Don’t waste your time looking for a shortcut – you’re only prolonging the time it takes to succeed. Whatever you want to do or achieve, get started now and build the success you want.

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going”

– Beverly Sills

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With an ever-growing to-do list, your commitment to complete your tasks can make you prone to “shoulding” on yourself.

“Shoulding” is the act of turning what you want to do into what you “should” do. This nuanced change in both language and outlook can hurt your ability to complete your to-do’s. When you use “should”, you are essentially changing your desires into obligations. There is nothing more demotivating than obligations.

A good sign that you’re “shoulding” yourself is if your task list keeps growing and you find it hard to get started. When this happens, remind yourself of WHY you are doing these tasks and how they tie into your ultimate goals. When you’re in execution mode, it’s easy to keep crossing tasks off your list but forget why you’re doing what you’re doing.

If upon closer inspection, the tasks you’ve set up for yourself no longer help you get to where you want to go, remove the task from your list.

Remember:

Shoulds decrease motivation. Wants increase motivation.

What is on your to-do list that is making you feel guilty for not completing it? This is a good sign that you’ve changed your WANT into a SHOULD.

Inspired by Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles.

Photo by Dennis Hamilton

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When you come up with your resolutions you are your best self – motivated, optimistic and ready to run through walls to achieve your goals.

Unfortunately, the day-to-day grind to bring your resolutions into reality is slightly less glorious. More likely, you’ll want to put it off until the next day or make an exception here and there.

Think of your future self as unreliable and plan today how you will deal with the inevitable sabotage. If you come up with a fool proof plan for your resolutions, you’ll be that much more likely to meet them.

Take advantage of our natural laziness by making good habits easier to do and bad habits harder to do. For example, if you want to cut down on junk food remove it from the house or put it somewhere annoying to get. Same if you want to reduce screen time, lock your computer or iPad in a drawer and keep the key in a difficult to reach place.

Good luck!

Photo by adifansnet

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For me, it was writing this article. For you, it may be reading this article.

Procrastination powerfully pulls me – it’s one of those habits that I am shamefully unable to shake. I’ve written, read and discussed about it. I understand the mental and material costs of procrastination, the impact of getting things done and the fight between short-term and long-term pleasure and pain.

Yet, I still wait until the last minute to start on my important activities and projects.

So, instead of fighting it, I’ve decided to harness this force and use it for good. I’ve created a procrastination list filled with tasks ranging from mindless tasks to important life-changing ones. Tasks on my list include:

• Work on my next book
• Write a new article
• Clean my desk
• Get to inbox zero
• Design my online course
• Read something on my To-Read list
• Write in my journal
• Review progress on my annual goals
• Sleep

Whenever I have a big project due, I usually get through many of these items faster than if I had planned to work on them on a regular day.

In addition to this tip, here are a few others that I found helpful from procrastination researcher, Timothy Pychyl:

Don’t Run Away

When procrastination pulls on you, it’s tempting to leave your workspace of productivity under the guise of “I’ll feel like doing it later“. Fight that urge and stay put because you WON’T feel like doing it later. Planning to do your task later may feel productive because you’re scheduling it but if you delay, more often than not, another day will go by.

Not Motivated, Doesn’t Matter

You don’t need to feel like doing something to do it. Focus on your goal and your reasons for pursuing it. If you’re not sure why you’re working on this task, take time to decide why the task you’re procrastinating to do is worthwhile. The main message here is STOP MAKING EXCUSES.

A good exercise is to make a list of your most common excuses and use them as trip wires to alert you to procrastination. Here is my list:

• I need sleep
• I have plenty of time
• Things always get done
• I won’t be able to finish if I start now
• I can do it tomorrow
• I don’t need to do this now
• I work better at night
• I have enough time today to finish this later

Once you hear any of these phrases play in your head, your immediate reaction is to:

Just get started.

Don’t think about the whole task, just take the first step and do something related to completing the task. Before you know it, you’ll make a bigger dent in it than you previously imagined.

Understand Your Incentives

You typically procrastinate because you’re gaining something from putting off the activity.

For some, it’s to protect self-esteem – if you wait until the last minute and the quality is poor, it’s because you didn’t spend enough time to work on it.

For others, it’s to show competency – if you wait until the last minute and the quality is excellent, it’s because you’re brilliant.

Use the Power of If … Then

In addition to your own excuses, it’s important to protect against outside distractions. Write a list of common distractions or interruptions and create If-Then rule statements that makes it easier for you to get back on track. An example might be:

IF I get pulled away by an urgent family request, THEN I’ll write a note with the very next thing I plan to do when I return.

Creating these pre-decisions will help you automatically respond when procrastination tempts you.

One final tip from entrepreneur James Clear is to temptation bundle – pairing together one temptation with one task you typically procrastinate on.  For me, it’s watching my favorite shows only when I’m watching it with my family.

Now that this article is out of the way – back to the project I was working on.

Photo by Ian D. Keating

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