’ll just exercise for 2 minutes or clean the room for 2 minutes. It doesn’t matter what the task is. Just aim for 2 minutes.

You’ll often find that once you get started, you’ll usually go on for 30 minutes to an hour or longer.

It’s always the initial step of getting started that’s the most difficult. 2 minutes tricks your mental resistance because writing or exercising for 2 minutes is not as intimidating as doing it for 30 minutes or an hour.

Employ this technique whenever you catch yourself about to procrastinate.

Shorten The Deadlines

Parkinson’s law states that, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

What that means is that if you give yourself 3 days to complete a job, you’ll take 3 days. However, if you gave yourself 8 hours to do it, you’ll rush and get the job done.

So, giving yourself shorter deadlines will help to motivate you by lighting a fire under your butt to get you moving. You can’t procrastinate when you have a deadline that’s approaching really fast. You’ll get the job done quicker than you thought possible.

You Get Motivation After, NOT Before

One of the cruel twists of life is that very often, you get motivation only after you’ve completed the work. If you wait to be motivated to do a task, you’ll be waiting a long time.

However, if you just go ahead and do it, you’ll gain some self-satisfaction and feel productive. Now you’ll have the motivation to quickly complete the next task and so on.

It’s this momentum that will keep you going and you gain self-confidence and a new-found respect for yourself. Now you’ll be truly motivated to keep up your winning streak.

Start doing first, and the motivation will come later – and you’ll not even think of procrastinating once you’re on a roll.

Avoid procrastination at all costs and know that it doesn’t change anything other than cause your responsibilities to pile up. Life begins outside the discomfort zone. Challenge yourself to get started today and right now.

And now you have mastered procrastination, let’s look at how you can use automation to make even more use of the time you have.

Automating Or Batching Tasks To Aid With Time Management

One of the best ways to increase your productivity and free up more time for leisure will be to automate your recurring tasks or outsource them. This could be done in a variety of ways.

Bill Payments

One fantastic strategy to stop wasting time at the bank will be to have your bill deductions automated. You could plan things out in such a way that money from your account is automatically deducted towards your outstanding bills.

Online banking is all the rage these days and yet thousands of people queue up at the tellers just because they’re not ‘tech savvy’ and don’t wish to learn something new.

If you’re working from home or you’re a busy entrepreneur, it’s these automated tasks that will save you precious hours and also prevent any hassles in your workday.

Chores

Instead of washing dishes by hand, you could use a dishwasher. Instead of drying the laundry on a line, you could use a dryer. There are many machines that will help to simplify your chores.

You could also create a roster for your kids where each one gets a specific chore to complete daily. It could be doing the dishes or vacuuming the house or one of the many daily chores that threaten to suck up your time.

It would be wise to hire a professional to do time-consuming tasks that can be tiring. One very good example is mowing the lawn. Rather than sweating it out and spending an hour pushing your lawn mower, you could easily hire a pro to do the job.

They’ll do it in a fraction of the time for a small fee. The amount you pay for the service will be worth every cent because your time is worth much more.

Emails And Work-Related Tasks

If you’re an online entrepreneur, there are tons of email management software and other tools that simplify your job. You can queue emails for an entire week that are set to be sent at a specific time and day.

The same applies to other activities such as scheduled blog posts, social media posts, etc. Automation is a time saver that you absolutely must use if you wish to be effective.

Which brings us to the next point…

Batching Tasks

Batching your tasks is without a doubt one of the best productivity hacks ever. So what is batching?

For example, if you’re planning to write 10 articles, batching will mean doing the research for all 10 articles at once. Then you’ll outline them all.

Once you’re done, it’s time to write them all. By batching your tasks in this way, you’ll be more productive and move at a faster pace. It’s similar to the type of labor specialization you see in factory product lines.

This principle applies across the board. Write all your emails at once. Schedule them at one go and so on.

Instead of doing each task from beginning to end and then repeating the process over and over, batching will save you countless hours in the long run.

Use the methods above to manage your time effectively. Time management is life management. The better you are at it, the more time you’ll have for yourself and the activities you really want to do.

