MBA1276 How to Stop Procrastination Every Time

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Sometimes they do end up doing that task, but it's just too late. They procrastinated to the point where it doesn't matter anymore. Now some people have more of a hard time dealing with procrastination than others. And this episode is for you if you find yourself procrastinating a lot. So especially when you have big tasks, daunting tasks, things you have to do, your to do list is a mile long. You get overwhelmed. Sometimes this stuff is like subconscious. You're not even fully aware of why you're actually procrastinating. And that's what we're going to get into. We're going to actually dissect why this is happening. You're going to hold yourself accountable I'm going to give you a formula to follow every single time you catch yourself procrastinating. And you'll know what I'm talking about. You'll know how to catch yourself because of the things I'm going to show you and make you aware of. So you're going to want to take some notes in today's episode, whether it's on your phone or with paper and pen, because you're going to want to repeat these steps every time you're faced with this procrastination challenge. We got a lot to cover, so let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I'm going to just say flat out, procrastination is a killer. And I also have a confession to make. For a very long time, I did not understand why people procrastinated. I just didn't get it. Why would you not do the important things? Where's your urgency? I. I had very little sympathy for people that procrastinated. But over time, I realized this is a real thing. And it's not about people not wanting it bad enough or not having the will to do it. It's a bad habit, just like any other bad habit. And if you don't have the systems in place, if you don't have the procedures in place to get out of the habit, it's just so hard. It's comfortable to procrastinate. It's what you're used to. It's what you feel safe with. So let's start with why this even happens. Well, it happens because whatever task you have to get done is causing you overwhelm. It's causing you some level of pain, even just thinking about it, that you just kind of want to put it on the back burner right now. You don't want to deal with that pain right now. I'm just describing it as a pain because it's just an easy way to kind of describe why we're avoiding it. Because as humans, that's what we do. We avoid pain, seek pleasure, and it's not pleasurable to deal with a daunting task. I also want to be very clear when I say procrastination, I'm not talking about you being tired or sick, not having enough energy that can be cured. You know, you could take a nap and wake up and go at it. You can drink a cup of coffee, you can exercise. All that kind of stuff can give you a boost of energy. We're not talking about that. We're talking about you pushing tasks Day after day because of that overwhelming feeling. So the first step you're going to do when you catch yourself procrastinating, when you're looking at a task and it's hard and you see, let me not do that. Now you're gonna have to question yourself. And the first question you're gonna ask is, why am I doing this? Why am I procrastinating? Right. You wanna get clarity now by admitting the fact that you're procrastinating. That's just a good step. You're having awareness that I'm procrastinating right now on this task. But you wanna get to the point where you get clarity on the topic, where you ask yourself the question, why am I procrastinating? Get specific. And you even write things down if you have to. If you need to stop and take five minutes to do this, this is going to save your day, it's going to save your productivity, it's going to save your business, possibly. So it's worth it. So ask, why am I procrastinating? Write down whatever comes to your mind. I'm overwhelmed. I don't know where to start. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it right. It's high stakes. I don't want to screw it up. Write down all these things. Get in front of your fears. That's the first step. Why are you procrastinating? But we're not done with the clarity step. First, you're gonna write two lists really quickly. You're gonna have two columns here. First column is, what will happen if I do not do this task? What are the consequences if I just never do this task? Which is possible because you keep procrastinating. And the second column you're gonna write, what would happen? What would I feel? What would I experience if I do this task? If I get this done, like immediately or as soon as possible, depending on the size of the task. Right? You need to write this down. You need to take a look at your choices. A lot of us, we get jumbled in our head. We have all these feelings, we have all this overwhelm, we have all this anxiety. And we don't really have any clarity. We don't have any clarity about what our choices are and what will happen when we make these choices. So carve that out. You know, blue pill, red pill, right? What's going to happen if you don't do this task? What's going to happen if you do it? What are you going to experience? How are you going to feel Write those things down and you can just jot them real quick. If I don't do this task, then I'm going to drop this project. I might lose revenue, I might lose customers. I'm not holding myself accountable, all that kind of stuff. What about the other column? Well, if I do this task, I'm going to feel a sense of accomplishment. My business will thrive. I'll make more sales, I'll get more customers. I'll lower my churn. I won't feel like a procrastinator. Right. Write those things down. Why? Because you have to also see the rewards of doing the work. You got to say, like, oh, that looks pretty good. Let me give that a shot. But most of us, again, live in our head, and we don't give ourselves that clarity. What's gonna happen here? What's gonna happen here? Two paths. The second thing you're gonna do is commit. So we have C clarity, and then the next C is commit. You're gonna commit to making a choice. You gotta make a choice here. Now you might be saying, oh, I really don't have a choice. I have to do this task. No, you have a choice. You're running a business. Are you gonna do this task or not? If the answer is no, then take it off your list and. And deal with the consequences that you just listed. Okay? All those things are gonna happen in your business if you don't do this task. Cause you wrote it just a second ago, right? Just a few minutes ago. If you don't want those things to happen, then commit to doing this. Commit. I will do this task. Right. Don't worry about the how right now, but commit to the fact that you're going to do this task. You're gonna get it done. Make a commitment to yourself. Most of us, when we get into this overwhelmed state where we procrastinate, we don't even get close to the stage. We have clarity and we have a commitment. So we're going to commit. Yes, I'm going to do this, or no, I will deal with the ramifications of not doing it. You got to make a choice. You got to be an adult about this. I know this sounds like, you know, I'm giving you some tough love, but we got to be an adult about it. We have to say, hey, this is what's going to happen if I don't do it. This is what's going to happen if I do do it. Which one am I going to choose? I got to choose. Business is about choices. Make a choice and Commit to it. So we commit. So at this point you're like, okay, this is great, Omar, I have some clarity. I made a commitment. Now what? I still don't