How to Blast Through Procrastination — the Time Monsters
In my earlier post, Procrastination: A Friend Through a Different Lens, we talked about how procrastination can be your friend through your intuition, alerting you to stop and listen. Secondly, we also identified the underlying source of fear that has been contributing to your Procrastination as a foe or a time monster. And now, it’s time to blast through Procrastination full-blown.
These practical steps are simple, yet not always easy. You have probably heard them before, have forgotten them, and need to be reminded. And that’s okay because overcoming procrastination is all part of the ongoing process of living success — From the Inside Out.
The key to blasting through procrastination foe-1 (feeling overwhelmed) is to take small steps. And the key to blasting through Procrastination foe-2 (feeling inadequate) is to ask for help.
Time Monster #1: Being overwhelmed by the size or complexity of the task.
The key: Take small steps over a concentrated period to achieve the greatest.
Blasting Tips:
1. Choose a project or goal that you’ve been putting off because it’s overwhelming.
2. Break it down into small, manageable steps.
3. Schedule each small step into your calendar over the span of a week.
4. Mark off each small step as you complete it.
Reminder: It’s easier to accomplish an overwhelming task by doing it in small steps.
Time Monster #2: Feeling inadequate or incapable of doing the project.
The key: Asking for help from experts or stakeholders.
Blasting Tips:
1. Select the project that you have been avoiding because you are feeling inadequate or incapable of completing the job.
2. Ask for help from your manager or someone who has expert knowledge in that area.
3. Together, devise an action plan for doing the project.
4. Complete steps 2 to 4 from foe #1 on your own.
5. Go back for help as many times as you need to if you get stuck along the way.
Reminder: Successful people understand and accept that they don’t know everything and hence surround themselves with support, mentors, and coaches to help them do or get the job done. You can do this too. Now it’s time for you to pull up your bootstraps and get ready to blast through your procrastination.
Choose a task that is from your Time Monster #1 or #2 and start putting the recommended blasting taps into place, and you are on the way to taming these time monsters.
Successful people know that asking for help is more than ok.
Are you having trouble getting started with your small steps?
Here is a bonus tip: Set a timer for 20 minutes. When it goes off, you can either stop what you are doing or keep going. The key is that the timer lets you know that you have a choice to stop after 20 minutes. This may sound corny, but it works.
Start Blasting!
