When you have a large task in front of you, that seems too large for you to do, it helps you to realize that it is doable. Something doesn’t get labeled a task or a to-do item unless your mind thinks you would have a chance at doing it, or it would ignore the task. Our minds are efficient in this way. This is wise to use when you see a huge task provided to you. You can’t view it as something that is out of your reach. The more you view it like this, the more it becomes out of your reach, as time passes by with inaction in place.
Think About Why The Task Is For You And Not For Someone Else
This point will remind you of why the task is there. It is there for you because you are a person that is able to handle it. You were entrusted or provided with the assignment with the reasonable expectation that you could handle it and possibly shine in the process. They say that 80% of success is about “showing up”, or taking part in an activity, and this relates here in that 80% of finishing a task is about sticking with the task. Although it does take some ingenuity to maneuver through tribulations along the way, there is no game plan to work with if you don’t stick with it.
Whatever You Do Instead Of The Task Is Worthless
Often times, you will have a large important task in front of you. You might want to procrastinate by doing this or that. However, “this” and “that” are garbage. Remind yourself of this repeatedly. The items you procrastinate with are not items that will support you later on. The reward from the large task is what will support you later on.
When you procrastinate by watching a TV show, remember that the actors are getting paid while you aren’t, that the show is made to entice you into continuing to watch, and that teaching the masses is not the goal of the vast majority of TV shows. When you realize that the TV show is actually an enemy to your future, you might be less inclined to continue watching. Keep stressing the negative support behind the source of your procrastination until it loses its appeal. Pretend that the source of your procrastination is trying to starve you of energy that you would have been able to use for your large task.
Your Only Real Enjoyment Will Come From Completion Of The Large Task
The things you are procrastinating with will only give you a small percentage of the enjoyment that you would get from completing the large task. You are basically trading your big reward of 50 for temporary rewards of 5 and 10, which don’t even come close. If you remind yourself of this during the process, it becomes harder to continue to enjoy or accept the procrastination, because it won’t make sense to your mind when the big points could be accumulated by sticking with the large project.
Focus And The World Watches You Work Wonders
Like Joan Rivers said on The Apprentice when talking about what she does to maintain her success, you need to “put your blinders on and focus” right on the task at hand. The rest of the world can’t matter at that point, and shouldn’t matter, and you should know that the world is glad to wait for you to finish the project. The world doesn’t move when you don’t move, and you always have to take the first step if you want something noticeable to be provided to you.