Archive for the ‘Procrastination’ Category

When most people think of Procrastination, what comes to mind is usually basic information that’s not particularly interesting or beneficial. But there’s a lot more to Procrastination than just the basics.

Many people procrastinate because they fear they’ll look foolish if they fail. It took Edison more than 10,000 failed attempts to discover the tungsten filament that worked in the incandescent light bulb. A reporter asked him how he managed to go on working in the face of so many failures. Edison told the reporter that each failure gave him hope; every time he failed, he knew he was one step closer to finding the answer. Edison believed that “many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Successful people make more mistakes than others because they never stop trying to achieve new goals. If you’re not making mistakes, you probably aren’t attempting enough. Force yourself to get out of your comfort zone and take action.

One kind of fear is good: You should feel guilty when you don’t finish a job, and you should fear the consequences of sub-par performance. That kind of fear can be a powerful motivator to perform at your highest level.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Procrastination? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Does it help you to think about the consequences of procrastination? Knowing the consequences of our actions doesn’t always keep us from doing the wrong thing, of course. If the consequences of not finishing an important job are not getting you motivated to start it, why not? What’s going on? You have to start asking these questions to get at the roots of the problem. What is really causing you to procrastinate?

English actor Christopher Parker said, “Procrastination is like a credit card: It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.” We have all heard smokers say, “I want to stop smoking but I can’t”-as they light another cigarette. The person who says this doesn’t know what his real problem is. As we watch them smoke, it’s clear that they don’t want to quit smoking at all.

Talking about quitting lets smokers go on enjoying their habit while deluding themselves into thinking that they really are making an effort to stop. They want to avoid the part of smoking that causes them to get lung cancer-we have no reason to doubt that. But it’s plain to see that they enjoy all the other perks they get from smoking. Smokers are not likely to give up their habit until they are able to face the real cause of their problem.

Think of a time when you could have procrastinated but didn’t. How did you feel? How could you turn that into a good habit? When fear threatens to immobilize you, ask yourself this question: What’s the worst thing that can happen? Write down your answer as precisely as you can. Be prepared to accept the worst. Now write down as many solutions as you can think of. Decide on the best action and do it. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Don’t waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that follow it.” Face your fear and do it anyway.

It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on Procrastination. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of Procrastination.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Adsense Sites and make sure to download the free adsense sites package!

Many people believe they cannot change. “I yam what I yam,” the cartoon character Popeye habitually explains. Before any change can happen in your life, you have to believe that a transformation is possible. There comes a time when we must say: “I am willing to change.”

Beware of mental locks. In A Whack on the Side of the Head, Roger von Oech offers a list of what he calls “mental locks.” To break free of a life of procrastination and mediocrity, we must guard our minds against thoughts that destroy our expectations of success. This quiz will help you identify areas where you can take concrete action to change your attitude. Answer “yes” if you have ever thought or said the following:

- I’ve never been a creative person.
- Stay where you are until you have perfect visibility.
- Follow the rules.
- Please be logical!
- That doesn’t sound like the right answer.
- Please be practical about this!
- Avoid making mistakes at all costs.
- If this doesn’t work, I’ll look like a fool.
- That’s out of my area of expertise.

Choose one of your “yes” items and reflect on the last time you said or thought it. Did thinking or saying it cause you to procrastinate or give up? Our thoughts and words influence the outcome of our efforts-what you say is what you get.

You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about Procrastination. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

Even a simple quiz like the one you just took can be a great opportunity to improve your ability to make things happen and get things done. Don’t expect to change your attitude by rushing through all the points at once. Work on one thing every day until people ask you what happened. When others start to see a change in your attitude, you’ll know that you’re winning the war against procrastination.

It starts in your mind. When you have a total determination to get things done, you tap into unused capabilities you never knew you had-abilities most human beings never use. When you expect to be successful, you jump at the opportunity to do the very things that used to cause you to procrastinate.

Never lose your sense of humor. The great nineteenth-century Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell, was told by his superiors at Cambridge University that he would be expected to attend a compulsory church service at 6:00 a.m. “Aye,” Maxwell said, “I suppose I could stay up that late.”

Always remember to beware of the mental locks that threaten to keep us in a vicious circle of procrastination and defeat. Make up your mind to rise above the level of mediocrity-give yourself a whack on the side of the head and do it.

Sometimes it’s tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I’m positive you’ll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, who just launched this great product..
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The following paragraphs summarize the work of Procrastination experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of Procrastination. Heed their advice to avoid any Procrastination surprises.

