3 Simple Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get Sh*t Done!

Last Updated on 11 months by Iva Ursano

Procrastinators of the world, stand up and raise your hands! Oy!! Look at all of us. It’s kinda nice to know you’re not alone. It would be a helluva lot nicer if we could figure out how to stop procrastinating though, amirite?

Listen, I’m probably the world’s best and greatest procrastinator. I swear. It’s so bad, I usually leave packing for a trip until the very day I have to leave. It’s just things like that that I’m constantly putting off until tomorrow. Nothing I’m proud of, trust me on that.

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Can we please stop procrastinating now!!??

Or wait, we can do that tomorrow. Ha!

So let’s take this blog and these tips as examples. The classic procrastinator will say, “Oh I’ll try those tips tomorrow”. Sure you will.

We’re addicted to our habit of procrastinating!! We know it’s wrong but so many of us still think it’s ok. “we still get our shit done, all good!” But it’s not all good. It’s a seriously bad habit that we must get a grip on and stop.

We must stop procrastinating!! But how?

Causes of procrastination

I think it’s important to understand some of the causes of procrastination before we try to figure out how to stop procrastinating!! We need to know why we do the things we do in order to break our habits or ‘fix ourselves’.

Here is a small list of the causes of procrastination

we’re afraid of failure (who isn’t??)
we’re too lazy (admit it, you are!)
what we have to do is too time-consuming (it’s gonna take too loooooooong!!!!)
what we have to do isn’t something that we love to do but have to do (ugh!!!)
we’re not sure how to do it (help!!)

When we have to do things we don’t love, we put those things off for as long as we can, no matter what they are, simply because they don’t bring us joy. We don’t want to do them. Period!!

I hate having to do anything businessy or legal or paperworky type stuff. I will put that off forever.

Bad Iva Bad!! I know I know.

I still haven’t registered my scooter because it’s a pain in the bum down here to get any paperwork stuff done. I’ve had it for a year. Shame on me. I know I could easily call a friend and say “Hey let’s go to the office and get this done”, but I don’t.

And I keep putting it off.

See I’m no angel either ( I really need to stop procrastinating on this scooter thing though).

So let’s look at some ways and tips to stop procrastinating!!

Let’s break it down into reasons and then solutions.

Reason #1 Fear Of Failure

One of the main reasons we procrastinate is because we’re afraid of failure. People will laugh at us. We’ll look like losers. It will be embarrassing. The list goes on. We put something off until the cows come home just to avoid being a failure.

Solution

The very first thing you must remind yourself of is this: no matter what you have to do, you are never a loser, even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to. You absolutely must give yourself a HUGE pat on the back for attempting whatever it was.

Most don’t even make it that far. Let them laugh. They are just jealous. They don’t have half the balls you do to do the things you do. Remember that!!

You had to do something scary. You put it off. You finally did it. It didn’t work. Move on to Plan B and high 5 yourself!! Kudos to you for even trying my friend!!!

Reason #2 No Patience

It’s gonna take too loooooooooooong!! Oh I hear ya on this one. I’d rather chew shards of glass dipped in cyanide than go to the SAT office and finish the paperwork for my scooter. But I have to and I will ( I promise!)

Solution

Yes, it sure will take too long. No doubt about it. Whatever it is. Repair all your torn clothes, sort through your junk drawers in your kitchen, go through that spare room, and get boxes of things ready to donate.

Whatever it is, just do it.

So listen, you’ve been putting this task off for a hundred years. You’ve been stewing for months over something that will take you an hour or a day. How much sense does that make? And this thing you keep putting off is now a thorn in your side.

That’s gotta hurt, no?

Get to that junk drawer and just think of how much better you’ll finally feel now that it’s done!! Yippee!!

Reason #3 Completely Clueless

We really don’t know how to do this thing. We’ve never done it before. We’re not afraid to do it, we just don’t know how to do it. So we won’t do it. Period.

Solution

Yup, I get this one. Fully. Ironically enough, I don’t really procrastinate about these types of things anymore because I’ve learned to embrace learning new things. It’s not always easy but the rewards are amazing.

I get that you don’t know how to do something so you don’t want to do it. You don’t even know if you’re gonna love it or hate it. Let’s go back to my scooter.

It sat in my parking lot for a month because I didn’t know how to drive one. Not only was I clueless, but I was also scared. Finally, I had to yell at myself. Iva for God’s sake.

You OWN a scooter. Go ride the damn thing. Figure it out! It can’t be that hard. Sheesh.

So I finally did. On Sundays I would drive around the parking lot when no one was there, just to get used to handling it. That was over a year ago. I’m no pro at it but I ride now with pride.

Learn how to do the thing and then do it. It just might be your next favourite thing in the whole wide world to do and you’ve been robbing yourself of this pleasure all this time simply because you wouldn’t stop procrastinating on doing it!!

Like me and my scooter. How silly!!!!

You might also like some of these articles on living a happier life!

Overcoming procrastination

Listen, procrastination sucks and hits a lot of us. We all have our reasons for procrastinating. Most of them are just excuses to not do the thing. There’s a saying that goes “Eat the frog” which means do something you don’t want to do.

Brian Tracy has a really fantastic program to help with this dilemma! It deals with how to stop procrastinating, the causes of procrastination, and overcoming procrastination. I’m a huge fan of Brian Tracy and his work. It’s sincere and powerful.

It’s hard to battle any type of toxic behavior whether it be smoking, drinking, overeating, or whatever. Procrastination is right up there with them all and overcoming procrastination might not be so easy either. We’ve been doing it for so long now it’s just a part of us. But remember it’s not impossible. Like anything, we use the power of our minds to overcome and break habits.

Iva please stop procrastinating!!!!

To be honest, this post has been sitting in drafts for almost a month. I’ve been procrastinating writing it. Why? Because I knew it was gonna take too long and I’ll admit, I’m a lazy writer sometimes. But I’m honest.

Today I realized it’s time to get this post written up and help others who deal with procrastination too!

If you liked this post, please hit that share button and why not Pin some of the images too!! Sharing is caring and you can be helping many others so they can stop procrastinating too and live a life of joy and happiness and freedom!!

Peace and Love

xo iva xo

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3 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get Sh*t Done!