Is procrastination a struggle for you? Do you ever tell yourself, “I perform best under pressure”? I used to say this a lot, and I had a huge problem with procrastination. Especially, if what I was procrastinating on was scary.

The problem with this is it causes us to create undue pressure and stress on ourselves. This makes for an overly intense work environment.

Procrastinator for life.

I had been a procrastinator for as far back as I can remember. Waiting to the last minute to get something done and then scrambling to get it done on time.  It didn’t matter if it was chores, homework, reports that where due, job applications, etc.

The funny thing was the more time I had to get something done the worse I procrastinated. I had all this time, and then all of a sudden, the deadline was tomorrow. What happened to all that time?

Does this sound at all familiar to you? If it does, I will tell you there is a more sane way to get things done and be successful.

What it really takes to stop procrastination.

When I started my journey of being self-employed, I found the procrastination to be completely counter productive. It was totally killing my success. I was missing out on opportunity, not building my customer base or team, and most of all, seeing no real income coming in.

Then I walked into a meeting and saw a woman who had started working with another consultant, whom I had been thinking about talking to for several weeks.  Ugh! That was it, no more procrastination. I wasn’t going to miss out on one more thing.

Procrastination can be a nasty habit that is completely stunting your businesses growth.

If you can relate to this, or if you have heard yourself saying, “I need to stop procrastinating”, I have a few tips for you.

Here are 7 steps to kick the procrastination habit:

1. Decide what you want. Take some time to really get clear on what you want to accomplish in your business.

2. Write it down. Get down on paper what you want to accomplish over the next three, six, nine, and twelve months. Most people never write down their goals. When you write your goals down you, can visualize it and feel it.

3. Figure out your why. This is one of the most important things for you to really know. When the going gets tough, you’ve got to be able to tap into why you’re doing what your doing. Ask yourself these questions: What will meeting my goals allow me to do, what will it allow me to have, and who will it allow me to become in the process?

4. Set a deadline. Break down your goals into bite size pieces, and put a deadline on them. A goal without a deadline very rarely happens.

5. Make a list of the most important recurring activity. Break each of your goals down into the most important activities that need to be done in order to accomplish your goal. Hint: These will be the 20% of activities that create 80% of your results. They are also the activities that are probably sitting at the edge of your comfort zone. 

6. Create a plan. Plan out by priority which activities and projects are most important to get done, and then schedule them into your calendar.

7. Take action. Now it’s time to get it done. Nothing happens until you do something. As soon as you have your plan together, take action immediately, and get started. This is usually the hardest part. Once you get started your on your way!

I would love to hear how these tips work for you, or if you have any other amazing tips to share.

Be bold, take action, and get your amazing work out into the world. Your people are waiting for you …

A warm welcome to this week’s new subscribers! I’m so glad you’re here.