Do it now! Overcoming Procrastination
“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” - Wayne Gretzky
Almost everyone suffers from procrastination on occasion, and some people seem to be in a perpetual state of procrastination.
If you only procrastinate occasionally, meaning you generally take all the actions you should, but every once in a while you find that you keep putting something off, it is likely you’re procrastinating on that action for one of two reasons:
The thought of doing the thing makes you uncomfortable. It could be having a difficult conversation, addressing a relationship or medical issue, or making significant changes in your life.
It may seem too vague, or too big and time-consuming
For #1, realize that whatever you’re putting off because of discomfort is probably the most important thing you can do. As Tim Ferris said, “The most important actions are never comfortable.” If you realize you’re putting off something because it’s important and therefore makes you uncomfortable, just ask yourself 3 questions:
What’s the goal?
What’s the worst that can happen?
And what’s the best that can happen?
Then – and this is critical – give yourself a deadline to take action and schedule it in your calendar.
#2 is very common but solvable. It may just seem too big and daunting to deal with. Or, you might be unclear about the outcome you want to achieve, or the steps needed to get there. One thing to remember is that you don’t need complete clarity of every step needed to achieve your goal. You only need clarity on how to begin.
So the solution to both “too big” and “too vague” is to identify a very small and clear first step. If you put a small enough, clear enough, simple enough action on your to-do list or your calendar, you’ll find you’re able to get started. That breaks the logjam, and then you’ll be able to continue “eating the elephant one bite at a time”.
Here’s the complete 5 step solution to beating this kind of procrastination:
To be sure you are clear on the goal you are trying to achieve, write it down.
Identify the first tiny action to make it easy to get started.
Take that action immediately, or schedule it in your calendar.
When done, identify the next tiny action to take.
Repeat steps 3 and 4.
As an example, let’s say you’re determined to improve your health and fitness, but you keep putting it off. That’s because, as a large and complex life change, it’s big and vague. But if you schedule in your calendar to email 5 local friends to ask them if they can recommend a personal trainer or nutritionist, that’s an easy first step you will actually do to get started.
So whatever you’ve been procrastinating, just find that first tiny action and either do it immediately, or schedule the first step in your calendar for a specific day and time. Tackle what you have been putting off, and start moving towards your ideal life.
“There is no right time. There is only right now. You get one life. This is it. And it’s not going to begin again. It’s up to you to push yourself to make the most of it and the time to do it is right now.” - Mel Robbins, The 5 Second Rule
For people who have a more ongoing problem with procrastination, there are two general causes. The first is perfectionism and the fear of failure. This is likely the case if you keep telling yourself that you’re “not ready” to start, or you’ll “start when XYZ is done”, or you find yourself continually doing research on a subject instead of taking action (this last one is very common).
Start with recognizing and acknowledging that it is fear of failure or embarrassment that is holding you back from taking this important action. Then realize that this is simply your ego getting in the way of your goals. But fear is imaginary. As soon as you take the necessary action despite the fear, the fear goes away. It’s the anticipation that causes the fear, not the thing itself. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Always, always, always, always, always do what you are afraid to do.”
Next, accept that perfection doesn’t exist. If you put off doing something because you don’t think you’ll do a good job, you are guaranteed to completely fail, since you’ll get zero results. So relax: No one is judging you. Life rewards you for taking action, so just get started. You can always improve it later if needed.
Many years ago, a mentor taught me two great quotes that were very helpful:
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.”
“Done is better than perfect.”
The second possible reason for ongoing procrastination is that you lack the motivation to take action. The solution is to identify a motivating Vision of your ideal future life and imprint it into your subconscious mind through daily Visualization. You are guided through this process in our Design Your Ideal Life course. (Email me for a coupon to take it for free.)
Then, you can learn how to connect your 5-Year Vision to your daily activities in our upcoming Ultimate Planning System course. Once you have a clear and motivating Vision of your future life, it should make you excited every day to jump into everything on your Daily Plan because you know that it’s leading you to your desired future life.
One effective way to systematically beat procrastination is to take advantage of advance planning and pre-commitment, which we cover in detail in our upcoming Winning Every Day course. In short, you’re more likely to do anything you plan and commit to doing. Don’t rely on feeling like taking action, and don’t believe that willpower alone will make you tackle that big project or get started on your exercise program. It’s much more powerful to leverage planning and pre-commitment with a clear written Weekly Plan and your Happiful Planner. When you decide on Sunday what you’re going to do for the week, and then each evening you create your Daily Plan for the next day that identifies what you’re going to do, in what order and at what time of day, you’re much more likely to actually do it. Similarly, leveraging pre-commitment by using the Ideal Day Checklist each day (a powerful checklist for your daily protocol, covered in the Winning Every Day course) will greatly improve your follow-through on taking your planned daily actions instead of procrastinating on them. (Daily Success Plan, Weekly Plan, and Happiful Planner are also covered in the upcoming Ultimate Planning System course.)
Another time-tested technique that takes advantage of the power of pre-commitment is simply to give yourself a deadline. Without a specific date, it’s easy to keep pushing things off; once you commit to a date, you’ll likely get it done on time.
One final powerful strategy to beat procrastination is Accountability. (We cover Accountability more in our upcoming Winning Every Day course.) Whether it's a friend, family member, colleague, coach, mentor (or a social media post), we are all more likely to follow through on something when we have told someone else that we will do it. This works especially well in conjunction with a deadline.
How to implement this into your life:
Assess your past behavior: Are you an occasional procrastinator, or a consistent procrastinator?
What important things have you been putting off? Write them down. For each, is it because it makes you uncomfortable, or because it’s too big or too vague?
Pick one of those things you’ve been procrastinating on – something you know you should do, but you’ve been putting off. Determine the smallest step you can take to get started and do it right now, or schedule it in your calendar.
Pick another important thing you’ve been putting off. Give yourself a deadline and tell someone else what you will do and the deadline you set.