know where to start. I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what's going on. This is where you're going to brainstorm. This is where you're going to get creative. This is where you're going to really use your superpower, which I call simplification. You're going to simplify things as much as possible. Okay, what is the smallest step you could take, the simplest step you can take to get started on this project? The smallest step possible. Let me give you an example. Let's say, for example, you have a big project where you need to restructure your pricing in your business. You need to have new plans and new prices, new offerings, some add ons, some upsells, whatever they are, right? You're going to revamp your whole pricing structure on your site in your business, that's a big task. There's a lot to do here. Off the top of my head, you're thinking, oh, man, I got to change, you know, my plants in my payment processor. I got to make sure my developer knows what's going on in my website and that that actually works. Got to test it. I got to craft these plans. I got to market this. I got to create this on my site. I got to change my email responder. Lots of stuff to do. What's the simplest thing I can do? Well, first I got to nail my prices, right? I got to nail. What are, what am I going to offer? How am I going to do that? Well, for me, I would say the easy step is to create a Google sheet. Just create a Google Sheet and blank Google sheet, which is like an Excel sheet, right? But on Google. On Google Suite is what we use by just opening up a sheet, naming it my business's new prices. You've already started on the task. You're not procrastinating anymore. Does it require any thinking or any kind of effort or any kind of hard work or sweat or resistance to create a new sheet? No. It's simple. That's the simplest task you can do. And there's incredible power and momentum by just creating the sheet. Now you've started. Okay, you started. The sheet's open. Now it's a blank slate. Great. What's the first thing I need? Well, maybe I need to write the word price on the sheet in one of the columns. And maybe I need to write features. It's another Column, actually they make four columns for each because I'm gonna have four plans and then I'm going to give a monthly price and an annual price. And as you can see, the ball is rolling. Now I've started on the task and at least I have started on some sort of blueprint and some sort of plan where I have my data in a sheet. Now once you get to this step, it's super helpful to separately write down what would be my next step and the next step and the next step. Just get started with the simplest step possible to get the ball rolling. Even if you created that sheet, started to fill it out, spent about an hour working on that, saved it, and then went to lunch, you would feel so motivated and feel like you're not a procrastinator because you got started, now you got the ball rolling. Now you're going to start seeing things clearly. You're going to see the next step because you started. And by the way, this is not the first time you've tackled an overwhelming task. Think about anything big that you've accomplished or anything big that you've learned, like learning how to drive, right? When you first learn how to drive when you're 16 or 17, you don't just jump behind the wheel and and you know, start driving on the highway, changing four lanes at once. No, you don't do that. First you learn the rules of the road, right? It's paper and pen. You learn what a car is, you learn what you can and cannot do, and then from there you get a learner's permit. And from there you take some driver's lessons and they teach you how to put it in drive. They teach you how to steer and how to park and how to make a three point turn, step by step. And eventually you become a competent driver. And eventually you're able to go on the highway and change four lanes at once, right? But you have to start somewhere. You have to start somewhere. So start with the simplest task possible to get you started. I'm going to give you another example of a big task you might have to do and how to. Just start with the simplest task. You need to plan and run a company retreat, right? Huge task. You're talking about days, lots of logistics, right? Total overwhelm. You might procrastinate this task. What's the simplest step I can do? Open up a word doc and write down what's the goal of this retreat? What am I trying to accomplish? How many days am I going to do it? Possible locations. And then once I Do that. Okay. What's the next step? Well, maybe I need to flush out an itinerary. Maybe like a schedule for these four days that we're doing this retreat. Well, let's put a budget. How much money can we afford? This is that much money. Okay. This is going to narrow down my choices of where I can go and how much I can spend on flights step by step. Right? Don't worry about the big, big goal at the end. Just start with something small.

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Guys, to wrap up today's lesson on how to stop procrastinating, follow the steps I outlined. Get some clarity, find out why you're doing this, and then define what's going to happen if you do this task and when you don't do this task. And then commit. Make a choice. What are you going to do? Which one are you going to choose? And then from there, choose the simplest, smallest task that you can do that requires zero brain power to get started. Whether it's opening a Google sheet or Word Doc or drafting an email, whatever it is to get the ball rolling. When you start, the next step will reveal itself and it'll be a lot easier to plan out your project and to start doing. It's very important for you to really get clarity and understand what the consequences of procrastination. Sometimes we're not fully aware or conscious of what the consequences are. And sometimes when we know the consequences, it's going to motivate us to take action. Like, I don't want that to happen. That doesn't look good as a consequence. I don't want to feel that way. I don't look that way. Let me get to work. Sometimes you don't have enough motivation to get to work. And we need to motivate ourselves by just again sharing the reality with ourselves. Hey, this is the reality. This is what's going to happen if I continue to procrastinate. This is what will happen if I don't. To me, that's extremely powerful and I hope it helps you out. Give it a shot. Let me know how it goes. Email me@omar mba net I'd love to know or or leave us on itunes rating and review and share your experience in a review. Thank you in advance for that. That wraps up today's episode. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. A bit of tough love, a bit of truth serum here for you. Okay? Business is hard. Business is competitive. And if you want to get ahead, if you want to grow, if you want to fulfill your dreams, procrastination has zero place. Zero. I haven't read a biography of a successful entrepreneur that procrastinated just doesn't exist. So get this under control. Follow these steps because it's hard as it is. You don't need to put more obstacles in your way. You can do this. I believe you can do this because many people can turn their habits around and that's how they become better people and better entrepreneurs. I hope that helps and hope to see you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capella University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals like business management, strategic planning and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella Eduardo.