Stop Letting People Trigger You Into Procrastination

You jump out of bed in the morning, ready to tackle your day. You’re on fire and intend to attack whatever you’ve been putting off. Or you’ve finally mustered up the courage to start that new project or business and are excited. You shower, dress, meditate, and drink your favorite morning beverage, and just as you’re about ready to launch into it, something happens.

This Keeps You Stuck

You decided to check your email really quick, or worse yet, scrolled through social media for a second only to get sucked into problems, conversations, requests, or some other kind of drama that you really don’t need in your life right now.

Or a good friend might call and ask you to do something or go somewhere with them. It’s hard to say no to a friend.

Or, and hopefully, this doesn’t happen, but you get an alert that your favorite TV show dropped on Netflix, and although you know you shouldn’t, you log in and have a quick look… and a quick look turns into one or two episodes.

Life is full of distractions that can keep you from your dreams and goals. If you’re not careful, you’ll fall into the rut of procrastination and be precisely in the same place come this time next year.

This Moves Your Forward

But what if I told you there’s a simple strategy you can use to keep this from happening?

It’s simple. Almost so simple that you might not take it seriously, but here it is: Take the project or task you’ve been procrastinating on and make it the first thing you work on in the morning before answering emails, taking calls, checking social media, or anything else that typically trips you up.

The world will still be there an hour or two later.

Put your dreams and goals first; you’re not being selfish.

To make this work, you must start the night before. Make a list of what you want to get done tomorrow. Identify the three most important tasks and which one you will begin with first.

Maybe your tasks pertain to the same project or are three separate things you’ve been putting off but want to start, like going to the gym or responding to important correspondence.

The important thing is to have a plan by making a list and deciding which task to begin with first. Review your list in the morning, begin with the first task before doing anything else, and then move on to the next two.

Don’t check email or let your phone distract you. Depending on your work situation, this may or may not be possible, but don’t answer the phone or attend meetings before these three tasks are finished. Make them your number one priority.

A New Day Is Here…

If you hold yourself accountable to this process, you’ll be amazed at the huge difference it makes in how your day goes and your productivity.

Your days of standing still will be over.

Decide that putting things off until you feel like doing them is no longer an option.

It’s very simple, really. Become aware of how people and things interact with you and your day, and ask yourself one question: Is this person/thing moving me forward or holding me back?

Does this mean you need to cut them out of your life?

Maybe, but probably not.

It just means you must prioritize yourself and be more intentional about when, where, and how other people and things fit into day-to-day life.

When you catch yourself putting something off, evaluate what’s happening to pinpoint what is causing it. Then, take action to prevent it from happening again.

Don’t let procrastination keep you from unlocking your best life!