Are you ready to go from procrastination to productivity?

70% of North Americans report that they procrastinate.   And 20%, or 1 in 5 of you are a chronic procrastinator.  Are you one of them?    What is something you are procrastinating on today?

Usually when we think about someone who procrastinates, we get an image in our head of someone who is “lazy”sitting in front of the TV with a beer, or surfing the Internet all day long.   For sure if you have such a negative image of yourself, you will not be motivated to take action and create momentum towards your goals ? so I wanted to give you some information that would help you forget that stereotype and build some self understanding so you can develop a habit of taking action.

I?ve put together a list of “types” of procrastinators I’ve had as clients or in my programs.   See if you can identify your type:

• The Perfectionist – ” Its not going out the door until every detail is perfect”

• The Dreamer – “I’ve got a great vision, I don’t know how to get started”

• The Avoider- “I don’t feel like doing it”

• The Confidence Protector -”What will people think? if I send this out”

• The Pressure Seeker – “I am convinced ‘I work best’ under pressure”

• The Prioritizer -”I do what’s most important and put everything else off”

• The ADDer  -”I legitimately have ADD and haven?t gotten treated for it”

You really want to identify which type (or types) of procrastinator you  are because it will make all the difference in terms of using the right solutions.   For example,  if you are an Avoider, you want to arm yourself with strategies to help you get past the “I don’t feel like it” and onto taking action.   If you are a Prioritizer, you are battling too many projects and too many changes in strategic direction, and for you it’s a waste of time to learn more about to “start your day with the hardest task”.   What you need is to get better input about what will stay constant amongst your strategic and revenue generating priorities,  and communicate to the people who will otherwise be waiting for you to complete tasks that are not part of your current priorities.

There are two kinds of solutions to moving past procrastination.  The first set of solutions have to do with setting up your tasks so that it is “Easier to Do It” than to “Not do it”.   The second has to do with tools to help you deal with yourself better  – so that when you are tempted to procrastinate you will know how to talk yourself out of it and take action.

Its important to have a good awareness of how you set yourself up to procrastinate so that you know exactly what to do differently next time.

If procrastination is cutting into your profit,  or interfering with your promotion, it’s a serious issue for you.   Remember the Mark Twain quote about looking back on your life what you regret the most is what you didn’t do, not what you did do.