Killing Procrastination
Instantly
Have you ever
had a great idea but did not act upon it? And then later you saw
that product or service out in the marketplace, perhaps earning
the founder/inventor millions of dollars? Fortunes are lost due
to procrastination but that’s not the only reason to kill
off procrastination instantly.
Many people
procrastinate for a number of reasons: fear of failure, fear of
success, fear of the unknown, etc. The idea that it’s easier
to put something off tomorrow than doing it today is a lazy way
of thinking that does not help whoever holds that belief.
Let me first
tackle fear of failure. Many people put things off, believing
that if they do it later they’ll do it better. Or if they
do it later, they won’t fail. But usually the ‘procrastination’
route just leads to not doing it at all. Let me let you in on
a little secret that, if you understand it, will change your life.
This secret can transform your life if you truly grasp the depth
of the simple sentence.
Here goes
nothing: There’s no such thing as failure. That’s
a million dollars worth of insight right there. (I’ll take
a check please…hehehe) The only way to fail is to not even
go for it. The people who succeed the most have failed their way
to success. The thing to keep in mind is that after each time
something doesn’t work to learn from it and adjust accordingly.
And then plod on. And keep doing it until you win.
Many people
fear success and fear the unknown. I’ll combine the two
into one because fear of success is partly based on fear of the
unknown. Everybody’s got a comfort zone. That’s a
given. And what’s outside our comfort zone is unknown to
us. People are habitual creatures and generally don’t want
to step outside to the unknown unless they make a conscious, concerted
effort. That’s why a lot of people procrastinate.
I’ve
told you about procrastination and what it stems from. Friend,
I’m not going to leave you hanging without giving you a
real, workable solution in how to instantly end procrastination
forever.
But first,
let me tell you about a dangerous side effect of procrastination.
I call it ‘psychic weight’. ‘Psychic weight’
is the weight you feel on your psyche for having a whole lot of
things left unfinished that you need to do but are procrastinating
on.
An example
is prudent here because it will crystallize your understanding
of what I’m saying. Suppose you want to go watch a movie
with your significant other but you’ve got some household
chores left unfinished such as mowing the lawn, washing the dishes,
and doing the laundry. While at the movie, it may be harder for
you to enjoy the movie if your mind is wandering because you may
be thinking about all your unfinished chores back at the house.
This is doubly bad. Why? It’s doubly bad because instead
of enjoying the movie, you were distracted by the ‘psychic
weight’ of your mind gravitating toward your unfinished
chores AND when you arrive back at home, you still have to do
those same chores that lessened your movie experience!
Now, after
you’ve killed the procrastination habit, imagine yourself
mowing the lawn immediately, doing the dishes, and finishing up
the laundry. You automatically feel a good sense of accomplishment.
You joyfully invite your significant other to a movie with the
peace of mind that you’re free to enjoy the movie fully.
Much better, isn’t it?
If you go
to procrastinate, ask yourself, “What’s the ‘psychic
wait’ of me putting off this action? What can I gain by
immediately doing it right now? How much of a sense of accomplishment
will I feel by getting this done right now?” Asking yourself
these questions will put you in the mood to ‘Do-It-Now!’
I used to
procrastinate, especially when I began working for myself. Instead
of doing what was important, I surfed the internet, incessantly
read and wrote email, etc. It was junk food for my mind for me
when I didn’t discipline myself to do what mattered. Sure,
it felt good at the time, like the yummy taste of junk food, but
it caught up to me later. Things that I needed to do weren’t
getting done.
So how did
I kick the procrastination habit? I made a list of things I needed
to do for the day and ranked them in order of importance. Then,
I did the first thing on the list and stuck with it until complete.
Then I moved to the next thing. This alone doubled my productivity.
If I didn’t accomplish the first thing on the list, I would
just keep going with it as long as it took.
Slow and steady
smokes somebody who is a short-term sprinter all day long. Remember
that as you run for your goals, you’re in a marathon and
not a sprint. Just keep going every day. Remember the Energizer
bunny? It just keeps going and going, right? Well, you and I can
do the same thing. Just keep plugging away.
Adopt this
belief as your own: “Action is always better than no action”.
When you take action, the best case scenario is that you get your
result immediately and you are very satisfied. The worst case
scenario is that you don’t get your result but you do learn
something for the next time. The problem with ‘no action’
is that you don’t learn anything if you haven’t done
anything.
Kent Sayre
is a worldwide persuasion expert and author of “The Ultimate
Persuasion Formula” available at: www.TheUltimatePersuasionFormula.com
Furthermore, he is the author of the bestselling book “Unstoppable
Confidence” endorsed by such celebrity authors as Brian
Tracy, Robert Allen, and Jim Rohn.
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