7 Ways to Stop Procrastination In Its Track So You Can Ensure You Accomplish Your Goals

by | Jan 31, 2017 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Women Empowerment

7 Ways to Stop Procrastination in Its Track So You Can Ensure You Achieve Your Goals
Procrastination left unchecked will become habitual, and allowing your procrastination to become habitual is dangerous as it will delay your progress, and inevitably keep you stagnant. Since the mind operates on neural pathways that it carves out over the course of months and years of repetitious behavior, when procrastination is a habit, it’s hard to break. However, when a person is committed enough to do something, they will get it done in spite of obstacles.
“Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin.” — Victor Klam
So, how do you stop procrastinating and start making progress?

Here are 7 Ways to Stop Procrastination in its Track So You Can Achieve Your Goals

1. Ensure the Goal is Something You are Passionate About

When you are in pursuit of something you are passionate about, you are usually enthusiastic about achieving it, and thus more likely to do what it takes to accomplish it. Take for example, your dream of owning a home in a particular neighborhood, you would first take time out to visit the neighborhood, then research houses that are for sale, check the processes as well as the cost range for the houses, and then continue to work on the requirements – regardless of any obstacles. You would think about this everyday, and take consistent steps towards your goal of achieving it, because you are passionate about it. At this point you already have your why for wanting a home as well as for wanting it in that particular neighborhood. And so, if you are ever faced with obstacles, this passion and your why will keep you in hot pursuit of your dream home. If the goal is not something you are passionate about, then it will be 10 times harder to continue pursuing it.

2. Create Clearly Defined Goals with Milestones

In a recent post entitled, How to Ensure You Achieve your Goals in Life, we talked about a three-part method to setting goals through active goal setting rather than passive goal setting which is the key functionality of the SMART goal model. When you actively set your goals, and you write them out on paper or type them on a keyboard on a device, you send a visceral signal to your brain. You’re telling your brain clearly and concisely what you want, why you want it, and when you want it by. This is one of the most important steps to setting goals that many people simply overlook. When you do not write things down, and you merely leave your goals in your mind as some obscure abstracts, it tells your mind that you’re not only not serious about those goals, but that you haven’t envisioned them enough to put them on paper. When they are on paper, they’re real. There’s a real date that you’re aiming to accomplish those goals by, you understand exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish, and you know why you’re doing it. So, the first way to stop procrastinating so you can accomplish your goals, is to understand exactly what you want and why you want it. Then, when you know what you’re aiming for, you can break those goals down into milestones. You can take your one-year goals, break them down into months, weeks, and even days. Then, things become more manageable and achievable. You know what you have to do today, and you don’t get overwhelmed with the enormity of a huge goal.

3. Utilize the Quadrant System for Time Management

Most people procrastinate because of poor time management. When you cannot manage your time properly, then it becomes hard to get ahead because you are using your time to do the things that are not directly connected to your goal achievement, and by the time you are through there is no time left to do those things that truly matter to your goal accomplishment. The more you fall behind, the harder it will be to catch up, and before you know it, that procrastination becomes habitual and the pattern becomes harder and harder to break. So, you need to institute some time management skills in order to create the best scenario that will allow you to follow through, and not become another victim of procrastination.
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” – Dwight Eisenhower
In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey – building on Eisenhower’s words – created the Time Management Quadrant System which he explained at length. According to Stephen, there are 4 quadrants, but the one to spend the most time in, is quadrant 2 which deals with the substantive parts of our lives such as building relationships, writing personal mission statements, long-range planning, exercising, preventive maintenance, preparation – all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing. 5 Ways to Stop Procrastinating So You Can Accomplish Your Goals - Time Management Matrix - My Blooming Biz So, how does time management apply to procrastination?

When you manage your time wisely, that will ensure you do the things that directly contributes to your goal achievement. When you look at your goals and your milestones, you can break your day out into activities. Now, this applies to your free time; if you work a full-time job, then that’s a block of time you cannot skip over. However, when you do have free time, you can break out what you do into any of the four quadrants. Plan your day, so you can write the quadrant that each activity you have to do falls under.

So, the way to tackle procrastination is to ensure that you do the not urgent but important activities first, followed by the urgent and important. Quadrants 3 and 4 should occupy the least amount of your time. If you’re not doing anything towards your long-term goal on a daly basis, then you are increasing the time it will take to accomplish your goal as well as lessening the chance of you ever getting to it. Remember, procrastination becomes a habit, and habits are difficult to break.

4. Implement the 15-Minute Rule

According to health and wellness coach Caroline Buchanan, doing an activity for 15 minutes, and committing only to that block of time, helps to get over the hurdle of procrastination. The concept is that generally when someone does something for 15 minutes, they usually continue doing it for much longer, and by only committing to 15 minutes, you are helping to overcome one of the biggest hurdles in your mind, which simply involves getting started. Get a timer – use your phone, a stop watch, or a clock that you have handy. It has to be something that can count down the time, and place it in front of you. Set the timer to 15 minutes. Then, start doing the activity that you’ve been putting off and commit to doing it for 15 minutes. Try this and come back here and let us know, “What happened when the time ran out?”

5. Keep Your Body, Mind, and Spirit Sharp and Optimized

When pursuing your goals you have to ensure your mind, body and spirit are in tip top shape in order to have the best possible scenario of ensuring success. Eat healthy foods to heighten your energy instead of foods that make you sluggish. Exercise your body, which also rejuvenates the mind. Get ample amount of sleep so your mind and body can be well rested and recharged to tackle whatever phase or hurdle you are in, in your pursuit. Meditate, go for walks, swim, read a book, get together with family and friends, or even volunteer in order to feed your spirit.

