Category Archives: procrastination

Bad Habits Quiz (Procrastination Quiz)

So what is YOUR bad habits quotient? Why not take this quiz and find out:

Check out the following questions and check Yes or No for each question (and if you want to make it all about procrastination, just replace “bad habits” with “procrastination” as I have done in the first few questions):

1) Do you have habits you consider “bad habits”? (Do you procrastinate?)

2) Do you sometimes get in trouble because of a bad habit (procrastination)?

3) Do you ever find that you apologize to others because of something that happened because of a bad habit (procrastination)?

4) Have you ever tried to get rid of a bad habit?

5) Do you think your life would run more smoothly if you didn’t have that bad habit?

6) Do you think your health might benefit if you could get rid of “that habit”?

7) Do you think your finances might benefit if you could get rid of “that bad habit”?

8) Would you feel better about yourself if you didn’t have “that habit”?

How many “Yes” answers did you get?

How did you do on my bad habits quiz (AKA procrastination quiz)? If you scored zero or one “Yes” answer, you’re doing great! Congratulations. However, even one “Yes” answer means that you might benefit from the free e-course on getting rid of bad habits.

If you scored two to three “Yes” answers, you should seriously consider some tools that can help you get rid of those habits.

If you scored four or more “Yes” answers, you should definitely get help, starting with the this powerful free e-course on getting rid of bad habits.

You might also look into getting some coaching for support and accountability.

Help with getting rid of bad habits, including procrastination:

FREE E-Course

There’s a powerful FREE E-Course
that will introduce you to some highly effective tools you can use to get rid of bad habits once and for all.

Coaching

You can also try coaching. This will benefit you in a number of ways, from giving you support, a structure, and accountability, as well as access to highly effective tools and helpful information.

Just recently, I helped one of my clients get rid of his addiction to gambling, and he’s halfway there with getting off cigarettes too.

Use the coupon code “coachme” before May 22 to get a 20% discount on any of my coaching package you choose. And yes, that includes the buy two get one free deal as well.

Click HERE for your FREE “Get Rid of Bad Habits” E-Course

P.S.: Here’s another free tool you might like: Easy Intro to EFT. Also check my last blog post, which is on EFT & Procrastination 😉 Of course, it works on other bad habits too!

I hope you have enjoyed my bad habits quiz AKA procrastination quiz and that you’ll find my free tools helpful.

EFT and Overcoming Procrastination

Can EFT help you overcome bad habits, including procrastination? You bet it can.

EFT, also known as Tapping or as Emotional Freedom Technique, is a kind of acupuncture that uses gentle taps instead of needles. It’s especially effective at helping you overcome distressing emotions and all sorts of conscious and unconscious blocks. And yes, it works nicely for overcoming procrastination.

You tap on a series of points while saying certain statements, and your body kind of recalibrates itself…

Here’s how I first discovered just how powerful it could be:

When I first started with EFT, I had a major dog phobia.

Now I know that this may seem hard to believe if you love dogs, but I was really scared of dogs, to the point that I would get a panic attack when I was out for a walk in the park and saw a dog on the other side of the park, minding his own business.

My heart would race, I was scared out of my mind, beating a hasty retreat to my car as I imagined that this dog might make a beeline for me and bite me.

And of course, with that kind of attitude, I did attract a fair number of hostile dogs, and even normally friendly dogs would be much less friendly to me. It didn’t help that barking alone was causing me to panic.

So when I learned EFT, I decided to try it on my fear of dogs. I tapped a few rounds, and then forgot about it.

A few weeks later, I was going to someone’s house (where I had never been before) for a meeting, and as I walked in the door, there was met by a very large dog, his nose practically bumping into my midriff. And I said, “Uh, hi dog,” a bit startled but NOT panicky.

Later, the dog made his rounds to be petted and when he came to me, I petted his back, and he put his head on my lap. And not only did I not panic at all. but I rather enjoyed this brief connection.

Whoa! What happened? Could this be because of the EFT? You bet.

And at this point, I finally relate to dogs much like any “normal” person.

So can EFT help with procrastination and other habits? Of course it can.

Here’s a free introduction to using EFT, complete with an illustration of the main tapping points.

Download it, take a few minutes to read it, and then try it with the following set-up phrases as you tap your karate chop point:

“Even though I don’t want to do this (activity) right now, I deeply and completely accept myself”

“Even though I would rather not do (this activity), I choose to feel calm and confident.

“Even though I am tempted to procrastinate, I choose to do this (activity) right now.”

Then, for the follow-up statements, tap on the points listed in the ebook, and use the negative parts of the set=up statements for the first round or two, and then use the positive ones for a round. Later, you can also alternate between them, but make sure you always end with a positive one.

