2 Tricks That Help Overcome Procrastination
Your best friend, procrastination.
“What!” you say, “My best friend, how could you say that?” The reason procrastination is your best friend is because it's on the teetering edge of motivation.
Let me explain.
For a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying. Here are some other examples you may be familiar with:
- putting off an important decision
- leaving a critical task undone
- becoming counterproductive and keeping “busy” on needless work
To start behaving this way it takes real mastery. You've got to learn how to procrastinate – it doesn't just happen. You've got to use your physiology, create the right emotions and get it all working perfectly and in the right sequence. And when you get really good at it so you can do it without thinking, then you've really mastered it. What an accomplishment!!
Most people don't look at it this way. They think procrastination is a negative thing. What they don't realize is that you learned this behavior. If you can learn how to procrastinate and do it well, then you can just as easily learn how to become motivated.
You see, all you're creating is a result. You're teaching yourself how to get motivated or how to procrastinate. To get really good at procrastination you had to learn how to use your emotions because your emotions are what drive your behavior.
Here are 2 ways to overcome procrastination:
- Eliminate Fear
You see, you've got these emotions pulling you back and forth. It's like an internal tug of war. Some days you're good and others days – not so good. Positive emotions pull you towards what you want; negative emotions push you away.
In a sense, procrastination is a form of self-sabotage. If fear didn't exist then you wouldn't be putting things off. You just go for it!
But since you're putting things off (like we all do at some point) then your negative emotions must be stronger than your positive emotions; or in other words, your fear is winning the tug of war.
If you want to eliminate procrastination, then eliminate your fear. Just ask yourself: Are you pushing away the things you want? And if you are, are you pushing them away because of your fear of success or your fear of failure?
Once you get clear on what's stopping you, you can reframe those fears and empower yourself to take action.
- Cultivate Desire
Remember, emotions govern your behavior. Fear pushes you away from what you want and desire pulls it towards you.
Someone once asked me, “Why did you get into coaching?” I thought about it and said, “Because I have an overwhelming desire to do it.” It's not an overly complicated answer, but here's my point.
Your emotions are what drive your behavior. If you keep putting something off, then you don't have a burning desire to do it. No desire = no action.
So, how do you cultivate desire?
You start with the end in mind. How will things look when they're all done? What will you see and how will you feel?
If you can associate strong emotions with the end result, you can cultivate a burning desire. Then watch how fast you jump into action.
 |
Written on 11/06/2009 by Steve Martile. Steve is a Mind Power Coach and the creator of Freedom Education – Mind Power for Your Personal Growth. He is also the author of the ebook that you can download here: The Genius Within YOU. | Photo Credit: Danielle Scott |
