Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination is the act (or actually the “non-act”) of putting something off until later - tomorrow, next week, sometime soon, never. It is by far our biggest enemy. Whole lives have been wasted by this very real problem. Businesses never started, families never begun, vacations never taken, relationships never started all because of this.
Imagine if there were no procrastination in the world or in your own life - you'd do every task there and then without regard to the consequences.
Thinking of starting an online business? - you would take action on it immediately Thinking of asking that guy/girl for a date? - you wouldn't hesitate
Thinking of taking that vacation you really need? - in less than 5 minutes you would have bought the tickets
Thinking of writing 5 articles to promote your site? - you start writing, an hour and a half later you're drinking coffee, all articles done
Of course taking action immediately without thinking things through can lead to negative consequences. That's why procrastination is actually human nature, it is literally in our genes. What's the main reason we procrastinate?
Fear of failure.
We fear that if we take a “leap into the unknown” we are moving outside our “comfort zone” and that's why it's completely natural for us to delay taking action. Our inbuilt self- defense mechanism kicks in - “What if I lose my money?”, “What if I get rejected”, “What will others think?”. It is far easier to maintain the status quo; inaction is less risky than action.
Most of us suffer from this, more than we would care to admit. Picture this scenario:
You sit down at your computer in the evening determined to put in a couple of hours' work. But before you get started you check your emails first, there's a few there that need a reply from you. Having done that you check out a few websites, then see if there's anything new on Facebook. An hour has now passed. You go get a coffee and promise yourself you'll just
quickly have a look in on a couple of your favorite forums.
Two hours later, your husband/wife has gone to bed, you're tired and you need to be up early in the morning for work. Frustrated at your lack of progress, angry with yourself that you got sidetracked you go to bed, promising yourself that “tomorrow will be different”. Some people are like this for years, wondering why they can never make any money online.
I know all about the above scenario, it caught me out most nights for a long time. If you recognize anything in yourself from that example the first thing to do is NOT beat yourself up about it, as I used to do. Procrastination, in whatever form it takes, is actually a natural defense mechanism. Your mind thinks it is protecting you from danger, i.e. from a
potential change in your life or lifestyle with all the “hazards” that suggests!
potential change in your life or lifestyle with all the “hazards” that suggests!
We are naturally more comfortable with what we know; the environment in which we grew up. Over time our mind has conditioned us to accept that this is how things are supposed to be.
Seriously, that's true.
I was stunned when I first found out about that. I actually thought the reason I procrastinated was because I was lazy. Nope. Without going into the complicated psychological reasons as to why we delay things, I just want to get across 2 points:
1. Virtually everyone procrastinates at some point
2. It's not your fault
OK, having established that this is simple human nature, what can we do about it? After all, to succeed in internet marketing, indeed any business, we are going to have to overcome this one way or another.
Procrastination often happens when we don't have an exact plan of what we want to do.
How often have you sat down at your computer with just a vague idea of “doing a few
things for my online business”? That is a sign of not having a detailed plan. Planning is one of the key features to running a successful business.
How often have you sat down at your computer with just a vague idea of “doing a few
things for my online business”? That is a sign of not having a detailed plan. Planning is one of the key features to running a successful business.
There is a well-known expression
“Plan your work, then work your plan”
That is it in a nutshell. Unless you know exactly what you want to achieve every time you sit down at your PC - every morning you wake up, one week from now, one month from now and so on, you are always going to struggle. As well as planning, you need to clear the clutter both from your workspace and your computer.
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