Accomplishing Anything Through Goal Setting.

Accomplishing Anything Through Goal Setting.

Often in life we are faced with projects or tasks that simply appear to be insurmountable. When we are given a project of this magnitude it is important that we know how to go about dealing with it.

Any task that we have to tackle can be compared to the action of building a house. You don't go out and build a house in a day, do you? No, you build it up one thing at a time until you have a completed structure. This simple principle holds true for any other task that you may face. To accomplish anything, you simply break it down into a set of smaller tasks.

Okay, this may sound simple beyond anything you have ever heard said before, but the most important part of accomplishing your goals is to simply set them as goals. Unfortunately, many people fail to do even this simple task. When asked what are they working towards, they may not even have an answer!

Maintaining Focus By Accomplishing Manageable Pieces

It is important that if you do not already have the skill of maintaining focus that you learn it. Look at your current project; ask what needs to be done? Then pick a task. Pick any one of the tasks that need to be completed in order to finish the larger goal that you are working towards.

Did you notice in the previous section that I said ONE? Not a handful, not a dozen or two. Just one. This is very important. By focusing on just one task at a time you will actually make some headway, and ultimately end up completing the task you are working on.

Some of you may balk at the thought of only having one task to work on. I can hear your protests, you feel you will get bored or that your abilities are best used tackling the whole project. If you feel that you need to have more than one thing on the go, and that you need to switch between tasks to "Stay Fresh", then I strongly suggest that you limit yourself to just two tasks. I understand that some people need to do this in order to remain productive. But by limiting yourself to just two tasks at a time you will be able to make much more significant headway, while still being able to switch back and forth between tasks.

If you decide not to use this approach, and instead tackle the entire project head on, What you will likely end up with is twenty or thirty parts of the project that are in varying stages of completion. But most likely not even one of these parts will have been completed.

Instead of taking the project on head first, try to focus on only a few, preferably just one or two, really specific tasks until they are completed. Once they are completed you can then move onto other tasks, secure in the knowledge that you are making progress.

Setting Deadlines and Sticking With Them

It is vital to your success that you set realistic deadlines for the tasks that you are working on, and for the project as a whole. Setting appropriate deadlines is a "Science" all on its own, and we won't go into how it is done here. It is just important for you to understand a few very basic principles for setting deadlines. Make them realistic, but also make sure they add pressure to getting the task done.

It is important that you find the right balance between these two. Otherwise you will either cause yourself too much stress, or you will set goals that do not add enough pressure to the tasks at hand.

Lets use writing a book as an example. Lets say you are going to write a novel in one month (nanowrimo.org). Now, writing a novel is a huge task. But when you break it down into smaller pieces it quickly becomes achievable. The NaNoWriMo challenge, held every year in November, is a great lesson in setting deadlines and sticking with them. You set the ultimate goal, write a 50000-word novel. You set the absolute deadline, one month - November.

And then you have at it.

By breaking the task down into daily portions, many thousands of people, who otherwise would be unlikely to do so, are able to succeed at writing a complete novel in a one-month period.

Completing The Project and Rewarding Yourself

The great thing about breaking a large task down into a bunch of smaller tasks is that it also allows you to give yourself smaller rewards as you work through the project. Each time you finish one of the tasks, take some time and reward yourself with a special treat. This will help to keep you motivated, and will reinforce your understanding that you are infact making progress.

But don't forget, once you have completed the project, one step at a time, and everything is done that is the time when it is really important that you reward yourself for a job well done. Celebrate your accomplishments! Bask in the glory! Pat yourself on the back!

And now that you have completely finished your project, you can begin that next project that you have been itching to get started.

Visit The Scruffy Scribe for more discussion about productivity techniques and improving your writing.

By: Scruffy Scribe
ScruffyScribe.com is a great place to pick up tips and advice to help you improve your writing. You Can Also Get Free Gifts.

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

Tips & Methods to Stop Procrastinating!

Tips & Methods to Stop Procrastinating!

Rationalize!
Rationalize things! This is one of the best methods to overcome most physiological problems that you may have.

Now, that you know how procrastination works and what its causes are, you can easily do this exercise…Here are the simple steps:

1. Realize that you are procrastinating!
2. Try to understand why exactly you are procrastinating
3. Rationalize those reasons and over come them…
4. Begin the task!

