Here’s the deal about procrastination – usually, there are promises you make that seem pretty easy to keep but also easy to overlook; or life changing promises you make to conquer certain habits that plague you but seem difficult to beat. Procrastination also holds people hostage and also sends you on guilt trip
that equally hold you hostage.
From experience, I was unable to keep to promises because I was distracted and had my brain so cluttered that I didn’t even remember that I had made any promise at all. I realized that overcoming procrastination had nothing to do with me being weak but rather, had everything to do with my being disorganized and having too much to deal with, including helping other people and running errands I had no business doing in the first place.
So I took charge of my life and the first step I took was simplifying my life.
Clutter, lack of organization and lack of purpose all contribute to keeping you enslaved by procrastination so here are the simple things I did to over come it.
STEPS TO OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION:
1. De-clutter your life and get organizing:
How do you start your week? Are you so scattered that you have no clue what your week would be like? Start organizing your life by planning the week ahead. To start with, plan your clothing, the food you would eat and chores in a weekly schedule or timetable. I started by creating a good time table that way I wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the week and realize that I didn’t have certain foods at home and then be forced to run grocery errands more than once a week which means vital time being wasted doing just one chore that could be done just once rather than multiple times. You save time, you save energy, you are less exhausted, you have room to plan and succeed.
I also started keeping a weekly planner of all my activities for each day of the week. So I have a weekly planner for my business and another for my personal life. I became very organized and purposeful that I had no room for wastefulness or lack of purpose. You know how the week ends and you ask yourself what you’ve achieved so far and you realize you can’t pin-point anything? That’s what happens when you don’t plan your activities.
2. Create a hierarchy of duties and stick to it: You know how workers are advised to stay off social media until mid-day to stay productive? well, same applies to every aspect of our lives to stay productive and beat procrastination. Choose to start your day doing all the important stuffs and let your day wind down to the much simpler, less important ones. Know when to access social media because it is a huge distraction – DO NOT START YOUR DAY ON SOCIAL MEDIA – rather, focus on your duties, one at a time, giving room for reflecting time, winding down time & trivial time. Try to keep things in perspective.
3. You can’t help everyone: Do you know that the time spent running errands for other people and making other people’s business your business may cost you a lot? I realized that there are certain things I did for my friends, which I didn’t have to do because they should be doing it themselves. Besides, you are choked up already so while helping is good, make it essential and besides, you are not the only friend they have. Remember too that friends tend to take one for granted when you bend too backwards? So try to balance things between how much time you spend doing your own stuffs and the time you spend doing other people’s stuffs.
4. Create room for yourself to relax, reflect and recharge: When you organize your activities, you should fix time too for relaxation, meditation or reflection which helps you to recharge and stay positive. I have “ME” times during different days of the week which I guard jealously. Sometimes, I go tech-detox and turn off my phone, unplug from social media and disconnect completely to keep me focused and on track. Know when to unplug distractions.
Truth is, I have spent the past years being less organized and being less purposeful but I chose to change things at the start of 2017 and created new resolutions that were life changing including giving me business success. I have been able to achieve more than ninety percent of what I set out to achieve this year because I got organizing and began a purposeful life that changed everything. Don’t live like paper tossed about by the wind; rather, be purposeful and deliberate.
Cheers!
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