The Power Of Taking Action To Overcome Procrastination
Why We Procrastinate
Everyone procrastinates at one time or another. Sometimes this is not a big deal, because the task you are putting off is not important or time-sensitive. There are sometimes, however, when procrastination can cause serious problems in your life. Unfortunately, constantly putting things off can become a habitual ritual that can cause real damage in a number of ways.
You put household chores off until the last minute, and this creates stress and strain on your mental well-being. At work you put off till tomorrow what you should do today, your boss notices, and you miss that big promotion or get fired. You know you should exercise. Instead, you find excuses every day to wait just one more day, promising yourself that, “I will start exercising tomorrow.” Your health suffers, causing physical and mental discomfort and mounting medical bills.
There are a host of reasons why procrastinating can be bad for you.
So why do you do it?
Often times delaying the inevitable happens because you have to accomplish a task or take an action which is undesirable. Other times procrastination is not intentional. It happens because you are distracted by the sights and sounds around you. You may also simply have so much on your to-do list that daily and weekly procrastination is part of your productivity game plan.
Why Procrastination Is Bad for You
You may be asking yourself, “What’s the big deal? So I procrastinate from time to time. Everybody does it, and it’s not like it’s creating any problems in my life.”
Unfortunately, that is the sneaky side of procrastination and its effects on the human brain. No one likes to think poorly of himself. So when you procrastinate, you justify your reasoning mentally. You convince yourself that what you put off until tomorrow is justifiable, and your brain backs up that belief to keep from creating stress.
Your procrastination continues, tasks and responsibilities pile up, and eventually you have such a mess on your hands that you cannot deal with it mentally or physically. Your relationships, your health, your mental well-being and your finances can be ruined by the procrastination – justification – procrastination cycle which feeds on itself until you have caused some serious damage in some areas of your life.
This special report is designed to reduce, or totally eliminate, procrastination in your life. You will learn that distractions are often the biggest cause of putting things off. You’ll also discover ways to eliminate distractions, including websites, applications and software that do all the work for you.
You will learn how to create a plan of action that works for your specific situation and schedule to stop procrastination on a daily basis. You will discover how to motivate yourself to accomplish any task, and how to hold yourself accountable to others. Finally, you will learn how to decipher what your procrastination is trying to tell you – the real message you should be seeing. This empowering, stress-free, productivity-boosting lesson begins by learning to eliminate outside influences that distract you from your intended task.
Eliminating Distractions
Distractions come in many forms. You keep getting text message alerts on your phone. A notification pop-up appears on your computer screen every time you get a new email. You are trying to finish writing a report, but your workstation is right beside a huge picture window affording you a gorgeous view of the ocean. These are just a few common examples of distractions you may have experienced.
All distractions grab your attention in 1 of 6 ways.
They appeal to or aggravate 1 of your 5 senses:
1.) your ability to hear,
2.) smell,
3.) taste,
4.) touch and
5.) see some influence which has nothing to do with your current task.
6.) The 6th distraction occurs mentally. You have some thought, emotion or other mental influence that is so dominant it keeps popping up in your mind, causing unneeded distractions-get it out of your head.
In many cases, the solution is simple.
Turn off notifications and alerts on your smartphone and computers.
Move your workstation so you are not visually distracted by mother nature. Let your friends and family members know not to call or stop by in the middle of the day unless they have a very good reason.
These are simple fixes which can get you back on track and on task, boosting your productivity.
One easy way to eliminate distractions which cause procrastination is through the use of smart technology.
Apps and Websites That Reduce Distractions
Sometimes a little soothing background noise provides the perfect ambience that helps you “get in the zone” and crank up your productivity.
Relatively recent research shows that white noise, relaxing soundscapes and other personally preferred sounds can help you focus more than an absolutely silent environment.
