A call to ex-Procrastinators!

35 replies
Fellow Warriors,

Are you an ex-Procrastinator ? What practical steps did you take to get out of this life destructing weakness? Please relate here.

Thanks
#call #exprocrastinators
  • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
    I'm not sure... can I get back to you later?



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    • Profile picture of the author ymest
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      I'm not sure... can I get back to you later?



      John

      LOL, John!
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    • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      I'm not sure... can I get back to you later?



      John

      Interesting John. Still waiting for having you back.
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    • Profile picture of the author DTGeorge
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      I'm not sure... can I get back to you later?



      John
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  • Profile picture of the author Doubleup
    When procrastinating, how are you then spending your time? For example, if you know you should finish a report, yet you spend your time playing computers games instead. Get rid of the computers games, and anything else that you normally use to procrastinate with. Get into the habit of making a list, getting that done first, then relaxing and having fun after, only once everything is done for the day.
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  • Profile picture of the author ymest
    Originally Posted by Cristalys View Post

    Fellow Warriors,

    Are you an ex-Procrastinator ? What practical steps did you take to get out of this life destructing weakness? Please relate here.

    Thanks
    Hi Cristalys!

    First of all, ex-Procrastinator isn't the right word! ! I'd go for RECOVERING PROCRASTINATOR...you never know, you might have a relapse at some point!

    First, I'll be honest with you here, I am not "cured" yet. But I am getting better. I have been a procrastinator since I was born...I was born 10 days late for a start...now that's telling...

    Second, everyone procrastinates from time to time but when it becomes chronic, you need to address it. My procrastination problem is a mix of sheer laziness and at the same time ( pretty contradictory, I'll agree to that) perfectionism. Oh, yes! This one is a big FAT EXCUSE not to get anything done. "I want it to be perfect so, I'll wait a bit longer"....2 weeks later " I still think I need to work on it some more because it really has to be perfect"....3 months later " Oh, the deadline's passed...or, I only have half the page done, how come?...as if you didn't know"! LOL! That's me...Or it used to be me.

    A very good friend of mine who is a psychiatrist told me that 80% of the people who procrastinate, do so because they have a fear of failing and are therefore trying to make everything PERFECT. It's a shield and an excuse. It's deeply rooted in you but you can beat it little by little.

    Let's take an example. This week has been pretty good for me. I have been able to achieve much more than I would have a few weeks ago. I started with a regular schedule and a no distraction policy. I set a timer on 30 min and stuck to it. I decided to stop working at home and come to the National Library ( if not national, you can always find quiet places around I guess) mainly because there is no TV, you don't suddenly feel the urge of doing some washing up or cleaning. Grocery shopping can wait. There's no bed on which to lie down for 5 minutes ( which inextricably turns into a five hour nap...so called POWER NAP! LLOOOLL). You have to be quiet and WORK. Computers are allowed but watching videos is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! No music either. You are just allowed to WORK AND SHUT UP! And, this is exactly what I needed.

    I have started doing things on a regular basis such as making my bed before leaving home, getting the trash when it's full instead of PUSHING the garbage until the content comes out gushing out LOL. You know, these things that I would normally have put off because they were not essential...but all these little tasks are essential if you want to tackle this monster that procrastination is!

    I am the kind of person that needs to be structured...even though it means having someone with a ruler standing behind me in case I stop typing, researching, reading etc! LOL

    Procrastination is something you'll be able to tackle once you can identify what makes you procrastinate. Is it fear? Laziness? Lack of focus? Lack of direction? Maybe you're not SO interested in what you do?

    I suggest you make a list and tick off the ones you think are related to why you're not going ahead with your projects when needed.

    FYI, I was always late handing in my homework and essays at college...but I think that this one was solely due to ABSOLUTE LAZINESS and the inability to stand and do my work because of serious hangovers! LOL!

    Anyway, I hope my little story's given you some insight into my daily battle with procrastination. I am getting better but I can assure you that I do not want to become PERFECT and get everything done ON TIME. I'll always have that little procrastination devil sitting on my shoulder but as long as I can decide when to shut him up, I'll be fine.

    Good luck with everything and let us know how you get on!

    Yoan
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  • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
    To Yoan,

    Thank you for your input here.

    Hi Cristalys!

