How many times have you said that to yourself? How many times have you made yourself a promise that you have never followed through on? Why do we break the promises we make to ourselves so easily? As I sit her writing this, I’ve been putting it off for weeks. The time was never right, I was too busy, I wasn’t in the right mood, I’ll do it tomorrow….
Its far too easy to put off things we need to do until tomorrow. This is a lie I’ve been telling myself most of my life as I’m sure you have too – the belief that tomorrow is always a good day to start! I’ll start my diet on Monday (I’ve been meaning to do that for the past 20 years!), I’m not going for my run today because it’s raining (yes, I’m a fair weather runner), I’ll declutter and organise my life when I have more time. I have come to the realisation that I am a queen of proscastination.
Writing this blog this week was quite apt for me as proscrastination was the focus of our team call and there were a lot of home truths that I already know I do and that I am working hard on every day to overcome and be more productive, more focused and ultimately more successful. Here are a few of the things from a fantastic call with my leaders that I took away from the call which will hopefully help you overcome putting things off, if proscrastination is something you do too:
- Spend time on your business – this might sound silly because why wouldn’t you spend time on your business but what this means is prioritise! Don’t be out meeting friends for coffee or lunch when you could be working on your business. Now its not about working all of the time but it’s realising you’re making excuses to go for that coffee instead of something you know needs doing and you are putting it off. Now I know this might be a difficult one as it is for me, if you are still working your day job and your spare time or days off are when you do the household stuff, groceries, see your kids and your other half, but it all comes down to how much you want that important thing in your life. It’s about sacraficing now so that it will all be worth it in the long run.
- Get over your fear – fear is one of the biggest reasons we proscrastinate and I can definately relate to this. I have always had the fear that I am not good enough and definitely the fear that I will fail. I have learnt that it is not about over coming the fear its about having the fear but doing it anyway. Learning not to worry what everyone else will think. And so what if you fail, you learn and move on and as you do you will grow and what you once feared will not be that scary anymore. And you are good enough, just as you are. You don’t have to wait until you are the right weight, the time is right or things are perfect, the time is now! It took me a long time but I’m happy to say that I have finally realised that I am good enough. I have finally accepted me for me!
- Compromise with difficulties – when you find something too difficult then don’t just sit there are wish that things were easier, wish to be better and do everything in your power to make that happen. If you need to learn how to use a new social media platform then start using it and figure it out, soon enough you’ll learn the things that made it look difficult.
- Be organised – ensure you are booking daily activities in a Daily Method of Operation and you stick to your schedule, this would include time to yourself and time with the family. It goes back to prioritising and ensuring you make time for the important things in your life. And running a successful business is definitely one of the important things to me.
- Planning what to do in the face of failure – you need to accept that failure is inevitable but its how you deal with it that counts. There’s a saying I heard recently “Fall seven times, get up eight” which has stuck with me. Learn from it and ensure you are clear on your “WHY”. Have your vision board visible to remind you why it is you are doing what you are doing, whether its to leave your “day ” job, to spend more time with the kids or to travel more. Get clear of what is driving you and carry on.
And the important thing to remember when you are doing all of this is not to punish yourself for proscrastinating, recognise that you are doing it and take steps to over come it. If you acknowledge that you are aware that this is what you have done in the past you can understand that you do not have to continue with the same behaviour going forward. Break tasks down in to small bite size chunks and starting is the first step and you just keep going from there. Some people tackle the most important task for 15 minutes first thing in the morning, it could be time to reflect and be grateful so that you can start the day on a positive note or if its your personal development and that’s exercise for you then do that. Whatever it is make an intention and don’t break that promise to yourself. When we make plans with our friends or family we don’t cancel or break plans at the drop of a hat, so why do we do it to ourselves. Making yourself a priority is an important step to self belief and in turn to being more productive.
Give yourself a pep talk! This will help to keep you motivated. Learn to change your self talk and be more positive about what you can achieve, the results will be amazing.
Aim for done, not perfect! Things in your life and YOU will never be perfect (no one is ever perfect) so start now.
Reward yourself when you are done! This can be that coffee with your friend, a trip to the hairdresser for some you time or what ever it is for you.
Celebrate all your wins! Even the small ones. Be proud of every little thing you accomplish and be grateful for everthing you have in your life right now. Everything else will follow.
Until next time…
Angela Harris 