How to beat Procrastination

Posted by Nigel | Posted in Procrastination | Posted on 11-02-2011

Tagged Under : ,

How to beat Procrastination

One of the biggest walls you’ll hit when you’re trying to achieve your goals is procrastination, and it affects everyone, some more than others. One trait you’ll notice among people in the head of their fields, professions, or sport is that you will never see them wasting time, and that’s because they’ve learnt to master procrastination. That’s how they get to where they are but they had to learn how to be that efficient, and the good news is you can learn to.

Before you can beat procrastination though you need to know what it is, and where it comes from.

Fear: Fear is one of the big things that cause procrastination. Whether it’s a fear of success, failure, or any other irrational fear the fact is it exists. The best way to deal with these fears though is to know why need to complete something and have your goal clear in your mind.

Large and Complex tasks: Another reason we put off required tasks or training is they seem to big, complex, or difficult, and you just don’t know where to start or you don’t have the motivation. You might also think the task is boring, and you don’t want to waste your time on it. This is where it’s important to stay accountable for yourself and to focus on your goals. You actually usually spend more time wasting time then it does to complete the task.

There are ways you can combat these fears and problems though. Here is 10 easy things that I do that help combat procrastination not only in my daily life, but in my workouts as well.

Prioritize your tasks the day before and get straight into the first one before you do anything else for that day.
Follow the KISS rule, keep it simple stupid. This basically just means don’t over complicate tasks and don’t waste time playing with settings or tweaking things or doing unnecessary movements.
Just start. Usually all you need to do to get fired up about something is to start it. Once you’ve started the rest is easy.
If you can’t ‘just start’ tell yourself you’ll only do ten minutes. If you get to the 10 minute mark and you’re still not feeling it put it on the back burner for a bit.
Always know why you need to complete a task. If you don’t know why you’re doing something don’t do it.
Perfectionists and procrastinators walk hand in hand. You don’t need to be perfect. It’s better to get something done then to not do it at all.
Remove any and all distractions that will grab your attention once you get started. This might mean moving somewhere quite away from family and friends.
Try and prioritize undesirable tasks first. This way you usually procrastinate by finishing other tasks first. A simple trick but it works.
Always try and find out what excites you about a task and focus on that.

10.If you keep getting stuck procrastinating and you can’t seem to get going the re-evaluate why you’re doing it. If you can’t find a good reason maybe it’s best to drop it.

If you follow all of these steps there is a good chance you will overcome whatever mental hurdle that is holding you back. The main things you need to remember though, and your greatest weapon against procrastination is the reason why you need to do the task. If you don’t have a good enough reason why you want to complete the task you’ll never complete it.

 

Personal Trainer Greenville

Cody has 12 years experience as a personal trainer. He started his career at the University of Washington as an instructor. He was in charge of running a beginning weightlifting class and was the creator of many new classes because of the demand for his knowledge and leadership skills. From there he trained at a corporate gym while gaining knowledge in the studies of human movement. He now has his own business with numerous pleased and fulfilled clients.

Personal Trainer Greenville


Article from articlesbase.com

Find More Procrastination Articles

If I Beat Procrastination Will Fear And Doubt Go Too

Posted by Nigel | Posted in Procrastination | Posted on 09-02-2011

Tagged Under : , , ,

If I Beat Procrastination Will Fear And Doubt Go Too

If I Beat Procratination Will I Remove Fear And Doubt Too

As the author of The Last Year of Your Life and the founder of The Last Year of Your Life 52-week Experience, I have written a series of short articles to answer the many questions I get asked about how to live your life to the fullest.
In this article I answer a question that I get asked a lot, and that is, ‘Why does the last year of your life experience eliminate fear? How does it do that?’

