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According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, procrastination may not be just a matter of laziness. It may also be related to a deep emotional strategy to avoid stress. That may explain why some people are always behind on projects, appointments, etc. Human beings will do anything to avoid stress – even if it comes at the cost of more stress later.
I personally get very annoyed when I get in a procrastination state because it is self-feeding. If I get behind on a single task or project, I have to delay other tasks to get it completed. It can be a downward spiral that is hard to dig out of.
Check out this list of five things you can do to help you out of that procrastination deathtrap:
[Tweet “Be more precise in your small goals”]
[Tweet “Be willing to live with Done > Perfect”]
[Tweet “If something is painful, get it done sooner than later”]
[Tweet “Make it hard to procrastinate”]
[Tweet “Build in small rewards for small goals”]
Click here to read the original article.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmsYRQ2D1s4″]
The first one to five minutes after you wake up and open your eyes can frame oyur entire day. There are two thoughts that you have for every action. The first one is the decision whether or not to do a ‘thing’ that you know we have to get done. But the second often overlooked thought process is your attitude about the ‘the thing’ that has to get done. The attitude about getting something done can make the task miserable or joyful. But to control that you have to always be working on the conscious attitudes about what you are getting ready to do. The most important time that you need control your attitudes (or “meta thoughts”) are when you open your eyes in the morning.
Here are some suggested thoughts for when you open your eyes each day.
I’d love to hear what you think about when you wake up. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL1d36I4t2Q[/youtube]This is this the phrase that I have on my cell phone home page: Imperfect Daily Action. In reminds that small forwards steps are the best way forwards towards any achievement. It also helps me accept my imperfection and not get so down on myself for minor setbacks. Watch the video and let me know what you think.
In this episode I was lucky enough to track down Sharí Alexander in Southern California . She is one of the very experts you will find on the important topic of personal and professional influence. This is a subtle skill that the most successful people in the world have mastered and it has allowed them to have better control their environments and their outcomes. Grab a notepad as we hear Sharí tell us why this is a skill we need to have, and how we can start using it to our benefit. Click play on the podcast to start the show.
For more information about Sharí at Creative Live, Click Here.
You can read more about Sharí at her site: Observe, Connect, Influence
And follow her on Twitter at: @sharialexander
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CLICK HERE to subscribe and listen on Stitcher
Manage your time as recurring daily, weekly and monthly appointments on your calendar. Most of your calendar should be recurring blocks of time that have you making consistent progress towards your highest priorities. Don’t forget to add in regular blocks for relaxation time, screw around time, family time, etc. These are important parts of our lives that we cannot afford to let happen by chance.
Once you choose to live by #1, don’t mess around with your schedule. If your Wednesday says you are exercising from 6-8, don’t “get to it at 7”. At 6pm you drop whatever you are doing and exercise. You said it was important. You allocated the time. Now go do it. As you learn more about yourself and your priorities, your allocation of time may change. If that happens modify the block of time to better suit your life, or remove it. Don’t leave it on your calendar and keep skipping it thinking you’ll get to it someday. This is called discipline. Not “Something kind of like discipline”
Limit the amount of time you spend randomly browsing the internet. Stay off of social networking, news sites, etc. unless they are DIRECTLY related to you researching or working on your dreams. Every website today is designed to keep you there for as long as possible – doubly so for social media sites. Almost nobody gets on Facebook for just “five minutes”. Five minutes will rapidly turn into an hour. If you feel you need time to screw around on the internet, go see #1 and put it on your calendar. If it gets out of hand then read the bonus tip.
Spending time in front of the computer is a great way to burn away unproductive hours of your life. If you know you are the type of person that has this problem, consider installing RescueTime. I have this running all of the time. It tracks all of the websites and programs that I use to show me how productive I am. Once you have it installed for a week you will get some amazing data that will probably surprise you about yourself and your habits. Use that information to improve how you manage time online. RescueTime is a must have app if you are having online discipline issues. Get it!
Click here to read one of our most popular past posts on Fixed Schedule Productivity.
It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a T-ball coach. Life presents us with leadership opportunities. I have been in education for 15 years. I’ve been a head coach for football, basketball, and track. However, the one role that has taught me the most about leadership is being a father of six. Fatherhood has taught me three important lessons on what it means to be a true leader.
(Tweet This)
People want to know they matter to you. Time is the greatest indicator of value we have to give. But what I’ve learned is that quality matters more than quantity.
At this moment I am a teacher and football coach. I spend two hours at home during the workweek that I can give to my family. I have more time on the weekends, but I have work responsibilities, too. There is no way I can give time to every child, every night. I don’t even try.
I DO make sure my children have my full attention – no cell phone. I make the conversation about what is going on in their life. Or with my younger kids, I let them choose the book to read before bed, and I make sure I tell them, in some form that I love them.
You might not want to start a staff meeting with the words, “I love you, guys.” But you can tell people they matter to your organization by turning off your phone before you engage in conversation. Ask questions about life outside the office. It is not easy to give time to everyone, but it is worth giving people quality time as a leader because people want to know they matter.
