Procrastination may be the #1 productivity issue that we humans grapple with on a daily basis. For entrepreneurs, students, busy moms, bloggers, and small business owners, procrastination is a hurdle that can be gotten over … and a habit that can be broken.
Procrastination: We Can Change Our Story
That’s the first thing to realize: we each hold the power to address our procrastination whenever we choose to. The story isn’t over by any means, and the power to change it is in our own hands!
Part of the challenge is to slow down and get really clear about what our own procrastination story actually is. We are each as unique in that as in everything else, and my personal methods for addressing my personal procrastination won’t necessarily work for you.
Procrastination: Get to the Roots
I recently read a very comprehensive and accessible post by Gregory Ciotti titled 6 Scientific Tactics to Stop Procrastinating on the Bidsketch blog, where he explores some very potent tools for addressing procrastination. One of the steps he recommends is exploring the 4 Pillars of your procrastination. These fall into the following categories (I’ll include excerpts from his descriptions – you can read them in their entirety in his post):
Here are the 4 pillars:
- Low task value: Simply put, tasks that we perceive as low value, either in terms of fun or long-term rewards.
- Personality: Unfortunately, personality plays a role in procrastination. Some people are just more impulsive than others. The upside is that although it’s hard to control our personality, it is far easier to control our environment.
- Expectations: If you expect to complete a task easily, then you are less likely to procrastinate.
- Goal failure: Fear of failure is a real thing for many procrastinators. This pillar really has to do with being confident in your abilities.
Procrastination: NOW What?!
Breaking down the source of procrastination makes it that much less monolithic. Now you can begin to employ specific strategies to address your particular procrastination style.
For example, if you are easily distracted and ‘off track’ activities contribute to your procrastination, you can certainly make changes to your environment to minimize this.
Or, if you have big goals and they look overwhelming to you, you are unlikely to start. So, you can choose to break them into small, doable chunks.
Setting quotas for yourself can be another great way to get moving on a task. Here’s a video with Tim Ferris (it appears in Mr. Ciotti’s post) that explores that strategy along with other ways of combating procrastination:
http://youtu.be/vKpmxy3_k0Y
Often the BIGGEST hurdle, when it comes to procrastination, is just getting started. So anything you can do to move yourself from square one to square two will be a significant boost!
And if you’d like to explore Heart-Based Time Management™ more deeply, there’s a great way to do that right now! I invite you to access Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management™ – my chapter in the book I co-authored – Stepping Stones to Success! In it you’ll learn about my proven system for harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you deepen your experience of time and of your life.
You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone …just click this link.
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