I’ve been planning to write a novel for the last twenty years. I keep putting it off. Best-selling author John Grisham wrote his first novel while working full-time as an attorney; he was as busy as the rest of us, but he found a way to accomplish his dream. How did he do it? He beat procrastination by forcing himself to get up earlier every morning so he could work on his book before he went to work.

Take this quiz to find out if you need to put an end to procrastination:

- Do you write down your priorities? Do some things seem less urgent when you look at them in the light of your priorities?

- Do you ask yourself which of several tasks is the most important one before you decide what task to tackle next?
- Do you accept full responsibility for missing a deadline, rather than blaming it on forces beyond your control?

- Do you focus on finishing a job on time, rather than looking for excuses to explain why you’re going to miss another deadline?

- Do you make sure people know when not to disturb you?

Knowledge can give you a real advantage. To make sure you’re fully informed about Procrastination, keep reading.

- Do you have a habit of turning off the phone when you need to concentrate completely on a job? Do you focus on the job at hand, rather than fretting over what went wrong in the past?

- When you’ve done your best, do you know when to wrap up a project?-Do you feel that spending more time on it will only keep you from starting your next job?

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, congratulations-you’re in John Grisham’s league. If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, pick one and make a commitment to do something about it today. Ask yourself if you have really considered all the consequences of procrastination. Do you want to live with them forever? Do you have a legitimate reason for postponing jobs? And after thinking about these questions, ask yourself if you delay tasks for justifiable reasons-or if you just make excuses to procrastinate. Here’s what I’ve learned to do:

- Always remind yourself that you have as much time as people who do great things.

- Make your best estimate of how much time a task will take.

- Write an inspirational phrase on a 3 x 5 card and use it whenever the procrastination monster pops up.

Shakespeare said, “Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.” You’ve taken the first step to defeat procrastination by reading this article; now take the next step and tackle a job you know you should have started a long time ago. I took my next step this morning-I got up earlier than usual to start my novel.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, who just launched this great product..
- Do you want to make Your PDF files viral? Use This Secret Viral PDF Rebrander: Viral PDF

Procrastinators put off all the hard jobs. But they get stuck in a vicious circle of postponing the easy jobs, too. And the longer they put them off, the harder the jobs are when they finally get around to them. Successful people fight the same war against procrastination that we all face, but they have learned not to give in. They know that procrastination is the cause of many of the problems we face in our daily lives.

Procrastination creates a never-ending cycle of frustration, stress, and defeat. When people learn how to take charge of their lives, their self-esteem improves and their confidence grows. No matter how long you’ve been struggling with the demon of procrastination, you can start to take control of your life today by tackling a job or responsibility you’ve been putting off.

There are many books, online courses, and methods for changing your life and developing your personal and professional skills. I believe that procrastination is the root cause of the majority of problems that people face. Best-selling author Wayne Dyer said: “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases, and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”

Take the first step toward a richer life by getting serious about overcoming procrastination. The following quiz will help you identify areas where you can take action today.

1. I have written a list of my life-time goals.

2. I have written a list of my short-term goals (6 months or less).

3. I keep these lists where I can see them; they help me stay focused.

You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about Procrastination. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

4. I establish priorities; some things that seem urgent are not important when I focus on the big picture. Yes ( ) No ( )
5. Once I’ve made a decision, I don’t worry about whether I made the right decision or not-I just concentrate on getting the job done.

6. I know when to say “no” to avoid taking on too many jobs at once.

7. I live in the present; I focus on what I’m doing now instead of dwelling on what I should have done in the past.

8. When I’ve done the best I can, I know when to wind up a job-spending more time on the same job only keeps me from starting something new.

If you answered “no” to any of the above statements, make a commitment to take corrective action today. Choose one item and do something about it. Don’t move on to the next item until you can truthfully answer “yes” to the previous one. You’ve taken the first step by reading this far; now take the next step and do something you’ve been putting off. If you want to change, you can-the best time is now.

Is there really any information about Procrastination that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, who just launched this great product..
- Do you want to make Your PDF files viral? Use This Secret Viral PDF Rebrander: Viral PDF

I believe that procrastination keeps the majority of human beings from getting the most out of life. What is it exactly? The word procrastination literally means to leave something “for tomorrow.” It comes from the Latin words pro (for) and cras (tomorrow). Procrastination is the postponement of something that you know you should do.