It pretty simple, you do not really need 4 steps! We have just mentioned them so that you understand what you are doing. What you need to do is, first understand that you are procrastinating, figure out WHY you are doing it, convince yourself that you are acting foolish and stop! Then begin the work.

Here is something you can use to write your thoughts. It will take 5 mins to actually do this, but it will save you all the time you spend procrastinating. So, I am suggesting that you "actually" fill out this form! I know it feels stupid, but just give it a shot…

I am delaying on _____________ because…

Reasons for delay:
1. _________________________
2. _________________________
3. _________________________
4. _________________________
5. _________________________

Arguments against delay:
1. _________________________
2. _________________________
3. _________________________
4. _________________________
5. _________________________

And so I was just procrastinating and I must begin the task!




Here are some other tools that will help with procrastination…

Make the tasks look small and easy in your mind. ("I've written lots of excellent papers; this is just one more paper.")

Do only a small part of the task each time. ("I'll just check out the books tonight. Later on, I'll glance through them.")

Five-minute plan: Work on something for just five minutes. At the end of five minutes, switch to something else if you want. Chances are, you'll get involved enough to keep going.

Advertise your plans to accomplish something, and let peer pressure push you forward. ("I told everyone that I was going to finish this tonight.")

Use a good friend as a positive role model. If you have trouble concentrating, study in the presence of someone who doesn't.

Modify your environment - if you can't study at home, find a place where you can study; or, change your study situation at home.

Some people find that simply writing down reasonable starting and stopping times help them get going.

Finally, you must understand that, in it's most fundamental form, you procrastinate to avoid frustration. Procrastinators, postpone to avoid frustration. So, you will have to understand and accept this. You will have to train yourself to have a higher level of frustration taking capacity. All this is easier said than done, I know! But work on it. Solve your problems….If you do you will get a whole lot of work done and will be a much much happier person guaranteed!

Personal Note: Generally, the information I provide on indiahowto.com is all from recognized and established sources. They are never personal opinions. However, here I would like to share with you a personal tip I have used to help me with procrastination or any problem that I have...

To solve my procrastination problem, I took a piece of paper and wrote on it in big bold letters, "You are a procrastinator, and you will destroy all your dreams if you do not learn to control your-self!" I stuck this paper on a wall right in front of where I sit. It is what I see when ever I look up so I am constantly aware of it. This keeps me from slipping. I am reminded that I must not procrastinate! That way, now-a-days I am able to waste very little time procrastinating! Besides that, the other techniques I have mentioned above also help a lot!

Best of luck!

Jai Hind!

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

Structured Procrastination! - New age technique to stop procrastinating

Structured Procrastination! - New age technique to stop procrastinating!
By Khoj Badami

This method for getting work done, was suggested by John Perry who is a Stanford Professor! The idea is to use procrastination to beat procrastination. How?

Pretty simple. You see, procrastinators keep postponing important / difficult / frustrating work and they convince them selves that some other work is more important. Procrastinators are not exactly time wasters. They are never doing absolutely NOTHING! They are always doing something but not the most important thing. They convince them selves that they must postpone the current task to do a more important task.

So, if you want to beat procrastination, you can get a lot of work done by always keeping your hands full. If you have 5 items on your to-do list today, make them ten items. Put tomorrows 5 items on today’s list. Now, when you sit to do stuff, you will try to start the most important work, but you will postpone it. You will decide to pick up some other work on your to-do list and do it instead. When that is done, you might still postpone the most important work, and do something else that is on the list.

So, you keep postponing the most important work by doing all the other less important work that is on your list. That way, you actually end up getting all your other work done! You will be able to get a lot of work done this way! You will get all the most important work postponed and do the less important work.

I know the idea may sound a little childish. However, it does actually work. If you keep your to-do list full at all times, you will be able to actually use procrastination to get all your work done! In-fact because you are a procrastinator, you will be able to get more done than anybody else! Don’t believe us, try it!

Now, you are probably wondering, what about the important work that you keep procrastinating? Here is the key to this technique. Choose some work that is a little difficult / frustrating / time consuming / boring etc. and convince your self that the work is a BIG CHORE! When you select this work, make sure that the work is not really important. Even if you do it much later, it will not have that much of an effect on things. But in your mind, you need to convince your self that it is an important job. Make this the activity at the top of the list that you keep procrastinating. Now, even if you do not do this "most important work" for some time, things will be fine. But you can still use this to get your other work done.