And remember, one way to beat procrastination is to stay focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊

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The Truth Behind Procrastination

The Truth Behind Procrastination

The Truth Behind Procrastination

Every single one of us can waste time either intentionally or not, but when it comes to building a successful business, often it’s far more of a subtle beast that we need to conquer: it’s our own fears.

When you’re dealing with self-doubt, everything feels a lot more difficult than it is. We find a million reasons not to get something done because internally we’re constantly sabotaging ourselves believe it’ll likely fail, so why bother?

Procrastination is a business killer. It’s also a dream killer because if you’re allowing negative thoughts and self-doubt to lead the way, you’ll never have enough faith in your abilities to see things through.  You’ll not only take longer to get ahead, but chances are you’ll never reach your desired destination.

Procrastination has been called the closest ally to underachievement, and for good reason.

Many of us are afflicted by negative, self-doubt so if that’s you, know that you’re not alone.  Feeling like we’re not good enough, or that any success we’ve experienced was somehow unworthy is a common struggle with entrepreneurs all over the world.

The “I’m not good enough” monster is only amplified when you see others in your industry succeed. You might wonder whether you know enough, are informed, skilled or equipped enough to be in a position of authority.

If you’re a coach or course instructor, it’s easy to feel as though you’re simply not knowledgeable or experienced enough to be charging people for your information.

Deep down, you know it’s not true. You’ve likely worked hard to get to where you are and deserve every bit of success you achieve.  Overcoming those feels will take personal will and determination, but if you make the commitment to yourself and your business, and you persevere, nothing will stop you from reaching those goals.

Don’t be your own worst enemy in business.  Be careful not to sabotage your own efforts.  Identify your weaknesses and move on to focus on your strengths.

Take action every single day so that you’re too busy killing it in your industry to let that negative voice cost you those aspirations.  Dig deep and diligently work towards improving your work flow while letting go of those negative assumptions.  

No, it won’t always be easy and it’ll take a determined effort on your part, but if you work towards reprogramming your way of thinking, you’ll vanquish those success-constricting messages and reinvigorate that desire that made you take the leap from employee to self-employed in the first place.

You got this!

Eliminating Distractions

You now understand the effectiveness of chunking (read the article here) and that by implementing this into your workweek you’ll get more done in less time, but we need to dig a little deeper.

Your work environment is just as important as your workflow.  You should do everything possible to separate your personal life from your work life, which means talking with friends and family who may feel that just because you now work from home, you’re free for conversations throughout the day.

Create a routine for yourself and try to stick with it.  If you can create a realistic work schedule that everyone in your life understands, you’ll be able to minimize distractions while making each hour count.

Doing this will also help you avoid burn out.  You can only go full-speed ahead for so long before you’ll suffer the consequences including a dried up creative well.

Pushing forward without breaks or any sort of normal schedule will also leave you scrambling to fix errors, revise projects and will cause you to overlook important tasks.

You’ve likely been through this already.  You gun so hard on a project for so long that you end up forgetting important information or overlook something that causes your project to fail.  Allow yourself time to reset. 

As for your office environment itself, it all depends on what helps you to stay focused. For some, they find that music helps them focus while others need it to be completely silent.

Do your best to figure out what kind of routine will get you into a working mindset.

Does working out in the morning help?

Do you have to shut off your phone, close your email, or fire up a playlist in order to spring into action?

Find your groove and stick with it.

Your family, your mental health, and your career will thank you for it.

Holding Yourself Accountable

Hopefully you already have ideas as to how to create an organized system that will boost productivity and help you place a value on your time.  If not, make that your top priority.

And your second?

Hold yourself accountable when you mess up.

If you’re struggling to get things done, it’s easy to switch up your routine believing that will help you get back on track.

However, if you take the time to analyze why you really fell behind in the first place, chances are you’ll be able to identify where things went wrong and it’s not always deserving of a new routine.

Take a step back and think about where and when your efforts were derailed.

Were you spending too much time in email or on social media?

Did you fail at prioritizing your goals and ended up spending too much time on things that don’t matter as much?

