Dare To Live Without Limits Week Of 5/30/2022

Many things can lead to procrastination
The specter of procrastination is always lurking in the background attempting to derail your goal attainment. When you put things off, nothing happens. If you’re waiting for things to happen, you’ll be waiting a long time.
There are numerous reasons for procrastinating. Fear of failure is one of the of the major causes. Although the reasoning is that, “If I don’t start, I won’t fail,” the real impact is that if you don’t start, you’ll never succeed.
Fear of failure should never limit you because you only really fail when you give up. Waiting is giving up. If what you are doing isn’t providing the desired results, you simply make adjustments as you continue to move forward.
Risk aversion is tied to fear of failure and also leads to procrastination. Nothing is ever achieved without taking a risk. So, when you try to avoid risk by procrastinating, you are in effect guaranteeing that you will fail in achieving your objective.
Anxiety of not knowing how to start keeps you waiting. You can determine where to start by creating a plan where each step is small enough to be readily doable. Getting started is easier when you know what first step you should take.
Feeling overwhelmed by the perceived enormity of the task at hand is grounds for procrastination. However, tasks that are put off tend to grow in size. Use the same strategy employed in constructing large brick buildings. Just place one brick at a time. The largest objectives are reached by taking enough small steps.
Fear of criticism fuels procrastination. Since most people don’t care about what you think, why waste any time worrying about what they think. It doesn’t matter what other people say think, or do. It does matter what you think and do. Every invention and breakthrough was accomplished because the person responsible didn’t care about criticism.
A lack of motivation keeps you waiting. Without a burning desire to reach your objective, there is little incentive to start. Yet there are tasks you need to finish that don’t excite you. When faced with this situation, instead of putting something off until later, work on it for just 15 minutes. This approach gets you started which breaks through the procrastination log jam.
Fatigue puts you in procrastination mode. You don’t want to do anything challenging when tired. Schedule your day so that important tasks are handled during periods of peak energy. This strategy also enables you to get more done in less time.
Distinguish between activity and productivity. Activity includes any tasks which keep you busy without moving you closer to a goal. You are productive when you are working toward one or more specific goals. Therefore, you want to be devoting your time to productive endeavors.
Eliminate unproductive tasks which accomplish nothing. Learn to say no to those projects which don’t move you forward. Treat your time as the valuable commodity it is. Spending time on unproductive tasks is just as useless as not doing anything.
Use a to-do list to prioritize what you will be doing each day. Always put the most important task on top. Complete this task before dealing with the next item. This process keeps you moving towards your goals instead of taking meaningless detours.
Start today doing what it takes to move toward your goals. First, clearly define your goals. Next, create a plan of action, broken down into small and manageable steps. And then take action by taking the first step. Keep going, step by step, until your objective is reached.

NOW AVAILABLE: "Dare to Live Without Limits," the book. Visit www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at bryan@columnist.com or write him c/o this paper.  2022 Bryan Golden