We know, that you may be reading the above paragraph and thinking that all this is very immature and childish and that it will not work. But, it will! Procrastinators have a knack for convincing them selves. That is why they are procrastinators. Now, you have to convince your-self and use this talent to your advantage.

Try it out! It works!…Everyone has their own style of structured procrastination. The basic idea is the same: Procrastinate some work by doing other work. In effect getting a lot of work done!

Next we will look at some other simple methods that you can use to overcome your procrastination!

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

Stop procrastinating and make sure your child does not become a procrastinator!

Stop procrastinating and make sure your child does not become a procrastinator! By Khoj Badami

In this section we will try to understand how one becomes a procrastinator and how you can make sure that your child does not turn into one. Even though, this explanation is small, we have given it an individual page so that you would take it seriously and try to make sure that your child does not turn into a procrastinator!

Procrastinators are made. Nobody is born a procrastinator. On of the main reasons why children turn into procrastinators is because, they have strict parents. If you have strict parents who tell you exactly what is to be done, when it is to be done and how it is to be done, you never develop the ability to do things on your own. You never develop the ability to decide what you should do and schedule your time your-self and do it. You always need to be told what is to be done. This is the root cause of procrastination. Later on in life, it takes on different forms as we discussed in the previous pages.

Another major cause of procrastination is “rebellion”. When you have strict parents, who tell you how you should do every little thing, you try to rebel against them and not do anything. This turns into procrastination. And your friends who are tolerant to the excuses you give them, further support this procrastination!

So, how do you make sure your child does not grow up to be a in-efficient procrastinator? Obvious isn’t it! Let you child learn to do things by himself/herself. Give your child the freedom to choose to do things on time or postpone things. Whenever they do things on time, reward the child. Let the child know that he/she has done something right.

If you do not do this and do all the thinking and scheduling for the child, he will never ever try to think about such things and will finally turn into a in-efficient procrastinator.

Raising children is a very delicate business. Do it properly! If you do not, the child will not grow up to be as efficient or self-confident or self-controlled as everyone else. For no fault of his, he will be at a disadvantage. When he/she understands all this, he/she will blame you.

This was an important issue and so we brought it up! Now, let us look at some techniques you can use to overcome procrastination. First, a very interesting new age procrastination overcoming technique called “Structured Procrastination”…..

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

To Stop Procrastinating, First Learn Why We Procrastinate - Complex reasons!

To Stop Procrastinating, First Learn Why We Procrastinate - Complex reasons!
By Khoj Badami

Anger or Hostility:

When you feel anger or hostility towards the person you are doing the particular task for, you will procrastinate doing the task. Why? To get even with the person! To fight back with the person.

For example: Assume that you are a student and you are sitting in the class of a very irritating professor. Now, suppose that the professor gives you some long assignment to complete. You are very likely to procrastinate doing this assignment. You will procrastinate telling your self something like, “Haad, nai karra main uska assignment! Kya karenga woh? ”

Basically you procrastinate to rebel against the professor. But, the problem is, when the time to submit the assignment comes, you will have to rush though it and submit it last minute. You will do a bad job on it.

How do you make sure you do not make this mistake? Understand what you are feeling. Understand that if you postpone doing the task, it is going to affect you later. You do not want an irritating professor or some stupid boss destroy your future, right? So do not let your anger come in the way of things.

Low frustration tolerance:
If you do not have the capacity to take too much frustration, you will have a tendency to procrastinate things. The problem is that, whenever you sit to do a particular task, if you feel that doing the task will be frustrating, then the amount of frustration involved overwhelms you. You try to find a way to escape all that frustration. So you end up not doing that task. You postpone the task.

To overcome this, you could try to find someone who can help you doing the task. If some one is an expert on the task, they will show you the right way. This will help you do the task in the future without all the frustration involved.

But, you may not always be able to find someone. You need to have a higher tolerance to frustration. You can develop this by trying to accomplish what you are doing no matter how hard it is. Even when it is frustrating, stick to it! Do not quit. All this is easier to say than do, I know!

Self-Downing:
Some people have a tendency to continuously put them selves down. For example: These people will constantly say stuff like, “No, it was just luck!” or “No, I cannot work that fast! I am very slow at work!”

