How to overcome procrastination

Well, if the title seems like an oxymoron, it totally depends on your perception. You can think about the power to procrastinate or the power to overcome it. The truth is, it is the reason why some people sit in the back seat of the car, while others drive it for it.

I guess it starts when we go to school, or rather we don’t want to until our parents kick us out of bed… and it goes on to college, where we sleep through first period, and so on.

Frankly, in my still fledgling career in online marketing, or programming, even laundry, if I had to point to the number of reasons for personal failure at any one point, it would have to be procrastination.

The truth is that if an analysis is done, I bet that an entrepreneur has more reasons to procrastinate than a worker. You see as an employer, you control and give your own reasons, as an employee, well, the clock starts ticking your paycheck, as soon as you get to nine a.m.

Procrastination by definition is –postpone or delay or defer an action to a later time

It is the human and human ability to see, and remarkably justifies the saying: –“What you can do today, do it the next day”

Lethargy is part of what makes us who we are, and you can’t take that away. What you can do is control its hold on you, so you don’t keep pushing that article you had to write, or the letter you had to answer, or the video you had to make, into the infinite future and beyond. I’m not exactly writing a book on this, but I’ll try to include some tips on the control part in this article.

First of all, remember that old saying:-Procrastination is the thief of time. -Edward Young (1683-1765)) And we all know how much time is deposited in our vaults at twelve in the morning every day.

We procrastinate because you don’t want to do the work: I confess, I hated writing this article. Well, I love to write and I love what I write, but before I pick up the pen, or laptop in this case, there is a period of hibernation where I can think of 100 reasons to delay. The same applies to my training schedule. Before I hit the gym I could probably run a fever, just to stay home. But once inside, once the grind begins, once you break a sweat, sweet victory. I love the result. And that’s what you have to focus on. Stop thinking about the problem, stop thinking about the routine, stop thinking about ‘I can do it tomorrow…’ Visualize what your result is and focus on that. Tell yourself what the possible outcome of this delay will be and how it will negatively affect you. Remember that by delaying you are just wasting another minute, another hour, but eventually you have to do it anyway. So a delay could cost you money, time, energy, goodwill, and if you’re unlucky enough, maybe a million dollar deal! (I knock on wood.)

Eat the frog: Some time ago I read this very interesting concept. And no, you don’t actually swallow a frog. What he proposes is to imagine a situation in which the first thing you have to do in the morning is swallow a spanking. Everything else throughout the day would seem like a piece of cake… literally. So when you get down to business, think about the toughest, most horrendous, most hateful job on your to-do list and, as Nike said, “just do it.”

Prioritize what you need to do: This is not advice, an idea or a suggestion. This is a quote so well known that it is probably an idiom or saying handed down from an unknown time. You need to prioritize your tasks, every day. And then start crossing them off every time you finish it. I have a TO-DO list for my computer related activities. When I finish a task, I treat myself to watching one of my favorite music videos. That prepares me for my next assignment too.

I do not have time for this: Well, here is a universal truth. No one has time for anything, you just have to do it. Heck, I don’t have time to sleep, but I take advantage of my 24 hours and make it happen (I’m a workaholic). By giving yourself specific time periods to complete your tasks, you’ll never have time to keep a TO-DO list. His time management is going for a shot, and it’s a domino effect that follows.

Well, those are some of the observations from my personal side. I hope it cheers you up a bit, and if you really like it, follow it.