Proven Ways to Take Action and Beat Procrastination for Good

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.