How would it feel to take action towards your goals and aspirations on a daily basis? And, even more than that: how would it feel to know that your actions are purposeful and aligned towards your goals and aspirations? That you are taking the necessary actions to progress and move forward? Amazing, right? Well, when we procrastinate, we don't do that. In fact, procrastination is one of the ways, we sabotage ourselves. It is an extremely harmful behaviour: on a short-term basis, disruptive, and on a long-term basis, destructive.
There are millions of blogs and articles about procrastination providing you with keys on how to stop it. I want to take a different angle, and instead of giving you keys to stop procrastination, I want to give you THE key to ensure that you don't even start procrastinating, and 8 strategies you can apply right now to take action towards your goals and aspirations.
Procrastinating is a behaviour, which is triggered; from that trigger, you then step into procrastination. So, what if, there was something you could do, so that you would not even go there? Thus, not having to apply steps to overcome procrastination? It is about focusing on what comes first, and, there is no controversy, as in which came first the chicken or the egg here! Procrastination comes second, so, let's focus on that first behaviour, that way, you apply a series of strategies at that moment, and stop procrastination before it even starts.
THE Key
The key to avoid procrastination is to focus on the why you are not taking action. By focusing on the why immediately, as in, as soon as you recognise the behaviour, you shift your focus onto the root cause, which lets you not only understand it but also, enables you to tackle it head-on by applying the relevant strategies. There are 2 steps to that key, and these work hand in hand: identify the lack of action (it sounds simple and yet, because it is often ignored, it leads to procrastination), and ask yourself: why am I not taking action? (you might have to ask yourself several times). When you have your reason, you can then move forward - can you see how you are then taking control of this, and avoiding procrastination?
The reason gives you the clues you need to take action. There are many reasons why people don't take action, and this will not be an exhaustive list. Yet, I want to highlight 4 of the most common reasons - these are the ones that tend to come up, again and again, when working with clients: confusion; overwhelm; perfectionism; and fear. For each of these, I am sharing 2 of my favourite strategies to help you take action and move forward.
If you are not taking action because you are confused...
Confusion is caused by a lack of clarity. And, I've written about the importance of clarity before; it is even one of the core mindset ABCs. Simply put, it is really hard to act upon something when we are not sure of what that something is. Here are my favourite 2 strategies:
Strategy #1 => Take a pen and paper, and write things down; write everything that you can think of, it is a called a brain dump. You need to get it all out of your head and capture it.
Strategy #2 => Answer a specific series of questions that will lead you to further clarity; you can either do it on your own, or with the help of a coach, a mentor, a colleague, a supportive friend.
If you are not taking action because you are overwhelmed...
Overwhelm is caused by a huge volume of disorganised information. Interesting fact, it often follows the confusion state. What happens is that you actually know what to do, but because it is so big, it freezes you. Here are my favourite 2 strategies:
Strategy #3 => Take your clarity list, write each of the items on individual notes (ideally, sticky notes), and then sort these around by ordering, planning, picking that FIRST action, and starting.
Strategy #4 => Review your action list, and strike-out the items you can eliminate, the ones that are not aligned with your goals (you'd be surprised!), and the items you can delegate.
If you are not taking action because you are a perfectionist...
Perfectionism can be beneficial, when (and only then) you are able to stop yourself and see when it becomes a roadblock to your dreams. It is important to look inwards and accept that this is something that you do, so that you can take control over it. Here are my favourite 2 strategies:
Strategy #5 => Set a clear and defined milestone to every single thing that you do; these due dates will act as deadlines to all of your activities, plans, projects...
Strategy #6 => Create an added accountability by sharing your plans (and dates!) with someone else: a coach, a mentor, a colleague, a supportive friend, so that they know when your project is due.
If you are not taking action because you are scared...
Fear is often encountered when you are aiming towards reaching new heights, reaching that next level. It is completely natural, and the most important thing you can do when you question your every move is to just keep moving forward. Here are my favourite 2 strategies:
Strategy #7 => Make yourself more uncomfortable than you are scared by listing the consequences of you not taking actions; ask yourself: how does my lack of actions impacts me (and others)?
Strategy #8 => Increase your excitement of what is to come by describing in details (visuals, sounds, feelings) the accomplished goal (this is 1 of the 10 steps of my Goal Reaching process).
Here you go: 1 key and 8 easily applicable strategies. It is now up to you to apply these when you are confused, overwhelmed, star-struck by perfection, or scared. Remember, tackle the why immediately; that way, you do not even have to step into the harmful procrastination loop.
And, one more thing... ! I believe that when we go for our dreams, these feelings are bound to happen. In fact, if they don't, it is a clear sign that you are not playing big, and you are playing safe. I want to go even further, and encourage you to not only accept these feelings, but also embrace these when they come up. Let go of the guilt or shame you may have been feeling in the past, as you now realise that these are great signs that you are making it happen in a big way. So, embrace these feelings, but do not let them control you, control them by applying the relevant strategies, and you will push through, and you will move forward.
Where you are today is the direct reflection of the thoughts, the decisions, and the actions you took days, months and years ago which means that where you will be tomorrow will be a direct reflection of the thoughts, the decisions, and the actions you are about to take. Make it happen!
If you liked this article, I invite you to join my inspiring (and free!) online M3 Power Community: http://frederiquemurphy.com/m3-power-community/ and start climbing your own mountains as you receive a wealth of mindset resources!
Frederique Murphy is a mindset strategist, who specialises in the areas of Inspirational Strategy, Leadership, Communication, Change, Impact, and Achievement. Thanks to her Mountain Moving Mindset platform, Frederique provides individuals, corporate executives, and entrepreneurs with a wealth of mindset resources to help them strategise with vision, design with clarity, plan with focus, and lead with momentum. She shares her M3 Power through her transformational range of innovative products, coaching services, #1 Amazon Best Seller book, award-winning blog, articles and newsletters, unforgettable talks and life-changing events. She believes in guiding her clients through unforgettable journeys towards their own true wealth as they become the true leaders of their life, career and business.
© Copyright Frederique Murphy, 2013 - Reprints are welcome so long as the article, author's resource box are published intact and all links made live.
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