If this appeals to you, give the following apps and websites a try:
- WhiteNoise
- Naturespace
- Chroma Doze
- MyNoise.net
- Ambience
- Coffitivity
- Noisli
- White Noise Box
* Many of these apps are perfect for helping you get to sleep at night as well. This can greatly increase your ability to focus throughout the day, which can help you get more done, thereby reducing the number of things you put off until later.
Your smartphone and computer are 2 major sources of distraction. Sometimes though, what you are trying to get accomplished requires the use of one of those popular consumer-electronics items.
If this is the case, use the following desktop and mobile phone apps to help you eliminate productivity-crushing distractions:
- Block Site
- StayFocused
- Byword
- Strict Workflow
- ColdTurkey
- WriteMonkey
- RescueTime
- Focus
- SelfControl
- Freedom
As mentioned earlier, you can also manually turn off audio and video notifications and alerts on your computers, smartphones and other consumer electronics.
Creating A Stress-Free Environment
Sometimes procrastination can simply be a result of stress or overwhelm in your environment. So this is a good place to begin if you want to get more productive again!
How Clutter Causes Procrastination
Clutter is a major source of distraction.
Whether you know it or not, everything in your field of view is causing your brain to focus on it.
The human brain prefers to handle one task at a time, but it attempts to deal with any and everything your eyes see. So no matter what task you’re performing, the mental resources dedicated to that activity are weakened.
This kills your productivity, backs up your to-do list, and can lead to inevitable procrastination.
Researchers held a study at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute. test subjects of both sexes, different ages and demographic backgrounds all experienced the same clutter-causing results.
Without getting into the scientific jargon, what basically happens is this:
“When your environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts your ability to focus. The clutter also limits your brain’s ability to process information. Clutter makes you distracted and unable to process information as well as you do in an uncluttered, organized, and serene environment.”
The lesson here is simple – clean up your workstation. Clean your home on a regular basis. Remove all clutter, and anything that is in your field of view that could distract you mentally when you are trying to perform a particular task.
Simply removing a few desktop items at your workplace can help your brain focus on the task at hand, effectively enhancing your productivity so you don’t wind up putting things off to finish them at a later date.
Aromatherapy for Less Procrastination?
When your mind is in the right place, you procrastinate less and get more done. Research shows that certain scents and smells can calm your mind and help you focus better than others.
Aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years for clarity and mental focus. Aromatherapy starter kits and essential oil diffusers can be purchased online inexpensively at websites like Amazon.
When choosing an aroma to crush procrastination and increase productivity, try the following scents.
- Lemon
- Rosemary
- Juniper Berry
- Lavender
- Basil
- Peppermint
- Cinnamon
- Jasmine
- Sage
Making A Plan of Action
All the knowledge in the world is useless unless you take action. Once you know that you need to stop procrastinating, then it’s time to get to work doing exactly that. How do you draw up the perfect action plan for stopping procrastination dead in its tracks?
Unfortunately, everyone is different, and different methods work for different people. Evidently, whatever you’re doing already clearly isn’t working for you, so it’s time to try something different.
A smart plan of action to help you stop putting things off centers around deciding what you should be doing at any given time. So here are a few things to try…
What to Focus on First
First you have to figure out what you should be doing now, and what can wait till later.
Begin by making a list.
Your list should include 3 sections:
- What needs to be done today
- What needs to be done this week
- What needs to be done this month
Painting the doghouse is something that probably does not need to be done right away. Doing laundry is probably more important, especially if you are running out of things to wear. The idea is to sort the tasks you have into “do it now” or “do it later” categories.
Remember, be honest here. Don’t schedule something today simply because you “want” to do it. Tasks that need to be immediately accomplished have to take priority over other responsibilities, even if you don’t look forward to doing them.
Take a look at your “today” list. Some items on this list will only take a few minutes to accomplish, while others may take hours. If it is early in the morning and cooking dinner for the family is on this list, along with doing the laundry, wash the clothes first. There is still plenty of time to make dinner later. Prioritize this list, and take action.