    First of all, ex-Procrastinator isn't the right word! ! I'd go for RECOVERING PROCRASTINATOR...you never know, you might have a relapse at some point!
    Hello Yoan,

    I totally agree with what you said above. Really, procrastination is such a deeply rooted weakness, that it requires continual struggle to overcome it. It is really easy to have a relapse or even several, if we give up on working with a focus.

    Let's take an example. This week has been pretty good for me. I have been able to achieve much more than I would have a few weeks ago. I started with a regular schedule and a no distraction policy. I set a timer on 30 min and stuck to it. I decided to stop working at home and come to the National Library ( if not national, you can always find quiet places around I guess) mainly because there is no TV, you don't suddenly feel the urge of doing some washing up or cleaning. Grocery shopping can wait. There's no bed on which to lie down for 5 minutes ( which inextricably turns into a five hour nap...so called POWER NAP! LLOOOLL). You have to be quiet and WORK. Computers are allowed but watching videos is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! No music either. You are just allowed to WORK AND SHUT UP! And, this is exactly what I needed.

    I have started doing things on a regular basis such as making my bed before leaving home, getting the trash when it's full instead of PUSHING the garbage until the content comes out gushing out LOL. You know, these things that I would normally have put off because they were not essential...but all these little tasks are essential if you want to tackle this monster that procrastination is!
    Thanks for sharing these practical steps. This is a source of inspiration.

    Procrastination is something you'll be able to tackle once you can identify what makes you procrastinate. Is it fear? Laziness? Lack of focus? Lack of direction? Maybe you're not SO interested in what you do?

    I suggest you make a list and tick off the ones you think are related to why you're not going ahead with your projects when needed.
    Good points here.


    Anyway, I hope my little story's given you some insight into my daily battle with procrastination.
    Many thanks for your inspiring story. Really like it.

    Good luck with everything and let us know how you get on!
    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Use this quote to take action:

    "Procrastination is the assassination of success in any business."
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  • Profile picture of the author Maxist
    It's important not to beat yourself up about it too much when you find yourself procrastinating. Ask yourself what simple task you can do NOW to make progress.

    Imagine you're faced with the daunting task of cleaning your filthy kitchen. The thought of the entire work involved is often too much to handle, so you just procrastinate and go watch tv or something. The trick is to tackle one specific area with your full attention - like putting away one dish. You'll often find that with this one effort of affirmative action, you'll generate enough momentum to clean the second plate - and so on.

    Before you know it you have a clean kitchen! Works for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    Firstly, you should allow yourself time to do things that you might consider "procrastinating" type tasks. You may check emails or go to Facebook and consider them as procrastination.
    BUT set yourself a time and don't do it more than your allotted time.

    Control and goal setting are the best ways to get yourself out of deep bad habits.

    Make yourself a daily list of tasks to do in priority order. If you don't get them all done, the last ones become the first for the next day. If you have this list, you'll achieve more than you would without it.
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    Cheers, Laurence.
    Writer/Editor/Proofreader.

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  • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
    When I notice myself procrastinating, I remind myself that...
    in the past, when I put off doing something it was often because
    I imagined it would be a lot harder than it actually ended up
    being.

    Often, once I started a dreaded task, it was easier than imagined,
    and took a lot less time and effort.

    By just reminding myself of that fact, I can typically get started,
    and get it DONE!

    Willie
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    Here's A Ready-Made High Ticket Product To Make Your Own.
    Click To Go BIG!

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  • Profile picture of the author mikelmraz
    I am still a procrastinator.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devid Farah
      Crystalys,

      STOP being in search of perfection! This is why most people procrastinate.

      You have to make some efforts and realize that everything can't be perfect in this world

      Perfection can be admirable, but in the long run, it is self-limiting and will bring you nowhere.


      Heres why you keep procrastinating:


      1.
      Waiting until everything is perfect to get started.

      Get over it immediately. There will never be a "perfect" time to start your online business.
      All you need is a few basics like a broadband connection and a simple business idea. Once you start,
      you'll identify and prioritize what else is needed.


      2.
      Keeping at it.

      These are people that start working on a business idea but then stall because they don't think it's coming along perfectly.

      It's not suppose to be perfect when you are in the middle of developing your business.

      Just FOCUS on one thing and MASTER it. Your business will get better and better.