Self-correcting and holding yourself accountable are two very important lessons when it comes to being successful in your business.

The key is to develop habits that help you to work and to play.  Sound strange? It’s not really.  Just like you need to figure out a way to get into work mode, you also have to develop habits that help you shut it down when your creativity or quality begins to decline.

It’s way too easy to say, “just one more hour”, or to push through and get that “one more thing done”, but it does you no good if you end up having to revise that work because you were so burned out that you didn’t give your very best.  Your business deserves the best of you and so do your clients or customers.

Holding yourself accountable isn’t always easy, but it’s the enemy of procrastination. If you take the time to identify where you went wrong, you’ll stay clear of self-doubt by immediately correcting the issue and moving on.

And remember, one way to stay productive is to be focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed  report; download, read it and take action 😊

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A Plan To Beat Procrastination!

A Plan To Beat Procrastination!

A Plan To Beat Procrastination!

Now that you know all the components of procrastination, you’ve had a chance to determine which ones might apply to you, and you’ve learned the skills you need to get rid of or diminish them in your life.

Many people give up before they ever really get started, and procrastination is one of the biggest reasons for this; it really is a dream killer!

Let’s put it all together so that you have a coherent assessment of yourself to bring to your tasks, your projects, and your life going forward.

You will finally be able to get stuff done and start achieving your goals, and these may be business, career or personal development goals.

Whatever the goals you are aiming for, getting laser focused and having a plan is really going to help you to beat procrastination and get you to your end result.

Follow the 8-step plan below to help you beat procrastination once and for all.

Putting It All Together

Using your computer or a paper and pen, answer the following questions in as much detail as possible:

1 – Identify the areas in your life where you procrastinate. It could be with tasks or projects or relationships. It could be in your home, on your job, in public situations, or with friends and relatives. Where do you want to make changes? What are you dissatisfied with?

Write down a description of the situation you want to change. What is it like right now? Give as much detail as you can.

How do you see it changing? What is your vision for the future? Write this in as much detail as possible.

2 – Remember, you achieve change through a combination of dissatisfaction with the present plus a vision for the future plus a plan plus taking the first steps.

Now, give yourself a challenge. Write down each change you want to make in phrases starting with,” I will…….…”

Look at each thing you want to change and ask yourself:

    • What’s my payoff if I leave things the way they are now?
    • What are the negative consequences if I don’t change?
    • What are the benefits if I do change?
    • Are there any negative effects if I do change?
    • Can I handle them?
    • Prioritize your changes in the order you want to tackle them.

3 – Next, turn your challenges into goals. Decide when you want to achieve the goal, and write this down for each goal,” It is(the date) and I have achieved this goal. Make these goals real in whatever way you want: for instance, a vision board, a journal, or by telling your friends about them.

4 – You need a way to measure your success. How will you know if you’ve reached your target goal? What will success means you? Write it down.” My success criteria are…….” Do that for each goal.

5 – Write down each goal, leaving some space beneath each one. Think through all of the negative things associated with that goal. What will the obstacles be? What can you do in advance to diminish the obstacles? For each goal, finish this statement,” I am removing the barriers to success with this goal by………”

6 – Now it’s time to break your project into steps. We know by now that this will make it much more manageable and give us reason not to be overwhelmed or afraid. Develop two or three first steps for achieving your goal and write them down.

7 – Now take a look at your first steps. What are the positives? What are the negatives? Choose the first steps for each goal that you determine to be the best ones.

8 – Next, plan the rest of your project step by step, going back and assessing each step as you did in number seven. Remember to build in flexibility in time constraints to allow for unforeseen events and obstacles. Remember also that it’s completely acceptable to amend these steps as you go along.

