The 3 Ways To Beat Procrastination & MASTER Self-Discipline! | Lewis Howes

What are the opportunities and the circumstances we have at this very moment are all we'll ever have? I have boiled down the blueprint to overcoming our natural urge to procrastination into a three-step process. I think you gotta have a dream. The School of Greatness. Really? Yeah. Please welcome Lewis Howes. Welcome back, everyone. Today we are going to discuss something that holds so many of us back from overcoming obstacles and achieving our dreams. and that thing is procrastination. Now over the years, I've found that a lack of self-love is the biggest killer of dreams, but procrastination is a close second. And we often think there are always going to be more time. There's going to be next year, there's going to be another at bat or another opportunity in everything we do. But what if that isn't true? What if the opportunities and the circumstances we have at this very moment are all will ever have. Now to start, I want to take a moment to make sure we all acknowledge this. It's human nature to procrastinate and to put things off in a place of pleasure and of fun. I am the king of procrastination if I want to be. I can say no to things all the time. I can just say I want to go play all day and delay, delay, delay getting something done. And nowadays, we have so many streaming services and social media apps and other distractions available to us all the time, 24/7. So I don't think it would be valuable for me to tell you that in order to overcome procrastination, all you need to do is take action. That's something you already know. I want you to go deeper than that and to give you the tools to make taking action so much easier for you. So that's the approach I wanna take for this episode. And to do that, I've boiled down the blueprint to overcoming our natural urge to procrastination into a three-step process. It's three steps, and these steps come from all the strategies and tips that I've learned over the course of countless conversations I've had with some of the world's leading experts on this topic. And in addition to the insights that I've discovered for myself and what's worked for me in the different seasons of my life and what has not worked for me. Now, by following this three-step process, I am confident you'll be able to develop lasting habits that will help you defeat distractions, overcome procrastination, and help you get closer to accomplishing all of your goals and dreams. So what I want you to do is get out a pen and paper, make sure you take down some notes, and let's dive in. Step one is to create a vision for your life. Vision is something I talk about all the time because without it, we are lost. This is an absolutely critical step for you to overcome the procrastination that's holding you back. Without an authentic, actionable vision for your life, you'll always be jumping from one goal to the next goal, but still feel aimless. Living life without a well-constructed vision is like driving around with no map or destination in mind. And eventually, even the best cars run out of gas. So it's our job to create a compelling vision that excites us, that inspires us, and propels us to become the best version of ourselves month after month, year after year. Now as human beings, we need purpose. It's in our DNA, we need it. And without it, we will feel lost no matter what we accomplish in life. My friend and bestselling author Donald Miller calls this dilemma a narrative void. And when we don't have a compelling story we can become a part of, we feel empty and lost. We feel unfulfilled. And when we don't have an opportunity to rise above our circumstances and become the hero of our own story, we feel hopeless. We don't really feel like getting out of bed and really feel like doing anything except for procrastination in our daily lives. And this is exactly what happened to me before I got clear on the vision I wanted for my life. And it didn't matter what goals I was achieving, whether it was becoming a two sport all American athlete or making my first million dollars in business. Every time I reached one of these milestones, I was expecting to feel something, something like I was complete fulfillment. I was expecting to wake up and have everything in my life change forever. But instead, I felt empty again only a couple days after achieving all these big goals. And I was curious about this. I was like, why is this still happening for me? That all changed after I launched the School of Greatness. Today, My mission I have for my life and with my work at Greatest Media is to impact and serve 100 million lives every single week. And in fact, my team and I go over this goal weekly in our meetings to make sure we're all steering in the same direction. I'm sure my team is sick of me talking about it consistently, but it's important to remind myself and others what we're doing and where we're heading. And if you hear that number of 100 million and think it sounds scary, then know that it does for me as well. Your biggest dreams should fill you both with fear and excitement. It isn't enough to say, you know, my vision is to write a book, or my vision is to just help some people. You need to be specific so you know exactly what you're striving for and why you're doing it. This just helps you be guided on your journey. For these two examples, you could add clarity to your vision by making it something like, my vision is to write one book every two years. that inspires people to be more kind to each other. Or my vision is to help 100 people per year get access to healthy food through my local charity. Something more specific. Now, this doesn't mean our mission can't change or evolve and grow over time. There are seasons of life. We all evolve and experience new phases of our life. But what it means is getting crystal clear on what we're working towards. And it helps us create a sense of urgency that will inspire us to take action now and not procrastinate. For every day that I slow down or decide to put things off, that could mean one, two, or thousands of new lives that I'm not being of impact to, that I'm not being of service to. For every day you put off writing your book, that's another day you aren't getting closer to your goal of writing one book every two years. I want to address something that I think so many people overlook when it comes to stopping procrastination. The work that I'm doing right now, it fills me up. It fuels me. It excites me. And I truly think this was the work I was created to do in my life. But it also took me many seasons of figuring out how to get here. But I'll be honest, if I had a job that I didn't like or I had little to no passion for, I doubt I would be as motivated as I am right now. And I'd probably procrastinate a whole lot more if I was in a career that just drained me, that sucked the life out of me rather than fueling me, being around people that I was inspired by, being around a mission that I was inspired by. Now, this shouldn't be used as an excuse for you to not go after your dreams, but I think it's important to discuss this. And it's the same reason why I often say if you don't feel excited to get out of bed in the morning, then maybe you haven't found the right mission for your life yet. And that's okay. and this doesn't mean we all don't have bad days here and there. But if you're always procrastinating and you're always disengaged, then maybe you haven't found a vision that truly lights you up yet. And so you just got to keep looking. So if you haven't taken the time to really drill down your vision, then be sure to do it today. Do it during this episode, do it right afterwards, and start coming up with more ideas. because it's the very