To procrastinate, or not to procrastinate….that is the question…..
Which I will get to later.
Oh alright, I guess I had better get to the question now considering I have your attention and you are reading this article.
I just have to make a cup of tea first, before I write this. You could make yourself one too. Go on, you have plenty of time.
Does this sound familiar to you?
Do you have a to do list the length of your arm, with some things that are fairly urgent to living your life or running your business?
Are there items on your to-do list that keep getting re-written week after week? Things you keep putting off, allowing other less important tasks to creep in?
You can relate? Yeah I thought you might.
That’s good old procrastination showing it’s annoying and very ugly head.
Everyone procrastinates, so don’t worry you are not alone!
Why do we procrastinate?
Well there can be a lot of things we procrastinate about, but usually only 1 universal reason for it.
We procrastinate because we believe that we are going to endure some sort of pain. Fear, self doubt, vulnerability, wasting time, shame etc are all forms of pain.
So now you know that when you are avoiding taking action, doing what needs to be done on your tasks list you are really avoiding pain.
As humans we are very good at that. In fact I would say avoiding pain is a favourite pastime of every human being!
Maybe you have on your to-do list to shoot some videos on your topic of expertise and post them on your Facebook business page, but you fear being on camera because you fear being criticized or laughed at. Perhaps you have a follow up phone call to make on a quote you sent out, but you put off the phone call because you want to avoid the pain of being rejected (even though you don’t know for sure if the answer is yes or no, you fear the possible rejection of being told no). Or you might leave writing articles until the very last minute for fear of it not being good enough (oops outing myself here!)
The thing is, we procrastinate about anything that seems like it’s going to cause us pain. We instinctively stay in our comfort zone and we are not even aware of it, most of the time!
The sad part is that this imagined fear, which keeps us playing small in our comfort zone also costs us in our lives.
Opportunities pass us by. Procrastinators are great wasters of time. In fact they squander time.
Our time on this Earth is limited. Regardless of what we might think sometimes, we don’t have all the time in the world. Putting things off is wasting that part of your life.
So, the all important question now is how do we STOP procrastinating?
Here are a few ways that you can meet your pain head on and kick procrastination to the curb!
1. Be kind to yourself and stop the judgment.
Understand that everyone procrastinates in some way in his or her lives.
It’s a normal human behavior. Stop judging yourself and instead be kind to yourself and know that you CAN do those things you have been putting off. Also know that at times you will procrastinate and that’s ok.
2. Lighten your load by delegating all the tasks you really don’t need or want to be doing.
3. Visualize yourself having successfully completed the task.
What difference would the completion of the task make to you, your life, family and /or business? Visualise yourself having completed the task. How do you feel?
4. Make a to-do list where your top items are only the things you have been putting off doing and also make your list succinct.
A long list causes overwhelm and invites in more procrastination.
5. Break any big tasks down to smaller chunks.
It feels more satisfying to get lots of things done that contribute towards the bigger task.
6. Avoid trying to be a perfectionist.
Being a perfectionist is a great procrastination strategy. It keeps you safe in your comfort zone and we all know that nothing good happens in your comfort zone.
7. Give yourself a reward at the end of the task or at the end of the day for completing the task in the time you have allocated to do it.
8. Tackle your biggest task that you have been putting off first.
It’s the concept of Eating The Frog that was created by Brian Tracy, whereby you do the biggest and yuckiest task on your list first. Get it out of the way.
Putting things off just leads to more anxiety. Procrastinating might feel good in the short term, but in the long term it leads to frustration and being unhappy. It can also lead to you having a bad reputation, missing out on achieving your dreams and feelings of hopelessness and low-self worth. Only you know what needs to be done in order to feel fulfilled. The Universe rewards action takers.
Go on now, it’s your time. Look at your list, see what needs to be done and do it with a big smile on your face. Smiling raises your vibration and makes even the most annoying of tasks a little more enjoyable.
About our Ausmumpreneur Expert :
Simone’s purpose in business is to change the way women think, so that they can change the life they lead. She believes everyone is a leader, title or no title and that leadership is not about creating followers, it’s about creating leaders. Women are more powerful that they realize, yet we are taught to shut our brilliance off from a young age. Through The Liberated Leader program, Simone assists women to tap into their brilliance and truly lead their lives and be the inspiring example for others to do the same. Simone has over 17 years in sales and account management for major multinational companies as well as over 6 years experience running her own business. Bringing over 20 years of personal development study as well as certifications as long as your arm Simone works with women 1-1, in groups, in workshops and also loves to speak!
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