If you do this, you are most likely also a procrastinator! You do not believe in your-self and you do not believe in your success. So, to avoid success or the “lime light” you sub-consciously try not to succeed. You do this by procrastinating.

How to solve this problem? Firstly do not put your self down constantly. Except compliments about your work that people give you. If someone says, “Good job!” say “Thank You!” do not say, “It was my luck!”

Figure out why you feel uncomfortable with success. Did some important people in your life often make you feel that way? Were you taught to minimize your success? Why is success so scary? Will it make you stand out in the crowd? Do you feel as though others will not accept you if you are successful? Also, when ever you do something well, praise yourself for it! Take a few seconds to enjoy the good work that you have done!

Perfectionism:
Some people are perfectionists or are forced to be perfectionists. And because of this, they turn into procrastinators. Why? When you have a very very high standard for everything you do, all the work that you do requires a LOT of effort. Because of this, you will try to escape all the effort by simply procrastinating your work! It’s easier to just not do the work than to take all the effort and do it perfectly. Perfectionist, say things like, “I will either do it right! Or I will not do it at all!”

How to solve this problem? I am sorry to say this but, you will have to lower your standards. You will have to start excepting things that are not 100% okay! Make an effort to actually praise what work you have done. Perfectionism is a problem that comes out of self-doubt or self-esteem. So you must learn to be confident of your self and your abilities.

Now, you understand all the causes that make people procrastinate. You probably understood really well one or two of these causes because they are the specific problems that affect you. Now, it is important that when you procrastinate in your daily life, you try to identify why exactly you are procrastinating and overcome it.

Generally procrastinating is due to some physiological issue that you must resolve. The above provided tricks can help, but what will really help is if you go to a good therapist, and ask him/her to identify your problems and get them resolved. Unfortunately not everyone has the time or the money to do this. But, if you do have the resources, use them. Go to a therapist and ask him/her to help you with your procrastination problem. This will help you a lot!

Now, before we go into other ways to overcome your procrastination, let us quickly understand how you can make sure that your children do not suffer from the procrastination problem that you face…

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

To Stop Procrastinating, First Learn Why We Procrastinate - The 4 simple reasons

To Stop Procrastinating, First Learn Why We Procrastinate - The 4 simple reasons by Khoj Badami

There are many reasons why people procrastinate. Here, we will try to explain them to you. The idea is that once you understand the reasons behind procrastination, you will be able to identify it the next time you start to procrastinate!If you are able to identify it, you should easily be able to overcome it!

First, the 4 simple reasons

When something is difficult:
When you believe that a particular task is difficult to do, you to try to convince your self not to do it. You try to do another more easier task instead. This is one of the most common reasons why people procrastinate. Look out for this! Next time you come across some difficult task look at how your mind tries to convince you that you should do something else.

Do not fall for these mind games. Get the difficult task over there and then! When it is over, take pride in completing the difficult task. Stop for a few seconds and think about how well you have done that difficult task without procrastinating. This is called “positive re-enforcement”. It will help you form the habit of doing things without procrastinating!

When something is time consuming:
When you feel that a particular task is time consuming or will take up a huge block of time, you will try to procrastinate this kind of task. You will avoid ever starting! You will convince your self that you must do something else.

Recognize when you do this. To overcome this, one trick is to tell your mind that you will work on the task for only 10 mins and not more. The idea is to break down the task into small parts and do one at a time. However, the effect is quite different. You see, once you actually get yourself to begin working on the task, you will probably continue even after 10 mins are over! Try it out!

When you feel that you lack the knowledge or skills required:
When there is particular task and you feel that you do not have the required knowledge or skills to complete the task, you procrastinate it. This could be because you do not want to make mistakes. So, you convince your-self that you must learn before beginning the task.

Well, the best way to get your-self to do this kind of task is to tell your self that, “This task is easy! I can do it! How hard can it be?”, something on those lines.

When you are afraid:
Generally, when you are afraid of failure in a particular task and you do not want everyone to know that you failed or blame you for failing. So, to avoid all this, you procrastinate that task. You somehow or the other keep postponing the task. Recognize when you are doing this.

To get your self on the task, you will again have to convince your self that, “The task is easy! You can do it!” Etc.

