|
|
Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! |  |
|
5 Steps to Overcome Procrastination and Take Action
| Guest post by: Gerrianne Clare |
Article Overview: Do you procrastinate and often find a myriad of excuses as to why you have not got things done? Do you feel overwhelmed with the many things you have on your “to do” list and wonder how you will ever get started doing them let alone get them all done. Many people blame a lack of time as the reason why they do not get things completed on their list. Granted, time is precious and there are many demands on all of us. However, sometimes the size of the list can often be the biggest reason why people do not get things done. They just don’t know where to start. What I have outlined are 5 simple steps that can help you tackle some of your list? So let’s begin.
 |
Free Download - Noticing Stress In Your Life By Gerrianne Clare |
5 Steps to Overcome Procrastination and Take Action
Do you procrastinate and often find a myriad of excuses as to why you have not got things done?
Do you feel overwhelmed with the many things you have on your “to do” list and wonder how you will ever get started doing them let alone get them all done.
Many people blame a lack of time as the reason why they do not get things completed on their list.Granted, time is precious and there are many demands on all of us. However, sometimes the size of the list can often be the biggest reason why people do not get things done.They just don’t know where to start.What I have outlined are 5 simple steps that can help you tackle some of your list? So let’s begin.
Think about your list of things you need to get done in the next week.Take one of the items on your list and let’s work with it.
For example maybe one of the items on your list involves: sorting through summer clothes and shifting to winter wear. You may have the task as “sort through my clothes and get rid of what does not fit me, look good or feel good anymore”.Perhaps you have put this off for a couple of seasons and now the task feels stressful and overwhelming.
1) Make a plan as to how you will approach the project.Are there things on the list that naturally work together e.g. sorting through drawers, closets, doing laundry, throwing out worn out items, recycling clothes to the Mission.Taking the time to get clarity onwhatneeds to get done will often make it easier to figurehowto get it done.
2) Break the parts of your list into 5, 10, 20 or 30 minute segments.Go through your list and make a “ball park” estimate as to how much time it will take you to get small segments done. Maybe you have a chest of drawers that you want to sort through?Will each drawer take you 15 minutes or 30 minutes?Go through your plan identified in #1 and figure out how much time each part will take you (roughly).Now you can attack the project in bits.
3) Identify any emotions you have about completing the task at hand.This is a very important part.A lot of people have some emotion attached to the project they need to get completed and these emotions may be getting in the way of getting the work done.Are there some negative memories associated with the clothes or do the clothes bring up negative feelings about yourself or others?
Name the feelings that you feel about the task.For example: “These clothes remind me when I was in good shape and I was taking much better care of myself, I do not want to sort them out because it makes me feel like a failure because I have gained weight”. Another negative emotion may be:“I wore these clothes when I was working at ___ and I got so burnt out working there, I cannot bear the idea of looking at them again”.By acknowledging that there are negative, unpleasant feelings associated with the clothes you bring awareness to this emotion which you can then deal with.Once you have recognized the emotion, you may want to ask yourself:
"What can I do right now to help clear this emotion”?Sometimes just identifying that you are angry, frustrated or unhappy can be enough to clear the emotion and help you to move on.
4) Set the intention to do one segment per day?Perhaps you estimate that the entire project will take you about 6 hours to do. When you complete small segments over the course of a week, it is often feasible that you can do 6 hours of work broken up into small pieces over the whole week.
Can you commit to one segment a day –
When you find that you have time in a day to do one of your segments –
Breathe, get to work, set the timer, when timer goes off, breathe
5) Celebrate!!!It is so important to celebrate your accomplishments however small.If you have set the intention to do small segments throughout the day when you have time and you have done that even once then celebrate. It is amazing how many people do not give themselves credit for the work that they have done because the project is not yet complete.This can often leave one feeling like “they are never enough”.The celebration may be as simple as saying to yourself – “wow, I committed to taking 5 minutes and getting one thing done and I did it”.What often happens when we take the time to celebrate we want to continue to do more of the same.So make sure you celebrate.
