Jojerry

I don’t know about you, but often when I’m faced with a task that requires a lot of effort and that I’m not particularly enthusiastic about, I’ll often try and put it off (procrastinate). Then when I DO get started, I’ll take every opportunity to put the work to one side and do something more enjoyable. I know it’s stupid, but that’s just the way I am. It’s the way a lot of other people are too – maybe you’re one of them. There is, however, a simple solution: Simply remove distractions from around you and keep your mid focused on the work at hand. What do I mean by “remove distractions”? First of all, turn off your smartphone. I mean really turn it off – don’t just put it in airplane mode. I know most smartphones make you keep pressing “yes” and “OK” in order to do it, but it’s worthwhile. Now you won’t be interrupted by phone calls, text messages and e-mails. This will also force you to take a break from social media etc. That Facebook update or Twitter tweet from whoever you’re following will still be there in an hour or two when you’re done with the task at hand. Next, find somewhere to work where you can concentrate. This can be somewhere at home or work where you can shut the door and keep others out (bedroom, home office, meeting room etc.) or somewhere other people will leave you alone. For example, I’m writing this e-mail on my laptop in a coffee shop. There are people all around me, but I don’t know any of them, so they’re not going to come and strike up a conversation. Regardless, tell other people not to interrupt you unless it's an emergency. That way you’ll be able to accomplish any task with ease.

“You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.” George Lorimer Hey! I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying: Birds of a feather flock together. What it means is that people like to surround themselves with people who are similar to themselves. This can mean similar in appearance or similar in age, but oftentimes it means similar in outlook or disposition. So if you want to accomplish more in life it’s a good idea to surround yourself with positive, supportive people. If you can find successful people (who have been through what you’re going through and are prepared to offer support and encouragement) to mentor you then so much the better. Either way, you should avoid negative people wherever possible. We all know them: The ones who try and talk you out of doing anything worthwhile. When you listen to them, you’ll become distracted and discouraged. Some of these people (even people you thought you could rely on) will actually WANT you to fail. Hard to believe, but true! Why would they want to do that? Sometimes they secretly want what you want, but lack the willpower and motivation to go out and get it. If you try and fail (or become discouraged and give up) it takes the pressure of them to try it themselves. So they try to put you off with discouragement dressed up as “advice”. Now they’ve planted the seed of doubt in your own mind, making it less likely you’ll try yourself and it takes the pressure off them. Personally, I try to distribute information on a “need to know” basis to thwart the “naysayers”. That way, I’m less likely to get negative feedback and more likely to complete the task at hand.

When you set goals like we talked about yesterday, you’ll have a good idea of the steps you’ll need to take to accomplish any task. No you need to break each step down into smaller steps. You see, when you break large tasks down into little ones, you make them less daunting. Instead of having to climb a cliff face, you can erect a ladder to your goal and climb it one rung at a time. This helps to prevent procrastination, as you’ll be able to see the end of the task before you even begin. Once you get started, the motivation to achieve your goal will spur you on. When you’ve finished, give yourself a reward. This can be something physical like allowing yourself some of your favorite candy, or just something psychological like giving yourself a pat on the back. Then it's on to the next step – and the one after that, and the one after that, and so-on until you reach your goal. Motivation is (literally) all in the mind. When you program your mind to get the job done, you can accomplish great things. Getting started is often what holds people back. People often fail to get started because they find the tasks they face to be daunting, so they put it off (AKA procrastinate). Yet once you can see the task ahead is only small and easily accomplished, it doesn’t seem so daunting, so you’ll have fewer reasons to put it off.

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” Denis Waitley

“The future depends on what you do today.” Mahatma Gandhi Now, we're going to talk about: Ways to set goals🎯 How to avoid procrastination🚫😪 Keeping focused😎 Why some people may want you to fail😏 And a whole lot more besides🤩 What motivates you...🔥 Everybody is different and has their own reasons for wanting to accomplish what they want to accomplish. So before we go any further, you need to define your “why”. Why do you want what you want? In fact, I think it's more important to define “why” before you define “what”. This is because, oftentimes, you might want the “what” for all the wrong reasons. For example, you might decide you want to lose weight for health reasons, whereas in reality, you REALLY want to lose weight to build your self esteem. A good way of determining this is to use the “5 Whys” technique where you ask yourself the question “why” you want something, then why you want the answer etc. 5 times in a row. The final answer may surprise you.