How to Take the Plunge and Beat Procrastination

Do you suffer from Procrastination?

Good, because if you didn’t you wouldn’t be human.

Some people never procrastinate in work but never seem to get the D.I.Y. projects done at home. Others procrastinate daily in their jobs but their house is ship shape and the last group which I do hope for your sake you are not part of it, procrastinate on everything. There are many people who just can’t seem to get anything done.

Last week I sent an email out to my readers asking you to share your challenges with me. A heartfelt thanks to all of you who responded it is really great to get to understand some of you a bit better and be able to help you with you individual challenges. I received a lot more replies than anticipated and am still working through them but as promised I will get to all of them over the next couple of days.

The responses I got were interesting but the general trend with people was overwhelm. Too much to do and not knowing where to start, not being able to keep on top of responsibilities, clutter challenges, difficulties with implementing positive habits and the old favorite Procrastination. So today’s post is about dealing with that overwhelm and beating the old Procrastination bug.

Meet Ms. Chaos

Just to remind you all chaos is my middle name, I regularly suffer from overwhelm, I take on too much, I am an extrovert with tendencies to hop from task to task, I get bored with detail. I fall off the wagon regularly but my saving grace is I know how to jump back on very quickly. I’m telling you this because if I can beat procrastination, counteract my regular overwhelm and achieve the things I have achieved in the past few years, believe me anyone can!

My Two Winning Techniques

I have written about them before and I’ll write about them again doing a Mind Sweep and Clearing the Clutter and the two most powerful steps to moving forward. These two techniques eliminate overwhelm and help you to think straight and focus on what needs to get done.

Mind Sweep

The Mind Sweep is the process whereby you get a piece of paper or a note on your computer or tablet and start to write a list of all the things you need to do, work tasks, projects, phone calls, emails. All the things that you would like to do, business ideas, holidays, house renovations. And other tasks like buying gifts etc Put everything down on paper, do not categorize or edit in anyway there will be time for that later. By getting everything out of your head you will start to relieve your mind and allow more space for thinking, strategizing and more creativity. When your mind is overloaded it adds to your stress levels, runs the risk of crashing and losing vital information. Get it down on paper. I will write a post later this week on how to process and organize all of the tasks, projects and ideas that come from your mind sweep.

Clear the Clutter

I’m known locally as the Clutter Queen, because I never stop talking about the benefits of De-cluttering. It’s a great starting point for taking control of your life and your personal organisation. Next week will be the week for more in-depth de-cluttering but if you want to get started sooner check out this post I wrote on Lifehack.org about de-cluttering.

Task Audit

Even before you start to empty the cupboards and the recesses of your mind, ask yourself do all the things on my To Do list really need to get done. Do I really want to achieve all of these things, are they going to improve my quality of life or add value to my job? A lot of people make work for themselves, creating reports and spread sheets in work that really don’t have to be done. Or cleaning the house before a children’s birthday party (maybe it could wait until after!) Take stock and only do what really needs to be done. Life is too short to waste on unnecessary tasks.

So ask yourself what would you really like to achieve before the end of this year? What one thing could you do this week that will move you closer to that goal? Hopefully by focusing on what really matters will give you the motivation to stop procrastinating and start moving and if that doesn’t work I’ll send someone over to give you a kick in the ……..

Have a great week.

You may also be interested in:

9 Ways to stop Procrastinating and Get Things Done

Procrastination: The Thief of Time

Photo Credit: Procrastination Shirt By NavdeepSinghArshdeepKaur