The beast of procrastination... and how to slay it!

[Dien Rice]

Procrastination is a deadly beast!

You may have the skills, the ability, the time... to have some amazing achievements...

Yet, because of procrastination, you put the work off... till tomorrow, till next week, till next year...

And those achievements never materialize!

I do procrastinate, I must admit. I get things done too, but I procrastinate more than I wish I did...

However, I think (after a few decades)... I've found the solution!

It came when I was reading an article from the Washington Post...

"The idea is that, even though we know that the person we will be in a month is theoretically the same person that we are today, we have little concern, understanding or empathy for that future self. People are far more focused on how they feel today."

I think this hits the nail on the head. The times in the past when I have really gotten things done, was when I was thinking a lot about my future self... And empathizing with "future me"...

I've done an experiment the past couple of days. I've tried to focus on empathizing with "future me"... To keep thinking about how my actions now will affect the future me... And trying to help "Future Dien"...

And, you know what, I think it's worked! I think I did procrastinate less than usual the past couple of days...

Now, this isn't quite a scientific experiment. But it seems to work enough that I will keep doing it...

By the way, this sort of flies opposite to the "live in the present moment" philosophy you'll also read in other places. I think you probably need a kind of balance between the two... If you "live in the present moment" - your present self will be happy, but your future self may suffer!

Here's the article...

The real reasons you procrastinate — and how to stop
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...oing-your-job/

The part of the article I'm referring to is about halfway through, under the subtitle "Present Homer vs. Future Homer"...

Best wishes,

Dien

[GordonJ]

I've been on the phone again, speaking to candidates for an apprentice/JV program. At one end is the 18 year old college student with ZERO experience...and a late 50s guy who says he's been at Internet Marketing over a decade without results. And lots in between.

My NEW first "assignment" for them is:

Think of ONE year from now, what does your day look like and how much money will you make during the following year?

The assignment is to WRITE an ABOUT page for your website.

Your ABOUT page should be about people and what they do. OR,
Who are you?
What are you offering?

It sounds like a simple assignment, but it has been difficult for many.

It requires them to think about what they want and how they plan to get it.

Procrastination melts away to a motivated person with a desire or an expectation of something better.

Give it a try, what would your ABOUT page say?

Then, when you know what the ABOUT page says, you can begin to build your website to match what it is all about.

Gordon Jay

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Procrastination is a deadly beast!

You may have the skills, the ability, the time... to have some amazing achievements...

Yet, because of procrastination, you put the work off... till tomorrow, till next week, till next year...

And those achievements never materialize!

I do procrastinate, I must admit. I get things done too, but I procrastinate more than I wish I did...

However, I think (after a few decades)... I've found the solution!

It came when I was reading an article from the Washington Post...

"The idea is that, even though we know that the person we will be in a month is theoretically the same person that we are today, we have little concern, understanding or empathy for that future self. People are far more focused on how they feel today."

I think this hits the nail on the head. The times in the past when I have really gotten things done, was when I was thinking a lot about my future self... And empathizing with "future me"...

I've done an experiment the past couple of days. I've tried to focus on empathizing with "future me"... To keep thinking about how my actions now will affect the future me... And trying to help "Future Dien"...

And, you know what, I think it's worked! I think I did procrastinate less than usual the past couple of days...

Now, this isn't quite a scientific experiment. But it seems to work enough that I will keep doing it...

By the way, this sort of flies opposite to the "live in the present moment" philosophy you'll also read in other places. I think you probably need a kind of balance between the two... If you "live in the present moment" - your present self will be happy, but your future self may suffer!

Here's the article...

The real reasons you procrastinate — and how to stop
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...oing-your-job/

The part of the article I'm referring to is about halfway through, under the subtitle "Present Homer vs. Future Homer"...

Best wishes,

Dien

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

My NEW first "assignment" for them is:

Think of ONE year from now, what does your day look like and how much money will you make during the following year?

The assignment is to WRITE an ABOUT page for your website.

Your ABOUT page should be about people and what they do. OR,
Who are you?
What are you offering?

It sounds like a simple assignment, but it has been difficult for many.

It requires them to think about what they want and how they plan to get it.

Procrastination melts away to a motivated person with a desire or an expectation of something better.

Give it a try, what would your ABOUT page say?

Then, when you know what the ABOUT page says, you can begin to build your website to match what it is all about.

Hi Gordon,

That sounds like a very good exercise...

I think there is definitely a difference between a vague "wish", and a more concrete "picture" of the future that you want...

Many people have vague "wishes"... But never really get that concrete "picture" !

So, it's a problem...

How do you solve it?

Your method sounds like a good approach to take!

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. A friend of mine in the past created for himself a "dream book." It was a scrap book, where he'd cut out and pasted in pictures which represented his "dreams"...

He very kindly let me take some photos of his dream book (and I'm looking at them now). He put in a photo of the car he wanted to drive, places he wanted to go, the activities he wanted to do. He also put in inspirational quotes and words.

He did achieve a lot of it... A few years ago, his business was making revenues of over $1 million a year. But then... his marriage broke down, and his business went down after that (his marriage breakdown meant he didn't keep an eye on his business)... He's much less materialistic now, and more spiritual, but still living an amazing lifestyle. I think the lesson is, material things aren't everything... and the spiritual side can help to keep your life in balance...