Overcome Procrastination
Problem: People procrastinate because many are paralyzed 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 visualize the
worst case scenario and accept it as a possibility and realize
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 each activity. 6. Give yourself
rewards for correct action and penalties when you do not follow
through.
Problem Many have a lack of discipline. It takes 30 days to
break old habits and establish new ones.
Solution 1. Create a Success-Habits-Reminder card with boxes for
checkmarks to record your daily 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 analyze 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, entertainment,
fellowship and prayer your 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
realizing 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 organizer or daytime planner to
coordinate their activities.
Solution 1. Transfer the things on your master list to the
correct dates in your organizer. 2. Check off each item as it is
completed. 3. At the end of each 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.
Realize 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 observing 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 observe how you feel
about the outcome of the toss. Your response to the coin toss
will help you make the right decision.