Procrastination – What is it? Faithful Friend? or Fearful foe?... |
This is another article that has been written to help you achieve peak performance which will hopefully lead to you living your DREAM life!...
Have you noticed how all the important, meaningful things in life are not easy to achieve? This is one of life's designs, and a good one too!...
Procrastination is a major 'dream killer' that many people 'suffer' from, I actually class it as an illness. Do you suffer from it? and are your symptoms minor or more severe? Either way, fear not because I am going to try and attempt to cure this 'illness'...
So are you ready?...
Then step into my surgery!... :-)
To do or not to do - That's the question!
So, are you a procrastinator?...
Well first, you need to know what it is before I can properly 'diagnose' you. ;-) So here are the common symptoms of a procrastinator:
Procrastination is basically when a person puts off doing something (an actions or task) until "Later on" and often, it never gets done.
Although I joke about procrastination being an illness, in certain cases it's 'as good as' because it can bring on stress, depression, a low self-esteem, etc. Also, it can become a vicious circle because these resulting symptoms can lead to more procrastination...
And if all that wasn't bad enough, continued procrastination can easily develop into a habit. It's at this stage that the problem becomes chronic.
So, back to my question, Are you a procrastinator? If you are, then I'm certain that you'll find this article of immense value, after all, you can't live your DREAM life if you are a procrastinator...
Gruesome Foe...
There is no doubt that procrastination can jeopardize dreams, potential and ambitions. There are many different causes for it, however, the psychological cause always remains the same...
An individual's self talk is always the root cause of procrastination...
In a nutshell, the person who has mastered their own self talk is the same person who is NOT a procrastinator.
The negative aspects of procrastinating is well documented, but does it have a positive side also?...
Most people that know of me and my work will be familiar with my saying, "Bad is GOOD, if you allow it to be!". Now, there's absolutely no doubt that procrastinating is a bad thing, or at least not a good thing, right?...
It's not cool to just not do something without an exceptable reason, especially when it is something that you know you should do, or worse still, have to do! In life it's absolutely impossible to be a procrastinator and a peak performer at the same time...
That's a situation where two opposites certainly don't attract! - Or do they?...
Faithful Friend...
There is a flip-side to procrastinating. You see, sometimes it might make perfect sense to defer doing something, or delegate it out to someone else.
If you are planning on living an extraordinary life, then nine time out of ten, you'll have to defer some of the less important stuff, even if it might be beneficial to you. That's why some people have a personal assistant (PA)...
Anybody who has a PA is a serial procrastinator, but yet they can still be a peak performer.
As I said earlier, it all boils down to an individual's self talk, only in this case, the individual's self talk is positively focused on prioritizing and being economical about their time.
So you see, if you procrastinate, it isn't always a bad thing if it's productive!...
Think about it
If you are a unproductive procrastinator, I suggest that you brighten your ideas up - your self talk ideas anyway!
But seriously, you can combat unproductive procrastination by becoming rationalizing self talker. For example, suppose you are slacking off at something, simply ask yourself if this is the most productive use of your time. If the answer you receive back is NO - well you can work out the rest...
Often, procrastinating is closely linked to, if not the same as, a lack of motivation. If this is the case for you, then I recommend that you check out my article on motivation techniques...
A lot of the time, a lack of motivation is caused by 'mental fog', or in other words, a lack of clarity. Your brain will shut down when it can't clearly see a way forward. Most people don't know how to think properly, which often results in them procrastinating...
Basically, if you have a situation where you have no clarity, then simply 'feed' your brain with some, by thinking logically and structured. That, along with some good goal setting will really help.
There is an interesting positive side effect to unproductive procrastinating. Often in life you'll find that it's the hardest things that are usually the things you should be doing. So, anytime you may be feeling unmotivated, remember that!
Moving Forward...
Procrastination can be productive, or unproductive. It really all boils down to your self talk conversations in your mind. If you can direct them effectively, then it goes without say that you won't be an unproductive procrastinator.
Whatever you do from here on in, just understand that if you plan on living your DREAM life, there is absolutely no room for unproductive procrastinating...
By all means, be a procrastinator...
Just always make sure that it's through positive, productive procrastination...
Sponsored
Links...
Sponsored
Links...
