Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Five steps to overcome procrastination

Why do people procrastinate?
Ahmmm, can i get back to you about that?

We all know how knowing and focusing on what you want, having goals and sticking to them is the obvious route to accomplishment. But in reality about 40% of us struggle with completion and have issues with implementation, preferring to keep our options open in case new information becomes available which we believe will help us to make better decisions.

But, come on! Deep down we also know that procrastination has let us down as a method of operating and that postponing is an addictive strategy, because we dither and dither in the hope that an unpleasant task will go away, or that someone else will do it for us.

There is no greater barrier to success than the will to procrastinate, because it robs us of our energy and commitment, making our talents obscure as people around us view our shirking and dithering as time wasting and see us an unreliable.
Procrastination is a huge challenge to overcome, even the mega organised suffer from bouts it.

So how do you overcome your natural resistance to completing boring or unpleasant tasks?
Give this five step approach a go:
1. Forget that you don't have the resources or energy, instead ask yourself what would I do if money/childcare/time weren't a barrier?
2. Commit to an idea and write that goal down. (loads of studies back this up as a motivator)
3. Do it now, why not?
4. What will happen if I don't do it? Write down the consequences.
5. Tell somebody else what you intend to do, by when and what reward/penalty you are going to give yourself if it's done/not done. Agree a time that they can come back and ask you if you've done it or not.

Well it's worth a try....and think of something NOW and follow these steps immediately for best results.

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