One of my favorite financial websites, The Simple Dollar, had a great post just the other day regarding a review of a get-it-done book titled “9 Steps to Work Less and Do More.” One of my founding mantras or goals for myself is to work less and make more, so Trent’s critique of the book caught my interest.
The second chapter by author Stever Robbins (who podcasts at Quick-and-Dirty Tips aimed to help readers get things done better) is about tackling procrastination. His advice is to perform an action every single day that is related to your goal. Think outside of the box here: he’s avoiding limiting actions to that four-lettered word we call work. Robbins encourages us to take back the terms hobbies, inspiration, exercise, breaks and daydreaming. (And yes, the work stuff like meetings and phone calls and networking as well as personal things likes cleaning the house). He reminds us all our actions can have purpose.
It’s ‘fear’ that is the root cause of procrastination. A fear of not being perfect so a simple task withing a bigger goal gets raised 1,000 feet above ground from where it should be. And therefore nothing gets accomplished or started.
Like working out and getting to a physical and metal state we want our bodies to be in but that seems so far away. And I’m talking to myself here! But here’s how we can squash the doubts:
#1: Simple actions ARE related to your goal. So you didn’t walk 5 miles but only walked just 1. And you performed this downsizing two times this week (and you’re fearful you might comprise tomorrow’s exercise schedule too). So what. This is where you are at right now. Your best changes from day-t0-day. Be a big enough person to realize that. The alternative is hating yourself.
#2: Inspiration isn’t a planned event. Be open to exercise change, from deciding to switch out a much-anticipated spin class for a spontaneous swim session with a friend. This might be what you need to be lifted to a higher place mentally and physically. Exercise stops being fun when it becomes rigid.
#3: Exercise holds hidden fun. Especially with a silly soundtrack (one-hit wonders are my favorite). Or if you go to a dance class where you have no idea how to move. Or if you go for a walk, zone out and remind yourself of a funny story a friend told you (or listen to a David Sedaris book on tape).
#4: Nobody ever really knows what they are doing. You ask some great swimmers how they got to be so good, and they are at a loss for words mainly because they didn’t know they were even good at all. Nobody feels likes they have the perfect exercise outfit, nobody really knows if they are doing the yoga position totally correct, and nobody really knows if they are working to their potential. This takes the edge off.
#5: Screwing up doesn’t necessarily make you a screw up. I’m always disappointing myself, but I wish like crazy I didn’t take it that way because I’m only making getting back on the horse that much harder. So you go off the diet and flake on your exercise classes and lose focus. So what. Don’t waist time questioning your self-worth. You save time by just going back to advice #1, which is where you’ll end up anyway after your self-lashing.