* Huge tasks and responsibilities can appear daunting. However, many times they can be broken down into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Then you can place those smaller pieces where they belong on your list, slowly but steadily tackling them until your overall task is complete.
Having your list of things you most need to get done – and in the order you need to do them – will make it much easier to just jump in and get started with your day. You won’t be waiting around, overwhelmed, wondering what to do. You’ll simply know what needs to be done and can get on with it!
The Power of the 2 Minute Rule
This next little procrastination-beating trick is extremely powerful. It may not seem like it applies to bigger, more important and detailed activities and responsibilities. However, you can actually accomplish just about anything using the 2 minute rule.
The 2 parts of this productivity boosting tip are …
1 – If it can be accomplished in less than 2 minutes, do it right now.
2 – It takes longer than 2 minutes to accomplish, start it for 2 minutes.
The first part of this rule is simple, and probably obvious. Whatever you have to do which requires less than 2 minutes, do it. The real power of this amazing action-taking step comes with the 2nd part of the rule.
Perhaps you have been procrastinating starting a walking or running program. Do this. Schedule a 2 minute walk or run on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of every week, or whatever fits into your schedule. At the appointed time, lace up your shoes and go for a 2 minute walk or run.
If that sounds silly, remember one of Isaac Newton’s famous laws of motion – an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. You will find yourself walking or running for much more than 2 minutes. However, the 2 minute rule is what got you started, and now you have not procrastinated exercising any longer.
Whether you want to write a book, eat healthier or call a loved one, the 2 minute rule can get you taking action instead of procrastinating.
Make Yourself Accountable to Others
Accountability is the enemy of procrastination. When you hold yourself accountable to yourself and others, putting things off is simply not an option.
Here’s one way of doing it…
Remind yourself of the people that are important to you. These include people you are emotionally attached to, like family and friends. It also includes bosses and coworkers that you have responsibilities for.
Write down their names. Seriously, write down the names of people you need to be accountable to for any reason.
Refer to this list when you make your procrastination-beating game plan. Look at it every time you create a to-do list. This helps you prioritize your tasks, while also ensuring you develop and maintain strong relationships with the people in your life you need to stay accountable to.
Setting Public Goals and Promises
For some tasks, you can even go a step further. For example, if you run a business then you can set public goals that your customers or employees are aware of. If you have fixed deadlines in the calendar, and other people are relying on you to get certain work done by that date, then you’re far more likely to actually achieve them!
The same goes for doing things for other people in your personal life. If there’s the possibility of letting anyone down, you will probably work harder to avoid that happening!
Learn to Motivate Yourself
Have you ever accomplished some Herculean task in record time? Have you ever looked forward to some responsibility or activity with such enthusiasm that it immediately moved to the front of your to-do list? This is because you were motivated in some way to complete that specific action, or achieve the results that its performance delivered.
This is simple motivation at work.
You eat fluids and drink foods every day because of a powerful instinctual motivation to survive. Unfortunately, not everything you do in life is going to be accompanied by such a strong motivation. That’s why you have to learn to motivate yourself.
Reward Yourself
Develop a reward system whereby you will reward yourself when you accomplish a certain number of tasks. This can be a physical or financial reward, a dinner with your favorite food or a night out with friends. Make sure you don’t “fudge the numbers” to reach your award. In other words, you don’t receive your award until you have accomplished the tasks you have set up to finish.
Remember Your “Big Why”
Another powerful motivational tool is to remember your “big why” attached to the job at hand.
What is the big reason why you are performing a particular task? Work responsibilities may be tied to a big promotion or raise. Prioritizing time to spend with loved ones may be important to you because of the wonderful emotions those encounters deliver.
Reminding yourself why you need to take a particular action may be all the motivation you need to stop procrastinating.
Set Time Limits
Some people are motivated more when they set tight deadlines, so don’t be afraid to do this with yourself. True, self-imposed deadlines aren’t quite as motivating as deadlines that come from external sources, but they can still make a difference!