In the above paragraphs, we keep saying that “you will have to convince yourself” to get over your procrastination. You might be wondering, “Will I have to lie to my self to overcome my procrastination?” The answer: YES!

After all, when ever you procrastinate, what you are really doing is lying to your self, right? For example: If you face a difficult problem, you “convince yourself” that you “must” do something else. So, you end up postponing the difficult task. So, to overcome the procrastination, you have to lie to your self once again! So the asnwer is: YES! Lie to your self.

Now, the WORST thing about procrastination is that it is self-rewarding and so it is very hard to get out of the habit. For example: If you postpone something till the last minute and then you get it done last minute in hurry and you somehow still manage to get it done properly, you start to feel good about your self. You start to convince your self that you can work only under pressure when time is short.

Next time, when some task is to be completed, you will tell your self, “Let the last minute come, when there is pressure, I will sit down and get myself to do it! Anyways, I work much better under pressure, don’t I?..” This way, you habit of procrastination keeps building up and you start to procrastinate more and more. Sooner or later you will start to procrastinate everything!

What we have explained above are just some of the simple reasons why people procrastinate. There are more complicated reasons and we shall explain those to you in the next section. But, the reasons do not matter! What is MOST important is that you know when you are procrastinating. You must be able to understand that you are procrastinating.

Remember, that if you are a procrastinator, it is likely that you procrastinate in each and every thing that you do. You probably procrastinate in big things and small things. Observe how your mind plays games on you and convinces you postpone things. Once you are aware of this, you will be able to solve your problems….

What we have explained on this page are just the “simple reasons” behind procrastination. There are more “complicated reasons” because of which some people procrastinate. You might be procrastinating because of one of these and not even knowing it. It would be good for you to understand these reasons to…

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

How to stop procrastinating

How to stop procrastinating by Khoj Badami

Procrastination, is one of the biggest problems that most people have. Many people think that they do not “manage time well” and hence they get very little work done. This may be true. But, for a few people only! Most of the people, do not get any work done because they are “Procrastinators”!

Just in case you do not know, a procrastinator is someone who puts off the work that they are supposed to do for a later time! For example, a student sits to study, he reads a few pages of his textbook! They are interesting. Then comes he comes to a very complicated and boring page! The student, instead of trying to figure things out, convinces him-self that he will do it later. But that later never comes! That is procrastinating!

Some people are “light procrastinators”! They procrastinate, but not on everything! Some people are “heavy procrastinators”. They find it very difficult to get anything done! For example, some students find it very difficult to actually start studying. Every time they sit to study, they convince them selves that something else is much more important! They end up postponing their studying program forever until it is very late and then they rush though things desperately.

I, Khoj Badami am personally a very very heavy procrastinator! So, this topic is very important to me too. In this article I will try to help you understand the true nature of procrastination. Once you understand this, you will be able to understand and recognize when you are procrastinating. And you will be able overcome it!

Here is the fun part, if you are a “heavy procrastinator”, you are probably looking at this article and thinking something on the lines of…. “Hey this is a nice article! It can help me! I think I will put it in my favorites and come back and read it a little later!” No! Do not do this! Read this article now! It’s the first step to free you from your procrastinating habit!

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

Stop Procrastinating Now! Don't Set Yourself Up to Fail

Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate?
By: Gina J. Hiatt, PhD

Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate?

"How can I stop procrastinating?"
This is by far the most frequent question that I get from graduate students and professors. As a dissertation and tenure coach, I’ve come to realize that everyone in academia, whether writing a dissertation, completing an article, or doing research, struggles with procrastination. Why is this so prevalent in such a well-educated, intelligent population?

You've Got the Wrong Attitude

Your belief system is what may be standing in the way. Most academics cling to the belief that they must set aside large chunks of time, do a lot of preparation, and be in the proper frame of mind to be able to write.
What this means is that when you finally sit down to write, it's going to be an unpleasant marathon. You have placed such importance on this writing session that you feel anxiety about it living up to your expectations. And you know it's going to be difficult. After all, there are thorny issues you haven't addressed, articles you haven't read or reread, and a lack of coherence to your thinking. You need to solve those problems. And if you don't do it now you'll be quite disappointed in yourself. How unpleasant! And how counterproductive!

What Should You Believe Instead? Or "Oh, The Irony!"