A few more pointers to remember when you’re actually working in your project:

  1. Review your goals and projects periodically. Ask yourself these questions:
  • What’s going well with my project?
  • Am I on track to achieve my goal?
  • What adjustments do I need to make?
  • Is there anything new that I need to do to keep my project on track?
  • Do I need to get help in any area to achieve my goal?
  1. Assess whether you’re using the skills you’ve learned in this book. Ask yourself how well you’re using them. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Make a written note of what you’re learning about yourself. You’ll be able to use it in the future for your next project.
  2. Remember to take care of yourself as you’re working toward your goals. Get regular exercise, eat right, and practice some stress relieving activities. Don’t forget to give yourself some treats along the way. You deserve them, especially if you’re doing well. Change isn’t easy.
  3. When your project is almost completed, take time to evaluate your achievements – that is, how well you’re completing your project and how you’ve changed for the positive internally. Look at your goals and see how close you’ve come to achieving them.

Are you falling short? Are you exceeding your goals? Which aspects of overcoming procrastination have you conquered? Which ones do you still need to work on? Make a written note of what you’ve achieved, point by point. That is, after all, your most important goal.

  1. Now your project or your task is completed. It’s time to celebrate. Allow yourself this luxury. Do it now! Go big and put yourself first! Even if you didn’t achieve everything you set out to, you’ve finished your project and you’ve made progress. You have the skills to overcome procrastination, and you have the rest of your life to improve on your progress.

Well done! Celebrate you!

I hope that you have enjoyed this 4 part series discussing the problem of procrastination and that you have some useful actionable tips that you can use to blast through any areas in your life that are being affected by procrastination.

It seems such a small thing to put it off until tomorrow, but it is insidious and suddenly procrastinating becomes a habit, and it is one best avoided if at all possible!

And remember, one way to beat procrastination is to stay focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊

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Procrastination-Be-Gone Toolbox

Procrastination-Be-Gone Toolbox

Procrastination-Be-Gone Toolbox

Now is the time to build on your strengths, improve on your weaknesses, and develop your skills.

Self-Esteem

Procrastination always has two elements: the task you’re putting off and the internal forces that are causing you to do so. The more you deal with your inner “demons,” the easier it will be to take action.

First on the list of these inner demons is self-esteem. Feelings of guilt and worthlessness fuel procrastination.

When you start to get things done, you experience these feelings less and less.

In our projects as in life, we come up against obstacles. We need to handle those obstacles in order to see the task through to the end. Self-esteem helps us to do that because it helps us develop resilience and the belief that we can succeed despite barriers. Self-esteem can grow or it can diminish, and we can control that.

So, what is self-esteem? The most important component of self-esteem is internal. It’s the ability to like and accept yourself with all your strengths and weaknesses, and in spite of the mistakes you make.

It’s understanding that you are equal to anyone else and you, like anyone else, are unique and one-of-a-kind. It’s not ego driven. It’s not a belief that you’re superior to anyone. It’s the understanding that each one of us is unique, special, and important.

Another component of self-esteem comes from the reflection of ourselves that we get from other people. We get either positive or negative feedback from people in obvious or subtle ways all the time.

We get from the media, from work, and from our relationships. Unfortunately, we can’t always depend on outside sources to have our best interests at heart or even to be honest.

So, although it’s inevitable that some of our self-concept comes from outside sources, a much better, more fulfilling approach to our lives is to develop our internal self-esteem and diminish the effects of external self-esteem.

Our job, then, is to build a solid foundation of internal self-esteem. The key to doing this is to be aware of what’s going on in your thoughts and your emotions and then taking action based on that awareness.

Here are the questions to ask yourself:

  1. How many of the things I do are based on the need for others’ approval?
  2. Whose approval do I seek in order to feel accepted?
  3. What are my own personal standards? In other words, what standards do I need to meet in order to approve of myself at work, at home, and in relationships?
  4. Is there a conflict between what I really want to do and obtaining approval from others?

The answers to these questions should give you an awareness of yourself that will strengthen your internal self-esteem and lessen your need for approval of others.

Next, here are some powerful actions that you can take to strengthen your self-esteem and diminish your tendency to procrastinate:

  1. Being aware of your self-growth and development.
  2. Taking the initiative.
  3. Practicing assertive behavior.
  4. Talking back to your negative inner voice.
  5. Setting goals.
  6. Taking physical and emotional care of yourself. This includes giving yourself quality time, exercising, eating right, and relaxation.