(Tweet This)
This lesson is not about steps that make things run smoothly. It is about connecting to the purpose of the routines we establish, whether it is having a monthly meeting or doing tackling stations every practice.
Here is an example; people are always amazed that our family is always on time. We have a morning routine that allows us to be on time. My wife and I get up an hour before our kids. We wake our kids with enough time for them to have breakfast and get ready for the day. When we have a rough morning, instead of yelling at the kids, we reinforce that we need to be on time. It doesn’t always make the morning easier, just that the kids do understand why, and we stay on schedule.
In leadership positions we create routines, but many times we don’t communicate to others why we are doing it. Sometimes we even create routines because others have done it that way. Spend a little time investigating the routines you have. Can you express why they are there? Are there things you want to improve? Implementing a new routine, with a clear understanding of why, will help in that area. One aspect of being a true leader is achieving outcomes; connect how you achieve those outcomes with the why.
(Tweet This)
We all know we should eat right, exercise, and drink more water. This is hard to do in the simple busyness of life. Add a leadership role to the schedule, and now it seems to be impossible. But it has to be done.
This summer I went to see my doctor because I was just not feeling right. I knew it wasn’t the flu or allergies. It was a blood pressure reading of 165/120. Hypertension. Easily fixed with medication and improving my eating and exercise. This is where being a dad really made an impact. When I got home my little girls all wanted to know if I was OK. All I could think of was how I needed to be here in good health to see my kids grow up.
Being at our best means taking care of ourselves; especially for the people we have the honor of leading.
Your ability to focus and properly allocate your time is instrumental to any success that you hope to achieve. However the world, and specifically the internet, is not designed to help you focus. It is design to grab your attention with a compelling headline and suck you away from whatever you are working on to read some trivial piece of information that has nothing to do with your dreams, hopes and fears.
There is no special cure for managing your distractions. There is no special app, no browser plugin, and no list of “The Top 10 Ways To…” that the world can ever give you that will help you be less distraction.
Do not pick up your phone. Do not move your mouse. Do not touch your keyboard. Use this as a simple exercise in concentration. Even I had a hard time doing it. But if you can do it, you’ll start to understand the kind of focus that you will need to get other things done.
Enjoy.
We love to overcomplicate success sometimes. But one of the most successful habits that has helped me over the years is so simple that people can’t believe it possibly works.
It comes down to one word: Movement.
Successful people don’t sit around much . They are always moving or standing or generating motion in some way. Movement has the magical quality of generating more movement and more energy. Whenever you sit down everything in your body wants to relax. Body parts want to fall asleep. When you stand and work your body has no choice but to pump more blood throughout your system to keep you upright. Sitting has always made me more sluggish – especially when I am already tired. But once I stand (like I am right now) my brain starts to go into overdrive with ideas. I’ve even learned that I can get a great Facebook or blog post out faster when I am standing. Whenever I visit spaces where people have to be highly creative, I’m seeing standing desks all over the place. And let’s not even get into the extra calories that you are burning when you are standing and generating even the smallest amount of movement.
One of the circles that I run in is that of professional speakers. It allows me to be around people that are much smarter than me. And that pushes my limits and makes me grow into a better speaker, a better person and a better business owner.
When I tell people about my amazing experience with Toastmasters and the National Speakers Association, there is one thing that I hear all of the time:
While I admire someone’s aspirations to motivate others, I also cringe a little at a new speaker entering the market with the primary goal of being a motivational speaker.
Why? Because motivation has become too easy. We are in a world that has a plethora of problems and quick solutions so we turn to “motivation” to make us feel better temporarily. We keep motivational sayings around us (I have five around me at my desk), and we seek out people who can make us feel better about bad situations.
The challenge with motivation is that it is always temporary. It does not actually help you achieve amazing success. Motivation wears off fast. And people are back to the reality that there are some things in their life that are just not pleasant.
How do we fix this ? I don’t know that I have all of the answers, but I can tell you that more than motivation…
Motivation is easy. Work is hard. But too often you and I take the easy path towards success. We think if we just keep reading more motivation that success will just come.
Screw that. Stop seeking out more motivation.
Instead look to follow people that are giving you great lessons on how to accomplish the quantifiable things that you aspire to have and do during your time on this planet.
Want to be a millionaire ? Don’t follow someone that tells you that you can have a million dollars if you just work hard. Instead follow someone who is giving you step-by-step instructions on what it takes to make $100 a month, then $1,000, and then $10,000. Find someone who is great at teaching you things that you can easily replicate in your own life.
There is an interesting side effect once you start taking the steps from a great teacher. The journey with that teacher will automatically become motivating.
Remember: Less thinking and wishing. More doing and winning.
Your friend in success,
Patrick Allmond
The title above was one of many gems that came out of this university commencement speech by Jim Carrey.
It is not uncommon to have celebrities speak at commencement ceremonies. This one was special and has some very deep words that you should listen to and put into practice in your own life.
What did you think? Come over to the Facebook Page and let me know what you took away.
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