Do you ever feel like you just don’t want to do what you know you should be doing?
You keep on putting it off, avoid it or are slow making decisions? The knock-on effect is that you end up doing less and less and do not hit your full potential. Procrastination faces all of us in one form at some stage. So why do you do it and how do you overcome it?
Why do you procrastinate?
There are many reasons why you procrastinate – perfectionism or paralysis by analysis. Wanting to get it right and not make a mistake. Anxiety or lack of confidence also come into it. In a nutshell it all comes down to fear. Humans have evolved over thousands of years to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Fearing everything is useful when you are at risk of being eaten by a Tiger. But in modern life without the dangers of the wild it can hold you back.
The path of least resistance
When you hit that wall and procrastinate there is some resistance. This resistance is perturbation. What? Perturbation! Ever been perturbed? This is when there is a pressure from two directions. Let’s say you feel pressure to make sales calls because you need to pay the bills, but you also feel you may upset someone because you called, or you may look stupid if you say the wrong thing.
You’re feeling pressure whether you do, or you don’t.
You will take the path of least resistance. Maybe say “I’ll do it tomorrow”. This is inadvertently quitting. You are walking away from the pain to seek pleasure. Pain is uncomfortable. The thing is – pain is where the growth happens. When you break through the pain and keep going this is where the success happens.
Three feet from Gold
There’s the famous story of a guy who left his mining claim in California after years of digging when he ran out of money to return home in the East. Only to find out the next prospector got a land survey which detected the biggest gold deposits in American history just three feet from where he’d finished digging. Hence the saying – 3 feet from Gold. So how do you know when you’re 3 feet from gold in life? Well, a breakthrough follows a breakup or a break down or a break apart.
JK Rowling – was jobless, a lone parent and on the bread line – her marriage broke up. She spent her time determined to succeed writing Harry Potter books in a coffee shop. Had she not broken up with her husband maybe she wouldn’t have been so driven to write the books – or have the drive to get them published.
So how can you overcome procrastination?
At its heart procrastination is about fear. And FEAR stands for False Expectations Appearing Real. In other words, it’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be. It’s just its outside your comfort zone, if you fear it. And the good news about stuff outside your comfort zone is, if you start doing something every day, within a month it will no longer be outside your comfort zone. Think of anything you used to be scared of. Going to school, driving, networking after you’ve done it for a while it’s no longer scaring you.
But HOW do I get started???
Great question.
We’ve said it’s about fear. Fear stops and paralyses you. And there are three simple ways to overcome fear.
I am the Greatest! “Mohammed Ali”
The first is common sense but not common practice. You just need to tell yourself “Do it”, “Just do it”. Some people think it’s weird talking to yourself. But you are talking to yourself all the time. Ever said, I feel tired, or I feel hungry? You are telling your brain to feel tired or hungry. That voice is the most powerful performance enhancing drug in the world. Nothing will enhance your performance better than the voice inside your head. Whatever you follow the words I AM with, your mind will believe. Imagine if you consistently told yourself, you can do it, what impact would that have. The easiest way to get over fear is self-talk.
Use the power of Why
Victor Frankl survived 3 Nazi concentration camps and found that not everyone died. Some people survived and those people had something in common. They had something to survive for, they had a reason, a why. He found people can overcome any what, when they have a strong enough why. So, what is your why, what are your longer-term goals, vision, plans? How clear are you on them. When you are really connected with them, they can help you overcome your fears and procrastination.
Use Logic to overcome your Fear
Still not getting over the fear? Fear is an emotion and it’s not real. You create it. You were only born with two fears – the fear of falling and loud noises, the rest you have created. A lot of fear makes no logical sense. You can overcome emotion with logic. What’s the first thing you need to do right now? What’s next, and next and so on.
Action is the key, get started with a simple step then keep going.
Start with something small. Plan how you will overcome it using the help above. Take control and have fun!