Here’s one non-negotiable law for living the life you dream of: self-esteem is essential to our well-being. It’s not selfishness; it’s just the opposite.

Dealing With Inner Negativity

It’s possible that you are not even aware of the negative inner voices that keep harping at you. Science has shown, though, that the vast majority of our thoughts are negative, and a lot of those thoughts are about ourselves.

It’s natural that this is true because these thoughts are an accumulation of judgments we received in childhood, then from our peers, and eventually from ourselves. These thoughts are even more frequent when we’re feeling vulnerable or facing obstacles.

How many times have you said things like if yourself:

  • ” What a stupid thing I did!
  • ” I’m ugly… lazy… stupid… mean.”
  • ” This is too hard! I can’t do it! “
  • ” I have to do this!” ” I ought to…” ” I should…”
  • ” Everything depends on this!”

All of this self talk puts pressure on us, unnecessary pressure. This is the inner saboteur at work. The way to combat these messages is to see them for what they are: unreasonable and irrational. Being aware of them is the first step. Can you see how they can interfere with your ability to succeed?

The next step is easy and even fun. Start talking back to those thoughts.

Say things like:

” It’s okay to make mistakes.”

” I’m not stupid, this is just something new for me.”

” This is not too hard – I just have to take it one step at a time.”

” Everything does not depend on this. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll find another way.”

See, wasn’t it fun? Won’t you feel a lot better doing that than giving in to negative thinking?

The next step is to reinforce your self-esteem with some positive thoughts about yourself. Remember the list you made of the things you’re good at and your positive qualities?

Repeat a few of those things to yourself after you’ve had some negative self-talk. Then give yourself a small reward (talking to a friend, reading a book for a little while, taking a time out for yourself, etc.). These positive thoughts and actions reinforce your positive feeling about yourself.

Our negative self-talk tries to protect us from taking risks and things we fear, but it also puts up barriers to opportunities and challenges and changes that would enhance our lives.

And think about this: research has shown that four out of five of our fears never materialize. The fears that do materialize, we can handle, especially after we build our strengths.

Fear is a powerful negative emotion that can cause procrastination in all areas of life. We all have fears; the difference is in how we handle them.

Here are some strategies for managing your fears:

  • Take some small risks at first. Notice the feeling of well-being when you succeed.
  • Talk to people you trust about your fears – get their opinion about how valid your fears are.
  • Allow yourself to feel the fear. Then talk to it, watch it recede or disappear, and enjoy your feeling of satisfaction at bringing that about.
  • Gradually increase the size of the risks you take, while keeping those risks reasonable, not irrational.

Handling fear is not easy for any of us. But facing it leads to a more fulfilling, productive life.

Motivation And Will Power

Of course, it’s obvious that we have to have some degree of motivation in order to overcome procrastination. And it’s also obvious that we need some willpower in order to want things to change so that we do follow through on our projects.

You very likely have some degree of motivation and willpower in general or you wouldn’t be reading this. If you can’t come up with any motivation or willpower in regard to a certain project or projects, this is probably not the right time to be tackling them.

A better idea would be to choose projects and tasks for now that can help you build your motivation and willpower in general.

Try these exercises to increase your willpower:

  • Try something that you never tried before – it can be something simple like trying a new restaurant or driving a different way to work.
  • When you want to say something you know you shouldn’t, don’t say it.
  • Do something you really don’t want to do but have to do. This can be anything – something small is fine. The idea is that you do it.
  • Find a way to say something nice to someone. Make a genuine compliment. It can be any small thing you think of.
  • When you want to say something appropriate but feel shy about it, say it.

These are all small steps, as you can see. You can and should substitute as many small steps as you can think of. The point is that you’re building your willpower. This in turn builds your self-confidence: you begin to realize that you can depend on yourself to follow through.

Assertiveness

What is assertiveness? And why are some people so much better at being assertive than others? How can we be appropriately assertive without being aggressive and overbearing?

