End Procrastination Before Opportunities Pass You By

3 replies
Procrastination is the root of unachieved dreams and success. It's the most important factor between you and the prize you've set your eyes on. But somehow it's difficult to eliminate it.
For some reason, you may be magnetized by delaying the tasks at hand. The sense that there's enough time to get things done can be misleading. It can be the difference between celebrated success and shattered dreams.

End procrastination once and for all by slowly taking some steps towards a renewed approach:

1. Prioritize opportunities. If something isn't important to you, you'll probably spend very little time trying to achieve it. That reality is the basis of your priority list. The achievements that really matter most belong at the top. Everything else can fall whenever. And that might even mean falling off the list!

• Focus on the things that give you the most inner joy and happiness. Never mind what popular opinion thinks. If something gives you butterflies every time you think about it, that's what you want to work towards.

• Once your list is in place, start at the very top. The most important thing deserves the most attention. You're guaranteed ultimate satisfaction once you achieve it!

2. Break down tasks into achievable bits. It's easy to put things off because they seem too overwhelming. Your natural instinct may be to shy away from things that are too complex. You can fix this by breaking down your tasks. This makes the prize seem more attainable.

• Set very small tasks. You may even want to make them daily tasks. Give yourself some time each day to work towards something.

• Once you've checked something off your list, you'll be one step closer to the prize. The feeling of progress is incomparable!

3. Renew your commitment each day. In order to stay on track, it's important to maintain commitment to the goal. That can be easily achieved by renewing your commitment each day.

• When you wake up, remind yourself of your purpose. Take a look at what you're motivated to achieve. The feeling of excitement about achieving a desired goal is constantly alive. You just need to reengage it regularly.

• This exercise also helps you to maintain focus on what's important to you. In fact, you may even find that the spark of a goal fades. This can happen when you realize something you thought was important really isn't.

• Daily renewal helps you to zone in on what means the most to you.

4. Reward yourself for each achievement. It's important to keep yourself engaged and focused on the goal. A great way to do this is to reward yourself. As you achieve each small task, celebrate the progress you've made.

• Make a significant effort to celebrate your achievement. A half-hearted effort isn't really enough. To maintain commitment, you have to reward yourself well every step of the way.

• Treat yourself to something you've always wanted. Maybe in the past, you avoided spending on it because it "wasn't worth it." But now you have every reason to go get it!

• Being kind to yourself is the best way to motivate continued focus on goals. When you know there's a reward at the end, you'll likely commit every ounce of effort necessary.

There are more than enough reasons for you to go after meaningful goals. If you're honest with yourself, you can easily list them all on a piece of paper. Focus on doing something to move toward you goal today. Leave tomorrow for celebration of today's success!

My Success Principles
#end #opportunities #pass #procrastination
  • Profile picture of the author JimsonWright
    Thank you for sharing this.
    A lot of people miss opportunities mostly because they're scared of failure and/or committing mistakes. I've always believed that it scarier to have regrets after missing an opportunity than to failing or making a wrong decision.
    Also, being scared is not an excuse to procrastinate. You never know when the next oppotunity will come (if ever there's a next one)
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    • Profile picture of the author anshuljain
      Nice post

      I think everyone suffers from procrastination when they are working alone and especially in the IM world.Punishing yourself with a rubber band on wrist is a great method to remind oneself of procrastination
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Trujillo
    Procrastination is your worst enemy to achieving goals. You can sit and make excuses and and not take action or you can go out there and make it happen. Sure, it won't happen overnight but the more you procrastinate the more your life will just pass you by, don't sleep on opportunity and on life. Time is something you will never get back.
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