Have you ever faced with a situation of seeing your profitable business idea being used by others? Have you ever tried to stick to a exercise schedule in the morning and realize that you didn’t follow through?
Honestly, everyone does procrastinate on a daily basis. There are tonnes of distractions(Social Media. TV, Mobile devices etc) out there to help you procrastinate against tasks that are supposed to be your priority.
I have always wanted to start an online business. In the past, I paid money to attend seminars on how to setup an online business. I also paid money to learn how to create e-magazines in the apple store. However, in the end, when it comes to completing these projects, I procrastinate.
When you become a procrastinator, suddenly a lot of excuses become valid.
Excuse number 1 – I have to take care of my 10 month old baby
Excuse number 2 – I don’t have time
Excuse number 3 – I am too tired after my 9-5 job to do anything else
We hope to change our current situation. We want to achieve our goals and dreams in life. We want to spend more time with our loved ones.
However, it seems that when we want to take the 1st step forward, something Is holding us back. The fear of failure. The fear of stepping out of our comfort zone. That is when we start to procrastinate.
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How Do I Stop The Urge To Procrastinate?
A lot of people procrastinate the whole of their lives. They regret their decisions most of the time. A lot of best business ideas are left lying in the cemetery unfulfilled.
We don’t fulfill our fullest potential being a procrastinator. Procrastinating may be the difference between a successful person and unsuccessful one. We tend to blame our circumstances or anything under the sun on why we didn’t achieve success.
It stops you from doing the right thing. It is an obstacle between you and your dream. Thankfully, there are 8 ways for us to help us overcome procrastination.
Plan your time ahead
Everyone have 24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86400 seconds per day. Instead of just waiting for activities to happen on a daily basis, it would be more prudent to plan your time ahead.
For example, I am holding a 9-6pm job. After I reach home, take a shower and have my dinner, it would be near to 830pm. I have the plan to use the time slot of 830pm to 10 pm from Sun to Thurs to focus on my side hustle.
I have an exercise book to keep track of my progress and ensure that I am taking one step at a time to work on this part-time project
Find the reason behind the important task
It is important to find the reason behind the important task you need to do on a daily basis. For example, if you plan to learn how to invest your finances, you may need to spend time educating yourself.
Reading books, doing research online or attending seminars are good examples. The next thing is why do you need to learn how to invest your finances? What is the compelling reason that motivates you?
My wife attended an investment seminar and spent hours researching how to invest in the stock markets and options.
The compelling reason that drives her is that she wants to spend more time with our baby boy. She hopes that one day she can have a sizable amount of money which allows her to live off her investments and quit her day job.
Spend less time with blood suckers
This is one of the most important things you need to do. Get rid of people who have given up on their dreams in your life. It is already mentally tough to fight against procrastination.
You really don’t need anyone to rub salt into your wounds. There are people in this world who enjoys putting people down or they don’t really enjoy watching you being successful.
Spend more time with successful people
It is true that when you want to keep yourself motivated, besides removing those blood suckers out of your life, you would also need to increase your network with highly successful people.
It is good to learn from their past experiences, adopt their positive attitudes and model their good habits to success. Networking sessions, seminars or finding a mentor are good ways to start.
Sometimes we may just need the extra guidance and support to push through the major hurdle you face in your current project. Even successful people face procrastination every day, the most important thing is to understand how they overcome it and achieve phenomenal success in their lives.
Your mind is your biggest enemy
Humans are trained to live on instincts since we are found on earth. We have the fight or flee mentality ingrained inside everyone of us. Our mind is constantly keeping us in our comfort zone.
Any actions that you would take you out of the comfort zone, it would attempt to bring you back to square one.
Let’s do an exercise. Now imagine yourself wanting to try something new that you have never done before in your life. For example, starting an online business and quit your current job.
Write down all the excuses your mind is generating on its own. It is a pretty long list right? This is a challenge I face on a daily basis. Every time i want to have some progress for this site, my mind would without fail give me many reasons why I should just postpone to a later date.
Our minds is actually helping us to be very good procrastinator. In this situation, what we can do is to tell our mind ‘thanks but no thanks’ and remind ourselves the compelling reason that motivates us to start off the project at the first place.
Reward yourself
Every time you have overcome any procrastination for the day and complete an important task, you must always reward yourself.
Treating yourself to a nice meal, shopping for new clothes or spending time with your loved ones were great examples.
Quick Note
There is limited willpower within us that needs to be recharged from time to time.
Always pushing yourself without recharging your batteries may actually hinder your performance for any important tasks you plan to do for the day.
Do the most difficult tasks first
We tend to push the most difficult tasks to the last and work on the easy ones. This is basically a recipe for failure and prolonged procrastination.
Learn to find out when it the time frame of the day that you are most productive and energetic. Squeeze all most important tasks of the day to this period of time.
You will find it much easier to complete these tasks on hand. Do note that when I mentioned important tasks, it means that if you were to do nothing for the rest of your day, you will still be one step closer to your end goal or dream.
Start with the end in mind
Visualize that you have completed the project and that it is very successful. You see yourself achieving financial freedom and able to travel the world with no financial worries in 10 years of time.
One of the most important habits I have learnt from the book ‘ The 7 habits of highly effective people’ by Stephen R.Covey. Always start with the end in mind.
Practising this regularly helps to motivate you to take actions instead of procrastinating. Remember that the future you would be grateful to you for making the correct decisions now.