Acting assertively can be complicated because how we behave stems from a combination of our beliefs and values, our attitudes, our thoughts and feelings, and our self-esteem. It comes down to choosing the way we will behave in order to get what we want.

We have basically four choices: first, being assertive; second, being aggressive; third, being passive; fourth, being indirectly assertive or manipulative.

Many of us use more than one of these techniques, and while we probably know  that the first choice is the best choice, many more of us don’t know how to go about being assertive.

Being assertive means acknowledging our needs and asking in an open and direct manner for those needs to be fulfilled. It implies respect for the people we’re asking, respect for ourselves, and respect for the task at hand. If our needs in this particular situation are not met, it is not a blow to our self-esteem because our self-esteem is not based on the approval of others.

Assertiveness is not always the easiest behavior choice, but it is the one most likely to get what we want. It is the win-win approach.

Being aggressive is often a compulsive overreaction; it’s competitive and leads to win-lose situation.

Being passive is negative behavior with negative results. It creates victims who allow other people to decide their fate. But the truth is that those people are victims of their own passivity.

The indirectly aggressive or manipulative approach also rises from low self-esteem. For these people it’s safer to control and manipulate rather than face confrontation and the possibility of being rejected.

This behavior shows a lack of respect for the initiator and the other people involved. Manipulative behavior can be effective, but the cost is continued low self-esteem and confusion on the part of the people the manipulator interacts with.

There are some techniques you can use to maintain an assertive attitude without becoming aggressive or passive. Try some of these to keep you on track. You don’t need to use all of them; use the ones that work for you in a given situation.

  • Be specific about what it is that you want. Clarify first in your own head and then be prepared to ask for it specifically and directly.
  • Repetition can be a handy tool. Stay on track by repeating your simple, clear request. This technique prevents you from being manipulated or getting off-track.
  • If you’re dealing with the manipulator, acknowledge that you hear what they are saying, but repeat your own simple, clear request without allowing yourself to be manipulated or becoming aggressive.
  • Remember, your best solution is a win win for you and the others involved. The way to achieve this is to be clear in your own mind about the ideal outcome, a realistic outcome, and a fallback position (bottom line) for you.
  • Some people find it helpful to disclose their honest feelings during the interaction. For some people this alleviates guilt and anxiety.

Remember that being assertive is often about negotiation and compromise. It’s about not being aggressive or passive or manipulative. It’s about the win-win for everyone involved.

Anger And Frustration Management

Few things encourage procrastination better than anger and frustration, yet anger and frustration are inevitable in life and in projects.

The first thing you must do is recognize when you’re frustrated or angry. Many of us are so proficient at hiding these feelings from other people that we’ve become great at hiding them from ourselves. That is usually a problem because the anger and frustration show themselves in other ways.

One of these ways is to discontinue whatever we’ve started. Another outcome is that we show our anger toward other things or people that are unrelated to the real cause. All of this is unproductive.

First, recognize your frustration. After that, decide how to handle it. You could walk away from the situation until you feel you’re in control of your emotions.

You could channel that frustration into finding other solutions for the problem. Or you could find other projects to work on temporarily. Next, find a productive way to release your anger and frustration. It might be through exercise or even household chores.

Pay attention to what causes you anger and frustration. Try to make sure that you’re separating your current anger from past situations that cause anger. One thing that many of us do is bring old anger that has been dealt with to new situations.

Find means to deal with anger and frustration as they appear. A good idea is to come up with solutions in advance. Since we know for certain that the feelings will come up again, channeling them in a positive way will produce the best outcome.

Stress Management

 

Another enemy of productivity, closely related to frustration and anger, is stress. Stress is our body’s way of letting us know that we are confronting something beyond our coping ability.

On a physical level, much less an emotional level, our instinct is to flee. This is the point where many of us give up on our projects. Again, a lot of us have a tendency to ignore stress until it causes major problems physically, emotionally, and even in all areas of our lives.

Symptoms Of Stress

The symptoms of stress can vary from person to person, but we all need to know what they are so that we can deal with them if and when they arise.

Physical symptoms – heart palpitations, nausea, muscle cramps, colds, infections, fatigue, body aches, and indigestion.

