Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will turn you into a lean mean achievement machine.

THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"Am I happy with what I have procrastinated?"

THE PROMISE

Asking this question at the beginning and end of your day and you will begin to organize your life around your highest priorities.


THE TIPS

Do you procrastinate? Do you feel that procrastination is a bad thing to do?

Is procrastination a dirty little secret that you keep from your high performing peers and partners?

How do you feel about procrastination? Is this something that you have been struggling with for a while?

What if you were told that procrastination was not only needed, but should be welcomed and encouraged?

The reality is that procrastination happens in life just like change happens.

Avoiding change is not natural, and doing so will keep you playing small, struggling to adapt and coping poorly with life.

Just like we must learn to deal with change, if we want to be successful under any standard we must first learn how to properly deal with procrastination.

Procrastination is something that people use as a tool to succeed, and it is also something that people who struggle with use to beat them self up.

How do you view and use procrastination?

Do you feel that procrastination is a bad thing to do? If so, consider this...

There are simply not enough hours in each day to accomplish all the tasks that we need done.

This is not a bad thing, think about this for a minute and realize if you only had one task to complete all year it would be pretty boring and uneventful.

Generally speaking each of us has more packed onto our plate than we could ever hope to handle in one sitting.

As a result we choose to procrastinate something when we decide to do another thing.

The root of the word "decide" is from the Latin word "decidere", which translates "to cut off."

When we accept to act upon a particular course of action, we have decided to cut off the alternative, even if just temporarily.

Human beings can only focus their energy and attention on one thing at a time, especially if they expect that something to grow.

Procrastination is not only needed but it is a valuable tool that allows us to direct and discriminate our decisions.

The true problem with procrastination is when we procrastinate the critical and important stuff.

For example if we want our career in life to take off, we tend to focus on it above anything else, including our families.

Sometimes we have to temporarily sacrifice in order to produce the desired long-term benefits, like being able to retire early and spend time with your loved ones.

Asking yourself "Am I happy with what I have procrastinated?" will help ensure that you are committing your time and attention in the right areas.


THE SECRET

Ask yourself "Am I happy with what I have procrastinated?" at the end of your day to get a snapshot of your daily success.

Ask yourself "What is the benefit of my procrastination" is a great follow up question to gauge your intentions.

Do you feel like you were able to move forward directly due to the actions that you have decided to take today?

If you fell short of your goal and spent time on the usual attention eaters, relax and try not to be too hard on yourself.

If you do not feel good about what you have procrastinated write it down and record your thoughts.

Keep track of your priorities as well as how you spent your time.

Time management is really how well you can manage the priorities of your life.

The fact is that everyone would be living the life of their dreams if fear wasn't such a cunning adversary.

Fear works in mysterious ways that cause people to focus on perceived problems and potential barriers.

This become a big problem because we constantly attract into our lives that upon which we focus on.

So by focusing on potential problems they soon turn into actual problems that hold us back from our goals.

The best way to combat procrastination is by taking the time necessary to figure out two important things:

1. First you need to really figure out what you really, really, really, want.

What do you want to manifest in your life, what type of people do you truly want to connect with, what type of experiences would you most enjoy?

The big tip here is to avoid forming desires and dreams that fall into the "must-be-nice" or "wishful thinking".

2. Second, once you have figured out what you really, really, really want, your next task is to figure out why.

Why do you want what you really, really, really want? What would having or accomplishing your dream or desire give you?

The big tip here is to keep asking yourself the question "why" and drilling deeper until you have uncovered a value.

A value is something that is core to your being, an expression of the energy and life that is within you.

Imagine how allowing the expression of your core being would feel like for you.

When you align yourself up with your values, you can more easily express yourself.

Asking yourself "why" you want something connects you with your thoughts aund feelings, the automatic guidance system that will reveal the answers.

When you know what you want to express in yourself and why you want to express it, the answer of "how" to express it will also show up.

This is important because many people try and figure out "how" they will accomplish their dreams first, rather than after figuring out what those dreams will truly provide them.

Obstacles arrive when people try and figure out how to get something rather than determine why they want it.

When we don't have the why built behind our behaviour, the logic of how and fear of change tend to trump our ability to move forward.

The bigger the why, the smaller the how.

When you take the time to figure out what you want and why you truly want it, you will quickly witness yourself doing everything and anything to make it possible.

Ask yourself "Am I happy with what I have procrastinated?" to see how on track your time management skills are.

Balancing your procrastination away from the urgent and towards the critically important is the key to life management.