Procrastination + Excuses = Lack of productivity

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Procrastination + excuses = lack of productivity which leads to a bunch of things piling up and then total overwhelm.

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something and is often a coping mechanism associated with starting or completing an undesirable or difficult task or making a decision.

An excuse is an explanation for something that went wrong.  When we give an excuse, we’re trying to get someone to cut us some slack.

Procrastination + excuses leads to:

• Wasted time
• Missed opportunities
• Poor performance
• Self-depreciation
• Increased stress

4 types of procrastination

As business owners we end up scheduling more work than we can complete.  That’s because during the startup stage of our business and even for the first few years of running our business we must do it all.  In order to be successful, we simply have to get stuff done!

Anxious procrastination – can be caused by setting unrealistic expectations for ourselves, which makes us feel stressed.

Fun procrastination – you’d rather being doing ANYTHING except the one dreaded task.

Plenty of time procrastination – many people find it difficult to start a project when they know the deadline is a long way off.

Perfectionist procrastination – fear of failure or producing work that is less than perfect.

5 strategies to stop procrastination + excuses

• Take 5 minutes to make a list of things “you were going to do tomorrow”.
• Look at your list and do one thing on it right now
• Pick a time (today) to work on your list.
• Quit trying to be perfect!
• If what you’re putting off involves other people, talk to them.
• Ask yourself, What’s the worst thing that could happen if I did this today?
• Imagine how you’ll feel once you do whatever it is that you’ve been postponing.

How do you conquer procrastination?  Tell me in the comments below.