Foolproof Tips For Overcoming Procrastination:
10 Foolproof Tips For Overcoming Procrastination:
Our all time favorite procrastination quote comes from Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
We created this book for you in the hopes that it helps you overcome or at
least start to overcome this hurdle. Everyone of us has something that holds us back, something that prevents us from being more or doing more. For you we compiled 10 of our go-to tools for kicking procrastination out of your life for good.
Procrastination can creep into your life, slowing or even stopping your ability to
make progress when it comes to your health and fitness goals. Your ability to build the body of your dreams - you know the one that looks, feels and performs the way you want and knows what it’s capable of - will only happen if you are able to overcome the voice inside your head that promotes the procrastination.
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The 10 Tips To Overcome Procrastination: Start Easy
Start Anywhere
Beware Of Excuses
Up The Value
Procrastination Personality
Turn Up
Think Concrete
Don’t Rely On Memory
Avoid Overthinking
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Get Some Support
1
Start Easy The first tip is simply to start with whatever is easy, manageable and doesn’t fill your mind with a dreadful feeling. We see so many of our clients overcomplicate things which leads to procrastination. We have found that it’s best to start with one habit, master it and move on. If your goal is to lose weight, it could be focusing on working out 2x per week for 3-4 weeks. After you have mastered that, you could move on to trying to eat better. Starting easy means starting with one thing and doing your best to master it before you move on to the next.
2
Start Anywhere The trouble with ‘starting easy’ is that it can be difficult to know where to start: there might be tough times where it might be difficult to tell what should be done and what shouldn’t. Planning can help with this, but planning is also a trap.Too much planning and not enough actual doing is another form of procrastination. Take a tip from writers, artists and creatives: just start anywhere! The fun part about improving your health and fitness is that you have two buckets to start from: your workouts and your nutrition. To make this easy for you and most importantly implementable, follow the steps below.
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Step:
1 2
Chose a bucket you want to work on (Workout or Nutrition). Pick one item to work on in that bucket. Example: if you want to focus on your nutrition bucket, you have a few options you can work on:
3
1
Drink More Water
2
Eat More Vegetables
3
Eat More Protein
4
Eat More Healthy Fat.
Create a clear goal based on the one item you want to work on. Example: Let’s say you want to work on drinking more water each day. You want to make sure you quantify your goal. A great way to do this is by writing down that you want to drink at least a 1/2 gallon of water each day.
4
Track your progress. You can do this by setting an alarm at 8pm in your phone that asks if you drank at least a 1/2 gallon of water today. These reminders keep it top of mind and the more top of mind you keep the habits you want to change, the more likely you are to change them.
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3
Beware Of Excuses OK, now all sorts of excuses are crowding into your mind. Be aware that these will come, and they’ll come big. Here are a few of the excuses that we have found people express to themselves:
1
Not feeling in the mood to do it.
2
Believing that you work better under pressure.
3
Thinking that you can finish it at the last minute.
4
Blaming sickness or poor health.
5
Waiting for the right moment.
Recognize some of these? You’re not alone. This tip is all about developing an awareness that these are excuses. Be mindful of anything that’s expressed like an excuse, and label it as such. It’s natural to do this, yet it will also stop you from getting anywhere.
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4
Up the value A massive cause of procrastination is simply not valuing the goal enough. If we don’t care that much, we’re not going to be that motivated. You will have times that the goal is unpleasant or aversive and we need to be super-motivated to do it. Cleaning is a great example of something people often procrastinate doing. The value of this task could be increased by making a game out of it or setting time limits. For any task, though, thinking about why it’s important and trying to up its value in our minds will help fight demotivation. Another way of cognitively increasing value is to think about the costs of not getting the task done. Does that make the task seem more valuable?
5
Procrastination personality Some people are just born procrastinators. You know who you are. These people are easily distracted, impulsive and have low self-control (have you even read down to number 5?). The bad news is that you can’t change your personality (well, not much anyway). The good news is that you can change your environment. You can put yourself in an environment in which there are fewer distractions, temptations and all the right reinforcing signals. Procrastination tends to strike when you have to stop and think, so have everything you need on hand and then lock yourself away. The more you have a procrastination personality, the more the environment needs to be just right for you to get it done.
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6
Turn up So far, so easy. Here things get a little tricky. That’s because when you expect a project to be difficult or hard to complete, then you are more likely to procrastinate. There’s only one reliable way to increase expectations of success and that’s by experiencing success. But, without starting, you can’t experience success. It’s a Catch-22. This tip is more of a warning about this Catch-22 and a reminder of that Woody Allen quote:
“80 percent of success is showing up.” You’ve got to at least show up to find out whether you can do it.
7
Think concrete Here are two ways of thinking about a task: Abstract:
Wouldn’t it be great to get into shape?
Concrete:
When is my first workout?
When you are getting started on a task, it’s much better to think about the concrete steps you are going to take, rather than abstract aims and ideas. Thinking concrete helps you get started.
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8
Don’t rely on memory Sometimes procrastination is less an intentional thing and more about memory failures. Most solutions to this problem are some variation of “write it down.” It may not matter that much how you make a list or where you record the reminder — carve it into a tree if you like, as long as it’s a tree you walk past every day. Just don’t rely on your memory. Not, at least, until you have formed a habit which doesn’t rely on memory and you start doing it automatically.
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9
Avoid over-thinking Doubts will arise for even the most confident of people. Unfortunately, doubts cause procrastination. Here’s a big tip for side-stepping doubts - try doubting your doubts. One easy way to do that is by shaking your head while thinking those negative thoughts. There are other kinds of over-thinking which are also dangerous: 1
all-or-nothing
2
impossibly high standards
3
catastrophising (thinking everything will be a catastrophe).
Being mindful of when we’re wasting mental energy rather than getting on with the task at hand is useful.
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10
Get Some Support Yup, all of us at some point need help to take ourselves to another level. Imagine a place where you get the guidance and support you need to feel, look and perform your best. You have three pillars you need to focus on:
Mindset
We focus on this key area by providing our members access to our “Setting Your Foundations” seminar that’s packed full of mindset and nutritional strategies to help you look, feel and perform your best. Our clients have benefited immensely from this seminar because it allows them to identify gaps in their thinking that are producing their current results. For you as a procrastinator, this will be the most important seminar you go to.
Nutrition
We give everyone access to our Catalyst Nutritional Coaching app that teaches you not only the information you need to be successful, but how to execute on the information when your self-discipline starts to fade or becomes non existent.
Workouts
Our Personal Training Sessions are 100% tailored to your specific goals and the way your body moves. Your body is different from everyone else’s and your training program should take that into account. We find out what exercises make sense for your body type based off of a seven step movement screen that tells us how your body moves and functions. If you sit for more than two hours each day, this will hold an incredible amount of value to you.
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If you feel like you need more support or accountability to overcome your procrastination, you owe it to yourself to set up a Discovery Call with us. This is a 10 minute call that helps you determine whether or not we can help you move forward with your goals.
Anthonymainella@catalystfitnessflorida.com
401-263-6110 to set up your 10 minute Discovery Call.
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