Research by Robert Boyce actually shows that first and second-year professors who participated in a study on writing productivity were able to turn out more publishable pages in a year by
· Writing 30 minutes a day
· Only writing on workdays
· Shoehorning that writing into small gaps in their busy schedules

The difficult part, it turns out, was convincing these professors to try this low-key method in the first place. Ironically, they all insisted that the only way to get real work done was to do it in the marathon way that I described above.
The second irony was that when Boyce actually measured the amount that they were writing per week (before the intervention,) it was less than 30 minutes per week! This was much less than their retrospective reports of how much time they had been spending writing.

The third irony was that those who most adhered to the idea that you must write in large doses were the least productive.
The fourth irony was that although these professors considered writing a private activity, they did best when they were accountable to someone for maintaining their 30-minute writing habit.

Do It Already!

So what's stopping you from learning from these professors and writing a small amount each day?
Here are typical excuses:
· It's just not rewarding writing in small amounts. I feel like I've gotten
nothing accomplished.
· I have a big issue to work out. It will take more time than 30 minutes.
· I feel guilty if I don't work more each time.
· I'll never complete my dissertation/paper/research project at that pace.
· I've waited until it's too late and I can't afford the luxury of that small
amount of time per day.
· It just doesn't feel right.
· I've got more time than that, I should be putting all my time to good use.
· It's so overwhelming that I don't know where to start, and by the time I
figure it out my 30 minutes will be up.

My answer to those responses? Bull! Except for the emergency deadline, there is no reason not to try this technique. Give it time to see if it works for you. If you're like every other academic I've worked with, you will resist the idea. I suggest that the more resistant you are, the more problem you've probably had with procrastination in the past.

An Action Plan

Try it for a week. Select a time each day, preferably not the evening unless you're a night owl, and write for 30 minutes, without email, reading or other distractions. Don't listen to the voices in your head saying you "should be getting more done," or "you should be writing more than this." I'll bet at the end of the week you'll be pleasantly surprised at your output, and pleased with the increasing ease with which you can sit down to write. You’ll start to see progress on your dissertation or article and maybe come to believe that you will finish one day.

Furthermore, don't forget about being accountable to someone. Let someone else know that you're going to be doing daily writing. Perhaps you can find a writing buddy, or someone in your dissertation group. Or join one of my coaching groups – our listservs allow for lots of accountability during the week! My membership site, CafeAcademia.com (stay tuned,) will have a place for finding writing buddies.

Don't forget, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Start setting yourself up for success starting right now!

© Gina Hiatt, PhD. Gina is a dissertation and tenure coach. She helps academics, from grad students wondering about their dissertation topic to faculty members who want to maintain a high level of research and writing, to reach their goals more quickly and less painfully. Get Gina's free assessments & ezine at www.academicladder.com

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

Stop Procrastinating- 4 Essentials to Break Through

Procrastination- 4 Essentials to Break Through

By: Beth Tabak

“I have learned that most regrets come from the things I DIDN’T do. I have learned that regret lasts forever.” Simply Brilliant

Procrastination- putting off what you can do today until tomorrow. 7 years, 5 months, and 2 days later you’re wondering why you never started that book. It would have been completed. You could be reaping the rewards and writing full time. You see yourself sitting on the garden patio of your dream home surrounded by towering palms and luxurious flowers. As the ocean breeze glides across your face the telephone rings. You made the Best Seller List. In regret the vision is bright. In procrastination it’s doom and gloom. Back in the present you may be saying, ”There’s too much competition. No one will publish my book”. What if you flip flop the picture so you are pulled towards the intense vision you had in regret like it was a magnet. Why not create that vision sooner rather than later. Procrastination leads to stress, poor health, and regrets that last for life. Action results in fulfillment, life experience, and wisdom. Get the 4 steps to break through procrastination below.

Step 1- What are you procrastinating on? Is it appropriate to hold off or irrational postponement? Will this make a positive impact in your life? Choose the area that you will stop procrastinating and make a renewed commitment.

Step 2- Discover the source to find the solution. Consider when your car doesn’t start. You look for the source of the problem. When you find the source it is easy to take action to make the repair. Look behind procrastination to find what is restraining you. It may be an unpleasant task, lack of interest, someone else’s goal, a large overwhelming project, fear, poor time management, or indecision. Be brutally honest and get to the source.

