It’s tempting to assume that highly productive entrepreneurs are somehow born with the gift of not wasting time, that they simply do not fall under the impact of paralyzing procrastination.
Now that is too simplistic, yet every single successful entrepreneur I have ever coached, instructed or worked with HAS found a way through or around procrastination.
There are many ways to procrastinate in life and still continue to LIVE that life…albeit not a very happy one and it all catches up with you in the end.
Procrastination is something that comes knocking at my door, sometimes quite frequently but to be brutally honest I fight it with all my power. To me there is very little threat (except perhaps health and something totally out of my control) in my life OTHER THAN letting procrastination take route and impact one’s life.
So how do you beat it before it beats you?
Here are 5 techniques I’ve learned to employ to stop procrastination in its tracks so that you can get on with your life, your business and your happiness.
BIG Goals
One common problem I see when we work with entrepreneurs and those who are just starting out with their business is that they dip a toe in the water when they should jump in entirely…at least in terms of mindset. See, if your goal is to “see about starting an online business that earns a few hundred bucks a month maybe, eventually…” – how motivating is that? In fact, the whole damned picture in your mind is so uncertain, so filled with doubt, uncertainty and so small that any tiny reward gets lost in all of the other negative stuff…that’s where procrastination feeds. So, what you need to do is make your goal so BIG, so powerful that you can’t help but be excited about what your life will be like once you even begin achieving your dream…let alone reach the summit.
BIG Reasons Why
Equally as important to having a big objective or goal in mind is to back that vision with a giant, emotionally charged reason why. It could be that you are fighting for your life, it could that you are fighting for your kid’s life, it could be changing Millions of people’s lives or it could be simply building a business in which you know that you can live out your days in complete bliss because you can do what you are meant to do and nobody can take that away from you. There has to be a much bigger reason that “being financially free” or “paying off your debt” — why are either of those things SO important and what does it mean for your life as well as the lives of those around you?
PUT Anger To Work FOR You
Another great tool that fueled me in the early days was anger. I had spent a few years working night and day, pouring everything I had into a senior role at a small start-up company – adding Millions and Millions of dollars to their revenue line based on products built, services delivered and customers served. Seriously, gave it everything I had – traveled at their whim, built products and delivered services that were way oversold and kept their customers extremely happy. Then, one day it all came crashing down NOT because of anything I did (or had control over), but because there was some serious mismanagement that happened among the ownership group. The next few months were hell and luckily I was able to pivot to another role that kept me and my family secure at that time (more than 20-years ago). Hell yes I was angry, but what I did get is that IF I channeled that anger in the right direction there was NO BETTER motivator or cure for procrastination. Fueled by that fire, my first book was out in less than 6-months and from there my life changed forever. I can’t say for sure I would have ended up where I am today eventually without this life experience, but I surely do know IF I had been able to, it would have taken much longer. So, channel anger to stop procrastination instead of letting it LEAD TO deeper procrastination.
WHAT Will You Lose?
Procrastination often comes from a state of mind where you believe doing nothing at all is less painful than potentially doing something and either failing or at least not be rewarded enough to offset the pain of putting the effort in the first place. So, using the pain/pleasure dichotomy with intention, having an emotionally-charged list of what you will miss, lose or experience pain over if you do NOT take action is a powerful technique for stopping procrastination. Now, your mind is powerful so this takes some work…you want to write out a list of the WORST things that can happen if you do not take action and then review those when you wake up each day and just before you go to bed each night…remind yourself of the COST of procrastination and suddenly it will not seem the easy route out.
HEALTH = Wealth & Achievement
Look, it’s a lot tougher to break out of procrastination when you are tired, low energy, bloated, have a fuzzy mind and just generally feel bad. The reality is that the majority of us are so tired out from living with inflammation, yeast overgrowth, sub-optimal digestion, sleep issues and other physical/emotional ailments that procrastination is the ONLY pleasure we actually get each day because living life has become PAINFUL in itself! I strongly urge you pick up a copy of this powerful manual – SNAP! How To Get Unstuck In Your Life – which deals with snapping yourself out of negative emotional states (fear, uncertainty, doubt, low self-confidence) as well as how to cleanse your system to get back to the health that will fuel you instead of hold you back. Once you deal with these challenges, you will naturally beat procrastination – but without addressing these challenges, you will continue to spiral downward instead of getting on with your life.
The most negative thing about procrastination is how it LOCKS you in and takes hold making it tough to see your way out…but the positive of all this is that YOU control your ability to escape and stop procrastination despite how you may feel at this time in your life. Use the techniques above to finally make procrastination a thing of the past and get on being the person you know you were always meant to be in your life.
