Procrastination – Thief of Time and How I am Learning to Break Free

I’ve been doing this whole long series on procrastination, and figured that this video from Ellen would be kind of a fun way to wrap it all up.  Procrastination is a thief of our time.  I have learned a few things about myself during the past few weeks, and thought that would be a good way to wrap it up.

Things I’ve learned about Me and Procrastination:

1. Pre-planning helps me to avoid wasting time.  I am deliberately planning my day out in time chunks.
2. Choose realistic goals that can actually get accomplished in a  day.  Sometimes I am really stupid overzealous in the way I plan out my day.  I put enough stuff “on my list” to do in 2 full days of work and then I get disappointed at the end of the day when I don’t even a quarter of it done.
3. Setting a timer helps…. A LOT!!!
4. Keeping my social media turned off – except when I’m taking a break helps to limit distractions.
5. Delegating and outsourcing tasks that are repetitive and that I don’t enjoy doing help to free up my time.
6. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done!!!
7. I have to constantly and continually work on my mindset so that I don’t sabotage myself.
8. Working on things that I can do something about and leaving things alone that are out of my control.  Basically, I can only work harder on being a better me!
9. Getting started is THE BIGGEST AND HARDEST part of completing a task.
10. Breaking larger tasks down into smaller projects helps.  This way I can see that I am making progress (which is hugely important to proper mindset) AND I don’t get to feeling so overwhelmed that I give up before I start.
11. BONUS —  Sometime sh*t just happens anyway!  Sometimes even with all the best planning in the world, things just blow-up and the day goes to hell in a hand-basket quick!  AND  that’s okay!!  I have to stop being so hard on my own self, and notice the progress that I’m making despite the little mini-crisis that happens as part of my world.  Take a deep breath and start again!!

So here are my top picks of books that I have read, or want to read on the subject.  I truly believe that when we keep striving toward something and see ourselves making progress, life is good.

I actually want to get some of them through the audible program because I often like to listen during times when I can multitask. I am signed up to the audible program through Amazon and so each month I get to select a new book.

Bottom line with procrastination is that it is an area that I will always be working on and trying to improve. It feels really good when I’m “on my game” or “in the zone” and can power through my day with laser focus just scratching things off the list. Following some of the simple tricks that I have outlined do really help. Like going into the day with a specific plan, limiting distractions, and not biting off more than I can chew in one day.

I would love to hear what you do to avoid the procrastination trap. We all have days like Ellen talks about in the video (made me laugh so hard because I can sooooo relate to it). The goal is to lessen the amount of those days that we have.

Talk Soon,