10 Ways To Help You Beat Procrastination

Why Your Life Will Approve When You Take Action

Admit it,you have procrastinated on something. For me, It was evident in all areas of my life, but it was not intentional. I was still able to win elected office at 24 years old, but procrastination was a problem. We develop habits over time, good and bad.Too many people today are making themselves miserable by doing the same thing expecting different results. The very definition of insanity. If I can change my habits, most notably, the stop doing variety. You have the power to change yourself as well. Using my 10 tips you will up your productivity in no time.

In order to achieve greater success I had to develop a method to end my procrastinating. I will not waste time on sharing every mistakes I made due to procrastination. Some of those mistakes were valuable lessons. Pity parties are another form of procrastination, instead use the following 10 tips to beat procrastination. They will break your cycle of insanity allowing you to get things done.

Tim Ferriss Donkey Tale

I was watching a video from Tim Ferriss, in it he tells the story of a donkey. The donkey is walking along on his daily routine. The donkey was tired of doing the same thing every day so he thinks I am going to change tomorrow. While he was waiting for tomorrow he got hungry, but he was also thirsty. He stood looking at the water and food, not sure which to do first, eat or drink. The donkey died because he didn’t make a decision even after deciding tomorrow would change his life.

That is not the way Tim Ferriss tells the donkey story, in my version the donkey has a plans for tomorrow but he does not even make it because he couldn’t make a decision in that moment. I had no problem making decisions or having new ideas. The problem I had was getting them done.

I did not want to be like that donkey. I know I bring value. I have ideas and things I want to do, but instead of doing them I was waiting for tomorrow. I no longer procrastinate. We are not victims, we just have to rewire our brains. These 10 tips are to help you get out of your head and out of your way. If I can stop procrastinating, you can too.

Daily Effort Yields Results

The following 10 tips will help you get things done. The idea is to maintain your focus and poise even when life puts obstacles in your way. Life is not easy not is there a text book pattern to how it will unfold. The best we can do is learn new tools to help us become a better person. Even the smallest effort on a daily basis will yield results over time.

There was a man that lived alone in the wilderness, the closest town was miles away. One winter his pipes froze causing them to burst. He had no money and only enough water to last him the week. He had no gas, it was too far too walk. The closest water supply was a creek just over the hill behind his house. The pipes may have burst but his empty bathtub could still hold water. He did not have a bucket, just a large serving spoon. Every day that week he woke up spent one hour making the trip over the hill to the creek. By end of the week the tub was full, enough water to water last him until spring.

The man had gotten so use to walking over the hill to the creek that it became a habit. Sometimes on his walk he would take his rifle to shoot dinner, other times he brought along his fishing pole. He always came home with at least a spoonful of water. He didn’t notice when the pipes unfroze. Small efforts can lead to results

He could have spent time fretting on the problem, instead he did what he had to do with what he had. Procrastination steals our most precious commodity, time. I was guilty of wasting time. Instead of worrying about the time I could never regain, I began collecting these tips. I work on myself daily using these 10 Tips as a way to maintain forward momentum. I will succeed, now you will too.

10 Ways To Stop Procrastinating

1. Prioritize Your Goals: Break down goals until you to start where you are with what you have at your disposal. Face the brutal reality. If your goal is to run a 10k marathon but you are 30 pounds overweight, have no running shoes, nor do you have an entry fee. Anything can be done if you take time to think it through. Your first goal, shoes from a thrift store. Shoes are shoes.
2. Be S.M.A.R.T. : Specific Measurable Achievable Reasonable Timely Everything can be broken down into smaller and smaller pieces. This is not about rushing, it is about getting things done when you make your decision. Not doing anything is not the only way to waste time. Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to guide your actions.
3. Weekly Reviews: Using the above technique means you have deadlines. Sit down to make sure you are making them. Track your progress to reward yourself as you head towards your goal.
4. Know Your Peak Time: Take action on your priorities when you function at your highest levels. Some people are early birds, others are night owls. Figure out your peak. Tackle your tough task when you are at your best.
5. 80/20 Rule: 20% of your work will yield 80% of your results. The point is not just working hard, but working smart as well. See Number 1.
6. Write It Down: Make Checklist, write notes, keep a journal, or some form of record keeping to keep you on task. It is about finding what is best for you. Don’t be frustrated if checklist do not work, try a journal, if that doesn’t work, write on the walls.
7. Eat The Frog: That is what Brian Tracy calls the hardest task. Even large goals broken into smaller pieces have a few mouthfuls along the way. Give yourself a spoonful of sugar to help the frog go down. By sugar, I mean reward yourself for accomplishments.
8. Burn Your Damn Boats: You have come to your point of no return. Many people think of Hernan Cortes, a Spanish Conquistador who gave the order to burn his fleet in order to motivate his troops. It is one of the 36 stratagems from an ancient chinese essay on battle. With no way to go back, you must move forward.
9. Focus On Desired Outcome: This is not going to be easy. When you have setbacks or want to quit, remember why you began, when you want to put it off, think of your goal. See it in your head. If you believe then you can achieve. It is a cliche for a reason.
10. Do it: Nike hit the mark when they said just do it. Why wait? If you are putting it off, ask yourself why? Goals too big? Break them down again. Repeat your goal to yourself until it is a habit.

You Are Rewiring Your Brain

Every living thing is a creature of habits. Habits are learned responses to task done on a consistent basis. The older we get the harder it is to break habits because we let fear cloud our minds. Often what we fear most in our heads does not come to pass. As a survivor of having my greatest fears come to pass, I can tell you it will pass.

If you want something these 10 tips will help you rewire your brain. Our mind is our most powerful tool. We underestimate our power to control our thoughts. I became fed up with making excuses. I am great things, but at one point I was just like you, talking about what I was going to do. Then one day it hit me like slurpee brain freeze, stop talking, do it.

It began with a sprint, soon I stumbled, next thing I knew I was out of breath, metaphorically. That was how I came to create these 10 tips to beat my procrastination. Now I am running again, things are going smoothly, I just took my pulse, everything is going smoothly. You can do it. All is possible.

On your mark, get set, ready, GO!

By Jonas Hughes

Please Like This Story! Remember to share it with your friends! Do it now, do not put it off, click the share button. I appreciate you getting that done. See doesn’t it feel good.

Even the little things can make us smile. Come back again.