Step 3- Based on the source; decide if this is a goal you want to keep. If so, choose a strategy that feels good to you. It may mean developing new habits. Discover the source and set up the strategy in a way that you know you will take action. Here are some possible sources and solutions to get your ideas flowing:

An Unpleasant Task/ Lack of Interest- Schedule it at the beginning of the day so it is not hanging over your head all day long. Think of how great you will feel to have it done. Reward yourself when you follow through.

Someone Else’s Goal- Set a boundary...say no or accept only the part of the job that you feel good about. If you can not say no (ex. employment situation) then you may choose to follow the above solution.

A Large Overwhelming Project- Break the project into small manageable tasks. What part can you do? What can you delegate? What is the first step? What daily steps can you take? A great solution for decluttering!

Lack of Focus Due to Multiple Projects- Prioritize the projects then break them down into small manageable tasks as in the step above. Focus on completion of one project at a time.

Fear- What is the fear telling you? Is it valid or an irrational assumption? Usually what we anticipate doesn’t occur. Picture the ideal end result. Affirmations and visualization can help. Focus on how great you will feel simply for having the courage to try. As Eleanor Roosevelt says, “you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. Your must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

Poor Time Management- Schedule a block of time daily or weekly to work only on this project. Keep the appointments. Begin with small blocks of time (whatever you can commit) until you are consistently keeping the appointments. Then consider committing more time.

Indecision- When you don’t know what to do set a deadline to make up your mind. Then get whatever support and information you need to be able to make an educated decision.

Step 4- Hold an intense vision- Think of that clear, exciting picture that shows up in regret. Allow that to pull you towards it. You have great capabilities when you take action, even if it’s learning in action. Focus on how great you will feel when you go for it! After all, it is through the journey that the great and memorable moments take place.

What project will you stop procrastinating on?
The first action I will take by _____ (date) is __________________________________(action). Starting Now! Copyright 2006, Beth A. Tabak, All rights reserved.

Beth Tabak of www.startingnowcoaching.com”>www.StartingNowCoaching.com is a Business & Life Coach, speaker, columnist, & owner of Starting Now. She coaches big thinkers to move beyond limits, stand out in the crowd, and experience the vastness of their capabilities. Stop by to see all that’s available to you and say “hello”.

Stop Procrastinating Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.

The Key To Perseverance

The Key To Perseverance

By: Steve Gillman

The Definition Of Perseverance

From a dictionary: "Persisting in or remaining constant to a purpose, idea or task in spite of obstacles." Notice it doesn't start, "Wisely persisting..." Perseverance can clearly be both a good thing and a bad thing. Remember that when you find yourself wanting to quit something. Quitting might be the wisest choice.

Of course, the problem with the idea that you should quit when something isn't worth the effort, is that it's often used as a rationalization. It comes to mind when the effort is difficult, but really is worthwhile. It's confusing at times, so how do you wisely persevere? There are three important aspects to consider.

Keys To Wise Perseverance

1. Self awareness: Notice when you look for excuses, rather than truth. Are you letting fear or laziness cause you to quit or procrastinate? If honestly watching yourself is difficult, explain your reasoning to a friend. Close friends may be more likely than you to know when you're rationalizing. (Think about it from the other direction and you'll see this can be true.)

2. Costs and benefits: To wisely persevere, you need to see the costs and benefits of what you are doing. If moving to Hollywood to become a star is going to cost you your business or family life, you have to see that clearly before you decide. An honest and good decision requires honest and good information.

3. Motivation: Once you've made a decision, and you're sure you made it for the right reasons, you have to motivate yourself. In fact, perseverance requires that you regularly re-motivate yourself. Write goals down, do daily affirmations, and whatever else you have to do.

Habit is the most powerful secret of success. Practice watching yourself to make self-awareness a habit. Practice analyzing costs and benefits objectively, and practice motivating yourself. By the way, there are many good motivation techniques, so if what you're doing doesn't work - go read up on them and try something else. That's perseverance.

Steve Gillman writes on many topics including brainpower, weight loss, meditation, habits of mind, creative problem solving, generating luck and anything related to self improvement. Learn more and get free e-courses at www.SelfImprovementNow.com

Eliminate Procrastination Now - Here's How! Discover the guaranteed methods that will immediately eliminate procrastination from your life.