ENTRY 1: Overcoming Procrastination

Introduction

There are many ways to put up road blocks to success in life, one common way is procrastination. Procrastinators incapacitate themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance.

What is Procrastination?

Procrastination is the habit of delaying or avoiding doing tasks that need to be done. As a consequense procrastination can lead to missed opportunities, insomnia, damaged relationships, unproductive teamwork, and last minute long working hours, feelings of being overwhelmed, guilt, inadequacy, stress depression, resentment and self-doubt.  Procrastination can have painful after effects and can delay academic and personal success of individuals.

Despite the underlying cause of procrastination the good news is that there are positive ways of over it coming such as:

1. Just take the first step.

Looking too far into the future can make tasks or projects can seem close to impossible. As a result people often shut down because they feel overwhelmed.  It is good to plan for the future but then to swing focus back to today and the present moment.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

With the future in mind, focus on taking the first step today ...and focus on this, nothing else! Taking the first step changes your mental state from ‘reluctant’ to “yes, I can do this”. You put yourself in state where you become more positive and although you may not be enthusiastic about taking the next step after this first one....you are moving forward towards taking the next step.... and the next one after that.

To see the whole staircase at once is not always relevant as it will shift and reveal itself along the way. This is evidence in life since best of plans can fall apart as you start to put it into action.... and discover that your map to your future destination may need to be altered to adjust to reality.