Tips to Beat Procrastination

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Hey, my friends, it's Brandon Burchard and welcome to a special episode of the Brendon Show. Hey, I'm Brendon Burchard and I'm honored to be your high performance coach today. With this episode, I've spent the last 20 years studying human behavior change and writing, coaching and training literally at the top levels on the topics of motivation, focus, productivity, confidence and more. My goal, inspired by my own personal journey, is to help you and my audience live love and matter. Which means to feel more vibrant, more connected and and more fulfilled in every area of your life. That's what we're doing today. If you liked today's episode, grab a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Just tag me Enonbruchard so I can see you and give you a shout out or a hello. And if you want to go to another level of personal development in your life this month, be sure to join me live every month in my coaching program. Just visit HPXCoaching to get signed up. I teach a brand new personal development session every single month. Meaning it's like a personal development seminar for you. Live every single month on the first of the month and then after I teach that for about 75 minutes, then we do live breakouts where you get to meet new people, network with people, set your monthly goals and establish real accountability for your growth. Listen, you know that expert guidance and real consistency and an inspiring community is critical to your growth. So join me this month on the 1st. Just go to hpxcoaching.com that's hpxcoaching.com it's time to level up, my friend. It's time to take your year back. It's time to find that focus and that confidence and that vibrancy and that vibe. Again, go to hpxcoaching.com and and let me be your coach into fuller levels of high performance in every area of your life. Now, without further ado, let's jump in to today's episode.

So let's talk about procrastination right now and just have a conversation about what it means. You know, procrastination basically means that you are not doing what you know you need to do when you know you need to do it. It's putting things off because in the short term it's easier, it's more comfortable, it's more certain, it's more pleasureful to be distracted or to indulge yourself doing something else than it is to sit down and do the actual work to create the outputs that matter when they are needed. And I know that every single one of us procrastinates. Me too. So it's okay. The issue is, can you set yourself up so you do less of it? I believe you can. Now, I believe there's tactical things you can do to procrastinate less. Those are the things I'm going to focus on the most here today. But I also believe there are very important emotional things you can do to procrastinate less. You know, most procrastination is either tied to worry, the emotion of worry. Like, I'm worried that if I do it, it won't turn out well. Or I'm worried it's gonna be too hard and I can't handle it. Or I'm worried I don't know what I'm really gonna do, and I'm gonna mess things up, fail or cause ruin in my life. So a big part. If you ever feel like you're procrastinating, sit down with a journal and say, what am I worried about? And really, just. Journal, just write it out. What am I worried about? Well, I'm worried if I do this. Cause what happens is unconsciously we're not aware. You know, we're just. We're not aware of our worries. So we keep thinking it's the task's fault. Well, the task is not passionate. Well, it's not. You know, we say, well, maybe it's not my real passion. Maybe it's not my real purpose. And we start blaming ourselves, and we start having, like, these, you know, these esoteric kind of conversations with ourselves about life's meaning. Instead, what's happening is unconsciously we're a little worried about something. And if we can bring that worry into our awareness, then we can examine it, observe it, and start building the case that that's not something we should be worried about or something that is something we can truly handle. You know, so think about any project you right now. Are you procrastinating on? You know, I hear all the time from a lot of people in my industry. Well, Brendan, you know, I want to write a book, but I'm procrastinating on it. Okay. Do you not like writing? Oh, no. I love when you're writing and you fall in that flow and everything's so great and so beautiful. I love that so much. Okay, so you like writing? Yes. Okay, but you're not writing. No. Well, then we just go to. I go right to the emotion. I go, what might you be worried about that's causing you a little bit of just emotional uncertainty or insecurity that's preventing you from confidently stepping in, writing that book and going, well, you know, I worry I don't really know how to write a book. I worry that no one will listen to me. I worry that my voice isn't meaningful. I worry that I won't be able to get an agent or a publisher. I worry that, you know, putting all.

My eggs in a basket of a.

