Why You PROCRASTINATE And How To STOP It Immediately

Question:

Ever caught yourself procrastinating, and then you catch yourself STILL DOING IT, as you tell yourself NOT to do it, every day, over and over again?  

Well, first of all, don’t beat yourself up ANY MORE, because most of us AVOID anything and everything that is uncomfortable.

(*This “avoidance” is actually what drives us to do what we do every single day.)

We go to work not because we LOVE to work, but because we are AVOIDING the pain of being fired and not having money that supports our comfort. 

Ever caught yourself walking into the kitchen to make a snack so you can (temporarily) avoid doing the thing you didn’t want to do?

So today I’m going over the best ways of first:

• Making yourself aware, and then
• Finally putting a stop to your procrastination immediately…

So you can help yourself get UN-STUCK and on to the next level in your business/life…

But HOW though? 

Well first, let’s be aware of “HOW” this happens, (even when you don’t want to procrastinate), so you can build your brain muscle to CATCH yourself at the times you’re subconsciously doing it, (and then SMACK YOURSELF), lol!

You procrastinate if/when:

1. You’re a “perfectionist”. (You want everything to be “perfect”). 
2. You’re stuck on “Someday Island”….. (waiting for the “perfect time” before you begin).
3. You have a fear of failure / fear of rejection / fear of “loss”.
4. You care about O.P.O. – (Other People’s Opinions) and don’t want to be criticized.
5. You’re not “breaking it down” properly.

So let’s knock out 1 thru 4 real quick because (all) of these fears and/or obstacles can get clumped together in this context…

And then we can get to the important one for this article – (#5). 

Now, when people call themselves a “perfectionist”, (trying to give yourself props for being perfect), it’s really just taking the easy way out, (when in reality you’re sabotaging your own results — waiting for everything to be perfect before taking massive action! 

The reality is, it’s NEVER the “right time” and things won’t ever be “perfect”, so you’ll get yourself stuck on “someday island” while someone else eats your lunch.  

Most of the time this stems from FEAR – (of failure, rejection and/or “loss”.) 

So one way to get rid of these fears is to BREAK IT DOWN correctly, in little bite-size chunks, so our brain doesn’t go “negative”…

How To Manage Expectations And Energy

When you break down the task into smaller (manageable) pieces, knocking them off one at one time is less overwhelming.

Then, you can focus on accomplishing what’s right in front of you, (right in the moment), and it’s so much more of a “positive” experience (and more achievable). 

Sometimes the bigger goals on the Dream Board are way too far off in the distance and seem overwhelming to you, so your brain has a bigger chance of going “negative”.

So right now, let’s substitute negative future visualization for real-time positive thinking… 

Meaning…

Break it DOWN

Suppose you’re working with a Direct Sales company and you want to generate an income of $500k per year…

A coach or mentor would coach you to get out there and expose 1300 prospects to your offer.

For most, that’s sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it?

But what if I’m correctly trained to coach you into daily tasks, asking you different questions that empower you and manage your expectations?

Having the right expectations can help you maintain positive energy. 

I would ask you to break that up into 4-7 years, so I can manage your energy and expectations right from the start.

We would break that 1300 down into simple bite-size pieces.

When most people get into Direct Sales or Home Business, they “STARE up the mountain” instead of STEP up the mountain, one step at a time!

And yeah, I suspect that some people would still find this intimidating, but only because you’re being asked to look ahead one whole year (or 5 whole years).

Naturally, when amateurs attempt to look that far ahead, they automatically go into a negative mode…

However, being committed to prospecting one person every day or every other day is completely realistic.

So now let me really break it down:

If the number is 1300, and you break it down to 200 per year, (which is NOT EVEN ONE per DAY!), don’t you think you could now do that if you gave yourself 6-7 years?

Yeah, now the task is starting to seem more manageable.

Be Consistent

So let me formulate the idea in yet another way. I’ll break it down even more, in terms of maybe writing a book…

Suppose I ask you if you can write a page per day with words…

Not for a year, not even for a month, or a week, but just one day, today?

Don’t look further ahead (at all) than that.

I believe most people would confidently say that they could really do that. And these are people who feel totally incapable of writing a whole book.

If I said that exact same thing to those people tomorrow — If I told them, “I don’t want you to look backward, and I don’t want you to look ahead. I just want you to fill up a page every day”. Do you think they could do it?

Have you ever been asked, “How do you eat an elephant?” That’s what we’re doing here.

ONE BITE AT A TIME.

We’re breaking down the time required for a major task into one-day segments, and we’re breaking down the work involved in writing a 400-page book into one-page increments.

Keep this up for one year, and you’ll write your book.

Discipline yourself to NOT look forward and NOT look backward and you can accomplish things you never thought you could possible, and it all begins with those three words:

Break it down.

And now…

Write It Down!

We’ve all heard how important it is to write down your goals, and the writing you will do for beating procrastination is quite similar.

Instead of “hoping” on the future, you’re going to be writing about the present just as you experience it, every day.

Instead of describing the things you want to do or the places you want to go, you’ll describe what you actually did with your time, and you’re going to keep a log.

If you’re dead serious, you’ll keep a diary of your daily activities, and you’ll have a DMO, (Daily Method of Operation).

And if you do, you’ll be downright dumbfounded by the amount of distractions, detours and straight up wastes of time you engage in during the course of a “normal” day.

All of these unimportant distractions work to pull you away from your goals, because if you don’t have a plan for your life and take it serious, something (or somebody) else DOES.

For many people, it’s almost like they planned it that way, (and maybe at some unconscious level they did.)

The biggest thing about making a “time diary” is that it brings it all out in the open where you can see it.

It forces you to realize what you’re actually doing with your time—and what you’re not doing.

Now, this time log of yours doesn’t have to be anything too elaborate. Just buy some kind of little notebook (or even an app on your phone) that you can easily carry in your pocket. 

When you go out to eat, when you drive across town, when you go to the store(s), when you spend some time talking to friends, make a quick note of the time you began the activity and the time it ends.

Try to make these notations as quick as possible. And if it’s way too inconvenient to do it immediately, you must make sure to fill it in later.

But you should make an entry in your log (at the very least) once every hour, and you should keep this up for at least a week.

So gain awareness and catch yourself procrastinating red-handed. Then…

• Break it down.

• Write it down.

These immediate strategies are very straightforward, but don’t let that fool you:

They are powerful, effective and efficient productivity techniques. This is how you stop that damn procrastination once and for all…

Can’t wait to hear your results!

The World Is Yours, M… 

Oh, and hey, P.S. – 

I’d love to hear how this worked for you in the comments! Keep in touch! 

Oh, and one more thing… 

If you want to watch how to FIND and MAKE more time in the day to commit to your business, watch this clip: