You know what you want to achieve in life and you know the exact steps you need to take to get there. Whether it’s implementing a new habit, hitting a monetary goal in your business, you are aware of the necessary steps. But when the time comes to take action, you just can’t be bothered. You don’t feel like doing it.
At this point, you have three choices.
Choice One: Not Doing It
The first choice is to simply not do it. This is an option we sometimes take. We put off the action, finding excuses or distractions, and nothing changes. You don’t want to do this too often though, as you start to erode your word to yourself. .
Choice Two: Take Action Anyway
The second option is to take action regardless of how we feel. Often, we fall under the illusion that we need to feel motivated or inspired to take action. I frequently hear clients say, ‘I didn’t do what I said I would do this week because I didn’t feel motivated’.
But the truth is, we don’t need to feel motivated to take action.
I can be working on my website, feeling completely frustrated because something isn’t working, and still take the action anyway. It’s the same if you want to jog or get up earlier. Whatever it is that you want to implement into your life to achieve your goal, you can take the action without waiting for motivation, inspiration or excitement.
Choice Three: Change Your Thoughts
The third option is to change your thoughts about the action. All our actions are driven by our emotions, which are influenced by our thoughts. One of the quickest ways to change how we feel is to change our thoughts. From coaching hundreds of women and through my own personal experience, I know it’s easy to forget why we wanted to do something in the first place. We forget the reasons why we decided to get up every morning and go for a run or why we aimed to achieve a monetary goal in our business.
Create a List of Reasons to Take Action
One of the quickest and easiest ways to change our thoughts about something is to have a list of all the reasons why we want to do it. Why do you want to jog? Why do you want to make that money in your business? Why do you want to implement that habit? What will it create in your life?
Sit down and write a list of all the reasons why, and keep adding to it. This isn’t a once-and-done task. Keep adding new reasons that motivate you. When it’s time to take action and you don’t want to, read through your list. Have it beside your shoes, beside your computer or flash up on your phone. Reading through that list will likely change your thought, leading to a different emotion and the action you want to take.
Action Acceleration
Make that list today of all the reasons why you want to take actions you know you need to take to achieve your goals. Keep it handy because your brain will let you forget those amazing reasons. It will give you all the reasons why it’s better to stay in bed, watch Netflix or do just about anything else. Use your list every time you don’t feel like doing something you planned to do.
Gotta admit, there are too many times I make choice number one. But sometimes, what works for me is to commiserate with the part of me that doesn’t feel motivated or doesn’t feel up to it, and then, like you said, I remind myself of the reason to do it. On the other hand, I also check in with my body and take it’s advice. So sometimes, it gets postponed.
I love that! Commiserate with the part of me that doesn’t want to do it. Like giving yourself a little hug and then a little kick in the butt.
What a great way to look at getting things done! For the third option once I decide to declutter a room, I look at a small portion of the room and tackle maybe cupboard or drawer. Then after that is completed, I feel so much more enthusiasm and move on to another small part and before I know it, I have a well organized room.
Yes, it is amazing how if we just start off with something really small, we end up doing more than we thought.
Procrastination is tough! I come from a family full of them. It taught me to act immediately-which isn’t good either. I’m always struggling with decisions. This post is a great guide for Proven Ways to Take Action and Beat Procrastination for Good. Thank you!
Procrastination can be tough for sure. It is interesting how we can sometimes become the opposite of what we don’t want to be and it doesn’t always serve us. That is very insightful.
Good strategy for approaching procrastination.
Thanks for stopping by.