Taking Action means taking a step.Every one of the steps outlined above is important.Don’t skip any of these steps. The reality is with a plan that outlines workable steps and has the right blend of awareness, intention and celebration anything is possible.Good luck withyour projects.
Gerrianne Clare,
Family Guidance System
Pushing Past Procrastination - The Revelation
Real Estate Marketing Strategies - How You Can End The Habit Of Procrastination For Good
Defeat Procrastination and Make More Cash!
Marketing strategies: Procrastination and the Fear of Failure
Top Tips for Beating Procrastination when You have ADHD
Anti-Procrastination ACTION PLAN
Put Your Procrastination COWS Out To Pasture!
Anger Solutions at Work - The Psychology of Procrastination
Successful People Beat Procrastination
The P Word
8 Ways of Looking at Procrastination and How to Avoid it
4 Tips for Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination to Massive Action- 10 Tips to Establish a Record of Completions
Procrastination – Five Simple Ways to Overcome This Self-Defeating Habit
Eradicate Procrastination - Be Action Oriented
Procrastination: Productivity Paralyzer or Power House?
Zap the Procrastination Bug!
Developing Systems to Permanently End Procrastination
3 Easy Tips To Stop Procrastinating And Launch Your Marketing Strategy
I’ll Do It Later
Article Tags: completion, goals, motivation, projects, tasks
|
About the Author: Gerrianne Clare RSS for Gerrianne's articles - Visit Gerrianne's website Click here to visit Gerrianne's website   5 Steps to Overcome Procrastination and Take Action WorkLife Balance Tips to Keep You Sane 7 Ways to Decrease Your Stress NOW Cultivating a Healthy Relationship With Your Body Noticing Stress In Your Life |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Success
- I study success intently, and would like to share:
Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters.
FIRST FORMULA:
1. Passionate Desire
2. Clear, Definite Purpose
3. Committed Decision
4. Take Action In Faith
(Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently)
I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it.
Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula.
SECOND FORMULA:
1. Passionate Desire
2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith)
3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly)
This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret).
Hope that helps!
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today?
- My biggest challenge is focusing. There are so many things I want to do and ideas that I have. I can never decide what to do next and when I do decide it's hard to focus on it and get it done. Procrastination is the resulting outcome.
Re: Blog sells for up to $15 million
- Action speaks louder than dream. What are we doing about GT suggestion? We can make this work in 2010
Success Strategies
- How to get the results you want now?
Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are:
The Power of Choice
Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this.
The Power of Focus
The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives.
The Power of Commitment
This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community.
My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is:
S pecific & self-directed
U nlimited opportunities & possibilities
C reate powerful outcomes
C onsistent measureable results
E xperience pwoerful transformation
S olution and action-oriented
S uccessful habits and outcomes
Break Through to
Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices
Moira
Advertisement that sales
- Plan your marketing programme. It should include commitment to capital resources.
If you run a small business, you aren't likely to have a generous enough advertising budget that will allow you to run costly branding or campaign ads.
Every advertisement you run must convey to your prospect a solid offer and attractive reasons to act quickly, and result in increased sales and an enhanced image of your company.
Good advertising always pays its own way through increased sales and profits, improved cost-effectiveness, reduced selling costs and shortened selling cycles.
A useful formula that will help you increase the effectiveness of your advertising efforts is A-I-D-A, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
When creating an advertisement, always remind yourself that it should: (1) capture your prospects' Attention, (2) arouse their Interest in your offer, (3) create their Desire for your product or service, and (4) provide a powerful spur to Action, that is, turn your prospect into buyers.
Remember, bad advertising is an unproductive expense, and good advertising is an investment in future profits!
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Featured Article
by: 
Attitude is Altitude
How To Use Carbon Copy Pro As A Strategic Tool For Your Business
Best Automated Forex Trading Strategy
Build Your List with Joint Venture Giveaway Events
May 2012 Top 100 Social Media Experts to Follow on Twitter
Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Popular Articles
Work Life Balance: Adding White Space
Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.
Download a template or see a lawyer?
Work Life Balance: Adding White Space
Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.
Download a template or see a lawyer?
Suggestions
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.