[00:01] Welcome to The Focus B Show, where Katie Stoddart, high performance coach, interviews experts around the world in performance and mindfulness. Now, here's your host. Katie.
[00:33] Welcome to a brand new episode of the Focus P show. I'm very excited about today's topic on how to stop procrastinating your dreams, how to actually achieve your goal first. Before we dive into how you can actually stop procrastinating, let's look at why are you procrastinating in the first place. There are several reasons why procrastination is so common. The first reason is because you might have too high expectations. This is so, so common because you might put your goal or your dream on this high pedestal and be really afraid that you won't actually reach it. This will also prevent you from taking any form of action because you expect the results to happen faster and therefore, if you don't reach them, you get discouraged and you stop. It could also be linked to perfectionism. This is also very common and wanting things to be either just right before you begin or if you've already started, for things to look wonderful, to be absolutely perfect in order for you to continue. Fears also get in the way. This is the main topic in procrastination, is fear and how to manage your emotions and your fears. A few common fears are the fear of failure and the fear of rejection and this feeling of always being not good enough. Those can be addressed by actually tackling them and listening to them, by acknowledging that you have these fears and thinking, what am I sacrificing by listening to these fears? And if I did take action, what would be the worst thing that could happen? And imagining it and thinking, well, what's the worst thing that can happen if I don't take action? And listening to the pain of not reaching the goal versus the pain of taking action. A concept you might not have heard of is the start to end versus end to start planning. This can have a huge impact in terms of procrastination. Full stop. Start to end planners are great at beginning projects. They have high levels of enthusiasm when they start something. They always like new ideas and new projects, but they struggle with the consistency and maintaining that momentum. They are a lot less likely to procrastinate when they actually begin a project. However, they might procrastinate pursuing it or finishing or continuing to take action. And to start planners, it's the other way around. They plan everything out. They have a very clear journey with all the milestones, but they really struggle to begin. They anticipate the different obstacles. They see how long it will take them to do everything. And so they procrastinate actually starting. For them, they need some sort of oomph, some sort of beginning to motivate them to take action. So if you're an end to start planner, probably you're struggling with taking that initial action or taking that milestone. Further, different things can help you to stop procrastinating and actually take action on your dreams, on your goals, on these projects. First of all, it's breaking down the goal into habits. This is something James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits. It's a very, very common concept in terms of reaching your goals. And there's a reason for this. If we have this big goal in front of us, it can be terrifying. But if we have it already in small steps, if we can see the different parts and mini milestones along the journey, then we're a lot more likely to just do it one step at a time, incremental progress. So I invite you right now to look at your goal, to look at your dream and think, what are the first five steps that would take it a milestone further that would advance your project, your dream, your goal, your desire, and schedule them in your calendar. Think, okay, on Monday, I'll do this mini bit. I'll open my book and write the first paragraph. On the Tuesday, I'll write the first few pages. On Wednesday, I'm making it little by little, gradually coming out of your comfort zone. This is really where the magic happens. It doesn't happen in one big lump. It happens in little incremental daily steps. And this is really where the power of habit is so strong. But it also means that we rely less on self discipline or willpower in order to persevere. So if you want to write that book, publish that book. If you want to have a CD out there, or put your music on Spotify, or write for different magazines, or grow your business or whatever your goal and dreams are, look at what are the first mini steps to make it happen. The next part is linked around this fear of failure, fear of rejection. And it really comes down to how do you talk to yourself? Because if you are justifying excuses or if you're feeding yourself beliefs that you can't actually achieve this goal, then you will lose motivation, you will lose momentum, and you won't take action. So you want to actually stop, pause, and analyze your thought patterns. Write it down. These are the type of thoughts I have every time I feel stuck. This is the thought I have every time I'm about to do this project. This is where I get stuck. Start to analyze your own mind in the same way as you would if you were a detective, really picking out the top thoughts, the top beliefs that comes up. Of course, you can also do this work with a coach or a mentor, but you can also do it through journaling, through taking the time to really analyzing what is going on, and by changing your perception, by thinking, what if this thought wasn't true? What if I chose to believe something else? How would this impact my results? Because we have to keep in mind our thoughts aren't truth, they're just thoughts. And you can change them. You can actively at any given moment, change a thought from I can't do this to I can do this. It's literally one word difference. So the whole mindset part really comes down to looking at your beliefs, looking at your self talk, and changing the way you formulate it. And the last item that I find absolutely fundamental in terms of stopping procrastination is accountability. Having an accountability partner. It can be a coach, it can be a mentor, it could be a friend, it can be your neighbor, anyone that will hold you accountable on your dreams. And this can be either. Health, dreams, creativity, projects, business growth, whatever it is, just look at the bit that you're struggling most to do and ask someone to hold you accountable. And this works, especially if you tie with it financial pain. So if you say, and if I haven't reached this by the end of the week, I will pay you X amount of money. I remember the first time I read about this, I thought it was a crazy concept. And then I started to do it. So right now, one of my friends, Monique hi Monique. If you're listening, she holds me accountable every single week. Every Sunday I send her a recap of my week in terms of exercise and meditation. And if I don't meditate every day and if I don't exercise at least five times during the week, I owe her money. Well, needless to say that since she's been my accountability partner, I have never skipped a single week where I haven't been consistent with both my meditation and exercise practice. So in spite of being a coach, in spite of having all these tools and systems, I still use accountability. Sometimes. Not always, but in moments where I feel I might slack. I began the accountability with Monique. During the holidays, I knew I was changing places, going somewhere else. I thought, I really don't want my exercise routine to slip. And this is when we've put it in place and I love it so much. We haven't stopped. Accountability works. It works. It's fantastic. If it's not your cup of tea, that's fine. But you need to look at what aspect from an external perspective will force you to actually take action. Because if you can afford to procrastinate, the chances are you probably will. And as soon as you have a deadline, as soon as you have someone that's holding you accountable, it will break this pattern and force you to actually take action. So it's a miracle cure for procrastination. That and the mini steps. So to recap, three key tools and strategies to stop procrastinating your dreams. Number one, break it down into small steps and schedule these small steps. Number two, look at your self talk, look at your thoughts around this, your belief patterns and reframe them and change a bit your perception and number three. Have an accountability partner, someone that holds your hand along the journey and makes it so much more fun and so much less lonely. Thank you so much for listening today's episode. Please let me know in the comments what has helped you and what do you use to stop procrastinating? And if there's any other questions on this topic, please feel free to put them in the comments. Thank you so much for tuning in and I wish that all your dreams come true. Bye.
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