The stats are shocking!
But true.
According to research by Men’s Stuff and Golden Mastermind:
- Procrastination has more than quadrupled in the last 30 years. There are more people out there putting off important stuff in favor of trivialities than ever before!
- 40% of the people who procrastinate have experienced financial loss because of the habit.
- 1 in 5 people are chronic procrastinators who jeopardise their health, career, relationships and even credit score in the process.
Procrastination isn’t just laziness.
Procrastination isn’t being “happy go lucky”.
In a world where information overload and distractions are the norm, procrastination is a habit that regularly destroys success.
Why is Procrastination so Hard to Beat?
Do you find yourself “running out of motivation” in the middle of important projects? or at times not having enough time to complete what you have started?
These are all classic symptoms of procrastination.
This malady is difficult to defeat because often we aren’t even aware that we are procrastinating. We blame our schedule. We blame our bosses and spouses and we blame the economy for our unfulfilled dreams.
When the truth is, procrastination works in the background to ensure we fall short of our goals – every time.
There are two elements the brew of procrastination is generally made of:
- Lack of Clarity – both around what you want to achieve and what should you do to get the needle moving.
- Lack of Awareness – in terms of what we are committed to and the relative priorities of these projects.
How GTD Eliminates Procrastination:
We wouldn’t be exaggerating if we claimed that GTD is about the most consistently effective framework of eliminating procrastination from your life.
And there is a strong reason behind this.
GTD inculcates in you habits of productivity that attack the root causes of procrastination – lack of clarity and awareness.
The GTD system teaches you to flip the mind-set that gives birth to procrastination – naturally and permanently. There is no question of will power. The change is self driven and thus lasting.
- Getting Things Done is famous for its “End Vision of Success” thinking. It prompts you to define a concrete end result for each project or activity you undertake. When you know exactly what you are aiming for (and what you stand to lose if you do not achieve the goal), it is a lot more difficult to “put off” being proactive.
Being a GTD practitioner you never running out of motivation.
- Getting Things Done helps you create contextualized lists of Next Actions. You eat your elephant one bite at a time and you know just where to begin. A Next Action is the well defined to-do that you must execute as the first step towards the “End Vision of Success” for your projects.
You go from being “overwhelmed, confused and unclear” to knowing exactly what is required for triumph. You start things without hesitance and instantly capitalize on opportunities.
- Getting Things Done gifts you the power of the Weekly Review. This is a sacred one to two hour time slot that you dedicate to inventorying and updating the status of the projects you have on your plate. Through a weekly review you take stock of exactly how committed you are, the time you have free and the priorities of the Next Actions scheduled for the coming seven days.
This prevents you from saying “Yes” as a knee jerk reaction to everything that comes your way. And disciplines you into attending to the important instead of the urgent. The result? You always finish what you start.
No other methodology or practice takes such a comprehensive and targeted approach to beating procrastination. GTD practitioners around the world swear by its effectiveness and regularly accomplish great things.
It’s time you do the same!
Good luck “Getting Things Done!”
I believe our work should be an expression of our most creative selves. I work with business owners and their teams to achieve stress-free productivity.