How to Overcome the ‘curse’ of Putting it Off

Published May 16, 2017

It so easy for an entrepreneur to  know what they want to achieve, maybe they’ve even broken this down into manageable steps but somehow there are some ‘steps’ that just don’t seem to happen.

Often this is referred to as procrastination, we know we should do something, part of us WANTS to do it – BUT there are a seemingly endless number of ways we can somehow not do it.

But whatever the task OR the ‘why’ we think we aren’t doing it, there are usually just a handful of drivers -subconscious motivations –  the things that make us do what we do – and once you can put your finger on what those drivers are you can pretty much sort the problem out once and for all.

So let’s jump right in – here are some of the most common drivers for procrastination!

Fear of failure

The thing about action is that we sort of nail our colours to the wall. We make a statement somehow, whether it’s choosing an image for our brand, writing a blog, talking to someone on the phone or designing a poster or lead page – as entrepreneurs we put ourselves out there.

This is true in the personal areas of life too. Often the reason we procrastinate is because we are afraid of failure – telling someone how we feel for example – maybe we fear rejection, applying for a new job or training a course maybe we are afraid we won’t quite make the grade.

Fear of Success

I know it sounds odd but actually for some people who say they want to be successful, it is actually something they are subconsciously afraid of. In the conscious mind someone may want to be successful but they may in their subconscious be afraid that people may no longer like them, that they will be criticised, that they will somehow be seen as a fraud or anyone of a number of other things. Other have a mind-set that might say they will never be successful or that success doesn’t happen for people like them. Whatever the Acknowledging this and dealing with it will mean you can stop this fear blocking your success.

Lack of Discipline

Others find that as soon as they have a list they somehow can’t do it. Or more commonly they do one thing then find they can’t get round to the rest. It’s almost an act of rebellion – sort of against themselves. There may be elements of the above fears OR it maybe that there is an underlying mind-set that somehow to conform to rules and lists and a specific programme is NOT a good thing.

This can be common in people who have made decisions NOT to conform in some way – they may decide a list is a good thig BUT somehow when they come to tackle it they find they can’t.

Fear of Regret

It is not uncommon either for people to be paralysed by a fear of doing the wrong thing. Often this subconscious motivation comes from a situation when they have made a decision that they later feel is wrong and has perhaps had some unwished for consequences. This can effectively stop action in its tracks. And of course most humans will have made some decisions that with the benefit of hindsight weren’t the best, because we are after all HUMAN.

Desire for Perfection

This might be often be linked to a fear of regret BUT for striving for perfection makes procrastination inevitable. Most things could be better, we could write a better blog, respond to query more fully, plan the wording more carefully for a phone call, spend just a bit more time preparing a presentation – always that will be the case. But what successful people tend to do is DO! The take action, they do something, it might not be perfect but the book that goes on being edited and is never published will simply never make it onto the best seller list.

So if you understand the reason you are half way there – the next bit is easy – make an agreement with yourself to

Remember your big picture. What’s your vision? Why do you want what it is you are striving for? This is a great motivator and a great antidote to procrastination.

Be honest with yourself –

If lists turn you off then don’t write a list. Find a different approach, even if it is just one thing you do each day this will chip away at your predisposition to procrastinate (find ways of not doing things).

Don’t be hard on yourself.

In many ways it doesn’t matter why we do what we do, but if it causes us a problem then we need to sort it out.  Fretting about it and giving ourselves are hard time about it will probably make it easier to procrastinate because we can use the time to beat ourselves up. So just don’t.

Believe in yourself and your success

The truth is that every one of us can change – it might not be easy but we can and if you want to change this behaviour then you must first believe that you can and that is the truth a fact we can

DO IT ANYWAY

But having read this, maybe thought about it, pondered lots of points there comes a point when you just have to take action and DO IT. So go one then stop reading and get busy.