Putting Things Off

Procrastination is when you get bumped off the “course” you set for yourself for the day. The challenge of outfoxing procrastination is the challenge of resisting the itch to leave your course. This is likewise the challenge of beating blocks, since a block is truly an ongoing procrastination issue that lasts weeks, months, years or decades.

Let’s suppose you planned to be at your PC, working at a project, at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning, but you’re not. How come? The answer may be one or more of the accompanying.

Woke up late.

Scrapped with your lover last night, and continue reliving the quarrel in your brain.

Are too sapped – the coffee hasn’t set in yet.

Are overly hyper – drank too much coffee and can’t sit motionless.

Are net surfing or net shopping.

Are playing Solitaire.

Simply realized that it's highly crucial to work on another project.

Or, if you work in a home office:

Switched on the television set for “a minute” and saw that one of your favorite actors was being interviewed, so you decide to view the interview.

Simply realized that the laundry urgently needs to get done!

These are common things that may throw you off your course. It’s only a partial list; naturally, you may likely add many other entries to it. There are likely 100s of potential “bumps” that may knock you off your course.

You'll need to learn to resist the urge to get absorbed into activities not on your schedule, regardless how crucial or virtuous they appear at the moment.

Even in moments of non-motivation, act as if you're extremely motivated. This is because of a fantastic thing that behavioral scientists have discovered: that not only do our emotions order our actions, but our actions often order our emotions.

A lot of sales people, performers, athletes and other peak performers formulate a personal collection of tricks, rituals, and physical and mental exercises to help themselves get and stay pumped for their workday. You ought to do the same thing.