Well I have to say that by stopping procrastination I have had so many amazing experiences with eliminating fear and doubt this year.
Specifically a lot of them had to do with the fear of spending money, the fear of making a mistake with investments. Beating procrastination over spending money has brought such benefits,such results that I never thought possible.
And you know what? I would say to my wife, ‘Honey, should I do this? And she would say, ‘Honey, it’s the last year of your life. You’ve got to do it!’

It is just that simple – it really is just that simple.

Now there are technologies out there like Tony Robbins – if you are afraid, you must use that.
But when it comes to eliminating fear, as you are counting down the days, as you get down to 300 days, 200 days, 145 days, you have to avoid procrastination and it becomes a lot easier to say, ‘Hey, I just got to go for it. I got to go for it. Maybe I can’t really afford this, but I am going to do it anyway because it is the last year of my life.’

And then things will come out of it that you never expected, opportunities will come up that weren’t available before and it is by eliminating the fear that you will bring so much richness into your life.
And it is all as simple as the fact that once you decide that it is the last year of your life, anything is possible when you stop procrastinating.

I have been Living The Last Year of Your Life for the past three years now and it has been the most incredible experience in my life.
I know that you’ll get a lot out of it too, and I want you to do it because in The Last Year of Your Life, anything is possible.

Clint Arthur is the author of the book ‘The Last Year Of Your Life’ and for the past 3 years he has been privileged to
lead people from around the world in an accelerated life enhancement process called The Last Year Of Your Life.
Through his books, membership site, mastermind teams, conference calls, and live events, he guides people through a 52-week
journey of personal exploration, discovery, and stepping it up big-time that helps them accomplish their dreams and life-goals within 365 days.
His latest free inspirational video training series is available at http://www.lastyearofyourlife.com.


Article from articlesbase.com

Find More Procrastination Articles

Beat Procrastination- End Today Saying Woo Hoo!

Posted by Nigel | Posted in Procrastination | Posted on 08-10-2010

Tagged Under : , , ,

Beat Procrastination- End Today Saying Woo Hoo!

Procrastination is a top self sabotaging behavior. Yet most procrastinators take action, just not in the area they procrastinate in. To help change your life, get new results, and gain the most value from your day implement the five practical tips below, and end the day with no regrets.

1- Get Your Head in the Game- The mind, an astonishing asset, can be the greatest obstacle. Become acutely aware of your perceptions, thought patterns, and self-talk, and whether they are supporting or stopping you. Here is what you might find and how to shift:

Fear- Stay present. Get the focus off you and onto who you are helping or what you want. Prepare. Believe in yourself. Take action to gain confidence and experience. Let go of expectations. Forge through fear just to do it! Feel good about that! Choose to not let fear hold you back any longer. Overwhelm- What part can you delegate? Break it down. Get details out of your head and into a system. Begin with one small step you are sure you can do. Commit only 15 minutes. Start with one small area. Begin! Set it up to succeed one small step at a time. Unsure of what to do- Call someone experienced. Research on and off line. Don’t hold back. People enjoy helping others. Get the help you need. You don’t like doing it or it is someone else’s goal- Delegate, commit 15 minutes to begin, or do it first in the morning. Get it behind you! Focus on how great you will feel when it is done.

Set yourself up to succeed. That entails getting your head in the game to move you into action. Put an end to beating yourself up. Be encouraging. Allow your brain to be your own best success coach!

2- Know Your Primary Actions- What are the three most important actions you can take today to create a high quality life, business, career, etc? What completion will make you say ‘Woo Hoo” at the end of the day? Get clear on what will make a difference. It is about taking action towards what you want. As you do you gain knowledge, expertise, connections, and find passion. Keep primary actions fore front knowing at the end of the day you want to feel good! Aim for no regrets!

3- Focus on Completing One Task at a Time in a Set Time Limit- Avoid multi-tasking. Efficiency rises with 100% focus on the goal. Imagine a gymnast, surgeon, pilot, or crossing guard multitasking. Maintain focus on what you want to accomplish in a set time. EX: Allow 15 minutes to check your e-mail so you don’t waste an hour. It takes practice learning how long tasks/ projects take but you will see improvement immediately when you aim. 

