15 Jun Procrastination: The Secret of Getting S*** Done, Part 1
Having been thinking about writing my next post for quite some time now I thought writing about procrastination would be a most suitable topic for today’s (ahem, currently this year’s) blog post.
Now it’s not that I haven’t wanted to write a blog post, I like and enjoy writing and I’m regularly coming up with ideas and jotting down notes, it’s just that when it comes round to it on the ‘To Do’ list something else has always cropped up that’s steered me in another direction… and if truth be told, that something is more often than not a little bit easier / more fun / less time consuming and just so necessary at that given moment…
If you have ever caught yourself saying, “I’ll come back to that later, I just need to…….” or you’ve found a million and one reasons why something else takes precedence in the pecking order of the ‘To Do’ list, then I guessing you’re already familiar with procrastination.
And there’s a reason for this too. As human beings we are programmed to be Pleasure-Seekers, i.e to move towards pleasure and comfort and to steer away from ‘pain’.
You know you’re procrastinating when:
When you get a funny, icky feeling when thinking about a particular task and are suddenly compelled, sometimes with a voracious sense of urgency to spring clean the kitchen / re-organise and colour code your sock draw / or realised you’ve just lost over an hour looking at cute panda videos on YouTube.
You spend time planning and writing lists – in fact you LOVE lists! Big ones, short ones, lots of them – whilst well intentioned are often quite vague, low on detail, on the big side and perhaps just a bit daunting.
You take action only when the deadline is looming and it’s about to hit the fan Procrastination happens to us all at some time, but the great news is that with focus and commitment you can overcome procrastination and easily reach your goals.
A Simple 3-Step Formula To Get Focused
1. Power Planning
This is the foundation to your success and ensures you make the best use of your time. Planning your day and prioritising tasks is the difference between being reactive or proactive.
Start your day with the most important / urgent tasks first. We tend to have the most energy and willpower first thing so use this time to get the urgent tasks out of the way.
2. Take Action
There’s a saying that there’s no time like the present for a reason. Don’t wait until the ‘time is right’, until Easter is over or whatever, just start! Create new habits by taking consistent action EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Slow and steady wins the race here – not sporadic bursts here and there.
3 Review, Learn, Refine & Repeat
At the end of the day review what you’ve accomplished. What went well and what could have gone better? What did you learn? Refine your plan / schedule and write it out for the following day so that when you wake up you can start the day with a lazer-like focus.
Maximum Motivation – A Quick & Powerful 3-Step Technique To Get Motivated
From today recognise that the funny feeling you get when thinking about a task = a sign that something needs to be done.
Implement the following 3-step technique before starting something that you’ve been putting off, or that you know needs doing, to easily reach your goal.
1. Visualise Success
Close your eyes and imagine the successful you that has just completed the task and all the benefits you will now receive. Notice how great it feels. See yourself as happy, confident, proud and with a great sense of achievement and how that looks.
Perhaps you look strong, or taller somehow, maybe you have a glow of colour around you or something else. Now have fun with it, the more fun the better and play around with the image, the colours, the size, make it really compelling and add some sounds or music too – your brain will really love this.
2. Embody Success
With your eyes still closed, imagine you can step into this future you and feel how it feels from to have completed this task and be successful. Pay attention to where you feel this in your body, perhaps it’s in your stomach or your chest, maybe it’s all over or something else. Imagine this feeling could be represented by a colour that you could now spread to cover your entire body. When you are at 10 out of 10 for feeling successful and great then move onto step 3.
3. Press For Success – Create a Maximum Motivation Anchor
By now you are feeling awesome!
Whilst at a peak state of 10/10 for feeling successful and great, take your middle finger and thumb and pinch together on each hand and hold for 2 seconds, breathing in as you do then release. Now break your state for a few seconds, open your eyes and focus on something totally different, such as remembering your childhood bedroom and what it looked like.
Close your eyes again and repeat the steps 1 and 2, at least 3 times ideally.
Congratulations – you have now created a Maximum Motivation anchor!
Fire off these new, more useful resources each time you need to get something done or need a much need boost, you might be quite surprised as to what you notice!
Have a think about areas in your life where this could be useful. Maybe it’s getting up earlier so you can hit the gym, perhaps it’s making a start on a home renovation or maybe it’s about meeting a partner.
This is a fascinating area and there’s so much more that can be written about, other ways to anchor states and way more tips and techniques which is why I’ve decided to start this blog in parts. Please do come back to read Part 2 shortly for more detail on why we procrastinate, how are brains are getting in our own way and further tips and techniques.
Are you self-sabotaging your success?
If you are feeling stuck, or are having problems with focus and drive, maybe there’s an internal conflict you’re struggling with or perhaps there’s an area in life you could be achieving so much more in, then get in touch.
Drop me a line to [email protected] or get in touch on 020 7099 7786 and let’s schedule in a time to chat.
Thanks for reading today! I’d love to know how you get on so please do drop me a line!
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