LOLAWho hasn’t experienced procrastination before? Taking a little longer than expected to finish something you started. Knowing that you have or can easily acquire all of the necessary resources, even spent money and time for the start up but haven’t managed to follow through. A little procrastination is fairly normal. But allowing procrastination to become a way of life is a game plan for continued disappointment.
Below are 4 signs that there is more to your procrastination than meets the eye and how to confront them.
1. Always starting over but never progressing
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. It’s natural to experience a false start. It happens to everyone. Sometimes there are other priorities that take precedence after we make an initial start. Unforeseen circumstances may arise or you just don’t have the energy it will require to bring your vision or intention to realization at the moment. But if you don’t try again, how else will we ever succeed?
Solution:
Break your task or project into steps. They say the hardest part is to start. From there, each step leads to another leads to another. Starting over and over again may be a repeat of the heavy lift but another step or action on the to do list, however small, is still a move in the way of productivity.
2. Unwilling to take accountability
When we know that we want or must do something but fail to, it can be far easier to place blame. We can point to something, someone or even circumstances around us rather than taking accountability for the lack of progress. When we reflect on something that we really really want, we can feel worse about not taking the necessary steps when we reflect on how awesome and rewarding the outcome would have been. Sort of like feeling regret for something that we never did.
Solution:
- Once you settled on your ideal goal and have hatched a plan, make realistic steps based upon your resources and time. The key is to make a plan that is actually doable. This way, no individual step will feel too difficult and put you off your task which can derail your overall plan.
- Give yourself grace if things don’t always go as planned – life happens at times. But, hold yourself accountable to get back on track. As they say, keep your eye on the ball. Find ways to continuously connect with the successful outcome you are working toward such as a regular visualization practice, motivating images such as a vision/bulletin board or an electronic device. The more that you allow your goal to resonate within yourself, you will meet your plan with consistent energy and effort. This will increase the likelihood of your success.
3. Using a setback as an excuse to abort mission
Anyone who has ever pursued a goal rarely thinks of all the potential setbacks. We’re often so preoccupied with possibilities that our actions can take that we fail to anticipate any potential threats that may arise along the way – lack of time, resources, life events just to name a few. When a threat presents itself, it is much easier to turn and walk away. This is human nature – even at the cost of pursuing a goal.
Solution:
Most threats can be conquered. It may cause your plan to take a detour, throw off your timeline or change the outcome slightly but with consideration and time to think things through, you might just find that the threat isn’t as bad as you initially thought it would be.
- Allow yourself to get into a creative state of mind. Use this opportunity to debate the threat as thoroughly as possible and think of all alternative solutions. Some may be more obvious or far-fetched than others but go ahead, allow your mind to consider anything and everything
- Develop a mini-plan for every one of those alternative solutions. Keep them in the back of your mind in case anything else that you weren’t anticipating presents itself later.
Exercising your critical thinking skills offers a few benefits at once. For one, it makes you work harder for your goal. You’ll find that you’re less likely to abort the mission at the slightest setback and will appreciate the reward more. You may find that you are likely to pursue other goals because risks will seem less intimidating. Also, critical thinking will help you to stay calm in the most unexpected moments, becoming more preoccupied by considering the details of a solution rather than being stressed by an ordeal.
4. Basking in the inspiration but never following through
So, you’re feeling inspired. You kinda have an idea of what you want but no idea how to do it so you search for others who have done it before you or may even be popular or adjacent to the type of topic that your idea is related to. You purchase books, listen to podcasts, search for like-minded individuals on social media and devour all the content that you can find on professionals who have accomplished goals that you admire and respect. The problem is that you may begin to spend more time being a fan of your goal than actually pursuing it.
Solution:
- Take this opportunity to ask yourself one question – what one thing stands between yourself and developing a plan? If there is an obstacle to that “one thing”? How can you overcome it?
- Beware of self-doubt because that struggle can be real. If you cannot figure out what your “obstacle” is, look inwardly to determine if you are experiencing any emotional reservations that can be stunting your ability to grow. A few questions to ask yourself and kickstart this inner reflection are:
“If I had all the resources I needed, would I still be at a standstill?”
“Am I afraid to pursue this goal? Am I uncomfortable with what the outcome may be?”
“Will my life be better or different? Am I prepared for the desired outcome?”
“Am I afraid of failure? Why? What makes me so sure that I might fail?”
“Do I really want this?”
- Make “How I Got Started” stories a staple in your inspiration content. Most individuals, however new or established they are in any industry, have unique stories or reasons that they got started in the first place. Seeing how far others have come from their beginnings can be another form of inspiration, perhaps motivating you to create your own unique and quirky origin story. It will also demonstrate that many of those people were once in your position, which will no doubt serve as comfort that your goal isn’t entirely impossible – it just takes work and thought to get it.
Photos by Matheus Bertelli, Liza Summer, Shvets Production, Breaking Pic and Thirdman via Pexels