      Set short term goals instead of only having a long term goal. Let's say your goal this week is writing three search engine optimized articles about an affiliate product you're promoting... or something along those lines.


      3.
      Pull the trigger.

      Stop waiting for your online business to be perfect before you launch it.

      Your business will be evolving forever. Find a criterion other than perfection for launching the business. Instead of perfect, your business is ready to launch after you've completed all of the necessary components and proofread everything three times.

      It wont be perfect but is gonna be good enough to start making money for you.

      All the success

      Devid
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    • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
      mikelmraz,

      Thanks for your honesty in admitting your present condition. I have started this thread so that all warriors who are stopped but the trap of procrastination (and i am one of them!) may get advices as to how to get out of it.

      By the way, i would like to thank all of you Warriors who have participed in giving ideas in this thread. From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheEye
        Procrastination is caused by fear.

        It can be fear of failure, fear of the unknown or any other fear.

        Procrastinating is the belief that there will be a better time in the future to take on this risk.

        One way to beat procrastination is not to work on what you want to do but to work on reducing the risks.

        For example if it is fear of failure, you do a draft, telling yourself that you are testing to find points of potential failure.

        You are only working out what is likely to fail.

        If nothing fails then you have your finished product.

        Often beating procrastination is only a matter of changing the framework.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rmipro
    Sometimes it's as simple as keeping this thought in mind:

    That I rather carry the temporary weight of discipline, than the on-going heavier weight of regret.

    I also think about what one great speaker said. He said, "When you die, on your tombstone there will be 2 dates...Your birth date and the day you died. And between those 2 dates will be a little dash....Well, that little dash is what you're living in right now and it stands for...Destiny. Awaits. So. Hurry.

    It also helps when you want your future ALOT more than you want your present circumstances.

    I had to find what inspires me and keep those things before me as often as possible. Think about the things that I want to do and the kind of legacy I want to leave. And since it all boils down to fear as the reason we don't take action....I had to pin-point those fears and ultimately just get over myself lol.

    Because no matter what we face, we have to realize that what's in us is bigger than what we are facing. So any reason we give ourselves for not taking action, is just an excuse.

    If we can win the battle with ourselves, then everything else is easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author zeroaffiliate
    What i did is to write a list of stuff i need to do. then rank them accordingly to their priority . So i do the number one stuff first, even if i cannot complete everything, i did what is the most important thing at the moment.
    Actually, this is not exactly a way to stop procrastination, but steps to move forward. when u repeatedly doing this step, chances are you are always finished your important stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Barboza
    Setting up too many goals can overwhelm anyone tunrning them into procrastinators. That happened to me (along with perfectionism). Keep your to do list clean and simple.

    Set a very simple goal everytime you need to do something: start doing it. Everytime I have to do something I just decide that starting is the goal. Not finishing, not doing it well, just starting. That works for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author BlackIrish
    Originally Posted by Cristalys View Post

    Fellow Warriors,

    Are you an ex-Procrastinator ? What practical steps did you take to get out of this life destructing weakness? Please relate here.

    Thanks
    Don't think, act!

    Do only one thing at a time.

    Don't be afraid to make mistakes, it's how you learn and improve.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
    Just an update about a related article.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisSWN
    It's pretty simple to me actually. When I really, REALLY want something I do it or make it happen.

    Otherwise I have other agendas going: indulging my pet peeves, commiserating with others to reinforce our co-dependencies, wanting sympathy or pity, or the other big one of griping about how Life is so hard for me.

    So when I'm not doing those things above I'm usually making things happen and making money.
    Signature
    Simple Two Step Formula
    Earns Me Over $146.72 in 12 Hours. This is Weird, But it Works!
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    • Profile picture of the author luane
      I remember reading somewhere three words that get Me in Gear - Do It Now!

      Just those three words can turn my inaction into action.

      What it doesn't mean?

      Don't wait until what you are doing is perfect - this isn't your 3rd Grade Teacher grading you on your blog post.

      Don't read your email every 10 minutes - contrary to what you brain may be telling you otherwise, it won't make you any money.

      Do only those things first in the day that WILL make you money, the rest of the time-wasting stuff, save for when you get sleepy or tired - such as reading that inbox full of enticing emails.

      Don't wait to do what in your GUT you need to do....

      Have a daily action plan and Focus On One Thing Online and then and only then, when it makes you money, scale it up and don't run off to the next thing.

