Is it possible to beat procrastination?
We all struggle with procrastination at some point or another. Some of us, more than others. Let’s talk about a simple way that you can beat procrastination (or at least struggle with it less often).
The best procrastination antidote I’ve found (and I’ve experimented with several) is to build in some accountability.
Accountability is simply, by definition, “The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner”.
In practice this can be as easy as a business buddy, or a friend that can hold you accountable to a project you want to accomplish.
And it can be a game changer.
You can apply this outside of business as well. The main reason people hire a personal trainer is not so much that they don’t know how to use the equipment but because they need someone waiting for them at the gym in order to get themselves up, dressed and walking through the door.
How to Beat Procrastination by Building in Accountability
- Wrangle a friend (or a group of biz buddies to form a mastermind)
- Set a project goal date (example, 3 months from now).
- (Optional, but recommended): announce it publicly- whether that’s to your friends on FB or your readers and potential customers.
- Set your check in schedule (weekly or every other 2 weeks).
- Rinse and repeat.
It’s unlikely that you’ll want to show up at your weekly or bi-weekly check-in meeting and admit you’ve done absolutely nothing towards this project since you last spoke. Or at the very least you’ll want to have a pretty good excuse as to why you haven’t.
One (key) thing that will make a difference in this process working vs not: Please, for the love of all things productive, choose an accountability partner that’s just as motivated as you are.
Don’t know anyone that fits the bill? You could always hire a coach, although if you’re only hiring them for the accountability and not for their expertise and advice that might be an unnecessarily expensive way to do it.
My students in Create Passive Income with Ebooks know pretty well by now that if they mention they’re completing a certain milestone (like outlining their ebook) by a certain date, that I’m watching and listening and planning to pop into our FB group and ask them about it when that date rolls around. 🙂 That’s just how I roll.
Want to take it one step further?
Form a mastermind group! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You can just get together with a few of your colleagues with a similar stage as you in the business, and just put that call in the calendar. You can get together over skype once a week, every other week, or even once a month. Have a regular call schedule and a group of maybe 3-6 people.
The structure of the “meeting” doesn’t have to be super formal but I’ve found it helpful to go over your wins, your struggles and what you plan on accomplishing by next call.
I hope this video has been helpful to nip your procrastination in the bud. Have any tips to add or Qs? Please comment below and please share this video with your friends.
