Procrastination – How to End It
Probably the biggest persistence killer (and the subject I get the most questions about)is procrastination. Simply put, if you’re not moving forward on a project with maximum energy, you’re probably procrastinating, putting things off until later (or never).
At the risk of sounding callus, I think this subject of procrastination is highly over-rated in terms of difficulty.
Frankly, it’s not that complicated an issue. If you’re not doing what you’ve decided to do, then there are reasons. You may think the reasons are silly, or beneath your dignity, or unworthy of you, but eventually you’ll have to admit it, they’re YOUR reasons. And until you face those reasons and accept them, you’ll never be able to do anything about them.
The Biggest Cause
That said, in my case, I find the number one reason for procrastinating is not knowing where I’m going. Before starting, if I’ll sit down and very thoroughly identify the big chunks of a job and put them into place, so as to set the general flow of the project, this is an enormous help.
What helps even more is to then sub-chunk the big parts down into smaller tasks that form a natural flow. I decide what has to be done – with a deadline for each. Then, if I’ll be delegating or outsourcing parts of the work, I also include that information in the sub-chunk descriptions as well.
After that, if I’m not following through or I’m feeling stalled, it’s usually because I’m not clear what to do next or not clear on the how-to. If I’m not getting it done according to the plan, then I need to revisit the detailed descriptions and get them clearer in my mind. Once I get the task into clear focus, the motivation just sort of takes care of itself.
The Second Cause
Sometimes if I’m procrastinating, especially if it’s a non-scheduled task such as calling back a complaining customer, it can be because I’m associating that task with a negative experience or outcome. Once I identify what the negative expectation is, and decide how to deal with it (for example, I may mentally rehearse a more positive scenario), the procrastination generally goes away.
On the few occasions when I do all the steps right and still can’t get myself started, I know it’s something I simply don’t want to do. This means I was dishonest with myself at the start about wanting to tackle it. In that case, it’s acceptable simply to cancel the project. Get out from under it and move on to something I DO want to do.
Once you’re able to be more honest with yourself about what actually interests you, you’re far less likely to commit to the no-interest projects.
And if you find you’re not finishing any single thing you start, then see the above points. Especially about getting over dishonesty with yourself.
It isn’t really all that hard to be persistent. You just do things in ways that encourage follow-through, and – voila! – procrastination begins to fade out of your life.
Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles
P.S. – This article is only a birds-eye look, a fast overview of the topic. If you’re still not quite sure how to implement some of the points covered here, drop me an email. If there’s enough interest, I can put together a teleseminar class with detailed techniques and methods for ending your procrastination forever.
Is this something you could use?
If so, email me and tell me your particular issue. I’ll do my best to include that in the classes. In fact, I like a challenge, so send me your toughest questions. I’m looking forward to hearing from you so we can get started helping you build your own unending, unstoppable persistence.
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Charles, I’ve been masquerading all these years as a ‘music teacher’. That’s how people perceive me from the outside. They come to my studio, they see a couple of pianos set up, they hear music (sometimes – LOL) coming from my room.
In my mind, what I’ve really been over the years is a teacher of ‘life skills’. I simply used music lessons as my platform. It’s a fact that 99% of students who ever took a music lesson NEVER went on to a music career. Does that make the music teacher, student or their parents a failure? Of course not.
I used this fact to my advantage and it’s what has kept me in the ‘music’ business for so long.
Most of my students are the normal, every day, run-of-the-mill students, taking music lessons as an extra-curricular activity. It’s not high up on their list of priorities… translation, many of them DON’T practice – certainly NOT the way I train them and would like them to do.
I think I’ve heard just about every excuse imaginable over the past 37 years for why my students don’t do what they know they can and should do.
But I’ve been able to impart some absolute gems over that same period of time. Whenever I meet a former student, I usually get thanked for the ‘life skills’ elements, mostly on how to chunk down work, focus techniques, etc. I’ve got a really great analogy where I associate feeding the ‘brain’ (practicing) with feeding the body. It’s a story that my alumni tell me they remember the most. I’ll have to share it with you sometime.
I’ve also told my students that if they could come up with a permanent solution to procrastination, they should package it and sell it. They would be set for life because it’s a universal need! Everyone of us deals with procrastination… if only they could find the REASON! I like how you pointed that out.
When we understand WHY we do – or don’t do – things, it’s a helluva lot easier to deal with.
Experienced procrastination buster from Toronto,
Russ