      One more thing....

      DO IT NOW!

      (or faster than you can say Peace out...) Kristie from Georgia
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  • Profile picture of the author smith33122
    My wife is a psychologist – it’s work or be counselled
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  • Profile picture of the author Russell Mark
    The whole 'Just do it' or 'do it for 20 minutes' or 'just start' is not actionable. It sounds like a 1 step instruction but it's just nonsense.

    Here's how to really overcome procrastination as taught by Tony Robbins.

    Have you ever left something to the last minute then finally got it done with only minutes to spare? A University report, a work assignment, car insurance or your taxes?

    Of course you have. Why do we do it?

    Simple.

    We focus our thoughts on how horrible the task is. Repeat after me:

    Taxes are boring.

    What if I do it wrong?

    Taxes are difficult.

    Where's all my paperwork?

    Oh man I'm going to have to clean out the garage.

    Where's my step ladder?

    Oh damn, Jeff has my step ladder.

    I hate taxes.


    After thinking all those things, no one would want to do their taxes. Focusing your thoughts on how horrible something is and all the work you'll have to do sends a clear signal to your animalistic brain: TAXES == BAD Therefore AVOID

    But when it gets around to the due date and you have to file your taxes or face a fine you start thinking:

    Oh no I'll be fined!

    They'll inspect everything with a fine tooth comb!

    They'll find something illegal and I'll be sent to debtors prison! Oh no!


    Then you do your taxes. Because you're focusing your thoughts on how much pain you'll have if you don't take action.

    What kind of thoughts would you have to think to get your taxes done a month in advance?


    When you go to the Gym, visualize your ripped body, focus on remembering the wonderful postworkout feeling, think about how much stronger and better you are than all those pathetic slobs watching TV. Don't think about how much it will hurt or people watching and laughing at you (Which has never happened before).

    In the world of Internet Marketing most people don't take action simply because they think the wrong things. They think things like 'How do I know this will work?', 'Will this make money?', 'Writing articles is so boring...', 'My site will never look as good as my competitors..', 'How will I do this or solve that problem?', 'Why do I suck so bad?', 'What should I do?'.

    Successful Internet Marketers also think those thoughts at times but they quickly change them. When they need to write boring articles or whatever, they focus their thoughts on how awesome the site will be when it's done. Or 'Yes! Going to get 2 more articles done tonight, I'm so much closer to my goal'. Hell focusing on the money is good 'This niche site will make me another $50 a month! $50 extra is great!', even if that's a belief backed by nothing. The really smart ones have a vision of themselves achieving what they want and focus on that 24/7, this allows them to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm, lol.


    If Billionaire Richard Branston came to you with an offer, build that website/software/eCommerce Store for me and I'll give you $1,000,000 when you've finished, how many people would be able to achieve that?

    How many would procrastinate?

    Answer: No one would procrastinate. Because, they BELIEVE Richard Branston will give them $1,000,000 for completing the task and they FOCUS THEIR THOUGHTS not on all the boring articles they're writing but on the $1,000,000 they now KNOW they will get.

    Control what you think about something something like that.
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    • Profile picture of the author ForneticsKev
      Originally Posted by Russell Mark View Post

      The whole 'Just do it' or 'do it for 20 minutes' or 'just start' is not actionable. It sounds like a 1 step instruction but it's just nonsense.

      Here's how to really overcome procrastination as taught by Tony Robbins.

      Have you ever left something to the last minute then finally got it done with only minutes to spare? A University report, a work assignment, car insurance or your taxes?

      Of course you have. Why do we do it?

      Simple.

      We focus our thoughts on how horrible the task is. Repeat after me:

      Taxes are boring.

      What if I do it wrong?

      Taxes are difficult.

      Where's all my paperwork?

      Oh man I'm going to have to clean out the garage.

      Where's my step ladder?

      Oh damn, Jeff has my step ladder.

      I hate taxes.


      After thinking all those things, no one would want to do their taxes. Focusing your thoughts on how horrible something is and all the work you'll have to do sends a clear signal to your animalistic brain: TAXES == BAD Therefore AVOID

      But when it gets around to the due date and you have to file your taxes or face a fine you start thinking:

      Oh no I'll be fined!

      They'll inspect everything with a fine tooth comb!

