Procrastination

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The dreaded big “P” that hinders the accomplishment of a lot of things. A lot of people admit to procrastinating now and then. Why? Different people have different reasons and this often include: fear (of failure or of success), uncertainty about a certain goal, lack of determination, lack of motivation, or it has become a habit to put things off.

What if you really want to overcome the habit of procrastination?

Zig Ziglar once said,  “If you need to wake up in the morning and eat a live frog, you wouldn’t want to look at that sucker for too long!” Brian Tracy on the other hand took inspiration from Mark Twain who said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

What’s with the frogs and what do they have to do with procrastination? The frogs are what we tend to put off or postpone doing due to different reasons we tend to associate with the task, it’s hard, impossible, it can be done later, there is so much time to do it and other similar excuses. Swallowing the frog first thing in the morning gets more things done and allows us to achieve our goals.

How do you swallow the frog? The following points are taken from Brian Tracy’s book Eat That Frog (21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time):

1. Set the table
2. Plan every day in advance
3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything
4. Consider the consequences
5. Practice the ABCDE method continually
6. Focus on key result areas
7. Obey the law of forced efficiency
8. Prepare thoroughly before you begin
9. Do your homework
10. Leverage your special talents
11. Identify your key constraints
12. Take it one oil barrel at a time
13. Put the pressure on yourself
14. Maximize your personal power
15. Motivate yourself into action
16. Practice creative procrastination
17. Do the most difficult task first
18. Slice and dice the task
19. Create large chunks of time
20. Develop a sense of urgency
21. Single handle every task

Stopping procrastination does not happen overnight, it takes dedication and determination to overcome it. Praying about it will definitely help a lot.

Goals

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Have you ever been in a situation wherein you are so close to achieving a goal but suddenly there’s a roadblock that stands in between you and the realization of that goal? How do you react? Do you continue or do you choose to give up?

Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and successful self-help author imparts his wisdom on how to achieve goals:

1. Verbalization

Have a clear statement of your desired outcome.

2. Visualization

See yourself happy with the outcome. Create the vision in your mind.

3. Emotionalize

Create the feeling after the result – satisfaction. How would you feel after accomplishing the goal? Make use of that emotion.

4. Release the situation completely

Allow things to unfold.

5. Realization

The achievement of your goal.

Every single goal requires a starting point, but as US basketball coach John Wooden puts it, “It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.” Start strong, when obstacles come along the way, stay strong and keep on going and then finish strong. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that, as you work towards the achievement of your goals, walk with God for with Him everything is possible. 🙂