7 Quick & Easy Ways to Avoid Procrastination
Procrastination is an extremely common problem, and every one of us will have experienced it! You know that you have to get something done, but you will do anything to avoid actually having to do it. I’m not one for doing housework, but when I had to study for exams, I was more than happy to clean the oven or defrost the fridge.
Here are 7 tips that I personally use to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.
1) Early in the day, write down a maximum of 5 things that you absolutely must do today. By writing them down, you will see exactly what you need to do. Having various tasks swirling around in your head won’t help you get anything done!
2) Restrict your list to 5 tasks. Anymore than that and you just won’t know where to start.
3) Look at the list and decide on 3 tasks that you will be able to complete quickly and without too much effort. Normally, you would be advised to do the hardest tasks first. But think about it. If you procrastinate with the hardest tasks, then you won’t complete anything on your list!
4) When you complete a task, take great pleasure in striking it off your list. Take a couple of minutes “out” to congratulate yourself on completing it. Feel really positive about your accomplishment, no matter how small or trivial the task was.
5) For the “harder” tasks on your list, you must look at these in a positive way. If it is something you really don’t like doing, imagine that the task has been completed, and reflect on how great you will feel once it has been done. See yourself striking the task off your list, and congratulating yourself for completing it.
6) Having a sense of accomplishment will make all the difference when tackling your next task. The problem with procrastination is that if you don’t complete anything on your list, then you miss out on this wonderful feeling. Get your first task done and your feelings of accomplishment will snowball as you continue to tackle more items on the list.
7) Sometimes tasks just have to be done, whether you like to do them or not. This is where you really just have to get on and do it. Besides the wonderful feeling of accomplishment (which will be greater the more you hate the task!), you will be rewarded by the benefits that completing that task will bring. Before starting the task, decide on an additional reward that you will give yourself when it is completed.
Procrastination prevents us from achieving the things in life that will help us grow and to reach our full potential. Enjoy the challenge of completing your daily tasks and congratulate yourself on achieving so much that day.
As you continue to achieve more and more, procrastination will soon become a thing of the past!
Positive Thinking – Do Something for Somebody Today
One sure way of making certain that you feel good is to help others to feel good. Make up your mind that you will offer to help someone in some way today. Think of ways that you can help others to ensure that they have a good day.
When you go out, decide that you will do something for somebody. Once you have stated your intention, you will find that many opportunities to help others will present themselves to you.
These will most likely manifest themselves in small ways. Opportunities will arise that will take you only a minute or two to do, but your actions will make an impression long after the act is done. Remember that is often the small acts of kindness that will make the biggest difference to you and others.
What about that mother with her children? Would she benefit from you holding a door open for her? It takes less than a minute to hold a door open for someone, but this may make a real difference to that person. By spending a short time helping, you will foster a much more positive attitude in yourself and in those that receive your help.
Helping someone does not need to take much physical effort. You will find plenty of opportunities where you don’t even need to lift a finger!
Giving a smile and compliment does not take any physical effort, yet they really do go a very long way in helping others to feel more positive!
Do something for somebody today. The effort needed will be tiny compared to the wonderful benefits that both you and others will get from your actions!
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Positive Thinkers – 7 Ways to Recognize Them by Their Body Language
How we say something is far more important than what we say. Surprisingly, only 7% of the message we convey is made up of the actual words we use. Body language accounts for well over half of the impact of a conversation and it is thought that this may be as high as 80%.
Imagine that you were unable to hear a conversation between 2 people. Would you be able to tell if one or both of the participants was a positive thinker?
Here are 7 ways in which their attitude can be readily identified.
1) A positive thinker smiles. Perhaps somewhat obvious, but this is probably the main expression of someone who is positive.
2) People with positive attitudes will look someone straight in the eye during a conversation. This shows honesty and confirms they have nothing to hide!
3) A positive thinker periodically acknowledges what is being said by nodding their head. This demonstrates acceptance of what is being said.
4) They use hand gestures freely. The person is relaxed and feels comfortable with the conversation.
5) They will sit or stand with their head up, which reveals a confident person.
