In our last post, we addressed different reasons as to why we procrastinate. If you missed it, you might want to read it first. (CLICK HERE)
I hope you took the time to sit and really examine what is going on in your life and are open to making changes. Before you start implementing strategies to overcome procrastination, you must take a clear look as to what is going on internally for you to put off your goals and as a result not achieving the success that you want.
Once you get honest with yourself, start taking action. Creating a plan of action will help you get clear on how much time you have, what is important to you and release anxiety and stress. Here are a few things you can start doing to get over procrastination:
Get a Planner
I highly recommend you get a planner that you can see both the month and week. I truly believe that planning and discipline equal freedom. Success is a planned event; it will not happen by itself without preparation. If you take a look at the most successful people in business and society, you will see that they take the time to plan their success. They write them down, the look it over constantly and they make adjustments.
Start Planning
Every week (you should start on Sunday), plan out your week. What major tasks to you have to accomplish that week? Write them in your calendar for the month and for that week start to schedule when and how you will start tackling these tasks. Plan in your fun time as well. If you know you have an event to go to during the week, be sure to plan your preparations for it.
Prioritize
Tackle the major events (projects, meetings, items that have a hard deadline) first and schedule the time to complete them. After that you can schedule the smaller things. Also it is a good idea to give yourself a time frame for completing these tasks. Often times we schedule a lot on our calendar and don’t think about the actual time we have to complete them.
Reflect
At the end of the day, reflect on the day’s events and how you did keeping to your schedule. If something didn’t work, change it. Did you get distracted? Why? What will you change so that distraction doesn’t happen again? Maybe you need to put your phone in another room, or perhaps you need to change the location you do your work in. Change what is in your ability, even small changes can have great positive effects.
AND THE GAME CHANGER!
Accountability
Connect with someone to hold you accountable. Just like athletes have private coaches to help them move forward, or individuals who want to lose weight hire a trainer or nutritionist and entrepreneurs have business coaches to help them set and achieve goals, it is important to connect with someone that will hold you accountable to your goals. This individual can help you map out your goals, help you come up with solutions for blocks and most importantly hold you accountable for the things you say you are going to do.
I hope these strategies and tools help you make changes, improve your life and help you kick stress and overwhelm out of your life. If you want to further the discussion and need help to implement these changes I am here to support you. CLICK HERE.
Much love,
Andrea Zacharias