      They'll find something illegal and I'll be sent to debtors prison! Oh no!


      Then you do your taxes. Because you're focusing your thoughts on how much pain you'll have if you don't take action.

      What kind of thoughts would you have to think to get your taxes done a month in advance?


      When you go to the Gym, visualize your ripped body, focus on remembering the wonderful postworkout feeling, think about how much stronger and better you are than all those pathetic slobs watching TV. Don't think about how much it will hurt or people watching and laughing at you (Which has never happened before).

      In the world of Internet Marketing most people don't take action simply because they think the wrong things. They think things like 'How do I know this will work?', 'Will this make money?', 'Writing articles is so boring...', 'My site will never look as good as my competitors..', 'How will I do this or solve that problem?', 'Why do I suck so bad?', 'What should I do?'.

      Successful Internet Marketers also think those thoughts at times but they quickly change them. When they need to write boring articles or whatever, they focus their thoughts on how awesome the site will be when it's done. Or 'Yes! Going to get 2 more articles done tonight, I'm so much closer to my goal'. Hell focusing on the money is good 'This niche site will make me another $50 a month! $50 extra is great!', even if that's a belief backed by nothing. The really smart ones have a vision of themselves achieving what they want and focus on that 24/7, this allows them to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm, lol.


      If Billionaire Richard Branston came to you with an offer, build that website/software/eCommerce Store for me and I'll give you $1,000,000 when you've finished, how many people would be able to achieve that?

      How many would procrastinate?

      Answer: No one would procrastinate. Because, they BELIEVE Richard Branston will give them $1,000,000 for completing the task and they FOCUS THEIR THOUGHTS not on all the boring articles they're writing but on the $1,000,000 they now KNOW they will get.

      Control what you think about something something like that.

      I'm a little curious about this theory Russel, even with your arguments against the simple idea of "Just do it". I still think it can be this simple. I think we tend to make things out to be more complex than they really are and that the possible reason for this is because we need them to complex in order to justify to ourselves as to why we aren't following through.

      I also think that it is an risk vs reward equation. If you believe that the risk outweighs the reward then you are less likely to take action. However if the reward is greater than the risk then you will take action. If Richard Branson told me to build his new Vigin Galactic shuttle and he'd give me a $1,000,000. I would say no. If he told me to chop of my left arm and he'd give me $1,000,000. I would say no. (I'm a lefty) I accept that these are extreme cases, but then so is being given $1,000,000 for a website.

      Basically, if you want to reduce procrastination, then create more reward or reduce the risk, until the results are in your favor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
    CurtisSWN, luane, smith33122, Russell Mark

    Thanks for your contribution here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Plugin Profits
      I have ADHD so I don't think I'll ever be an 'ex' procrastinator, though I'm trying to be better. Lol. As long as I can find a moment of comfort without any immediate threats hours away, I'll procrastinate. Threats have to be in really close range to make me feel anxious and not be illusioned over thinking I could get way more done in little time than reality! It's a misperception of time that gets a lot of people with ADD, making them have to get very close to deadlines in order to realize they need to seriously speed up and take things seriously. By then, it's often too late to speed up fast enough and then the anxiety and stress only adds confusion and unclear thinking unfortunately, along with the sickening regret of how fast the time went and having had all that time for it they didn't use and no longer have!

      The main reasons for PROCRASINATION are:

      Avoiding immediate pain and not delaying gratification
      Disorganization and confusion (not knowing what to focus on next)
      Default shifting to easy habits and routines that require little thought
      Distortion of time and not managing the pace of actions correctly
      The law of Inertia

      I don't think that it is fear most of the time. It's simply a matter of avoiding or delaying pain or being confused. Tasks that are painful cause they are either boring or cause you don't really know how to do them, or you don't know what to do.

      Besides for the myopia and emotional stuff that is always distracting me, and the people etc always distracting me, my number one reason for procrasinating is disorganization and habits!

      It's difficult to get focused on what you should be working on when you don't exactly even know what that is! You might have a general idea of it of the larger project to complete, though you have no organization of the steps involved and the exact order of the steps. If its all just in your mind, then it's all over the place and you don't know what to focus on or do next, it's painful to even think about cause it confuses and overwhelms you, so what do you do instead? Things that are routine, things that you know what to do and what to do with those things, things that don't require much painful thinking or figuring out. Like check email and see if there's anything you could take immediate easy action on, go to your bookmarked favorite sites and forums and read and reply, watch something, play games, go get more food to alleviate the boredom, look at photos, read some more articles on things you want to do in the future or could add to your business later on, wonder if you should change directions, see if there's more you should know or overlooked before you put more work into it, write another list of your new goals and deadlines, etc etc.

