Studies suggest that procrastination chronically affects approximately 15%–20% of adults, and that approximately 25% of adults consider procrastination to be a defining personality trait for them. Hands up if you are one of them! If you are constantly putting off – and if I’m honest this is something I can really battle with depending on what action is required – then you will be familiar that thing languishing on your to-do list for months because it feels too dull/overwhelming or just totally unappealing to do.
When it comes to finding out how to stop putting things off, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as everyone’s reasons for procrastinating are different. But in general, people tend to procrastinate because they don’t want to face the task at hand. They may feel overwhelmed or unsure of themselves, or they may fear the consequences of not doing the work. Whatever the reason, it’s important to understand and accept that procrastination is a normal part of life and not beat yourself up for it.
Happily, there are things you can do to overcome it. One thing I like to do which is a good place to start is by focusing on the benefits of completing your task – not just the benefits in terms of the outcome, but also the benefits in terms of feeling more confident and capable. Once you’re more comfortable with the idea of completing your task, you can start working on strategies for overcoming your procrastination. These might include breaking the task down into smaller parts, using visualization techniques, or focusing on positive thoughts. Whatever works for you, it’s important to stay focused on your goals and continue working towards them no matter how daunting the task seems at first.
With all that said, here Shaa Wasmund MBE author of the number one bestsellers Do Less, Get More and Stop Talking, Start Doing recently named one of the Top 20 Most Influential Entrepreneurs in the UK by the Sunday Times shares her no-nonsense, no-excuse advice on how to stop putting things off.
****
I bet you’ve got an itch for something.
Life is short.
If you’ve got something you want to do…. now is a good time to start.
Just before rampaging into the world of doing, pause and take a breath – because a little bit of planning is called for.
Let’s create a plan to help you create the right goals, goals that are meaningful to you. And then back them up with a plan of action so we’ll make them a reality. It’s not a question of trying to do all the things; it’s about trying to do the right things for YOU.
A bit of planning
Willpower alone will not get you to wherever you want to be.
You need a plan. Without planning, your chances of success are little better than they are of winning the lottery.
Making the right plan starts with defining the right goals. What’s your goal?
Setting a goal for the plan is about setting a goal that is reasonable and achievable. In other words, it has to be practical. Your itch might be to be a world-famous climber, to run your own business, to travel the world, to make art. But to make this a reality we need to get down to measurable specifics – to set up an organic farm shop in nine months’ time; to purchase a round-the-world ticket by Christmas; to put on a summer show of your best 10 paintings.
The problem with fantasy goals
Keep a wary eye out for inappropriate goals. One trap that talkers fall into is to deliberately set a goal that is either impossible or such a long shot that it just about guarantees failure.
Goals need to be meaningful.
What’s meaningful to you? What do you really, really want?
If you think about it, there’s probably one big thing. Maybe two. Never more than three.
We need to make space in our lives and our minds, and that means focusing on what’s most important. There’s no use in setting hundreds of goals for every little thing – you’ll end up drowning in failure.
Choose the most important thing and make that your goal.
Set your sights high
Your goal must be meaningful, but that doesn’t mean it has to be sensible, or even easily achievable. In fact, a really great goal should be slightly outside of your grasp – far enough that you’ll really need to stretch to reach it.
Hollywood action superstar Bruce Lee wrote a letter to himself, in which he pledged he would become successful and possess $10 million by 1980. Today, the letter is displayed at Planet Hollywood.
You can do this too.
Visualize yourself achieving your goal. Get excited about it. Obsess over it. Live it and breathe it.
Come rain or shine, you’ll be driven to move towards your goal. It won’t matter if you don’t feel like going for that run or studying for that exam, you’ll do it anyway.
Planning
Having successfully defined the goal, you need a plan.
The plan will break down the journey into bite-size achievable parts and provide a critical path.
This is critical. Viewed in its entirety, the journey from talking to doing can appear so overwhelming that it is paralyzing.
By examining the constituent parts of the whole, the project becomes less intimidating.
For example, losing 2 pounds a month sounds far more focused than losing 2 stone in a year. It allows you to measure your progress, reward your progress, and react to changes as your plan bumps into real life.
The critical path
This is a project management term used in business to describe the sequence of events that a team must follow in order to deliver a goal in a certain time. If one event is delayed by a day, the whole project will be delayed by a day.
For our purposes, the critical path simply means you need to work out in what order your chunks of work have to be completed to get the result you want.
The best way to do this is through reverse engineering.
I know it sounds a little bit of an odd concept, as we are so used to planning forward, but reverse engineering is far more likely to succeed.
Start with the end in mind. In order for you to achieve that goal, what has to happen? Work it backwards; then when you get to the start, you can knock the first domino over and watch the rest fall into place.
Let’s say your goal is 12 months away. You can break that down into quarters and have a smaller goal for each 90-day period. Then break each quarter into 30-day periods. Then each month into weeks, and so on.
Eventually, you’ll see really clearly what you need to do today to achieve your goal in a year.
Things to help you on your journey and things to trash
Now that you are moving deep into the land of doing, you should use every tool you can to ensure you stick to the course . . . and be careful not to waste time or energy on thoughts and activities which do not help.
A personal slogan
Yes – listen up, cynics – you need one of these.
A slogan. A mantra. A device to help you get into the positive habits that will help propel you toward continued doing.
And it also serves as a thumping great mallet with which to bonk yourself on the head if you start slipping back into the noisy and directionless world of talking.
So choose a slogan. Make one up. Whatever works for you.
Let’s say it’s “TALK IS CHEAP” – stick it to your bathroom mirror, your desk lamp, your fridge – wherever you need it. Or make it the wallpaper on your computer or your phone.
Now what?
…and now it’s down to you.
If you are going to do it, then by now you know it.
Start.
This is an edited extract from Stop Talking Start Doing: A Kick in the Pants in Six Parts, 10th Anniversary Edition, by Sháá Wasmund and Richard Newton (published by Capstone, November 2022)