There are no “born” procrastinators; they develop their bad habits one step at a time. And that’s how you can develop new habits to defeat procrastination-one step at a time. But you have to take the first step. You will never become a more active, take-charge person by reading articles and books on how to overcome procrastination. The best advice in the world will do you no good at all unless you act on it.

So I encourage you to make a commitment to act on the tips you find here. You may not agree with everything I say; I fight a daily battle against procrastination, too, and I don’t always win. But you and I are on the same side-procrastination is our common enemy, and we both want to beat it.

Procrastination keeps people from living their best lives. Why do we procrastinate? There are many reasons: indecision, stress, fatigue, depression, a desire to gather information, disorganization, fear of failure, and even fear of success. You can’t defeat procrastination overnight-if you’re a procrastinator, you have been accumulating bad habits over a lifetime. But you can defeat procrastination by making a disciplined effort to get at the roots of the problem.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I’m sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

- Tip No. 1: Take full responsibility for your failures. One of the main causes of procrastination is the habit many people have of blaming their failures on circumstances. When you tell yourself that failures are caused by circumstances beyond your control, you are preparing yourself for a lifetime of procrastination.

- Tip No. 2: Just do it. Successful people know that their success depends on a commitment to do whatever it takes to reach a goal. Success in all projects, large and small, is determined by the actions you take and your ability to stay focused on your goals. This is true whether your goal is to reduce clutter at home, lose weight, restore a relationship, or complete a major project at work. Projects come in all different shapes, sizes, and levels of importance, but the principles that determine their success or failure are always the same: focus, determination, self-discipline, and confidence.

- Tip No. 3: Establish your priorities. What does it mean to change? To change is to choose a behavior different from the one you’re using now. We all have to fight the drift toward procrastination every day. If you’re losing the war against procrastination, you need to get your priorities right. Make a list of your priorities at work and in your relationships.

Make a commitment to make something happen in at least one of your high-priority items every day. The novelist George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be the person you could have been.” The best time to start is now.

About the Author
Have you downloaded Anders’ latest information for adsense publishers yet? Download these new fresh sites from this all new website, called Adsense Ready Sites

The following article presents the very latest information on Procrastination. If you have a particular interest in Procrastination, then this informative article is required reading.

Author Denis Waitley believes that one of the main causes of procrastination is a fear of success. “People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now,” he explains. And Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quijote, wrote that “delay always breeds danger, and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”

Great thinkers throughout history have known that procrastination is the main reason people fail to live more rewarding and more prosperous lives. Take this quiz to find out if a fear of success is causing procrastination in your life:

- Are you passionate about the life you’re living? Have you discovered your mission in life? Do you have a written list of long-term and short-term goals you want to achieve?

- Do you always ask yourself which of several tasks is the best way to spend your time? Do you always ask which task should be your higher priority in view of your short-term and long-term goals?

- If you won a large amount of money, would you continuing living as you are now? Are you living the kind of life that even money can’t buy?

- Do you concentrate on the job you’re doing in the present, rather than feeling sorry for yourself because you aren’t living the life you wish you were living?

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, you’re winning the war against procrastination. If you answered “no” to any of the questions, you need to recognize the possibility that procrastination is keeping you from living a richer life.

Ask yourself why you haven’t written a vision for your life. What are the benefits of establishing priorities? Do you postpone tasks for justifiable reasons, or do you simply look for excuses to procrastinate.

Always ask yourself if a job needs to be done at all. Make a list of what you most regret not having done in your life because of the poor decisions you made in the past about how to spend your time. According to research findings, we spend as much as 80% of our time on tasks that do not contribute to the success of our projects. Many people load themselves down with work that is unnecessary or that could be justifiably postponed.

Are you passionate about your life and work? Ask yourself how you would spend your time if you won ten million dollars and never had to work again. These questions can lead to some surprising revelations about what your priorities should be. You may discover that you would be happier by making a career change, although in most cases people don’t need to switch careers to start living a richer life-they just need to know what they really want.

As the novelist George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be the person you could have been.” Today is a good day to start.

The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you’ll be glad you took the time to learn more about Procrastination.

About the Author
Have you visited Anders’ latest site for adsense publishers? Download new fresh sites in this all new site, called Adsense Ready Websites

Research shows that people spend most of their time and effort working on activities that have nothing to do with the success of their projects. I’m convinced that procrastination is the main reason people fail to live richer lives. If you want to get serious about eliminating the habit of procrastination, you can start right now by recognizing that your most valuable asset is time.

