This debilitating disease has plagued us all at one point or another in our lives. For some of us, it is a constant and infectious virus running amuck in our world. My experience is that procrastination is a dream killer – it can really take you out of the game of life. If you are unaware of the dangers, it can take you out for good.
The bottom line is that a procrastinator is a self-assassinator.
For those brave enough to accept the challenge of curing this awful disease, the results are staggeringly positive when you succeed. The sad truth is that the challengers are few and far between.
I have met and counseled so many individuals who set goal
after goal but never get around to taking one step towards them. And by the
way, I’m not talking about dodo heads and morons – I’m talking about people
with at least half a brain which is more than enough to get most things done.
Why people procrastinate
Fear is the number one reason why people procrastinate. It’s
either fear of failure or even success. It’s the fear of looking stupid to the
world if it doesn’t work. It is a mark of the cynicism and negativity that has
taken root in our psyche over time. Unless you can weed this out,
procrastination is sure to be the victor.
Think about it for a moment…
What are you waiting for to go after your dreams? The truth
is that the tides will never be just right; the moon and the stars will not
align perfectly to give you a sign. This is a fool’s folly – your destiny is
not out there – it rests with you. No matter what excuses you make and no
matter how many justifications you give, your future is still in your hands.
The moon and stars align only when you are ready to act – it may seem like a
miracle but it won’t happen unless you make it happen.
Here’s what usually happens though…
First you tell yourself it’s not the right time and yet you make no plans or preparations for when the right time arrives. How can it ever be the right time if you are not prepared?
Next you ask yourself “what if it doesn’t work?” This is only gives you a myriad of reasons why not. The one you should be asking, the one that truly makes a difference, is “what if it does work?”
The list could go on and on here but I think you get the
gist. People with an excuse mindset will come up with all sorts of rational
lies (rationalize) why something cannot happen and won’t work.
The right mindset
In order to diminish procrastinating habits, it is important that you have the right mindset. If your first response is to make excuses and offer justifications when you are challenged, procrastination grows in your life. These are the elements that this debilitating disease feeds on; this is how it envelops your life.
The more excuses you make, the more procrastination grows. Have you ever noticed that when you put off one thing just how easy it becomes to put off the next thing? It can become a vicious cycle before you realize what is really happening. By the time you wake up and smell the coffee, you’re in debt, you’ve been passed over for that promotion 3 times, you’re about to lose your house and your wife and kids don’t know you anymore.
OK… a little dramatic – yes. I am sure you can appreciate the underlying message though; if you aren’t careful procrastination can cause major upheaval in your life.
The mindset that works to eliminate procrastination is one of responsibility and accountability. You must endeavor to hold yourself accountable for your actions or in this case your inaction. You have to be the first person not to let you off the hook with feeble excuses and justifications.
If you need to, devise a system of actions and consequences
for yourself. For instance, every time you make excuses for your actions, you
deprive yourself of something you really love – your favorite food, your
favorite pastime, sex.
It might sound silly; however, if you can muster the strength to practice this, your procrastinating ways will surface quickly and often. The goal of this exercise is to raise your awareness of how often you procrastinate – even about the simplest things. Often times, we don’t even realize this is happening until the disease has become a giant malignant tumor.
Reducing
Procrastinating Behaviors
I am not going to write about eliminating procrastination completely because I don’t know if that is realistic. I mean, there are things that I still procrastinate on; they just aren’t the most important in my life.
My experience is that reducing procrastination especially
around the things that matter most, significantly improves your success rate at
anything. So, even though I am sure that some of you don’t procrastinate at all
about anything, I won’t take that route because I’d be a hypocrite.
- Create a personal mission statement – this will help you center and focus your energies. A personal mission statement outlines what you are about, where you are going and how you plan to get there. You see, often times we procrastinate because we don’t have a clear picture in our minds who we are or where we are going; this creates “scatter brain” syndrome.
- Write down and date your goals – this is so important; it’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way over and over before it clicked in my brain. This is probably one of the most powerful habits that I have ever developed. When you write down and date your goals, they instantly become real. Now it’s in ink and you can look at it. You have something to refer back to; you don’t need to remember what you’re supposed to be doing. When you write down and date your goals, you can track them; you can track yourself against them to see how you are doing. Many times we don’t even know how badly we suck because we have no barometer – no checks and balances. When your goals are written down and dated, it is harder to hide from them.
- Make “to do” lists – whether you do this daily or weekly, it is important to make “to do” lists. This is another powerful tool because each time you check something off, you get more excited. When you don’t have a list, you don’t even know what you’ve done and worse, days may go by and you haven’t done one thing that you really wanted to do. Your to do list is a guide – it is your tactic sheet that is helping you execute the strategy you’ve put together to achieve your goals.
- Celebrate all wins – it is important that you celebrate all your wins no matter how small. Each time you check something off your list, you should celebrate it because you’ve accomplished something. When you do this, it will fuel your passion and motivation to do even more and achieve at even greater heights. Celebrating a win can be as easy as pumping a fist in the air, pulling it in and saying “YES” emphatically. Blair Singer taught me that one and it really gets your juices going.
- Debrief regularly – whether you succeed or not at something, it is extremely important that you debrief yourself. Do this alone or with someone else if you need to BUT do it. Procrastination is like a virus – it latches on to negativity quickly and just spreads like wildfire. Especially when things don’t go as planned, it is important that you get your head around it as quickly as possible by debriefing. Ask yourself what worked and what didn’t and then learn from the hiccups. Don’t internalize the failure and let that stop you from moving forward or trying again… failure is just an event not you.
Practicing these 5 habits will undoubtedly improve your ability to focus and center your energies. You will be able to overcome procrastination more easily and quickly especially in the areas that matter most to you.
Procrastination may be a debilitating and vigorous disease
but the good news is that there is a cure. What are you waiting for… stop
procrastinating and get off your ass.
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