There’s been a lot of talk this week about procrastination.
Procrastination is a killer for me too. Not because I like to sit on my butt and play Xbox. Quite the opposite actually. I am an entrepreneurial glutton. I always want to start a new project, new business, new investment. But then I start and stop. I procrastinate the things that could make each new idea a success. And then I feel like crap.
Recently I read Gary Keller’s remarkable book The One Thing and it helped me understand myself a little better and come up with a strategy to battle my perpetual project procrastination. I learned to reprogram myself and my workflow. Here’s how.
You see humans are a lot like gadgets, we come prepacked with default settings. When you buy a new iPhone it comes set by Apple with default settings. The same is true of humans. By the age of 5 years old our mental defaults were set by our parents and evironment. These defaults are incredibly difficult to change. But not impossible.
It’s all comes down to willpower and personal understanding. You have to know what your goals are and know your own personal rhythms.
Keller explains that at certain times of day our willpower is at its highest and when it’s laser focused on our one true goal nothing can stop it. Nothing. For some, mornings are the highlight of their day. Others are night owls that flourish when the sun sets.
For me, my willpower is at its strongest right around 10 in the morning. Knowing that, I can use Keller’s The One Thing model and focus on my main goal for that hour. I’m talking laser-like focus. But 10 a.m. is the hour of execution. I have to plan for it the night before.
The night before I jot down the two or three things I want to tackle around my main goal the following morning. And then when that willpower clock hits 10AM I jump right in and complete them. It’s empowering. And guess what? I’m now three steps closer to buying that next rental property and acheiving financial freedom.
Often I notice that I don’t get much else accomplished the rest of the day. I reserve the easy-to-accomplish things for low willpower times. Returning email, fixing a graphic on my website, doing some online banking, all of these things require minimal willpower. If I accomplish none of these things I’ll feel empowered because I moved closer to my one true goal.
This strategy is helping me change my life. I’d love to hear how it could help change yours. Click to email me.