Book is risky financially for my family right now. And once you write down those worries, you can flip them and you say, okay, I'm worried that this project might be something that could cause harm to my family because, you know, I need to do this other thing. All right, what if it led to great abundance for your family? Then you say, well, you know, I'm worried no one cares about my voice. What if you become that breakthrough surprise, that copy that no one, that book that no one anticipated would sell so many copies? And it does. In other words, instead of making all your what if Statements followed by negative phrases, what if this doesn't turn out? What if I'm terrible? What if I'm stupid? What if it doesn't work? What if it causes this problem? What if you flipped those what if statements to positive phrases? What if it does turn out? What if this is the thing I've always loved to do? What if this thing makes it? And I know you could say, well, that's just positive thinking. I'm like, well, well, yes. And the opposite is unconscious worried thinking that is making you procrastinate make sense. So the very first thing I ever do, whenever I feel myself procrastinating, I immediately go to the emotion of worry. What might I be worried about? And I just journal about it and I start trying to flip it. Okay, that's the first thing that I do. The second thing that I do is much more tactical, and that is, oh, let me make sure that I just have blocked scheduled time, that nothing else happens but that. And it consistently is happening. And I know some of you guys are saying, brendan, this is so basic. I know these aren't even the three brain hacks. This is just getting you in the game. I'm trying to tell you, like, these are the big picture things. No, number one, find your worry and debate it. Number two, make sure you actually have time scheduled to do something. A lot of people are procrastinating because they're overwhelmed by the randomness in their life. Write it down. A lot of people are procrastinating because they're overwhelmed by the Randomness in their life. And all of that random activity, those random tasks, those random obligations are creating all this uncertainty of mind that's stealing away your confidence. So how do you get back more confidence so you don't procrastinate as much? You actually have to get a little more structured with your time. I know that doesn't sound sexy, but if you will start structuring that activity, that time for that activity that you're putting off. See, it's easy to say, well, I'll write my book next week or someday, but someday, I mean, like, someday is the gateway to procrastination. It makes sense. If it's not sitting there, that is, when you do it every single day, every single week, every single month, you'll procrastinate forever. It needs to be a block of time that literally is there. I. I have to do it. I'm so dumb and so easily distracted that I have to put up on my phone my block time alarms that it literally says. It pops up and says, hey, Brendan, you're supposed to be writing right now. And I go, oh. And I look at my calendar and there's the block of time. Oh, right. I scheduled a block. One hour right now to write. Forgot.

Sit down and write.

I need notifications and alarms to kick my butt, to remind me. Because especially for those who are stay at home or you're a solo entrepreneur and no one else is keeping you accountable but you, you need to use this as a weapon of accountability for yourself. Because your random hours where you think you're going to get to something, you don't. That's not because you're not passionate. That's not because you're not smart. It's not because you're not capable. It's literally because your brain is on random mode so much. And the more your brain is on random mode, the less you will produce. You need to block the significant amounts of time to get to the work. And I know you know this, but be honest. If I showed up at your house and we looked at your calendar, is it so clear what you should be doing and when over a period of time? And if it's not, that's why you're still procrastinating. Because listen, procrastination is just a pattern of response to insecurity, random activity, or worry. Procrastination, for a lot of people, it's a pattern. It's a way of dealing with worry or insecurity or randomness. So how do we deal with it? We gotta address the worries we gotta address the insecurities and the randomness. And once we do that, I mean, it's easy to block and tackle to get us better. Does that all make sense? So this is a high overview of how I think about procrastination. If you and I hung out and you're like, brendan, I hate myself because I'm always procrastinating. I'm like, babe, you got no reason to hate yourself. It's totally okay. Everyone procrastinates. I do too. But once you recognize where the pattern comes from, how you're either consciously or unconsciously dealing with worry or insecurity or randomness, now you can start to structure yourself. Now you can start to analyze those worries and insecurities and flip them and get back in the game.

