I know the tagline of Elite Daily is "Procrastinate Better,” but I want to help those who have greatness inside of them, who, like myself, desire to use their time wisely.
The truth is that, right now, you are your own worst enemy. I was in the exact same position until I realized that this ‘plethora’ of time is just an illusion. When we are young (for the record, I am in my 20s), society tells us that we can afford to do it later. I’m here to tell you that this is a lie.
We have all wanted to start that business, join that band, pick up that skill set, learn to code, go back to school, leave that job, etc. However, each one of us has continued believing that we have more time, time to do what we desire in the future. Hence, we satisfy our need of immediate gratification with a suboptimal life.
Instead of staying home and studying, you went to that party you didn’t even enjoy. Instead of dedicating the time to work to land your dream job, you dated that person who sucked the life out of you.
I am here to tell you that it’s time to stop procrastinating. You are only hurting yourself by postponing your future.
Recently, I read an article on HBR Blog by Peter Bregman, entitled “The Unexpected Antidote to Procrastination.” The premise of the article was to inspire people to embrace the feelings of fear we all have when engaging in new activities. After reading this article, I started to challenge myself to embrace my fear and take action based on deadlines, regardless of how I feel.
Most of us make deadlines and, instead of meeting them, we change them. We want to apply to a graduate business school, but we keep pushing back the date for our GMAT because we feel we’re not ready. We want to complete a project, but because we set our own personal deadline, we don’t feel it necessary to meet it in a timely manner.
When we move deadlines, we’re hurting our personal progress and, in turn, the progress of our companies. The movement of the deadline actually is the catalyst in most people’s lives for further procrastination of our goals. The best thing for organizations and people to do is to create deadlines and honor them. This creates an atmosphere in our lives for excellent execution.
At Aspire, this is what we pursue. Recently, my business partner, Sterling J. Douglas, asked me to write an article about my experience after graduating with a Master’s Degree in International Marketing Degree in London and not yet having secured my next professional opportunity.
At the time, I was busy working on different initiatives for our startup in the UK and the USA. In addition, I was in the process of saying farewell to all of the friends I had made from around the globe during my one-year program at HULT International Business School.
My graduating class was made up of over 70 people, from over 60 countries. I had lot of catching up to do because I did not know of the next time we all were going to be able to be together.
Sterling challenged me to finish the first draft of the article with just two days. At first, I felt he was being a bit insensitive to my situation and time constraints. However, upon reflection, I realized that he was putting me in a position to test the idea I read in HBR.
I decided to delve into the idea that deadlines move us forward, instead of simply existing to give us the temporal pleasure of extending them. I separated myself from my initial emotions, and I repurposed my emotional energy to accomplishing the task of writing the article.
Then, something interesting happened. I actually became more effective in the usage of my time. Let me share with you how I did it in two easy steps. I want to keep it simple because I want you use these principals to make your life better.
Step 1: Don’t be afraid to start immediately
Once you commit to working based on a deadline, focus on the work and finish it. When all is said and done, you are relieved of the stress and can choose to unwind in any way you please.
Step 2: Surround yourself with supportive people
Sterling is one of those people who prefer the timely completion of tasks. Hence, he hates moving deadlines. This allows for a lot of forward motion on my ideas within Aspire. We are great because we work together while balancing out one another’s weaknesses.
You have the potential to be great if you begin with these two simple steps. When you start, email us and share how your life changes. Tell us what you accomplish with your new mindset. We are in the fight against procrastination together!
Top Photo Courtesy: Tumblr