      What all those procrasination actions have in common are that they are all actions. Therefore your mind has no problems with doing actions at all. In fact the mind is constantly on the search for some type of action to do. Even thinking or reading is an action, everything is an action. The mind does not want to be blank and idle! That is why it is so difficult to quiet the mind and do or think nothing. It always wants content, context, understanding and stimulation.

      So the reason it's often difficult to get it to want to do the actions you know you should be doing as opposed to others are often cause they are competing with other actions that have a stronger pull. Of course they often have a stronger pull cause they're more enjoyable. Though most often they are more enjoyable cause they require less manual thinking and mental organization. They are default and semi automatic. You already got the difficult part of learning them out of the way and so you can do them easily and know what to do, which makes them more enjoyable.

      It's like with anything, the better you get at things, the greater your skills for it increase and the more you know what to do and how to do it, the less painful it becomes and the more routine it becomes. Then the mind has expanded on something else to often default actions to cause they are now part of it's database of easy routine low thinking tasks.

      So besides for organizing and breaking down projects into simple step by step tasks to focus on, which GREATLY helps by reducing the thinking required on what to do. It's also important to make the important tasks into routines and to get over the learning curves of them. Then they'll become more default actions.

      Getting started is the most difficult part. The law of inertia! That's another thing that makes the tasks easier and easier. How often have you delayed on writing something you needed to cause it seemed daunting and you didn't know where to start and what to write and felt blocked from it mentally. Then once you had Finally pushed yourself to get going with it, it got easier the more into it you were and the block was gone, everything started to flow, you kept getting more great ideas and even started to enjoy it and want to focus on it? Then the next day when you got back to working on it, it was much much easier to get going with it than it was before you started it. momentum!

      So basically you'll always need to manually get over the difficult parts of learning curves, organizing the tasks and goals and figuring out what they should be, and then getting started on them and keeping on until they become routines.

      Though to make the most of those efforts so they turn into easy low thinking habits that you don't have to think about, you just do, you need to:

      1) Always create lists for your projects. To do lists are not enough, as they are often way too broad and not broken up enough in smaller STEP BY STEP tasks. This leaves you still lost and confused on how to do the task, what to start on. I mean if your To Do list is like "Write 5 artcicles" "Create a squeeze page" etc. then that still leaves way too much thinking to your mind! Too many questions left unanswered about what exactly to do in what order to complete those.

      So each To Do task, break it up into much smaller action steps. Steps you can look at and think, ok I know how to do that, I could do that right now. I know how to do a Google search for this plugin I'll need for it so I could easily do it now, no worries.

      In other words, don't leave any to do goal with questions of how to complete them or what to start on. Get the painful mental organizing out of the way first. Or else the mind having to do think of what to do at the time will not want to and default to an easy routine task instead and say it'll get back to it...

      It's much easier to walk into a gym as a fitness newbie with a list of easy to do exercises you already know how to do and have an order to do them in with the exact number of reps and sets to do them in, then to walk in with just the to do task in your mind of "do a full body workout tonight". Leaves too much to have to think about and too many choices to make quickly, no organization. You often end up wasting so much time, going slowly, talking to people, checking your phone, wandering around, indecisive.

      2) Make the most important tasks as routine as possible. Not that they have to be on any exact time schedule, though make sure you do something to do with them each day and make them as easy as possible to do. Create 1 click links to them in a task bar, step by step instructions to default to until you don't need that anymore cause you got it down as a habit etc. And also learn something new each day to improve your knowledge and skills which will make tasks easier and more motivating.

