What Do You Choose? Procrastination or the Sandy Beach This Summer?

Happy Summer! Summer is my favorite time of year- after all, I’m a Leo. I love the longer days, being by the

water, and all the warm-weather fun. As a business coach, I’ve seen how easy it is for clients to get lured into enjoying the fantastic weather and letting responsibilities slip by. Then comes September, and “freak-out” mode erupts as they try to catch up.

Procrastination – how to overcome it and kick the habit – is a favorite topic of mine. As a featured tele-summit presenter on this very topic for over 500,000 listeners, you might say that I know a lot about it.

Did you know that procrastination is about feeling good? Unfortunately, it only works short term! To get to the root of ending procrastination, you need to understand why you do it. Knowledge is power because it allows you to make better choices. As luring as the beach can be, sometimes it isn’t easy to enjoy your time there when a long to-do list awaits you. Don’t worry….there is a way to find the balance to enjoy the summer and not procrastinate!

Here are the primary reasons we procrastinate:

1. Fear of failing. You might be afraid you’ll fail and can only focus on the consequences of failure. Whether it is the fear of being judged by others, the blow to your self-confidence or being excluded, you believe there will be a very hefty price for failing, which makes you not want to move forward.

2. Lack of time. Everyone feels over-scheduled with not enough time in the day. The thought of adding one more item is overwhelming.

3. Not knowing how. If you don’t know the “how” or the “solution”, you’re less likely to move forward.

4. Hoping someone else will do it. This behavior stems from childhood when our parents got tired of nagging us to clean up our rooms, pick up our toys, or do the dishes. They would often do it themselves. As an adult, you might be hoping that another person or team member will pick up the slack so you are off the hook.

5. BSOS. That’s “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome”, meaning something better comes along that catches your attention.

6. Fear of success. This fear involves all of the “what if’s” for you to leave your Comfort Zone. Many people (despite complaining) prefer things remain the same or may want to stay under the radar.

Successful people don’t procrastinate. That’s because they hire people to help them dig deep into the source of their procrastination.

That leaves you with two choices. Either work through the reasons for your procrastination on your own or hire support to help you.

Here are a few suggestions to work through procrastination:

1. Put time on your schedule for the item. Ideally, allow extra time as things often take longer than expected.

2. If you have to do something that you’re not excited about (i.e., declutter), set the timer for 10 minutes. Work during that time and promise yourself you will stop when the timer goes off. Most often, you’ll find you’ll continue to work past that time and get more done than expected. It works like magic every time.

3. Ask for help. I know we think we have to be able to do everything ourselves, or we look weak. The opposite is true. When you ask for help, you’re allowing another person to assist or share their wisdom with you. This suggestion is huge! In fact, I held a 2-day workshop on this very topic!

4. Hire an expert. They know how to do it. Let them!

5. Work on your mindset about the fear of failure/success. I use “tapping” with my clients to help them overcome this obstacle.

Here’s what you can do on your own to work on your mindset:

1. Ask yourself what is it that you want to achieve?

2. List out what you’re afraid of could happen. Don’t judge what you write. These are your fears, whether they are real or not.

For example: “I’m afraid it won’t look professional.”

3. Ask yourself what is the worse that could happen if “it” doesn’t look professional.

For example: “I might be compared to others who have something better.”

4. List out what solutions you could do:

For example: “Hire an assistant.” Decide “good enough is good enough.” Ask a friend to proof. Show it to your coach/mentor/colleague. And so on.

5. Make a decision as to which solution will fit best for you if things don’t go as planned.

I hope you will find these suggestions helpful in overcoming any procrastination habits so that you can enjoy the summer and still reach your goals. As I mentioned above, my favorite technique is “tapping”, This powerful technique gets directly to the root. When you’re ready for my private coaching, let’s talk about how you could benefit from this technique and others to get you to the next level much sooner than expected.

Be Brilliant,