How to Manage Stress and Stop Procrastinating
How procrastination Kills
Everyone knows that stress is a killer, if you don’t know this well there it is… When your mind is stressed it releases defensive hormones into your body and can literally shut you down depending on the level of stress. Stress leads to depression, anxiety and many other shitty feelings none of us want in our lives. There are loads of books that talk about how to manage these types of feelings, I only want to touch on them briefly here as these are areas of life that are constantly being explored and researched.
I have found that procrastination can lead to some of these feelings if the person doing the procrastinating is not attempting to move forward. You can notice this in yourself if you pay attention to it, as I think we all do this to a certain extent. Think about something important you have been putting on the back burner for a long time that you know needs to get done, but you just don’t want to do it because it sucks or is not revenue generating or is just not at the top of the list. That’s that thing that may be keeping you up at night. Why the fuck don’t we just do it and get it over with?? I don’t know, because it sucks?
This happens to me all of the time, I am a procrastinator. If I don’t feel something is VERY important I prioritize everything in front of it. I have many examples of this and this book is one of them, I know at the back of my mind writing a book is not greatly profitable, so I prioritize my other work first. I have wanted to complete this book since 2007, that is 11 damn years! That was a long procrastination. Sometimes at night I think about why it is not done, sometimes I wake up in the morning and think about it or in the shower or bathroom. Thinking about it sucks. I have made a pact with myself that I would complete it in the next few months and finally leave some of my learnings for at least my children to read…..I hope lol.
Another thing I procrastinate about is doing taxes. My taxes are complicated as I have myself, my spouse and our businesses and investments. I wait until the very last minute to do it every year, this year until the last hour to submit payment. This sits on my shoulder like a weight. When i know tax season is coming up I start to think about it and it creates anxiety within myself for days until it is complete. Sometimes I dream about it. IT SUCKS
The solution to the procrastination problem is right in front of our eyes and it is the same as everything else in this book. Stop acting like a little bitch! The key to doing this is to create lists and live by them, this will help you slowly check of everything you have to do. If you do a little off the list every day you will eventually complete everything. Make a goal for yourself depending on how long your list is and get it done, such as I will complete 5 things off of my to do list every calendar day. Easy to say but do the things you dislike first. A lot of times these are the things that take the longest to do, or that will have the lowest short term reward.
Envision what life would be like without the anxiety you feel about this TO DO. Will you sleep better with less on your mind? HELL YEAH. Will you be able to concentrate on more things that will further you such as the gym or that new business you want to start? HELL YEAH! Will you be able to spend more time on the NOW? You bet! Today is the day to get this off of your plate, so lets start doing it together.
If stress is a killer procrastination is definitely a killer as they work hand in hand. Your mind controls how you feel and your perception of a situation or thing is dependant on your thoughts. Getting things done feels great and puts your mind into a positive mind space where your thoughts will be on other things that can take you further or make you better. Dwelling on dumb shit is a waste of time, it does not help you grow. The only solution is get it over with and as fast as you can so that it doesn’t linger around.
These are the top 5 things I need to complete right now.
1._____________________________________________________
2._____________________________________________________
3._____________________________________________________
4._____________________________________________________
5._____________________________________________________
If I complete all of these, how will this make me feel?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What productive thing could I do with my time if these were complete?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________