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Episode 58: The Art of Doing
A friend pulled me aside last week and asked me last week how to avoid procrastination.
First let’s break down what procrastination is . . . the word means “moving or acting slowly so as to fall behind.” It is a blameworthy delay of not doing something against our better judgement.
Like most psychological things, procrastination is negative cycle of thoughts and emotions. There could be something unpleasant about the task like cleaning a dirty bathroom, but procrastination can also be rooted in deeper feelings like self-doubt, anxiety, or insecurity.
Regardless, by not doing the task you are rewarding yourself with a brief reprieve. It is this reward cycle that enables us to keep repeating the action to create the aforementioned procrastination loop that ends up making you feel worse in the long run.
Abraham Lincoln said, “you cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” I guess we all know that though since we are avoiding the task against our better judgement.
So then how can we avoid procrastination? Here are my top five things that can help.
1) Set goals. Write them down and have a plan. Having a plan removes the energy of having to make the decision to get started, and it also plants the seed in your mind that it is going to get done.
2) Prioritize. You only have so much time, and you need to manage priorities. The big things. The things that if you drop will cause catastrophic damage to your life, family, career, etc. If the task is meaningless then maybe you are not procrastinating, you are prioritizing!
3) Just start. Leonardo Da Vinci said, “It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
4) Remove distractions and put up road blocks to procrastination to make it less convenient. You can also tie your plan to existing habits to establish a routine and create new, better habits.
5) Manage your inner dialog. I am going to break this one into two parts: A) Perfection is the enemy of good enough so aim for done over perfect, and B) Remember, if you tell yourself you are a procrastinator than you are setting yourself up for failure. Start telling yourself that you are a person of action. A person that takes care of their priorities, and a person that gets things done.
Welcome to the Limitless Podcast with Nathan Jovanelly. Thanks for tuning in.
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By NateJovA friend pulled me aside last week and asked me last week how to avoid procrastination.
First let’s break down what procrastination is . . . the word means “moving or acting slowly so as to fall behind.” It is a blameworthy delay of not doing something against our better judgement.
Like most psychological things, procrastination is negative cycle of thoughts and emotions. There could be something unpleasant about the task like cleaning a dirty bathroom, but procrastination can also be rooted in deeper feelings like self-doubt, anxiety, or insecurity.
Regardless, by not doing the task you are rewarding yourself with a brief reprieve. It is this reward cycle that enables us to keep repeating the action to create the aforementioned procrastination loop that ends up making you feel worse in the long run.
Abraham Lincoln said, “you cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” I guess we all know that though since we are avoiding the task against our better judgement.
So then how can we avoid procrastination? Here are my top five things that can help.
1) Set goals. Write them down and have a plan. Having a plan removes the energy of having to make the decision to get started, and it also plants the seed in your mind that it is going to get done.
2) Prioritize. You only have so much time, and you need to manage priorities. The big things. The things that if you drop will cause catastrophic damage to your life, family, career, etc. If the task is meaningless then maybe you are not procrastinating, you are prioritizing!
3) Just start. Leonardo Da Vinci said, “It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
4) Remove distractions and put up road blocks to procrastination to make it less convenient. You can also tie your plan to existing habits to establish a routine and create new, better habits.
5) Manage your inner dialog. I am going to break this one into two parts: A) Perfection is the enemy of good enough so aim for done over perfect, and B) Remember, if you tell yourself you are a procrastinator than you are setting yourself up for failure. Start telling yourself that you are a person of action. A person that takes care of their priorities, and a person that gets things done.
Welcome to the Limitless Podcast with Nathan Jovanelly. Thanks for tuning in.