- Learn how to use your time efficiently. Make sure that people know when you don’t want to be interrupted-don’t blame other people when you don’t have enough time to finish a task. When you miss a deadline, plan how you’re going to finish the remainder of the work instead of making excuses about why you didn’t get it done on time. Then do it.

- Procrastination is the No. 1 cause of stress. Do you ever wonder why the most successful entrepreneurs-people like Bill Gates, for instance-always seem so relaxed in interviews and public appearances? They work harder than most of us and they make billion-dollar decisions that the rest of us will never have to face in life, yet they never seem stressed out, worried, or depressed. Why not? Research shows that stress is caused by leaving too many things undone. That’s why habitual procrastinators always complain about chronic fatigue-putting things off creates enormous stress in our lives, which manifests itself as fatigue.

If you base what you do on inaccurate information, you might be unpleasantly surprised by the consequences. Make sure you get the whole Procrastination story from informed sources.

- Break down your long-term goals into manageable segments and milestones. Without a way of measuring your progress on long-term goals, you can easily delude yourself into believing that you’re making progress when you’re just spinning your wheels. Setting project milestones is a good way to measure your progress and stay focused.

- Reserve some time each day for working on your long-term projects. Spend most of your time on the things that need to be done this week, but try to spend some time each day on work that helps you make progress toward your long-term goals. The tasks that help you achieve long-term goals are easy to leave undone. They don’t seem urgent in the way that telephone calls seem urgent, but they usually represent our most important goals in life. In many cases, these larger goals get pushed off the radar screen by the countless distractions and “urgent” but unimportant things that demand our attention throughout the day.

You need to spend 75 to 80% of your time on jobs you have to wrap up this week. Dedicate the rest of your time to projects that need to be finished in the next six months. Have you set milestones for these projects? How are you measuring your progress on each project?

Always ask yourself: What have I learned about the consequences of procrastination, based on the decisions I made-or failed to make-yesterday? Never lose sight of what’s most important in life, and ask yourself every day: If I only get one thing done today, what must that one thing be? Then get it done.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, still letting you get the Automated Traffic Blueprints for cheap

Are you a habitual procrastinator? This quiz will help you identify areas where you can take action to overcome procrastination today:

- Do you have a filing system for keeping track of your long-term and short-term projects?

- Do you believe that the right atmosphere plays an important role in determining your productivity? Do you try to design work areas so that they help you to stay focused on the task you’re doing now?

- Do you congratulate yourself when you complete a job on time?

- Do you eliminate unnecessary tasks from your daily schedule?

- Are you usually accurate in deciding which jobs can be delayed for a justifiable reason?

If you find yourself confused by what you’ve read to this point, don’t despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

- Do you stay focused on your strengths, rather than constantly worrying about your weaknesses?

Don’t deceive yourself-procrastination is the main reason people fail to live fulfilling and prosperous lives. How do you usually keep yourself moving forward when you would rather put something off? If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, make a commitment to do something about it. The following tips can help you defeat the procrastination monster today:

- Keep a diary of your successes. When you force yourself to move forward to make something happen, write it down. Make a note of how it felt to complete the job successfully. The next time you can’t get started on a hard task, or when you want to give up, open your diary a read about one of your past successes. This can energize you and keep you moving forward.

- When you have difficult assignments, make them team projects if you can. Delegate or outsource the things you dislike or don’t do well. Concentrate on your strengths. Don’t let your weaknesses paralyze you.

- When you complete a hard job, reward yourself. Do you give yourself a reward when you stick with a difficult job and see it through to the end? What things bring you joy? How can you use these things as rewards for jobs completed? Sometimes the best reward is time for rest and recuperation. As Albert Einstein said, “The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest.”

- Use your time well. One clear symptom of procrastination is the habit of filling your day with unnecessary work, or work that can be justifiably delayed. Create the right atmosphere at work for staying focused on your priorities. As the English statesman and author Lord Chesterfield said, “The less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it.” Make a list of what you most regret not doing in your life because of the poor decisions you made about how to use your time. There’s only one way to defeat procrastination-Do something about it now.

You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Procrastination will come in handy. If you learned anything new about Procrastination in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, still letting you get Free Adsense Websites – every month!

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Procrastination. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Procrastination.

The following quiz will help you identify areas where a negative attitude has been keeping you from taking charge of your life. Answer “yes” to the statements that describe you.