4- Be in Action- Action leads to knowledge, experience, and success. Practice pays off. Learning to swim takes getting in the water. Learning to speak to a group takes standing up in front of them. Many end up feeling worse when they avoid making a new contact. Discomfort is a sign that you are ready for a new adventure. It’s a good thing! Get excited! Make the call. Do it! The more you do the more you gain expertise, meet intriguing people, have more exciting experiences, and see doors open for you.

5- Extreme Self Care- Pay attention to your body. Nourish it. Give yourself permission to take breaks to rejuvenate. Rest when needed and get a good night’s sleep. Notice the difference between self care and procrastination. You will accomplish more by rejuvenating than trying to push through when exhausted.

Take Action Now to Feel Great Tonight:
~ Knock out a Toleration- Set a timer for 15 minutes and clean out one area that has been irritating you.
~ Decide the 3 most important actions you can take today, then follow through.
~ What focus will motivate you into action when procrastination sets in? Say it and feel it.EX: ‘I want to say Woo Hoo at the end of the day.’ ‘I want new results.’ ‘I want a high quality life.”
~ Complete something right now that you have been putting off. You will feel great to get it behind you!
~ Get a support structure in place to connect with: a friend, small group, a coach, a class, etc.

Continue in action! We all are capable of so much more. You are an amazing person who is fully capable of ending each day saying “Woo Hoo! I did it! I knew I could!”  So just begin… starting now!

Beth Tabak of www.StartingNowCoaching.com is 100% committed to small business coaching and personal life coaching. She is a speaker, writer, and coaches big thinkers to be unlimited, stand out in the crowd, and experience the vastness of their abilities. Check out the Zap Procrastination classes or stop by to pick up a complimentary Get Things Done Task List, receive StartingNow free, say ‘hello’, and see all that is available to you.

More Procrastination Articles

Defeating Procrastination – 3 Goldies To Beat The Devil & Live A Life

Posted by Nigel | Posted in Procrastination | Posted on 24-07-2010

Tagged Under : , , , , , ,

Defeating Procrastination – 3 Goldies To Beat The Devil & Live A Life

Procrastination indeed keeps a majority of the people away from the brim of their lives. But what is it that seems to be so strong a monster?

Well, procrastination in literal terms means something ‘for tomorrow.’ It is derived from Latin words – pro and cras. ‘Pro’ refers to ‘for’ and ‘cras’ stands for ‘tomorrow.’ So, procrastination means the postponement of some task that you are ware of that you should do.

Procrastinators are not like that by birth –these negativities develop like other bad habits one at a time. Similarly, there are ways by which any individual can develop new habits of defeating procrastination – one at a time. The key idea is that you must initiate the first step. Trust us here – you would have never felt more active! Just go ahead and take the charge.

There are several ways of inspiring yourselves like reading articles & books on the means of overcoming procrastination. Even the best of the advices are of no good to any one, unless you act up on them.

Go ahead, feel encourages and make a commitment to yourself that you would act up on the ideas that we are about to give you now! While everything mentioned here might not be acceptable to you, but the goals must be clear – to fight back the devil of procrastination! Even we are on the same side of the coin that is living & fighting a battle against this monster, and it is not necessary at all that we always win! But out spirits never loose and that is the most important & must be so for all the individuals!

Procrastination keeps you away from the happy lives that you could have lived! But some people wonder as to why does one procrastinate any way? Well, here are some resons for the same.

a. Indecision
b. Stress
c. Fatigue
d. Depression
e. Desire to gather all the information
f. Disorganization
g. Fear of failure
h. Fear of success

None of us can defeat procrastination overnight. After all, the procrastinators accumulate bad habits over a long period of time! Though making a detailed & determined effort to fight back procrastination is a good idea to counter it! Set a discipline for yourself and follow it to get to the roots of all the problems.

