3 SPOTS LEFT! IS ONE OF THEM YOURS?

This week’s question via the Soul Guidance Hub , comes from Hemant in South Africa. Hemant’s website is www.saihconsulting.co.za

Question: How do I stop procrastination?

Tal's Guidance: Thanks for your question Hemant. It is short, to the point and yet so loaded for so many of us. So before I offer some suggestions to break this habit, I would like to acknowledge that procrastination is one of the ways our ‘internal survival mechanism’ keeps us in our known or safe zone. To our ego, safe simply means familiar. So anything that is not familiar to our ego, even if it’s for our highest good, is interpreted as dangerous. This is when resistance kicks in to save the day and keep us from moving forward into unknown and potentially dangerous territory. Procrastination is one form of resistance.

One thing I do know is that if you were held at gunpoint right now and told to “complete the task you've been procrastinating ….OR ELSE…”, you would most likely (I hope!) get that task done in no time. I also have a feeling that if I offered you one million dollars in cash (granted you valued how that could positively affect your life) for getting the same task done in less than a month/week/day it would have a similar affect.

So what changed?

Well, for one, a sudden sense of urgency was created. In the first scenario it was a sense of urgency in response to pain and in the second scenario it was a sense of urgency in response to pleasure.

You see, there is nothing like a sense of urgency (real urgency) to help us MOVE FORWARD!

Here are a few ways to MOVE THROUGH PROCRASTINATION:

1)    Place yourself in an environment that will HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE to that which you say you want or desire. This could be a mastermind group, a coaching environment, focused peer group or private mentorship. Make sure this is a committed, consistent and high integrity environment that will hold you to your word …precisely when you hit those thresholds of resistance. Find a group, peer, colleague or coach that is more committed to your vision than to your fears, excuses and resistance (and yes, this can be done in a gentle, loving “kick in the pants” way!).

2)    Write down the task you want to get done and WHAT IT IS COSTING YOU not to complete it! For example, the cost of not completing your website (Yep! I took a sneak peak!) may be eroding your self trust and therefore your self worth (emotional cost). It may be diminishing your credibility in the eyes of prospects who land on an incomplete website and therefore never turn into paying customers (financial and credibility cost). I remind you not to use this as another way of judging yourself , but rather as a reason to start taking action!

3)    Schedule 30 minutes a day for the task you have set yourself. Have fun seeing how much you can get done in 30 minutes alone. No more. Celebrate yourself afterwards. If for some reason you are called to continue beyond the 30 minutes, consider it A SURPRISE BONUS!

The idea is to create positive movement that is doable and to begin experiencing consistent success. Success leads to more success. Also, you’ll be surprised how much more you can get done when you have a very specific “urgent” time frame to do it in!

In fact, a few years ago I put together an entire ebook in one of these ’30 minute’ sittings, and this was after weeks of agonizing procrastination. Were it not for this highly focused 30 minute sitting back then, thousands of people would not have read and benefited from this ebook. This is how powerful a practice this is!

Most importantly, I invite you to have fun and love yourself as you move towards creating the positive momentum, sense of accomplishment and mastery you seek and deserve!

To your movement and success!

Much love,

P.S. Was this blog helpful to you? What did you learn? Did you have any epiphanies or gain any insights relative to your own business and life? Please do share your comments, epiphanies and personal experiences IN THE COMMENT BOX BELOW. I truly value hearing from you!