123 Tips to Overcoming Procrastination

Image by cygri via Flickr Do it now!!! Do it now!!

Did you read this immediately or leave it until another day?

We all suffer from procrastination at some point in our life.

Someone once told me "Procrastination is the mother of idleness" and I believe this is the true meaning of Procrastination.

Problems and solutions to Procrastination

Problem:

People procrastinate because many are paralysed with fear of failure, loss, pain and some, success! What we fear becomes our reality.

Solution:

1. Fear is <False Evidence Appearing Real>.

2. 90% of what we fear never becomes reality.

3. The best way to overcome fear is to do what we fear.

4. It helps if you visualise the worst-case scenario and accept it as a possibility and realise it will probably never come to pass.

5. Our imaginations exaggerate negative fears completely out of proportion and in most cases never occur!

Problem:

Few have a strategy to accomplish their goals.

Solution:

1. Make a contract with yourself.

2. Identify specific rewards for positive action.

3. Establish certain penalties for procrastination.

4. Break your goals down into small steps.

5. Schedule a time segment for apiece activity.

6. Give yourself rewards for correct action and penalties when you do not follow through.

Problem:

Many have a demand of discipline. It takes 30 days to break old habits and establish new ones.

Solution:

1. Create a Success-Habits-Reminder card to record your regular activities.

2. Tape it to your bathroom mirror.

3. Stick it on your desk to keep track of your actions.

Problem:

Most people do not have a plan or assign priorities.

Solution:

1. Create a �To Do� List.

2. Determine immediate, intermediate and long-range goals.

3. Plan the goals that are in immediate reach of your abilities and assign priorities: Important & urgent, Important but not urgent, Not urgent or important.

4. Do the urgent & important tasks first.

5. 80% of your activities are not important to your goals.

6. Only 20% are urgent & important.

7. Learn to eliminate the 80% activities that do not help you attain your goals.

Problem:

Many try to complete the most urgent & important activities at the last moment.

Solution:

Every day schedule a block of prime time to work on an important activity that is due in the future. Soon you will find the time to analyse and polish your projects many times before they come due.

Problem:

There never seems to be enough time to contemplate your decisions

Solution:

Schedule quiet time to make important decisions. Listen to relaxing music that balances both brain hemispheres. If you do not schedule time for exercise, rest and entertainment, you will spin out of control.

Problem:

You are overwhelmed.

Solution:

Learn to say, �No!� to activities and individuals that do not contribute to the attainment of your goals. Often, people take advantage of your kindness and generosity without ever realising you have better things to do with your time.

Problem:

Most people do not have a master plan.

Solution:

1. Create a master list of all personal, spiritual, physical, emotional and financial goals for 1 year.

2. Assign priorities for each.

3. Predict a date for completion.

4. Write everything in pencil so you can change it.

Problem:

Few people use an organiser or daytime planner to coordinate their activities.

Solution:

1. Transfer the things on your master list to the correct dates in your organiser.

2. Check off apiece item as it is completed.

3. At the end of apiece day, reschedule the things that were not completed.

4. If an item is rescheduled twice, you are procrastinating.

5. Ask yourself, �What if I never do this?�

6. If the answer is, �No big deal!� Delete it.

Problem:

Some people suffer from perfection paralysis.

Solution:

1. Make the decision that you are not perfect and never will be. Everything you do will be imperfect in some way.

2. Realise that if it is worth doing, it�s worth doing wrong until you get it right.

3. Stop judging yourself according to your accomplishments.

4. Learn to trust yourself by developing intuition and following your hunches. You will find your first premonition is usually the correct one.

5. Discover just how right you are by making predictions and perceptive how a high percentage of them are correct. (Predict the line at the supermarket or bank that will move the fastest and take action accordingly.)

6. Make quick decisions in 20 seconds or less.

7. Make your decisions the correct ones by believing in your choices and acting with confidence.

8. In difficult situations, flip a coin, choose heads or tails and then notice how you feel about the outcome of the toss. Your response to the coin toss will help you make the right decision.

A last word..

Procrastination has to be learn; we are not born with the trait of procrastination. That's means if you suffer from procrastination, you can unlearn it. Use the tips above to learn new positive habits.