Just get started.

Those three words are often the solution to procrastination. It's so simple, but so hard to do. Why? George and I had a really eye opening discussion about procrastination, and it's cousin perfectionism.

I've been coaching clients on overcoming procrastination for a little over a month now and I'm already sensing some patterns that I also recognized in myself. We all put stuff off until tomorrow, but why?

We are avoiding something that's uncomfortable. We are afraid of finishing something because of what people might say. We fear judgment, ridicule, or embarrassment. We fear our own success or making other people look small. We don't give ourselves the priority in life and we end up doing nothing but obligations for other people instead of what we really desire. We are overwhelmed, disorganized, and stressed out and can't find the time to start. We resist and we resist. We run out of willpower and we end up doing what feels good now instead of making progress on our goals.

George and I get into all of these issues and more. And since we all know the solution is "just get started" we know there's more to it than that. A small bit of advice: Do something productive while you listen to this podcast!

Music for this episode: New Year Bounce by Jeff Finley

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Show Notes

00:00:40 Introductions and Updates
00:05:00 Coffee and sugar's effects on us
00:10:35 What is procrastination?
00:14:12 Perfectionism and fear
00:20:35 Looking for external validation and approval
00:25:00 Identification with your work
00:29:00 The solution for perfectionism
00:33:00 A simple cleaning habit to cure perfectionism
00:37:00 When  you're not sure where to start
00:39:00 How to save your willpower
00:43:00 Become a person that likes to complete tasks
00:46:00 Just take action, don't over think about it
00:54:00 Reward yourself for accomplishing tasks
00:57:00 Using your procrastination tendencies to your advantage
01:02:00 Acting on inspiration energy right away
01:05:45 Removing distractions as a cure for procrastination
01:11:45 Increase your self-esteem with small wins
01:13:30 Don't use willpower to resist, but to create
01:19:30 Become a person with real personal power
01:24:20 Don't start your day by procrastinating
01:27:00 Two elephant analogies
01:30:00 Resources and recommendations
01:37:00 Closing thoughts

Links and Resources for Overcoming Procrastination:

Happiness Hypothesis
Kill Procrastination goal on Coach.me
Jeff's thoughts on Killing Procrastination
Grow Up: A Man's Guide to Masculine Emotional Intelligence
Truth, Love, and Power concept
Jeff's "No Coffee" detox
iProcrastinate Podcast
The War of Art
Sean Was on curing perfectionism
Are you a afraid of failure?
Jessica Hische is a "procrastiworker"
Execute book
Newsfeed Eradicator for Chrome
Stay Focused Chrome addon
Locus of Control
The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block
Hillary Rettig website
The Power of Habit
The Maker/Mistaker Habits podcast
The Miracle Morning book

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