How To Stop Procrastination 2012

How much of your life is simply being wasted-away?

Please think about this. It's important.

When you step back and honestly evaluate what you accomplish each day, what kind of results are you typically
getting?

Let's look at some simple figures and do some simple math. I think that what you'll see unfold will stun you a bit.

An Honest, Hard Look At How

You're Spending Your Life

After accounting for 8 hours of sleep, you have 16 hours left over each day to do stuff, or 112 hours a week.

Are you making the most of those 112 hours?

Of course, you're not really supposed to 'make the most' of the time you spend eating or doing other leisurely activities, but even if you give yourself a very liberal 3 hours a day for food and recreation, that still leaves you with 91 hours a week for getting things done in your life.

Think about that for a moment...91 hours!

Did you realize that after sleep and 21 hours of eating and entertainment each week that you had 91 hours left over?

If you're like most people (including myself, at one time), probably not.

Even when you take away 45 hours a week for work and a commute, you still have 46 hours left over.

Let's do one more deduction. Let's set aside another hour a day (7 hours a week) for miscellaneous activities, such as walking the dog, paying the bills and going shopping.

After all is said and done, you're left with 39 hours a week.

Are you starting to feel a bit uncomfortable or uneasy about now? Does the idea that you may have nearly 40 hours a week that you probably can't logically account for shock you bit?

Are you really wasting that much of your life each and every week with nothing to show for it?

No, you say?!?

How about half that, or about 20 hours a week? Are you wasting away that much you think?

How about just a measly quarter of that, or 10 hours a week? Are you wasting 10 hours a week on nothing?

Now that we've got the waste-figure down to just 10 hours a week, you may not be feeling so bad about it. After all, it is just 10 hours. But consider this: That's
520 hours, or 32.5 days (16 hour days) that is going down the dumper each year. And that's a bare minimum! For you, it could be worse... 2, 3, or even 4 times worse (that's over 4 months of waste)!

I know that was a lot a math, something you may not enjoy doing at all, but it was a necessary exercise.

I hope you've been able to see and understand the magnitude of what you may be doing with your most precious resource - your time.

When I did this exercise, I simply couldn't believe it. I had to check my figures multiple times to make sure a number didn't get misplaced or something. It didn't! What WAS misplaced was my carefree attitude about what I was actually doing with my time.

This led me to do what I normally do, and that's pour through every resource I could in order to uncover ideas, tips and strategies to help turn things around. This guide is a compilation of some of the best ideas I've found, along with a few of my own discoveries.

I'm sharing it because I know I'm not alone in my desire to want to make the most of my time, and thus my life.

If you're with me on this, then I hope you find information inside this guide simple, clear, and useful - I want it to product results for you!

Get ready to become a Human Action Machine!

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Action Manage Software

How To Take More Action!

1. Set Aside A Specific Block Of Time For Consuming Info On The Web

It's time to end the wasting of hours upon hours of your valuable time mindlessly on stuff that really requires no more than 30 minutes each day.

I'm talking about everything on the Web that you do to consume information - reading emails, checking Facebook, Twitter and digg, reading blogs, the news - everything!

Give yourself 30 minutes to an hour each day to do nothing but enjoy it, take care of it, or however you look at it. But once you've used up your time, don't go back to it at all until later in the day or evening, once you've accomplished a number of other tasks.

Keep these things in their place and quit letting them control your life!

Give up checking this stuff every 10 minutes. Not only is that a momentum-killer, but chances are, the rest of the world isn't going to sit at a standstill waiting on your next Facebook update. :)

2. Take Control Of Your Inbox

A whole book could be written on the topic of managing email (there have been, many of them), but these would likely be the highlights:

Immediately answer any email that can be replied to quickly. Quickly means less than a couple minutes.
Keep your replies short when possible. Loose the 'small talk' and get to the point (but maintain sincerity). As much as you don't like writing lengthy emails, the person receiving one probably likes reading them a lot less. Delete any emails you haven't responded to after a month. Holding on to them does nothing but make you feel guilty every time you open your inbox. Guilt is an action-killer, so get rid of the old emails and get rid of the guilt!

3. Work As Disconnected As Possible

This means, turn off your phone (you can do it, I know you can), close your instant message program, and close your office door (use a Do Not Disturb sign if necessary).

You have got to get momentum on your side, because once you work in a state of 'flow', you're able to take action much faster, with greater results.

When working, eliminate all distractions!

4. Focus On One Thing At A Time

Think of driving in your car with the destination being the other side of town.

How much faster are you going to get there driving a straight road with your foot constantly on the gas as opposed to starting, stopping, changing directions, starting again, stopping again, changing directions, and so on?

If you take that straight road with your foot constantly on the gas, you'll get to your destination at least 10-times faster than if you're constantly starting, stopping, and changing directions.

Focus has the same effect on your life - it gets you to your destination or goal much faster when you practice it. Loose the 'multitasking' mindset of trying to do several things at once, and you'll begin scratching things off your to-do list faster than ever!