Emotional symptoms – mood swings, irritability, tension, anxiety, and powerlessness

Behavioral symptoms – accidents, inferior job performance, overeating or not eating, lack of concentration, general exhaustion.

Mental symptoms – indecision, memory failure, worrying, loss of perspective, lack of empathy

Get to know your particular signs of stress and recognize when you’re experiencing …the sooner you do, the better for your health.

Causes Of Stress

Knowing the factors that cause stress will help you anticipate when you might be experiencing them. We have different levels of stress tolerance, and many times different types of stressors can combine to cause serious stress.

The four types of stressors are:

Situational stressors – these include unexpected situations, change, bad news, heavy workloads, and negative environmental factors

Life events stressors – these include marriage, divorce, death, birth of a child, moving, ill health, and financial concerns

Stressors caused by others – these include unreasonable demands by others, unreasonable expectations from others, and a negative atmosphere at work or at home

Internal stressors – these include perfectionism, unreasonable expectations from ourselves, feelings of inadequacy, unmet needs for acceptance and love, and the need to control.

Stress can be debilitating and lead to many physical problems if you don’t deal with it. The way to handle stress is to recognize it, interrupt the pattern, and use the tools available to reduce it.

In order to recognize stress in your life, ask yourself these questions:

  • What’s causing my stress?
  • When does this happen?
  • Where does it happen?
  • What symptoms do I show?
  • Why do I react this way?
  • What can I do to reduce the stress in the situation?

Once you recognize that you’re feeling stress, come to terms with those feelings. Don’t run away from your feelings but accept them as signs that are showing you the need to take action.

Take responsibility for the situation. You might not have created it, but you need to take responsibility to face it and create the best possible outcome for yourself and possibly others. Take the time to do what you need: some free time, saying no to demands, self-care.

Develop a support network. Let your friends know when you need them, and make sure they know that you’re grateful for their help.

Take a good look at your lifestyle. What changes do you need to make? Make the time for some exercise and some relaxation. Eat a healthy diet, don’t smoke, and drink moderately. Think positively and handle your negative inner thoughts.

All of these things that you build into your lifestyle will strengthen you again stress.

The serenity prayer is an awesome piece of wisdom and wonderful for dealing with stress. It says,“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” – Old Irish Saying

Prioritizing, Organizing, And Planning

The feeling of overwhelm is a major cause of procrastination. It is so uncomfortable it can cause us to put off doing projects or flee from them faster than just about anything else will. The good news is that prioritizing, organizing, and planning – tools that can easily diminish this feeling – are not that difficult to learn.

I know that you know that old expression:” How do you eat an elephant?” “One bite at a time.” We all know that breaking things down into parts make sense. It makes difficult things easy by putting them in logical order so that we can address each step and go on to the next one. For some of us, it’s difficult to do.

Here are the steps:

  1. Know what your overall goals are
  2. Have a thorough knowledge of your project or task
  3. Know all the resources needed to complete the task
  4. Give yourself some flexibility with your deadlines
  5. Understand that unexpected obstacles will probably show up so build in some time to resolve those
  6. Take the time to make the best plan you can come up with. Time you spend here will save you time later and cause you not to feel overwhelmed

Once you begin your project, you may discover efficiencies that will help with your time management. For instance, are the right people performing the right tasks? Could you improve performance by switching people’s functions?

Would it be more effective to bring in a specialist for part of the task? Are all the steps in your project still necessary? What modifications can be made?

These are just examples of efficiencies that you may find what you’re going through the project. The point is to monitor your progress to reduce unexpected, unwanted surprises, and to keep you on track.

Prioritize your tasks on a daily basis because the priority can change quickly.

Priority one – important and urgent, tasks to do immediately.

Priority two – important but not urgent, tasks that can’t be planned for a future time.

Priority three – urgent but not important, tasks that can be delegated.

Priority four – routine, tasks that need to be done but can be deferred or delegated.

So, in the final article in this series, we’ll look at how to put this all together.

One way to beat procrastination is to stay focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊

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