Beating Procrastination

I don’t want to work. I want to bang on my drum all day. Sometimes I agree with that songwriter. Procrastination is a time waster but what can we do about it? This episode talks about how to defeat procrastination.

Transcript

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Hello guys. Do you know what today is? It's June 9th, and I have been planning to do another podcast probably for the last month. Wow. Procrastination is a time killer. I don't even know if I want to say or like admitting I procrastinated. What I can say though is time waits for no one. That's why it's important to use your time wisely. Since we have last talked, I am pleased to say that I have finished two of my education classes with a 4.0 average. Yes, but I do not think I'm taking any summer classes. For you all that is just joining, I have decided to switch from counseling to teaching. So I'm in the process of getting my teacher certification. And this has been a process. I've been out of school for almost two weeks, I guess. So I can officially say I'm on vacation. So what's on the agenda for the next two and a half months? Have you guys started vacation yet? Do you work your round? I think I switched to teaching because I like my summers off. So what's on my agenda for the next two and a half months? Should I finish writing my book? Do more podcasts? Study for my praxis exam? Hmm. I probably can do all three. But I forgot that I can't spend more time with my grandbaby, help my mom out. I probably could do some more things for children's church because vacation Bible school is coming up. Or should I hang out with my friends? When I go back to work and school, I won't have time to do this. That all depends on how I feel about. Not how I feel about how will I feel when I get back from my vacation. Hopefully, in these two and a half months, I can at least read two books. Or in June. Oh my gosh, we are in June. A half of a year has gone. I need to look at my goals. Or maybe I shouldn't look at my goals. What kind of summer vacation is this gonna be? In case you're wondering what has just happened, this is what I call decluttering my brain. Some people may say it's a brain dump. These are good from time to time. I like to say it's a brain detox. It's a stress release, sir. If you are wanting to live a balanced life, detoxing your brain is a good place to start. You have probably heard of or heard people talk about maybe detoxing their bodies to start fresh, to start anew. And detoxing your brain is great as well. I would encourage to do it at least once a week. Now, the problem is when you spend most of your time planning and not executing what needs to be done. That's when you get in that cycle of procrastination. It's like that hamster you see on that wheel. They're spending a lot of energy and the wheel's going really fast, but they're going nowhere. Some people get overwhelmed thinking about everything they need to do, which leads them to doing nothing, and that's not good. Let's talk about how we can defeat this procrastination, how we can stop dwelling on the same thing and doing nothing, how we can get out of the planning phase, how we can get off that hamster wheel. I encourage you to write down your goals and revisit every six months. Where do you see yourself in six months? What is something? What is that one thing that you really want to change or see happen? Next, make a plan. Break your six-month goal into small parts. The first month goal, a third month goal, and then of course your six-month goal. So one month, three months, and six months. Next, what steps do you need to take to meet the one-month goal, the three-month goal, and your six-month goal? Ask yourself, can I do this by myself? What resources do I need to be successful? Break your month into weeks, your weeks into days, and your days into hours. Let's see how this can work in the real world. My six-month goal is to lose 50 pounds, my three-month goal is to lose 25 pounds, my month goal is to lose eight pounds, which equals to two pounds a week. Resources. What do I need to help me meet this goal? Now that I've done all of that, my steps may look like this. I will exercise three days per week for 45 minutes a day. As time goes on, you should want to increase this to help meet your goal. You can do this with practically anything. You may want to read more. Some people give themselves a challenge to read six books a year. You don't want to start with chapters. Set small goals, maybe 15 pages a day. Before you know it, you're reading chapters and finishing books. A lot of times we are asking God to intercede or a miracle to happen, but in reality, I think we need to be better managers. Manage what food we are putting in our body, manage how much we spend, manage our time better in general. What's going in our eye gates, what's coming out of our mouth. We have to be better managers. Instead of wanting instant gratification or something to happen instantly, we have to manage our time. It's hard, but it's doable. Don't get stuck in the planning phase in your life because it will lead to being stagnant and will delay growth, i.e., stagnation, delayed growth is procrastination. It will slow your progress down, which will eventually cause you to stop altogether and forget the reason you wanted to work on the goal in the first place. And we can't have that because we are balanced individuals, right? Well, at least that's our goal. Yes, you can be balanced in every area of your life. Nope, you don't need a miracle or a makeover. You need a manager. And guess what? You're the manager. Be the manager in your own life and watch things start to change.