      3) Since long term rewards are not as motivating as immediate rewards, set up immediate rewards for yourself for completing small tasks. Could be anything you had to delay in order to complete the task, like a favorite food, a video you want to watch, a friend you wanted to talk to, relaxing, buying yourself some thing you wanted, or whatever things you usually did to procrastinate. You can still do all those things, just use them as rewards for the breaks in between your money tasks. Make yourself earn them first and set a limit on the rewards.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cristalys
    Plugin Profits,

    Thanks for the practical steps you've shared here.
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  • Profile picture of the author ramona_livegood
    Keep the desire for your goal or outcome so strong, that you are excited to work on it.
    Sometimes breaking the task into small chunks helps, and it feels good to cross things off a list. The more you do, the more you will want to do, to reach your goal.
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    • Profile picture of the author dutchguy
      A few things which helps me:

      Make a list of things todo, only write down the most important things and break it down in small steps, do this in the evening when your head is full and your to tired to do work anyway

      Keep the list very small and if you have for instance 8 hours only plan 4 hours with the most important things, if those 4 hours take more time, you get additional ideas (or want to surf the warrior forum) there is plenty of time left. The key is here make a list that is comfortably possible and make a habbit of finnish the items on the list

      If there are some specific task you procrastinate on a lot check what it would cost to hire someone to do this specific task. For instance don't spend hours creating a graphic if you can get it done for $5,- without any effort and time or energy wasted.

      Play energetic music, especially playing full live concert via youtube (minimize this browser window) helps, best one to get energy is for me Red hot Chili pepperslive at slane castle full concert.

      Be proud when you have done the work you indented to do pause for a moment and be proud of yourself.

      Eat healthy, drink a glass of water or fruitjuice instead of cola and eat fruit when doing this consistently for more then a month you notice you have way more energy

      Hope this helps some.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vin Venture
    Still working through my procrastination issues >.> - going to have to try some of the advice here!
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  • Profile picture of the author TheLoneWolf
    These two reddit threads were surprisingly helpful, give them a try!

    Here, and here
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    • Profile picture of the author Victøry
      One big thing that keeps the procrastination cycle going is that it is natural for us to want to make a change in our lives quickly. We want it today, not tomorrow.

      So, what we tend to do is put out a heroic effort and try to change all at once and the change rarely lasts with this strategy. We only burn ourselves out which makes us feel like a failure, which then makes us frustrated.

      "Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall." ―William Shakespeare

      "To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first." ―William Shakespeare

      As you can see from the two quotes above, William Shakespeare understood this concept.

      Habits are built the strongest by small consistent actions every day. Even if you spend only five minutes at a time on a particular task that is more than enough to get the habit going so that it can turn into an unconscious reaction.

      You can build the habit even faster and stronger by adding a small reward right at the end of the positive action. It could be anything. The only important thing is that it causes a positive emotional reaction within you.

      When you use positive reinforcement with small consistent actions you are literally changing your brain. Its a powerful way to make changes in your life.

      Make sure that the reward is RIGHT at the end of the action. If its ten minutes later after you've stopped then your brain will not associate it with the desired action. It needs to associate the two together.

      For example if you have a goal of writing a book within six months you could start by writing for just five to ten minutes at a time, a few times a day. At the end of each small writing session you could simply smile and tell yourself "good job, I am making progress and that is all I can ask of myself. I'm doing great".

      That would be an example of a small reward. Just make sure that your reward isn't something that will cause negative consequences. For example, you obviously wouldn't want to reward yourself with a piece of chocolate cake after each writing session.
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  • Profile picture of the author newBum76
    Well I still procrastinate, but I've found a way to think about doing tasks that's helped me out quite a bit. The key is to break down the task into super tiny bits that seem way less intimidating. Then just do that one little bit, and you're free to do whatever else you want.

    For example, say you have a huge sink full of dishes. You could say "ok, I'm just gonna wash one plate, then I can get back to playing Minecraft". Then let maybe half an hour go by, and start thinking about how that one dish wasn't so bad....so why not go and do another?

    Keep going on like this, just doing a little tiny bit at a time, then letting yourself take a break after all that "hard work" you did. Increase to 2 dishes, then 3, etc. Going on like this gets your mind gradually accustomed to doing that huge task you dreaded doing just a little while ago.

    Usually what happens with me is it starts to feel cumbersome to do a little bit, then leave....little bit, leave.....etc., and then I eventually just end up finishing the whole task after I ease myself into doing it this way.

    If it's hard to break your task into tiny specific actions to take, try just working in 5-minute increments. This works pretty well with writing....in fact, I wrote a whole report about this and sold it as a WSO recently (wink, wink LOL).

    Jon
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