1. I get discouraged when I think about all the problems I have.

2. I often wonder why my life is not as rewarding as it could be; many people around me seem to be living more satisfying lives than I am.

3. I have trouble focusing on my goals; I’m easily distracted at work.

4. I tend to put off getting started on projects because I’m always thinking about the things that can go wrong.

If you answered “yes” to any of the above statements, make a commitment to start retooling your attitude today. Read motivational books, listen to inspirational recordings, and associate with positive thinkers.

Knowledge can give you a real advantage. To make sure you’re fully informed about Procrastination, keep reading.

We cause our own feelings; I am the major cause of my own problems. Don’t let a negative attitude stand in the way of your happiness in life. Never make an important decision when you’re feeling down. What is your best time for making decisions? What is your worst time? What is your best time for working on difficult tasks? Is there a time of day when you tend to procrastinate more? Is there a time of day when you tend to procrastinate less?

Here are some tips for improving your attitude that can help you take the first steps toward overcoming the procrastination monster:

- Focus on the result you want to achieve. The more you focus on problems, the more discouraged you’re likely to get. If you’re not getting what you want out of life, you probably suffer from a lack of focus. This is why procrastination is such a dangerous demon-it prevents us from focusing on our goals. Procrastinators focus on all the reasons not to move forward, instead of focusing on the goal they want to achieve.

- Give your full attention to whatever you’re doing. When you concentrate on the things that can go wrong, you can’t stay focused on the job you’re doing. Failure is the inevitable consequence of a lack of focus; if I think I’m going to do a bad job, I probably will-or I may never get started at all.

- Don’t focus on all the things that can go wrong. Focusing on the hazards involved in trying to do something will almost always convince you to give up before you start.

I’m not advising you to throw caution to the wind. Every task we undertake has things that can go wrong. Simply said, it’s enough to know what the dangers are, be prepared to respond to them, and then move ahead with the project-confident in your ability to handle whatever comes up. People who dwell on all the things that can go wrong never get anything done. Productive people have learned to focus on opportunities-concentrate on the benefits of successfully completing a project and you will have won a major battle in the war against procrastination.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, still letting you get Unlimited Web Hosting from ONLY $1/month

The surest way to know that you can do something is to have done it before. When you set daily goals for yourself, you develop the habit of getting things done. When the procrastination demon appears, you know how to force yourself to push ahead because you’ve done it before. If you feel like you’re losing the battle against procrastination, one of the most effective strategies for taking charge of your life is to get in the habit of accomplishing daily goals.

Set a goal every day, and achieve it. It’s easy to get discouraged when your projects don’t seem to be going anywhere. We all need a long-term vision to guide our day-to-day efforts, but many people with high goals develop a negative attitude when they think they’re not making progress. That’s why it’s important to set achievable goals every day. The more goals you achieve, the more positive your attitude will be.

Set weekly and monthly goals. Your short-term goals are milestones that keep you moving toward long-term goals. They help you know if you’re going in the right direction. When a long-term goal seems far away, it’s easy to feel discouraged. Breaking down a large project into smaller segments makes it easier to stay focused. Congratulate yourself when you achieve daily and weekly goals, and give yourself a special reward when you achieve a monthly goal.

It’s important to experience the satisfaction and rewards of successfully completing jobs. When you force yourself to keep moving until you finish a project, it’s easier to get started on the next one. Don’t be surprised if you feel yourself grappling with the drift toward procrastination now and then-it may never go away completely. All successful people learn how to identify the procrastination monster, and they know what to do about it when it threatens:

- Successful people use their time well. When an urgent task threatens to pull them away from what they’re doing, they don’t rush into it just because it seems urgent. They always ask: Which of these two things is higher on my list of priorities?

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

- They turn off the phone from time to time. Can you get more done by leaving a voice message and turning the phone off during certain periods of the day? The telephone is one of the most insidious thieves of our time. It’s urgent but rarely important. It shoves out the less urgent but more important things.

- They keep a log of how they use their time. If they miss a deadline, they plan how to finish the remainder of their work and estimate as accurately as possible when it will be done.

- They develop a routine. They set an objective to accomplish every morning and every afternoon.

- They leave time in their daily schedule for contingencies.

- They always think twice before postponing a task. Successful people know that pushing themselves to accomplish daily goals makes them more likely to achieve long-term goals.

Those who only know one or two facts about Procrastination can be confused by misleading information. The best way to help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you’re learning here.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, now giving away Free Adsense eBooks for a limited time only