How to overcome procrastination by Henrik

by Zoran Dimitrovski Reiki Master & Sports Masseur

1. Break it down and just take the first step.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

When you start to look too far into the future any task or project can seem close to impossible. And so you shut down because you become overwhelmed and start surfing the internet aimlessly instead. That is one of the reasons why it is good to plan for the future but then to shift your focus back to today and the present moment.

Then you just break down your project/task into smaller and practical steps and focus on taking the first step today. That is all you need to focus on, nothing else. By taking the first step you change your mental state from resistant to "hey, I'm doing this, cool". You put yourself in state where you become more positive and open, a state where you may not be enthusiastic about taking the next step after this first one but you are at least accepting it. And so you can take the next step. And the next one after that.

The thing is, you can't see the whole staircase anyway and it will shift and reveal itself along the way. That's why the best of plans tend to fall apart at least a bit as you start to put it into action. You discover that your map of reality doesn't look like reality.

2. Don't blow a task out of proportion.

"If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it."

Olin Miller

"Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible."

George Claude Lorimer

By overthinking and putting things off you may not only be trying to protect yourself from the pain that can come if you take action and have to do hard work or if you fail. You also make mountains out of molehills. The quotes above are so true it isn't even funny. The more hours and days you put something off the worse it grows in your mind.

Because you are dwelling on it. And so it expands in your mind. And since you are putting it off you are probably thinking about it in a negative way. This makes a little thing a big Godzilla, a horrible beast that is threatening to ruin your life.

So plan a little and then take action.

Often you don't even have to plan, you have been there before and you know what needs to be done. So stop thinking and just do it no matter how you feel and what you think. How you feel right now changes as quickly as the weather so it's not the perfect guidance system or anything. And you don't have to obey what it says (it's not chains made of iron). You can just do what you know is right anyway.

3. Start with the hardest task of your day.

"Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves."

Dale Carnegie

Maybe you have an important call to make that you also fear might be uncomfortable. Maybe you know you have gotten behind on answering your emails and have big pile to dig into. Maybe you have the last five pages of your paper to finish.

Whatever it may be, get it out of your way the first thing you do.

If you start your day this way you will feel relieved. You feel relaxed and good about yourself. And the rest of the day - and your to-do list - tends to feel a lot lighter and easier to move through. It's amazing what difference this one action makes.

4. Finish it.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task"

William James

Not taking the first step to start accomplishing something can make you feel bad. But not finishing what you have started can also leave you in a sort of negative funk. You feel fatigued or stressed and sometimes you don't even know why. It's like someone zapped your inner power.

If that is the case, go over tasks and projects that you are currently involved in. Is there something there you know you want to finish but haven't yet? Try to get that finished as soon as you can and you will start to feel a whole lot better.

Just be careful. Don't think you have to finish everything you started. If a book sucks, read something else. Using this as an excuse to quit something that feels hard or unfamiliar is not a good idea. But there is no law that says that everything has to be completed.

I hope this timeless guide will help you whenever you get stuck in procrastination,

About Zoran Dimitrovski Reiki Master & Sports Masseur

59 connections, 1 recommendations, 160 honor points.
Joined APSense since, November 15th, 2010, From Delcevo, Macedonia.

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Created on Nov 4th 2011 15:34. Viewed 116 times.

Comments

Roosevelt Evans III

Your Friend And Business Partner
Procrastination impedes success in any endeavor. Great instructive article on the subject. Thanks for sharing!
Nov 4th 2011 16:50

Zoran Dimitrovski

Reiki Master & Sports Masseur
Hi Paula! I had saved the document from a blog I remember, but unfortunately could not track the blog site :(
Nov 7th 2011 11:18