Why You Procrastinate
When it comes to procrastination you can either beat yourself up about it or realize that everyone procrastinates. Here’s why.
[00:00:00] Hey guys it’s Jonathan and welcome. Listen today I want to talk about why we procrastinate.We All
We All Procrastinate
[00:00:08] First thing is that we all procrastinate. OK, everybody does. The truth is that if you the only way you don’t procrastinate is if you don’t have any goals you don’t have any ambition to be or do or have more than what you have now. If you think about it, if you wiped out anything every you every ambition you ever had you wouldn’t be procrastinating. You just be kind of hanging out. Right. You wouldn’t have much of a life. But the truth is, is that anybody who has a goal to be more do more have more, they have aspirations. They’re going to now have to prioritize what it is they want to do. Right.
Even The Most Productive People Are Procrastinators
[00:00:49] So what happens is some of the most productive people I know are procrastinators. And what happens is we tend to look at those people whether you see them online you see them on TV or read a book about them like you think like, wow those guys are amazing they must never procrastinate. The truth is, everybody procrastinates, and what happens is we get in these funks where we think, if only I knew their secret, then I would be better. And that’s not really the case because they don’t have necessarily a secret. They’re dealing with their own procrastination as well.
You Lack Clarity
[00:01:24] The number one cause of procrastination is lack of clarity. If you think about it, if you have this goal, this thing you want to accomplish and you’re putting it off. Really. The reason you’re putting it off is because you are not clear on either the outcome., or the process with which to make that goal happen. Right, so you put it off a little bit. Let’s think about something that most people deal with it’s like you know they want to workout or they want to lose some weight. And they know there’s this thing that they shouldn’t be eating but they’re eating it anyway. And what happens is that that they’re not fully clear on what it is that this thing that they’re eating is causing them. Either that you know like for me I love having a Pepsi or love having a Coke. It’s just my it’s my that it makes me feel good it brings back all these memories and a lot of times procrastination is just that it’s a stress reliever. It’s something that you know that by not doing it or by doing something that’s keeping the goal from happening, it makes us feel good. It may relieve stress or it may be something we’re just putting off because we’re not fully clear about what this what this doing or not doing is causing us. If you’re clear about your outcome there’s very rarely procrastination. Because when you’re clear, you’re excited. You’re excited about this thing that’s about to happen. You’re about to do. And so you you do it because you’ve got so much clarity that this thing that you’re supposed to be doing trumps all these other things that you think you should be doing. Right.
When You’re Not Clear Things Move To Second Place
[00:03:09] When you’re not clear, that thing that you should be doing is now below all these other things. You may be cleaning the house. You may be doing the laundry. You may be watching the movie. You maybe turning on the TV on instead of doing that thing you want to do because right now that thing that you’re unclear of is at the bottom of the pile.
You Always Have a Really Good Reason To Procrastinate
[00:03:28] And the crazy thing about it is that you always have a really good reason to procrastinate. Right you always have a really good reason. When you think about it because you’re not doing it, for a reason. And the trick is you have to become clear as to what that reason is. OK. Now this takes some time. It takes some thinking it takes some introspection is like OK wait a second, what am I unclear about? Why am I putting this off? Why am I doing these other things on top of or in front of that thing that I really think I should be doing? And that is the key word it’s “should”. Procrastination comes around “shoulds”. I should be mowing the lawn. I should be working out. I should be spending more time with my significant other. I should be sending that e-mail to that person I’ve been thinking about for a while. I should be. You name it. Whatever’s behind a “should” is that thing that you’re not fully clear on. So take some time and get clear. Get clear about what it is you want. Get clear about what it is you don’t want. Right?
Make a Don’t Want List To Get Clear
[00:04:41] Because sometimes having our don’t want list is just as powerful as having our do want list. But just remember this. Everybody procrastinates. Everybody who has goals and ambitions procrastinates. We tend to compare our inside, to somebody else’s outside. Right? You can read about Richard Branson who’s a billionaire and has all these companies and think MY GOD. Richard Branson never procrastinates! You know what, he does. Right. And some of the most successful people that I know procrastinate. Business owners, athletes, they put off all the time! A lot of athletes I grew up with, you know, they’re working out, then they need they know they should be at the gym, but they’d rather sit on the couch. So everybody procrastinates. Don’t beat yourself up over it and just find out what’s behind your “shoulds”. Make a list of things that you’re…become aware of what you’re putting off and then develop some courage to take action on those things. And we’ll talk about courage in other video.
Share This With Someone Who Needs To Hear It
[00:05:43] Thanks for watching. If this helps you. All right. You know somebody who needs to hear it. Please share this with them. I would appreciate it. They would appreciate you doing that as well. And I’ll see you next week. Cheers.