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You're More likely to do something if you have already prepared and stepped it through. You're already more likely to do something if you already prepared and stepped it through. What does that mean? It means if you want to not procrastinate on Monday, Sunday night, I want you to sit down and do this simple little thing. Project plan. I know it's not sexy. Please don't make fun of me right now. It's not sexy. I know it's not sexy. And it will change your life forever. The day before the days in which it's required that you really get stuff done. I want you to sit down and project plan. I don't mean tomorrow. Write down your to do lists. That is one element of project planning. But I want a bigger picture. I want you to be thinking about the big projects that you have coming up and I want you to have written out these steps that it's going to take. The big steps that we'll take to accomplish this project and this project and this project with a timeline for each of them and then work backwards from that to create tomorrow's to do lists. But here's what's funny. If, listen to this. If your mind can't see completion, if your mind cannot see completion, meaning you don't know the path, you don't have clarity on the path to fulfill or complete something. If your mind can't see the steps, your heart will ask to pause. If your mind can't see the project through completion, your heart will ask to pause. Even if you're the most passionate, dream oriented, amazing, high performer in the world. But you yank away someone's clarity. You know, no goals, no growth, no clarity, no change. And so if you find yourself procrastinating, it might not even. You might be like, but Brendan, I hate myself. I procrastinate and I even know the next three things I should do. I go, not enough. Knowing your next three steps is not enough. Your mind needs to see all the steps through to completion. And that's what we call project planning. It's not super fun, but it's saying, okay, this is the big project. Here are the big key activities, the big buckets of activities that would have to happen to get it done. Here's the timelines. Those big buckets have to happen, okay? Then these big buckets of activities, those have to be broken down into tasks and then into ultimately daily to do's. And if we don't have that, it's just hard to act when you don't have a complete picture, right? You're kind of like procrastinating. Let me give you a metaphor. You know, they've timed people about how long it takes them to complete a puzzle. So if I show up at your house and I give you a big puzzle box and there's 400 pieces in it, and we set it out on your table and we watch how long different time periods takes to complete it, you know, the fastest, most productive time in which people are putting puzzles together? The last 20%. Have you ever done a puzzle? Right? You might walk by it three, four times for a couple weeks. You don't do anything. You put a few pieces together, but soon as the picture becomes a little more clear, guess what you do? You hunker down and you complete it, don't you? That's what's going on with procrastination. Even if you see the first couple pieces, it's just like if you can't see where it's going, your heart will go pause. I'm unsure, I'm scared. I don't know what to do. That's just how we think, right? That part of our brain that is trying to protect us, that part of our heart that says, I want to do good, I want to care for other people and do things with excellence, all of a sudden those are compromised. And when we don't do the most basic thing. So if there's an important project you've been procrastinating in, do yourself the greatest gift I can give you today, and that is tonight. Sit down with your journal and step it all the way out. Even if you have to make it up, even if you're like, I'm not sure this is actually the big activities. It's not about having the perfect project plan. It's having one that is completed. At least the knowledge you know now. Because then your brain will go, okay, let's get into this and keep making this thing better. But your brain won't get into it if you haven't project planned. So this is really important. What I do to avoid procrastination, each week is every single Sunday for me. That's my Sunday review days, Sunday workdays. I'll sit down and I'll literally step through the entire week. Of all the major things on my. I'll think about the bigger projects, and I'll just kind of step it all the way through. And guess what? I enter the week more engaged, more joyous and confident, because I know what the heck is going on. So if you keep procrastinating, I promise, if it's not lots of worry or it's not, you know, lots of randomness. It's. You haven't seen it through yet.

All right? Hey, my friend, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you're ready to go to another level, don't forget, go to HPX Coaching. Let me be your coach. Let me spend the first of each month with you giving you a personal development seminar. Let me help you get unstuck, break through your emotional blocks, find your real.

Clarity, your real passion, your real purpose.

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Your career and do what we do.

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