5. Do Plenty Of What You're Supposed To Do

What this means is to make sure you spend a good part of your day, every day, doing what it is that you do, and less time on secondary, time-wasting tasks.

If you're a consultant, then consult. If you're a writer, then write.

Quit wasting your days on things that take away valuable time from your main purpose.

Delegate secondary tasks to someone else to take care of, or at least consider trimming down the time you allow for them.

Bottom-line: The majority of your day should be spent taking action related to your chosen profession or passion.

6. Keep Your To-Do List In Front Of You

Don't make a to-do list on an old dog-eared notepad and then throw it in a drawer you might look in every couple of months.

Post it somewhere you can look at it daily - on your desk, the fridge, the ceiling in your bedroom, it doesn't matter.

The clearer you are about what needs done in your life, the more likely you are to take care of it. Keeping your to-do list in front of you is a great way to maintain your clarity of what you need to take care of.

7. De-clutter On A Regular Basis

A confused mind always says 'no'.

This means that if your life is full of clutter, your brain is probably overwhelmed and confused (even at level you may not realize) and it sees all the things you need to do and is constantly saying, 'NO!' - slowing you down BIG TIME!

On a regular basis, clean your work environment, and clear out the junk in your life you no longer need or use - give it away. This includes books, magazines, DVD's, clothes, stuff in your garage, junk under your bed, and so on. Let it all go.

In addition, keep your cyber-life de-cluttered as well by clearing out old emails and rarely visited bookmarks occasionally.

Schedule a time once a month to de-clutter and you'll find your brain saying,

'YES!' a lot more often.

8. Increase Your Personal Speed

When you observe the way someone who takes a lot of action carries themselves, you begin to see one of the underlying reasons how they get so much done - their personal speed.

Seriously, action-takers seem to move faster, talk faster, make decisions faster - everything faster than everyone else!

You need to become consciously aware of your personal speed and determine whether it's hindering you from getting things done. If it is, the fix is simple; start doing things faster and with more energy behind them.

This doesn't mean you become an overworked, stressed-out, hyped-up, caffeine-
guzzling maniac!

It means that every day you focus on adding a little more energy into everything you do, until your mind and body gets into the habit of being in a state of action.

9. Just Start!

It doesn't matter if it's for just 5 minutes, you NEED to start doing something toward your goals and dreams right now!

When you start with a goal in mind, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the realization of all the steps you're going to have to take to reach your final destination.

What you may not realize is that with each step you take, no matter how small, you move a little bit closer to your end-goal and as a result, it gets just a little clearer. In addition to that, the scope of things you need to do to accomplish it, narrows.

In other words, your ability to reach your goal faster and easier is compounded with each step, no matter how small.

Start your journey today!

10. Write Things Down

Give up trying to keep ideas, to-do's, goals, and plans all in your head!

Doing this causes unneeded stress because of a sense of being overwhelmed with 'all the things weighing on your mind.'

When you get in the habit of moving things out of your head and onto paper (or your computer), it not only frees-up precious brain power for the sake of taking action, but it also gives you a clearer picture of all the things you need to to. Typically, this picture looks a lot more manageable when it's on paper.

11. Listen To Music

Music has a way of altering your brain for action. Why do you think so many people use music during their workouts?

If you can find music that 'pumps you up', but isn't distracting, it can be a powerful tool for juicing-up your productivity.

A great place to discover and listen to your favorite music for free is www.pandora.com.

12. Create And Use Checklists

Anytime you can offload things you need to remember from your head onto paper (or your computer), the more you set yourself up for taking action.

Your brain hates stress, and having to remember all the details related to preparing your taxes, or everything you need to schedule, reserve, and buy for a vacation just weighs you down.

Checklists help you get rid of a lot of this stress by acting like a 'mini-blueprint' you can easily follow anytime you need it, without the worry that you're forgetting something important.

For any process or sequence of actions you perform on a regular basis, take a little time to create a checklist for it and use it as needed. It may take a little time to create initially, but it will save you gobs of time and energy in the long-run.

If you need a bit of inspiration when creating your checklists, just search Google for some ideas. For example, to create a travel checklist, begin by searching Google for travel checklist. You'll find plenty of ideas for things to add to your own.

13. Plan Tomorrow, Today!

The more you prepare yourself for anything, the more likely you are to follow through with doing it. This includes your daily schedule.

Every day, before you wrap up your work day, write down the 3 most important things you want to accomplish the next day. Don't just make a mental note about them...write them down!

Leave the list in the middle of your desk (or wherever else you'll easily see it in the morning).

For 'extra-credit', take a little time while you're creating your list to gather together any supporting items you may need to make achieving tasks on your list possible.

For example, if one of the items on your list is to balance your checkbook, then get your checkbook, your bank statement, and a calculator and place them next to your list.

Do everything you can to prepare yourself for accomplishing the tasks you've written down and you'll be more open to taking action when the time comes to take care of them.

I hope these helpful "tip's will prove beneficial to you in the coming weeks and months ahead!

Regards,
Dan