HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATING + START TICKING OFF YOUR GOALS EVERY WEEK
We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
Faced with that one task that we keep pushing to tomorrow, pretending it’s not important and doing everything in our power to avoid looking at it on our to do list.
We can’t put our finger on it but there’s just something about it giving us chills.
It’s staring us in the face, teasing us, making us feel guilty, like a failure, for not eating the frog first (disclaimer, I haven’t read that book so apologies if completely wrong analogy).
The closer the deadline gets, the more the overwhelm rises.
We turn to Netflix, cleaning the kitchen, putting on a meditation and pretending we really need to do the mindset shizz right this second. Or we tell ourselves a power nap will help and accidentally (on purpose) forget to set a 20 minute alarm.
Oops. No time for the task now!
Once we’ve procrasti-scrolled for days, comparing ourselves along the way, we start to feel stuck. It’s been too long that we’ve avoided it now, there’s not a chance we’ll move forward.
And the negative self talk, the mind monkeys, the imposter syndrome all start speaking louder than that confident voice you’d spent so long encouraging to step out of the shadows.
Feeling stuck or overwhelmed can stop you in your tracks.
Following this simple, yet effective process means my to dos are getting ticked off and if they’re getting done, that means I’m always on track for my quarterly goals. Next time you’re overwhelmed, use this process and let me know how it helps.
Here’s the process I use to recognise the avoidance and take action so I can get back to slaying my goals like a boss:
01. Find the why
Ask yourself “Why am I avoiding this?”
This normally brings up a lot of things like:
I don’t know what I’m doing
It won’t be good enough
My client will be disappointed
I won’t get it right
It’s too hard
It’s going to take too much time
I’m not inspired enough
02. Bust the bullshit
Next, once you know the reason(s) for avoidance, rewrite the bullshizz and figure out how you can flip things. For example:
‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ - You could brainstorm a list of things you need to do to achieve that goal
‘It won’t be good enough’ - Write out what the outcome is expected to look like and then look at how you can make it ‘good enough’
‘It’s too hard’ - Ask yourself how you can make it super simple
When planning out the launch for my podcast recently, I got carried away thinking about needing landing pages, email lists, sales pages, email sequences - all things that took a tonne of time and quite frankly, shit I didn’t wanna do. So I asked myself how I could make it more simple. And did just that.
03. Do one thing
Then it’s time to ask yourself how you can move forward.
Having a list of small, manageable tasks makes life so much easier and helps to go from “holy fuck I’ve got all the things to do!!” to “dayyym this is so easy I could get it done with my eyes closed”.
04. Ready, set, GO!
Set yourself a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and just DO. Don’t think, don’t edit, don’t judge - just do as much as you can before the timer starts ringing. This added pressure makes the ideas flow and helps you get off the starting block. If you think you’ve got all the time in the world you’ll procrastinate.
05. Stick or twist.
When that timer goes off, make a decision: keep going for another 20 or take a break. It doesn’t matter what option you choose. If you keep going, awesome, you’ll get it over and done with. If you take a break, it’ll be easier to pick up again because you’re already a step closer to it being complete.
Following this simple, yet effective process means my to dos are getting ticked off and if they’re getting done, that means I’m always on track for my quarterly goals. Next time you’re overwhelmed, use this process and see how it makes a difference to your productivity.