6. Change Your Environment

Patterns are developed through environmental cues. For example, when we’re at home, we run a certain set of behaviors that our mind has become accustomed to running but when we can break that pattern and change our environment, we can change our behavior. So, if you always find yourself jumping on the couch, grabbing the television remote, and turning on the television when you know you should be working on your goal, change your environment.

Take your laptop to a coffee shop or grab a notepad and pencil and head out to a park and sit on a bench. You will find that changing your environment can be one of the best ways to break the habits that have formed over time. So, if being in a particular environment is not empowering you to work on your long-term goals, go somewhere else and do it.

7. Locate and Enlist an Accountability Partner

The last method for eliminating procrastination in your life is to find an accountability partner. Accountability partnerships work when they are a collaboration between two colleagues who like and respect one another — your partner is someone you trust, who will keep you honest and moving on a path you set for yourself. For example, if the goal involves getting to the gym 3 days per week, then having an accountability partner can help to motivate one another. When you’re feeling down they can help to push you, and when they’re feeling down, you can help to push them.

Also, if you promise someone you will meet them at the gym, you feel really guilty if you do not keep your promise, and so in making the effort to not disappoint them, you end up following through for yourself as well. Research shows that having an accountability partner can be highly effective at ensuring we will actually do what we are suppose to, and not just talk about it.

Don’t allow the silent killer of opportunity – procrastination, to assassinate your dreams! If procrastination has become a problem in your life, try applying the above-mentioned methods and you will find yourself being more productive, and living a more meaningful life that does not have you putting your dreams on the back burner.

With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,

My Blooming Biz International

How to Ensure You Achieve Your Goals In Life

by | Jan 18, 2017 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Women Empowerment

We all want to achieve something in our lives. We all have goals that we set, yet oftentimes forget. But what does it take to really achieve anything? How can you go about accomplishing a goal that you’ve always wanted to accomplish? Well, in the past, if you’ve set some goals and you didn’t follow through, there’s a reason for that. There’s a reason that we throw up our hands in silent resignation. Most of us simply want something and we want it now; we don’t want to have to work tirelessly for it.

So, how do we go from simply saying we want something, to actually following through and achieving anything we put our minds to? How do we push through when all we want to do is give up? It all boils down to a simple three-part formula and how each part align with what you are trying to accomplish. No matter how big or small that goal is, it can be achieved through the simple application of this formula. Too often, people simply get caught up and stop pushing towards their hopes and their dreams. You can change that today!

So, what’s the formula to achieving anything you want in life?

There are no huge secrets to success in life. Succeeding at your goals takes the simple application of consistent action, adjusting your approach when necessary, and staying the course. Most of us set goals without thinking too much about them. We might have some notion in our mind of what we want to achieve, but when it comes time to making that goal a reality, we don’t actually follow through with it. We get sidetracked by life and we revert to old undisciplined, procrastinating behaviors. But it’s high-time to break those self-defeating patterns.

Three Part Formula (The Three W’s) to Goal Setting

To push through your present day limitations, make a breakthrough, and realize your dreams, you have to follow the three W’s when it comes to goal setting. If you can clearly tackle the three W’s, then you can achieve just about anything. The important part is to make a clear definition of each of the three W’s in your life. You actually have to put pen to paper or words to a screen. This isn’t something that should be done passively.

1. What?

The first “W” is the “What?” You have to know what your goal is. It has to be very specific. And you have to write or type it out. This isn’t passive goal setting. This involves creating a detailed account of what goal you want to achieve in your life and it has to involve some precise details. Why should it be so specific? Because, there’s a mental shift that occurs in your mind when you specifically lay out what goal you want to achieve and experience the motion of actualizing it as you write or type each goal.

When you actively set goals with detail like this, you go from some arbitrary target to one that’s very real and in front of you. You can see it and you should be able to visualize it. Instead of saying you want a lot of money, how much money do you want? There has to be an exact figure. Instead of saying you want to be thin, exactly how much do you want to weigh? What type of clothes will you be wearing? What type of food will you be eating to help with your weight loss?

2. When?

The second “W” in goal setting is the “When?” You have to know when you want to achieve your goal and it should be realistic and measurable. Giving your goal a time to be accomplished by, is very essential, otherwise how will you know when you’ve accomplished it? And if you’ve never lost more than 10 pounds in your life, don’t say that you’ll lose 60 pounds in 6 months. When you’re realistic and the goal is attainable, you’re much more likely to build momentum and strive for those more lofty long-term goals.

This should also help you in breaking your goal out into milestones. If you do want to lose 60 pounds, give yourself a year, then break that goal down into milestones. If you want to lose 60 pounds in one year, then that’s 5 pounds per month or 1.25 pounds per week. Can you see how this is much more attainable now? And since there are 3500 calories in one pound of fat, you can go about doing the calculations of just how much you have to eat and exercise each day to reach that goal.

3. Why?

The last, but equally important “W” to goal achievement is the “Why?” If your reasons for wanting a goal are merely superficial, you’ll find yourself giving up when the going gets tough. On the other hand, if the reason you want to accomplish your goals are so important and meaningful to you in life, then you’ll find yourself following through; you’ll find yourself succeeding. But, too many of us don’t have strong enough “Whys” in life. We don’t have a strong enough reason why we want what we want, and that has to change if we are to achieve any goal.

So, you have to make a clear definition of not only what you want and when you want it by, but also why you want it. Write it out and be specific. Don’t leave this in your mind. Remember, passive goal setting won’t get you anywhere! If you engage in active goal setting, and you really set out to do the work, then you can achieve anything you put your mind to in life.

With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,

My Blooming Biz International