This blog post is a part of the Overcoming Procrastination to get more done series:
Overcoming Procrastination to get more done | Part 1
Overcoming Procrastination to get more done | Part 2
7 Hacks To Motivate Yourself To Make Progress
Overcoming procrastination is something we all will face throughout our lifetime. Procrastination is not biased or prejudice, it doesn’t care what your age, gender or goals are. We are all affected.
I want to help you in your journey in overcoming procrastination, I want you to be a goal smasher, a Queen among Queens, a get sh#t done kind of girl, so, I am sharing my best tips and strategies for overcoming procrastination over 2 blog posts.
Reading Materials:
Overcoming Procrastination to get more done | Part 1
If you’re ready to put your procrastinating ways behind you and smash those goals out of the park, then keep reading.
In this blog post, I will explain how overcoming procrastination takes action, I give you an easy 3-step process to help you find alignment and get more done, how accountability is your secret weapon in overcoming procrastination and the key to success is making progress every day!
First, you need to know your goal, lets dive in!
Set A Goal – Write It Down – Get Started
“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.” —Mark Victor Hansen
Getting over procrastination takes action. Of course, that is easier said than done. To help a fellow Queen out, I am going to share a simple 3-step process with you that will help you find alignment and get more done than you ever thought possible.
It all starts with a goal. You must know what it is you want to accomplish. If you don’t know what your goal is, it’s hard to know what you should be doing first or what you should be doing right now to move in the right direction. So, what do we do instead? Anything other than the work we know needs to get done. <– GUILTY!
Your goal is simply putting what you know you need to get done into words. A good goal has defined parameters and a set deadline. That doesn’t have to be complicated.
Here’s a simple goal we all strive to accomplish.
We have to file our taxes by a specific date. You have a pretty good idea of what paperwork you need, what forms you need to fill out, and where you need to turn them in. You also know what your deadline is.
In other words, you have a well-defined goal when it comes to filing your taxes. And yes, I realised most of us still procrastinate when it comes to this particular task. That’s why the remaining steps are just as important as the first one. For now, I want you to think about one thing you need to get done and turn it into a goal.
Write it down. I don’t care if you find a random scrap of paper, use your favourite notebook, or type a note to yourself on your phone. The important part is that you put your goal into writing.
This does two things:
- It helps you clarify what your goal is. You must get specific when you try to put what you want or need to do into words.
- Writing it down gives you something to look back on. It serves as a reminder and as a tool that you can use when you are tempted to procrastinate.
Now, you just have to get started. That’s often the hardest part, isn’t it? You’re tempted to skip your workout until you have the right running shoes. But once you’re off and running, it’s much easier to keep going.
Once you have your goal written down, think about something you can do right now to move you in the right direction. Go do that. Then come back and do something else.
Each morning start by looking at your goal and challenge yourself to take action. Before you know it, you will have made some serious progress. And on your way to overcoming procrastination.
Old habits are hard to break – Accountability is key to overcoming procrastination
“What you do, tells me everything about you.” ― Jerry Fernandez
Overcoming procrastination can be hard. We do well for a few days, but then old habits set back in, or we get frustrated with our lack of visible progress. Nothing goes fast enough.
If you face a small setback at this point, it may be enough to stop working on what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. Thankfully, there’s something you can do to significantly improve your chances of success.
Accountability.
Track your progress
Start by tracking what you do. You can do this via a simple habit tracker.
Use a box for each day of the week and check it off or fill it in when you do the thing you told yourself you would do. Keep tracking until it becomes a habit or until the project is done.
For larger projects that you may or may not work on daily, it helps to write down your goal and then break it into milestones. Record your progress and how much closer you’re inching to each of your goals.
Make daily to-do lists
Write out a list of everything you want to get done for the day. I find it helpful to do this the day before. Play around with how many items you put on that list. You don’t want it to overwhelm you, but you do want to challenge yourself to get more done. Your to-do list holds you accountable because you can see in black and white if you procrastinated or not.
Tell someone about your plans
If there’s something you’ve been struggling to get done, tell someone else about your plans to finally tackle it. Call a friend, tell your partner, or announce it on social media. Encourage the people you’re sharing with to check back with you on how you did. It may be the little extra push you need to stop procrastinating.
Find An Accountability Buddy
Last but not least, find someone else who’s procrastinating and start holding each other accountable. It can be as simple as checking in the morning to declare what you each want to get done. Then again at the end of the day to see what happened. Knowing someone else is right there with you can be super motivating.
Give each of these strategies a try and see which ones give you the best results on your journey to overcoming procrastination. Like anything else, procrastinating is a habit, and you can get out of it and turn yourself into the motivated and productive version of yourself you want to be.
REMEMBER: Being motivated and productive doesn’t mean you’re always “doing something”, it means you’re focusing on the most important things. “Being busy” is not a badge of honour, it means you aren’t managing your time effectively, or you don’t have systems and boundaries in place.
Make Progress Every Single Day To Overcoming Procrastination For Good
I know it can be challenging when overcoming procrastination, but after reading this blog post, you should be equipped with tips and strategies on your journey to overcoming procrastination.
I hope you’ve been taking notes and more importantly that you will take action and make progress on at least one of the things you’ve been procrastinating on.
We end this blog with the most important piece of advice and the main lesson I want you to take away from all this.
Make progress every single day!
Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why I’m leaving you with three simple hacks to help you. Give them a try and see if you can’t get into the habit of being productive every day instead of procrastinating.
Plan For It
It’s easy to make progress every day when you know exactly what you should be working on next. Make a solid plan and then decide what you will do each day of the week. Write it down in a planner and adjust daily as needed.
In the morning, you can see at a glance what it is you should be doing. Then get to work on it first thing before the day gets away from you. I find it helpful to have my planner sitting right in front of me at my desk, keeping me on track.
I use a project management system called Trello to keep track of all my goals. You can use their free version or their paid version. The free version is packed with so many amazing features, but I won’t get into on this blog post, I’ll save that for another time 😉
Don’t Break The Chain
There’s something to be said about a chain or a streak. Record every day you don’t procrastinate on something. You can mark it on a monthly calendar, or create a chain of sticky notes, stickers, or even one of those paper chains you used to make in preschool.
The goal is simple. Don’t break the chain. Once you have a few days under your belt, you’ll be motivated to go the extra mile and do that one thing you need to do to avoid breaking the streak.
If I miss a work out for 1 day, I can easily fall back into my routine of being active every day (whether it be yoga, walking Frankie, running on the treadmill or a full workout). But, if I miss 2 days, I find it incredibly easy to not be active on the third day.
Anyone else? Or is it just me?
Check-In With Yourself
As you start to make progress on the things you know you need to be doing, you should feel your anxiety reduce. Instead, you’ll feel your confidence increase. Don’t be surprised to feel proud of your accomplishments.
Instead, use those feelings to propel you forward to more procrastination free days. Procrastination is a habit. It’s something you learned to do, which means it’s something you can unlearn.
Stick with it, make progress every day, and enjoy those feelings of accomplishment.
Do what matters most on your journey to overcoming procrastination.
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