The ‘musts’ of this discipline are as follows:

1. Take the complete responsibility of your failures.

Many people are in a habit to blame their failures on the circumstances. Well, when you convince your self that failures have occurred due to the circumstances that are beyond your control, mind you, you are fabricating a vicious circle of procrastination that would last you a lifetime.

2. Just do it!

The successful people are aware of the fact that their success solely depends on their commitment to accomplish all that it takes to reach their goals. Success in all your projects, whether large or small, is determined by your actions & the ability to remain focused on the goals. It is true with all sorts of goals whether it is to reduce the clutter at your house, lose your weight, restore the relationship, or complete the major project professionally! These projects come along with different sizes, shapes, and the levels of importance. But with out fail these principles must be determined on the basis of their success & failure are always similar; these are – focus, self-discipline, determination, and confidence.

3. Establish your priorities.

What do you mean by change? Change refers to choosing a behavior that is different from the one that you has earlier. We all must fight the drift towards procrastination every day. In case you are losing the fight against procrastination, you must get the priorities right. For this, pen down a list of the priorities at work & in the relationships.

Make sure to be committed to something that must be one of the highest priorities for the day. Great novelist George Eliot once said – It is never too late to become the person you could have been. And the best time to initiate it is now.

Abhishek is a Time Management expert and he has got some great tips on Eliminating Procrastination. Download his FREE 60 Pages Ebook, “How To Overcome Procrastination!” from his website http://www.Positive-You.com/49/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Simple Steps To Beat Procrastination

Posted by Nigel | Posted in Procrastination | Posted on 16-07-2010

Tagged Under : , , ,

Simple Steps To Beat Procrastination

One of the better means that can be employed to beat procrastination is being aware of how to manage time in the best and most effective manner and though procrastination is a very common occurrence in our lives, there is still a need to overcome procrastination so that many of the adverse consequences of procrastinating do not end up spoiling your life. Thus, any help you can get cure your procrastination would be welcome and so there is a need to look at some of these steps that can do the trick for you.

A very simple step you can take in order to beat procrastination is to do the task that you consider is the worst at the top of all your other tasks and the advantage of taking this option is that much like swallowing a frog, once you get that into your system the rest of the tasks will pass off much better and will be easier to do. A second step that you can take if you want to cure procrastination is to break down tasks into easily manageable smaller tasks, and if you remember that the best way to climb a mountain is to take one step at a time then the wisdom of breaking down tasks into smaller tasks will make more sense to you and thus prove an effective remedy to procrastination.

Those putting off exceptionally difficult tasks can learn how to overcome procrastination by thinking of the task in small pieces rather than a large problem. Think back to other projects that were completed and relate them to the existing one. To help learn how to overcome procrastination avoid planning long projects, start with ones that can be done in five or ten minutes and do not stop until the either the time expires of the job is complete. Either way it will be a positive step in the right direction.

You can also beat procrastination by delegating work to others including friends, and once you get a task begun, the rest of the task becomes easier to perform and in the same vein you can also try and do parts of a particular task that is more pleasing to do first and then do the rest of the task later. That way, the unpleasant tasks don’t seem so unpleasant and you will have taken a step forward which often is the hardest part about doing your work on time.

Another useful method that can be employed at conquering procrastination is taking just fifteen minutes on every task that needs to be performed in which time you can get the task moved ahead and then a momentum can be built that will make the rest of the task easier to complete. Other steps that you can take to beat procrastination include tracking your goals and trying your best to keep the tasks moving ahead, and best of all you should have a system of reward and punishment for tasks completed on time and those have remained unfinished respectively. The best part of procrastination is that it is something that is not permanent and though you may be successful, procrastination can still affect you, and remember that with some of these simple tips, you can easily beat procrastination.

Get The control you need, Cure your Procrastination, www.TotalTimeControl.com

Find More Procrastination Articles