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Why do we Procrastinate and why it can destroy your business? 

Answer this question  “ Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow? “

Procrastination Can Destroy Your Busienss

This is the procrastinator creed and it  is very destructive.  Procrastination is one of those things that can drive you crazy.  It hides in all kinds of places and dresses in all types of disguises.  But the results are always the same, nothing gets done and things begin to pile up and you begin to get discouraged that you can ever dig yourself out of the tons and tons of things to complete.

This topic is very important to the entrepreneur as to uncovering when and how they procrastinate. To really understand the sneakiness of procrastination look at these examples and see if you do any of these in your business.

•  Do you reschedule task for the benefit of your business or are you just procrastination?
• Are you re-prioritizing your ” to do list”  over and over to be more productive or are you actually procrastinating?
• Do you continually put the calls off to a better time or are you procrastinating because you are in fear of rejection?
• Are you really that productive working non-stop or are you procrastinating by taking a break?

Now there could be times to reschedule a task or re-prioritize your day and there could be more optimal times to make a phone call or time to take a break to keep the balance in your work day.  There can also be the understanding of not working until you are not thinking clearly and become unproductive.  But how can you tell when you are doing something to increase your productivity or when you are actually procrastinating.

So how do you know the difference between the excuses of procrastination and a behavior which is productive and beneficial to your business?

How to Identify If You Are Procrastinating

Of course life is very dynamic and we are always adjusting to the situations of the day.  This type of adjusting  is a necessary activity to be able to adjust  and move forward in one’s day.  But procrastination however has a different dynamic. One way you can identify procrastination is when you keep seeing the same problem or the same task repeating itself over and over again in your life or on your schedule. This week’s problem becomes next week’s problem and this goes on for months and possible years.  You never really get anything done until you just quit on your business or project  and go onto another project only to see the same pattern.   You end up feeling stuck, bored, depressed and in a state of confusion. Procrastination can show up in you always multi-tasking but never really getting things done. Saying things to yourself like, ” I’ll just check email and then I will  start up again” only to become distracted again and again and never really getting anything complete.

What ends up happening is that you don’t stay the same and your business does not stay the same either.  You just keep falling behind further and further.

So How can you Stop the Vicious Cycle of Procrastination ?

Planning is the prefect exercise for identifying procrastination. First you must lay out your plan for the next day or next week and each day when you review your results you will have to observe what  you completed and what items were rescheduled .  Then you need to record what was rescheduled and why you rescheduled them.  This will help you to be accountable and allow you to see where you are avoiding something and procrastinating. If you see that same task or group of tasks being rescheduled day after day or week after week chances are you are procrastinating. This act of planning and reviewing  allows you to be accountable.   When you do this over time you will be able to see when an activity has been rescheduled more than once. As you observe why you are rescheduling you will see a pattern of the reasons why you are not getting the job complete.  Using this method you can quickly notice why and when you are procrastinating.  If you are not planning your day and keeping track of what gets done each day you really have no way of knowing if you are procrastinating.  This will inturn lead to you to losing control over your business. Planning along with having a vision for your business are critical activities for entrepreneurs.

So why do people procrastinate.?

Well procrastination is rooted in fear.

Is Fear Your Reason For Procrastination?

And where there is fear there is resistance and no action or reluctance to get things done,  hence procrastination . We don’t always notice or recognize our fears. In fact over the years we have gotten really good at renaming our fears to concerned, worried, hesitant, and doubtful or I’m thinking about it.  No matter what you call them they are still fears. And they will cause you to fail.  No one will admit that they are afraid.  In our society it seems like a weakness. We sometime think  “How could a grown person be afraid of a phone call or a conversation with a prospect which could lead to business”.  After all it is just a phone call and/or a conversation so why would one be afraid of that .  But the reality is that there can be a lot of fear in making a phone call.  What one need to do is to begin to notice is your resistance to doing a task  or making a phone call .  Your resistance to doing something is your first clue.

Now you may not think  that you are acting out of fear when you are rescheduling , postponing  or reprioritizing but if there is a resistance, reluctance or a sense of uncertainty  to move ahead and take action then  that feeling is telling us something.  It could be you saying something as simple as “I don’t like making phone calls.”  But what is the real reason.  You like calling friend and talking to them don’t you?

Procrastination comes from a fearful state of mind. 

It is a attempt to keep us from getting hurt, disappointed, embarrassed or looking foolish  or even being outside your comfort zone .

So what are the ramifications of procrastination?  

Well things that have to be done pile up, and they don’t go away.  In addition your stress level  begins to build up inside of you do to the fact that you see yourself getting further and further behind.  Even if they are little things that you are putting off, each and every time you are reminded of the task not being complete it creeps into your consciousness and these feeling of not getting things done add up building upon others and causing you to feel even more stress and overload.

Now think about it . You know how you feel when you have procrastinated around one thing, right, now how much more annoyed will you be when you have procrastinated on 10 or 20 things.  It all adds up leading to more stress and the feeling that you will never get your goals or your business working successfully.  Each of these little annoyances has a cost.

They will cost you peace of mind, happiness and success.  Procrastination is also costing you and your business money.

So How Can You Break the Pattern of Procrastination

Doing little things such as time management, reading your Business Vision Statement and writing in your Business Journal regularly  are all ways to move your business and life forward and achieve your goals. If you make the committed effort and track your results you will begin to see your progress.  You will also see where you are not getting things done and you can assess why you are avoiding this task.  Look for the underlining fears that might be stopping you from getting the task done or continually rescheduling .  Remember getting these task done will enable you to feel better, have less stress and make more money, as opposed to the other option of  procrastination and not doing what you have set out to do for the day.   These little undone task add up to slowing you down, holding you up and keeping you from pressing ahead and succeeding.

Lighten the Load of Procrastination

Imagine that you are caring an empty sack and each time you procrastinate you put a rock in you sack. Also every time you think about the task and continue to procrastinate around it you add another rock to your sack.    After a week now many rocks would you have and how heavy is this bag of rock you are carrying around with your every minute of every day.   Now what if this went on for a week, a month or even 4 months how would this be effecting your life and your livelihood?  Sooner of later the bag will get too heavy for you to carry and you will drop it. Now you will begin to understand how so many people who  have the dream of going into business , get stressed out after not getting things done due to procrastination and being afraid.  They will get too stressed out over a period of time and then drop the heavy bag of rocks and quit. And more importantly they drop their business and their dreams.   Then after time they will attempt it again or try another business only to repeat the same patterns again and again. Collecting a bags of rocks and then dropping the bag – again and again.

Procrastination does not cost you a little — it cost you a lot. Do you think that it’s time to get out of the deadly procrastination cycle. and get on with life?

What will you need to learn and to know in order to stop procrastinating?  What can you do every day to check and see if you are procrastinating?  When you can identify and acknowledge how and when you are procrastinating it will give you the awareness to move forward and become a great successful entrepreneur. You will become someone who gets things done because it is by small and simple things that great things come about.  As you take small steps and get more and more done the fearful habit of procrastination has less power in your life and you begin to develop momentum and find the success in your business that you deserve.

What I have done here was to identify the problem of procrastination and give you a few insights on how to move through and get things accomplished.   In the next step we will uncover ways to eliminate procrastination and help you become a successful entrepreneur.

I hope this was helpful for you.  Please comment and share this on Facebook if you think it will also be helpful for others.

Look forward to sharing more insights to help yu find the success you deserve

To Your Success

Douglas Paul Alp

602 714 2773

http://itsaboutyoursuccess.com