first step to overcoming procrastination in the short term and in the long term. Now step two, this is something that a lot of people are afraid to do and that is to embrace your flaws and develop unconditional self-love. This is challenging. Leadership and productivity expert Rory Vaden has studied and spoken about the psychology behind procrastination for years now. And during one of our interviews together, he told me that the single biggest reason we procrastinate is that we don't feel like we're good enough, we're smart enough, or capable enough of doing the thing we want to accomplish. So to cope with that reality, we self-sabotage by not even starting. Now this is a big deal because most of my life, I didn't feel like I was good enough, smart enough, talented enough, old enough, experienced enough, credible enough to go out and do the things that I've done. And so it is scary. It's hard to overcome that insecurity, that fear, that self-doubt. And so therefore a lot of times people will procrastinate because of that. But that's the thing, the space in between the doubt and where you want to be is the experience you need to gain, it's the skills you need to acquire, it's the fears you need to overcome in order to get there. So that is the thing that we've got to learn to do. Now, I also thought this point that Rory shared was so powerful and we've seen a ton of positive feedback from listeners about how eye-opening it was for them as well. And maybe you've had a dream of writing a screenplay for years, but you didn't feel like your talent had enough for anyone to buy it. So you self-sabotage by not even starting. Maybe you've wanted to launch a business since you were a kid, but you don't think anyone would ever buy your product or service. So again, you self-sabotage by convincing yourself it's not worth your time. Now to get you moving in the right direction, I want to share two powerful exercises that will help you develop unconditional self-love to get you through these types of negative thoughts that hold so many people back. And the first one comes from former Navy SEAL and best-selling author, David Goggins. And he calls it the Cookie Jar Concept. To start, I want you to think of three accomplishments that you are most proud of in your life. and maybe it's moving to another state or country, or maybe it's finding a way to thrive in a new place, or maybe it's something that seems as simple as starting a book you've always wanted to read, but you kept putting it off and now you finished it. These moments are what will go into your cookie jar. So be sure to remember them or write them down if you need to write down what these accomplishments are. Then whenever you're having a bad day or you think you don't have what it takes to finish a difficult task. I want you to look inside your cookie jar and anytime doubt creeps into your head, reach for your cookie jar and repeat those accomplishments out loud to yourself. This will help remind you that you are capable of reaching the goals in front of you. So if you consistently get up in the morning and run, then three months down the line, you'll know in your heart of hearts that you are a runner. The second exercise comes from a framework that I put together with my team and it's called the Abundance Formula. To begin, I want you to take a moment to write down the answers to the question I'm going to ask you right now. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how much gratitude do you put out into the world and give to yourself? Essentially, what rating would you give yourself when it comes to showing a general sense of gratitude on a consistent basis in the world? you're grateful for life, you're grateful for the people that you interact with, you're grateful for the basic things, for the big things, you're a grateful person on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being the highest that you just live and breathe gratitude all day long, 1 being the lowest. Second part, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you appreciate the person you are and the people in your life? What grade would you give yourself on the self-appreciation scale? So 10 being I really appreciate myself and I appreciate people around me by communicating that appreciation. 10 being very high, one being you never appreciate anyone else or yourself. And last, on a scale from 1 to 10, how regularly do you acknowledge the person you've become and do you acknowledge other people? How often do you take time to acknowledge the obstacles you've overcome in your life? However big or small they might be to you. Again, 10 being you acknowledge yourself and others consistently, one being you never acknowledge yourself for what you've overcome or who you've been. Now, I recently asked these very same questions to a group of VIP attendees during a virtual event we hosted called the Greatness Challenge. And I'll be honest, the responses were pretty interesting for me. On average, most of the people in attendance gave themselves a rating as low as one or two in all three categories. In fact, there were very few scores higher than seven in all three. And after asking them those three questions, I followed up by asking them this final one. Now, it might sound harsh, but I want you to answer it honestly for me as well. How do you expect to be someone who is consistently having energy, focus, and the passion to show up for their dreams if you can't even show up for yourself. If you can't take the time on a regular basis to acknowledge yourself for being the person you are, then how do you expect to have the self-love necessary to overcome procrastination and challenges? If you can't take the time to appreciate and be grateful for who you are, how do you expect to know that you're worthy of a better life? This is such an important and impactful exercise because the truth is that chasing after your dreams on a regular basis is already an uphill battle, and not having a firm foundation of self-worth will make it an even tougher climb. I also know another truth though. We're all worthy of loving ourselves unconditionally. No matter where you're at in your journey, no matter what mistakes you've made, no matter where you have been, or what others have said to you, we all have what it takes to overcome the doubts that are holding us back and keeping us from going after our hopes and dreams. and it all starts within us by developing a strong sense of self-love. And to really drive this point home, I want to end this section with a story about a VIP member from that same virtual event that I just mentioned. And her name is Shannon Little. When I brought her up onto the stage for a coaching session, she told me that since she was a little girl, she always wanted to be a writer. And yet, for 17 years, she had been holding off on publishing a book. 17 years is a long time. After hearing this, I challenged her. I asked her to release a book on Amazon by midnight that very same day. Now, the book just needed to have one quote inside of it, and there wasn't any room for excuses or extensions or backpedaling. I gave her this challenge, and I explained to her and the other attendees that taking little actions gives us the confidence to take bigger ones, and that releasing this shorter book was the perfect place for Shannon to start. And if she went through with it, I'd also give her a $100 Amazon gift card. And I was brutally honest with her. I said, Look, you are not gonna do this. I don't think you are gonna do it. I told her that her history of not taking action made me pretty confident that I would win the bet. I was just trying to kind of dig into her a little bit. And then later that night, a member of my team emailed me a screenshot.