Avoiding procrastination
It’s time to execute some plans, begin some tasks, and achieve some goals. Here are some ways to handle the temptation to procrastinate.
Step #1: Do what is most important
Anything that comes in the way of the most important thing to do right now is procrastination. Resist the urge to handle the urgent rather than the important. Handle the important.
Step #2: Establish your priorities
Make a list of your priorities in life, and then rank your to-do list accordingly. Don’t allow the pressure of others’ disproval or judgment upon your priorities to cause you to feel guilt about sticking to them. And don’t allow yourself to be pulled away from those priorities because of urgencies that crop up.
Step #3: Evaluate the excuses
Assess the interior monologue in your head when it comes to something you think you might be procrastinating on. If anything sounds like some of the interior thoughts of the 7 warning signs from yesterday, you may want to make some deliberate choices to look at the task from a better perspective.
Step #4: Find an accountability partner
Find someone who is as committed to abolishing procrastination in his or her life as you are in your own. The accountability will produce extremely favorable results. Be sure that your partner does not validate your excuses … they are there to help you win, not to make you feel good.
Step #5: Be honest in your self-evaluation
It is true that there are times when you need to rest, or to put dreams and goals on the back burner for the sake of some other season in life. It is true that occasionally you might be too stressed or overloaded. However, be sure that you are not validating things that are not true. You know yourself, your capacity, your priorities.
- Exercise:
Let’s get started with step #1.
What is one important thing you can do in the next 30 minutes?
Write it down and then GO DO IT!
Watch how it influences your self-esteem for the better.
Integral Development Forum 