Procrastination - The Bitter Enemy of Achievement
Posted on November 12, 2011 by Sharon Schierling, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.
Do you suffer from procrastination. Many people do, so how do you overcome it, to build the life you want?
Most people have no problem identifying procrastination in their own lives. We all know the things we hate to do and are very creative about finding ways to avoid those tasks. Maybe it is working out, cleaning house, getting organized. Deep inside we all know when and what we tend to procrastinate.
The difference between being an employed procrastinator and a self-employed procrastinator is in the pay check. You see if you procrastinate with work you do for someone else, you will likely still get paid (assuming that you finally get things done), but if you procrastinate your network marketing business work, you likely won’t get paid at all.
But before we figure out how to avoid procrastination, let’s think about why most people procrastinate. First off, don’t blame your genes, I don’t believe there is a procrastination gene, but I do believe that we learn those habits from parents and other family members. Let’s look at a few reasons folks tend to procrastinate.
1. Perfectionism. This often surprises people because many procrastinators tend to seem a little disorganized and we rarely connect disorganization and perfectionism. The thinking is that these folks are waiting for the perfect time to do a task exactly right. If the task can’t be finished perfectly there is no reason to start.
2. The task is too much to handle – This is very common, many procrastinators look at a task as a whole, instead of the sum of its parts. For instance, she has to organize her home based business office, sounds simple enough. What the procrastinator sees is a disorganized mess, with filing to be done, bills to be paid, calls to be answered and so on. She sees this as one large insurmountable task instead many small steps. Consequently the home or business operates in chaos instead of order.
3. Unable to distinguish time constraints – Procrastinators always feel there is lots of time to get something done. Mary has five tasks that must be done by end of day. Because she has a whole day to get them done, she will start late, taking time to read the paper, watch the news and enjoy a second cup of coffee. She starts her first task and it goes well, so she takes a little break, and starts the second, which takes longer then she thinks and it puts her behind a little. She is not enough behind to worry her because she still has three hours before she has to be at an appointment across town. The thirds task takes twice as long as she things because she did not think about traffic in the area, and the fourth task makes her sweat and the fifth task is left for another day because she must get to her appointment which she arrives late for. If she had realized the length each task might take, she could have started earlier, but she never does, and finds that she is always a little behind.
4. Procrastinators always put off distasteful tasks. I know that most people tend to do that, but the procrastinator is a champ at it. If they hate buying groceries, they will be down to toothpicks and ketchup in the cupboard before they venture to the grocery store. Betty business owner hates putting gas in her car. Betty will be on the way to a networking marketing meeting and will discover the car is running on fumes. Betty will be late for the meeting with that important prospect because she will spend 20 minutes looking for a gas station, knowing that she passed by three stations yesterday thinking the tank was fine.
Procrastination does affect every area of the lives of those it holds in its grip. Whether you are a business owner, busy mother, or a student, procrastination will affect your whole life. Success in life depends on getting simple things done every day, whether we like it or not.
Find out what are the main reasons you procrastinate. Are you a perfectionist? Is this behavior that you learned from a parent or do you just hate doing things you don’t like to do? Getting to the heart of why you procrastinate is the first step in determining how to overcome these tendencies enough to create success in your life or career.
