Hey guys and welcome to this week’s blog, and welcome to July! Already!
Given that we’ve just entered the new financial year, and we’re more than half way through the calendar year…the hot topic I want to discuss today is how to stop procrastinating – you’re putting your life off and it’s time that that finishes now!
Procrastination is one of the big things I come across as one of the fundamental things people come across in terms of people getting business done, getting stuff out there, getting the success that they deserve – they procrastinate! They put off those things they know have to be done.
A few tips that I’ve implemented and I’ve seen other women implement to great ends as well.
Tip #1 – stop overloading yourself!
A few of my clients when they first come to me, they have lists of an arms length of things that they’re going to do – of course you’re going to procrastinate if that’s your ‘to-do’ list! The thing about procrastination is that we get overwhelmed and we do nothing. Very often that can be because there’s some deeper reason. But if you have a list as long as your arm of what you’re going to do – you’ll be overwhelmed instantly, you won’t know where to start, so you’ll do nothing.
What we do in our group program Master Your Emotions is 3-5 steps per week that you’re going to focus on that will create growth. If you don’t get anything else done but those 3-5 steps, you’ll have made great strides forward.
Tip #2 – Focus on one thing per day!
One of the big tips I got that really made a big difference, is to focus on one thing per day. One thing that will create growth, allow you to be yourself and express your creativity whilst making that step toward your dream life…pick one thing, and do it exceptionally well.
If you do 5 things per day, but do them half arsed, it’s not as good as doing that one thing exceptionally well. And you’re setting a whole new paradigm around how you do things. Again, it allows your creativity to flow, which opens up more and more time for you.
That is your baseline thing to start with, to stop procrastination!
Tip #3 – Get clear on the ends.
If you’re going to stop procrastinating for good, you have to get clear about WHY you’re doing the things you’re doing. Sometimes we have so many things to do, but we’re unclear on the ENDS, so there’s no real motivation to get moving. Get clear on why you’re doing each and every task.
For each of my 5 steps per week, I get clear on why that is important to my end goal, my growth and my business and of course for myself.
Tip #4 – Moment-to-moment decisions.
A big reframe that I want to give you around procrastination is that we see it as this big bad thing – but what it comes down to is procrastination is a habit that you’ve built. Now, you’re going to build a habit that is going to get you better results, bigger impact.
You are defined by your habits – we’ve spoken about this before. This new habit of you getting those things done that you’ve set out to do – that is required for you to get to that goal!
You cannot continue to procrastinate and get to that big goal, it’s as simple as that!
The big shift is to think of procrastination not as this big thing, but bring it back down to those moment to moment decisions. Bring it back down to the moments, where you have a choice. We’re always deciding and always have a choice. Are you really going to decide that that’s enough now, and you don’t feel like following through? You can’t allow your ‘feelings’ to rule you – maybe you don’t feel like getting up today, but neither does that guy over there but he still did it, built a habit of following through and now he’s succeeding as a result.
Bring it down to the moment to moment decisions, until you build your new habit – where you take action and it becomes automatic. You know when you build a habit that it’s a pattern of behaviour that has ben downloaded into your unconscious mind and now runs on autopilot. That is your power! The more good habits you can build, the more easily you can create success!
Recap:
Big tips to combat procrastination – know why, bring it down to the moment to moment decisions of who you are, align it with your values and what these actions are going to allow you to achieve. Those moment to moment decisions will build a new habit of how to get things done – get them done now, effectively and to the best of your ability.
Forget the huge to-do list, focus on those 3-5 steps per week that will allow you to create that movement and shift, and even if you get nothing else done, you’ll still know you’ve had a massively successful week. Therefore, you align your focus, your mind says ‘YES! I can do this’, and you tackle everything day by day and moment to moment.
Procrastination is the enemy of your success! Time to step it up, make those moment to moment choices and build that new habit that will have you smashing results out of the park, and make the final months of this year absolutely phenomenal for you!
See you next week, I can’t wait – in the mean time: live empowered, and be inspired!
