03
Jan

Is Procrastination Stopping Your Success?

There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination. Procrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path and actually choose paths that hurt their performance, can destroy family life, cause clutter to build and affect their career.

Most people will admit that they procrastinate in some way, shape or form.  Unfortunately, for a lot of people it can become a part of their lifestyle.  It affects home, business, family and their daily functionality.  It cuts across all domains of their life. Some of the scenarios that I run across is that bills aren’t paid on time, paperwork gets out of control, clutter takes over, opportunities are missed, stress levels build, family dynamics suffer and chaos and overwhelm take over.  

Procrastination keeps us from reaching dreams and goals.  We can easily be sucked into things that we “can” do vs. what things we “need” to do because our perception of the amount of time required is skewed.  

Procrastination Personalities:

  • Procrastinators are made not born. They hang out with friends and/or family who will reinforce these habits rather than with someone who will hold them accountable to what really needs to be done.  They will recommend such excuses as “there is always tomorrow” – which is true but at what price.  My personal experience has taught me the importance of optimizing every opportunity.  You just don’t know what tomorrow will bring and procrastinating a task that will only take a few minutes is not worth the cost of overwhelm, chaos and family stress. 
  •  Procrastinators tell lies to themselves. Such as, “I’ll feel more like doing this tomorrow.” Or “I work best under pressure.” But in fact this is not usually true.  In addition, they protect their sense of self by saying “this isn’t important.” Procrastinators relish in the thought that that time pressure makes them more creative. Unfortunately they do not turn out to be more creative; they only feel that way. They squander their resources.
  • Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don’t take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking e-mail is almost perfect for this purpose. They distract themselves as a way of avoidance.
  • People procrastinate for different reasons:    thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute rush…..avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them.
  • Procrastinators have trouble making a decision. Not making a decision means that they may be able to avoid responsibility. 
  • Procrastination also can destroy your energy.  As the long list of things that need to be done compound and pile sticks in your brain and drains your energy and thought patterns.
  • Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don’t take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking e-mail is almost perfect for this purpose. They distract themselves as a way of avoidance.

People procrastinate for different reasons.

  • thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute rush.
  • avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them.

Procrastinators have trouble making a decision. Not making a decision means that they may be able to avoid responsibility. 

Procrastination also can destroy your energy.  As the long list of things that need to be done compound and pile sticks in your brain and drains your energy and thought patterns.

One of the best ways to avoid procrastination is to find an Accountability Partner or Mentor that will keep you focused, driven and on track to reaching your goals.  This should be done on a daily basis and your Mentor should be stern, in-tune with your purpose and not allow excuses!