6) A positive thinker will lean forward to show that they are attentive and interested in the conversation.
7) When speaking to a positive person, you will notice that their heads may lean to one side, which conveys that they are listening and relaxed.
If you are a positive person, you will be using most – if not all – of these already. If you want to acquire a more positive attitude, then you must first think positively. You will find that the body language will most likely come to you automatically. Not only will you be thinking positively, but you will certainly convey a very much more positive attitude to everyone around you!
Set Realistic Time Scales to Ensure Success
When setting a goal, it is very important to estimate how long it will take to achieve your target. Once you have an idea of a time frame, you will then be in a position to stipulate a specific date. By identifying a completion date, this will ensure a much greater chance of being successful. Put the date on your calendar, and imprint this date into your mind!
This seems simple enough. Unfortunately however, many people set totally unrealistic time frames, which will set them up to fail.
Some goals will take a number of hours each week to achieve. For instance, if you are studying for a particular qualification, you will need to be able to dedicate a certain number of hours each and every week. If an exam date has been set, then this is the time frame that you will need to work to. If the course requires 20 hours of study per week, you are unlikely to succeed if you dedicate only 5 hours.
Ensuring that you make best use of your weekly allowance of time is crucial. We all have the same amount of time in a week – 168 hours to be precise.
How do you spend your time, and how much time can you dedicate to achieving your goals?
I suggest the following to help to ensure that you make the best use of your available time.
1) Decide how much time you will need to devote each week to achieve your goal.
2) Keep a diary over a period of a week and record all of your activities. Be as accurate as you can to discover how long you spend on each. Remember that eating, sleeping, washing and so on do take time, so always include these every day activities!
3) Be honest with yourself. If you spend 3 hours a day watching TV, write that down.
4) Now review what you do during the week, and how much time you spend on each. Just like budgeting money, where can you make time savings?
5) Identify times in the week that could be used in the pursuit of your goals. If you spend a high percentage of your week watching television, I bet that much of this could be used to achieve your dreams instead!
6) Once you have identified time periods to devote to goals, get hold of a weekly planner and color in the periods that you will schedule as your “goal achievement time”.
7) Follow your schedule and you will find that it will soon become a part of your routine.
Not only will you start achieving some really worthwhile goals, but you will also gain a wonderful sense of achievement, which will spur you on to achieve more and more!
Top 7 Mistakes That Prevent People From Achieving
There are many people who try to achieve what they desire in life. Unfortunately, many people don’t accomplish what they set out to do.
Here are some of the top mistakes that people make, and ways in which these can be avoided.
1) Setting timescales that are impossible to reach. Often, people will set totally unrealistic time frames to achieve goals in their lives. Before deciding on a completion date, take careful consideration of your other commitments. Don’t expect to be able to devote 3 hours every night to a particular goal if you only have one hour of spare time!
2) Failing to write down goals. You must commit your intentions to paper to know exactly what you are aiming for. This also acts as a form of contract with yourself, and you are therefore much more likely to carry it through.
3) Setting goals that are not going to make a marked difference to their lives. Achieving is hard work, so you want to make sure that the benefits of accomplishing your goal will far outweigh all of the effort that has gone into it.
4) Failing to consider the true extent of the work that needs to be done to achieve the result. Before starting on the road to a particular goal, carefully consider what is actually involved to ensure a successful outcome.
5) Setting goals that are far beyond their own capabilities. Be honest with yourself. Are you going to be mentally and physically able to achieve your goal?
6) Trying to achieve something that they do not enjoy doing. A sure way to get your motivation plummeting is to attempt to achieve something that you hate doing. Life is to be enjoyed, so avoid setting goals that aren’t going to fulfill you.
7) Expecting far too much of themselves. The challenges that you set yourself should stretch you, but you shouldn’t be setting yourself up for failure by setting goals that will be too difficult to accomplish.
If you find it difficult to achieve goals that you’ve set yourself, start off with smaller, less demanding tasks. As you accomplish these, you will find that your confidence levels will increase, and you can set yourself more difficult assignments. As you grow more and more confident in your abilities, you will be able to successfully achieve more and more in your life.