Parkinson’s Law states: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. In other words, if you have all day to complete a task, you’ll be far less motivated to do it, it’ll take longer and you’ll probably spend a lot of time procrastinating! Give yourself less time and the same work will take less time.
Never Forget How Far You’ve Come
Lastly, if you’re working towards a bigger goal that seems to be taking a long time to happen, never forget how far you’ve come. If you’re growing a business, regularly take stock of your metrics (like revenue, customers, social media followers etc.) and look back on this when you’re feeling less motivated. It’ll help to show you what’s possible! Is
Your Procrastination Trying to Tell You Something?
Even the most efficient and productive individual will wind up procrastinating eventually. You shouldn’t beat yourself up if this happens from time to time.
Human beings are busier than we ever have been since the beginning of human history. This means you have a lot to do, and things don’t always go according to plan, so you will have to put off until tomorrow something you had planned on doing today.
The problem occurs when this becomes a regular habit.
Take a moment to collect your thoughts (in a clutter-free, calm environment). Do your friends and coworkers frequently comment on your inability to get things done on time, or show up on time? Can you look back on years of constant procrastination?
When you first look at your daily or weekly to-do list, do you begin looking for opportunities to procrastinate? If you answered yes to any of those questions, your procrastination could be trying to tell you something with a much deeper meaning.
Continual, repetitive, regular procrastination is not healthy. It can lead to mental and physical stress, ruined relationships, destroy you financially and impact you negatively in a number of other harmful ways. So if you can honestly admit to frequent procrastination, you need to take action immediately.
What do you do? The answer lies in the hidden message your continual procrastination is sending to your brain.
What Your Procrastination Really Means
Our actions are often not as transparent as they seem. This is because everything you do is driven by emotions, psychology or instinct. If you touch a hot stove, you don’t have to think about removing your hand. It happens automatically. Your brain understands that the longer you touch that hot surface, more pain and physical damage will be generated.
You snatch your hand away from the painful heat without a thought.
Sometimes though, the things you do are emotionally and psychologically motivated. Something deep down inside you leads to consistent procrastination because of something you feel or think, consciously or unconsciously. Someone who suffers from low self-esteem may put off asking for a better job or a pay raise for years.
They have developed, rightly or not, the idea that they are only worth so much financially. This could arise from some deep-seated emotional or psychological issue. Something has caused that person to feel they are not worthy of being happy and earning a good living. So they unconsciously procrastinate in their job duties, never ask for the pay they deserve, and end up struggling financially.
This causes that person constant stress and anxiety over being able to pay the bills and make a living. This is the result they have been looking for unconsciously, which justifies their feelings of low self-worth and inability. Procrastination at work becomes a character trait, creating a vicious cycle of low self-esteem, poor work habits and mental justification that they are getting what they deserve.
This is just one extreme example of what your procrastination is really trying to tell you.
Look at the things which cause you to put off important tasks, duties, events and responsibilities. Usually you can find a common thread among your delaying habits. Do you find it hard to put down your phone in a public setting while hanging out with your friends? Maybe you don’t value your friends the way you should, or you subconsciously wish you had a new set of friends.
Have you put off asking your partner to marry you for years? You keep telling yourself that your finances aren’t right, you want the wedding to be perfect, or there are some other exterior factors delaying the marriage. Perhaps the real reason behind your continued procrastination is fear of commitment.If you constantly put off getting your work done on time, you may tell yourself it’s because you are extremely busy. Look a little deeper. Be honest with yourself. It could be that you don’t enjoy your job, your talents are ill-suited for the work that you do, or you long to be doing something else.
Whether you do or don’t perform any type of action, you have made a decision.
Often times that decision does not have a transparent motive. Think about the real reasons for your procrastinating behavior, and your seemingly meaningless delaying tactics could reveal an amazing opportunity for some incredible personal growth.