I AM A STRONG FINISHER: Overcoming Serial Procrastination

Are you a ‘serial project abandoners?’ Do you habitually start projects and find yourself abandoning them before they are complete?

Do you have a ton of unfinished businesses, projects, half read books, and abandoned home improvement projects? If so, you are a ‘serial project abandoner!

If you find yourself romancing miscellaneous things such as checking forums and blogs, watching videos, perusing social media, or checking email instead of doing what you've got to do to meet a looming deadline, you're suffering from procrastination. Procrastination is a thief of time. It doesn't only steal one's time but one's life too.

Remember that time is life and when you waste away your time, what you're wasting away is your life. Sadly, the procrastination phenomenon is not something new, it's something we all are familiar with. It makes us waste our time on intangible things while we pause important tasks and consequently, we're left to start jostling to meet up with deadlines, leading us to panic and wish that we had summoned the discipline to do the work earlier enough when we had the chance.

Practical Ways to Stop Overthinking and Procrastinating

Procrastination is one of the reasons why a lot of people can't finish what they've started and if know you've been looped in this cycle as a chronic procrastinator, you need to take the bold step to get rid of it because it will keep preventing you from accomplishing the great results you deserve. To stop hiding from work, slacking, putting off things, delaying, and engaging in other "do it later" activities associated with procrastination, there are a few steps you can take, and here are some of them.

Break it Down

Oftentimes when we have something to do, we tend to be demotivated by how huge it appears and this tends to make us put it off till later. To start on a good note, you need to devise a means to make the task not appear overwhelming to you. A good way to do that is by breaking what you want to do into little steps.

I'll just use this book as an example. While I already had the idea several months ago, I had not completed the book. It wasn’t a priority at the time. But when I heard the pain of those who truly wanted to stop wasting time and finish strong but didn’t know how—I had to help. I started by reviewing what I had written, then created a detailed timeline. Afterward, I proceeded to make a few edits and simple revisions. I broke down my tasks into daily manageable tasks, that wouldn’t ignite deadline stressors, and now you have this book.

Change Your Environment

One of the things a lot of people don't know is that our level of productivity can be impacted by the environment we put ourselves in. If you are in a noisy place, there's a high chance that you won't be able to read. Even at home, if your room or work desk looks so messy, you may end up being unmotivated to do what you must do. So, always make sure you set a conducive environment that will further propel you to do the work and not draw you back.

Create a Detailed Timeline

Just as creating a detailed timeline can help you save time, it can also help to prevent you from procrastination. One of the reasons a lot of people relish procrastinating is that they do not set a deadline for the things they want to do.

Let me tell you one secret. If you do not have a deadline for what you want to do, you may end up not doing it. Create a timeline and have a specific deadline for all to-dos. Even if you don't meet up with the deadline, at least you know you're on your way and by being flexible, you can complete your task soon enough.

Get rid of Procrastination Pit-stops

Another reason a lot of people procrastinate a lot is that they make procrastination very easy for themselves by enabling and empowering procrastination pit stops.

For example, let's say I'm currently writing this book. I may get distracted by a popped-up notification and if I checked it out due to my curiosity, I may move from there to surfing Facebook and replying to chats. With that, I'll put off what I'm doing till later. Many of us are guilty of pit stops like this and if you don't eliminate them, you'll keep yourself trapped in the clutches of procrastination.

Reduce Decision-making

Let me tell you one thing. There's energy attached to each decision you make. For instance, there's a high tendency that you'll procrastinate today if you wake up and you're asking yourself what you must do today.

If you do not have the new day sorted out and you're just thinking about what to do, it means that you'll expend your energy bountifully on thinking of what you should and shouldn't do for the day. So, work on becoming more organized as it will go a long way in helping you defeat procrastination. Plan your days either the night before or early in the morning.

(Note: I run my own businesses. I work 3 to 4 days a week and I don’t do more than 3 important things a day).

Re-clarify Your Goals

If you've lost sight of what your goals mean to you, it will be very easy for you to procrastinate. Just as they say, abuse is inevitable when the purpose is not known. You don't need to be slapped or embarrassed before you're abused. Losing sight of what your goals mean to you is another kind of abuse. So, try to take some time to reflect. It may be that you need to make some adjustments to your goals because you've outgrown them. Or perhaps, maybe some dots are not connecting. It's left to you to figure out what that is.

Stop Overcomplicating Things

You'll never get a lot of things done if you keep waiting for the perfect time to strike. Life doesn't come and tell you that "hey, this is a perfect time". It's up to you to seize the day and make it perfect. Perfectionism will help you get nothing achieved but it will make things more complicated. Complications are never favorable.

Reward Yourself

There's been a lot of controversy surrounding rewarding oneself especially in the Christian community. This is primarily because the Christian community for the most part is steeped in perfectionism, poverty, and a false sense of humility. Well, the simple truth is, there's absolutely nothing wrong with rewarding yourself. Rewards are part of the process to develop a habit and you can always use that as motivation. Something like a movie or some new shoes will do. It doesn’t have to always be extravagant.

Leveraging the Drive of Go-getters

The people you hang out with have a way of either inspiring you to do what you need to do or derailing you from doing what you've always wanted to do. Now, the question is, who do you have in your circle? Recognize the high-performance workers and go-getters that surround you as colleagues or friends and leverage their drive to stay inspired.

(This Post was taken from my new Ebook I Am A Strong Finisher)