Again, just download your free introduction to EFT right here, and get tapping.

Overcoming Procrastination

Do you procrastinate? And is it causing you stress?

There are a number of approaches to overcoming procrastination. There’s the traditional, and then there are a few alternatives too. But first, we need to understand why we procrastinate in the first place.

Here are the key reasons why we procrastinate:

a) Too much to do

Ironically, the more we are under pressure, the more we procrastinate. It seems almost like a self-defense mechanism. Maybe it’s the stubborn child within who’s trying to get his or her way.

Unfortunately, procrastination is the least likely way to get you out of a jam. If anything, the undone things continue to pile up as the current load adds to the backlog, and the next thing you know is that you REALLY have a problem

Bad Habits/Procrastination Quiz

Fortunately, there are solutions. The link above leads to a very cool free ecourse that can get you started on your way to overcoming bad habits, including the dreaded procrastination. Check it out.

b) Not enough information

Sometimes, of course, we procrastinate because we simply aren’t ready to do the task at hand. Maybe we don’t have the information we need. In fact, that’s a surprisingly frequent cause. Sometimes, that lack of information too is due to procrastination of course…

If we had started earlier, we might have been able to gather all that information, and so now we would have it.

c) Not the right time

Bill Burns has said that sometimes, it’s just not the right time yet. So maybe we procrastinate because our subconscious doesn’t want us to do the task yet — or ever. Maybe it’s not something we should do. Maybe it’s not our time to do it just yet. But there are plenty of things where we’re just dogging it (or so he says…), so read on.

What if you’ve got to get it done?

But then, there are areas where all of the above isn’t really a good enough excuse. it’s time to just suck it up and get things done.

Click Here for your Bad Habits/Procrastination Quiz

Once we decide to do just it, there are a number of ways we can help ourselves to get things taken care of. Here are a few:

1) The Law of Attraction Approach

According to the Law of Attraction approach, like draws like, so if we want to get something done, it helps to see ourselves as doing it and feeling good about doing it. That will “attract” us actually doing it. Or make it easier to get there in any case.

How to do that? Be very aware of any counterproductive self-talk. The two key kinds of bad self-talk are the following

a) I can’t do it

Don’t even think it. See yourself doing it and then just take action. If it seems overwhelming, just focus on one thing at a time, and specifically, on the first step. Then focus on the next one. And the next one. And when your self-talk turns negative again, shut it up and replace it with “I’m doing it one step at a time” or “I can do this step…” And so on.

b) “I don’t want to do it” OR “I HAVE to do it”

A lot of procrastination comes from not wanting to do things we have to do. We might rebel against our obligations. We chave against authority. Whatever.

It’s up to us to change it. We’re not children anymore. Our bosses, if we have them, are not our parents. Instead of the rebellion track, we should focus on the choices we make.

So instead of saying “I have to…” it helps to say “I choose to…” You don’t HAVE to say “I want to,” especially if you don’t really want to do something, but you can always choose to do it anyway, for the greater good or for whatever good outcome you can foresee to come from it.

2) NLP Approach

My friend and favorite mentor Jason Fladlien is excellent with helping people use NLP to overcome bad habits, and the best part is that he’s very down-to-earth and leaves the complicated stuff where it belongs: out of it. He focuses on the straightforward and teaches the techniques in a very easy to follow way.

He uses it especially to help people in internet marketing, where it’s easy to get overwhelmed. With his coaching and his courses, they find it much easier to get on top of their to-do lists and get their businesses off the ground.

He even has a very cool (and “different”) time management program that includes a Day Job Eliminator module, where he shows people how to get their business started even while working a day job — so they can leave that day job behind.

Take the Procrastination Quiz, sign up for the free “Overcoming bad habits” ecourse, and you’ll also get a discount on the time management book if you want it.

3) The EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Approach

Since a lot of procrastination has to do with negative emotions, taming those emotions can help a great deal. Here’s a free ebook I wrote that can get you started with using EFT tapping to help you overcome procrastination and a whole lot of other things:

EFT and procrastination

It’s easy and can be learned very quickly, so consider giving it a shot. I originally wrote it for my students who were stressing over having to do presentations in front of the class. It helped them with that, and it can help you with a number of things as well.

Come to think of it, I may write a sequel on using EFT on procrastination specifically. But for now, just use the stuff in the book, and look for follow-up emails with tips on using EFT for a variety of other things.

4) The Stress Relief Approach

All of the above will help reduce the stress that may be caused and or be responsible, at least in part, for the procrastination issue. For example, stress can lead to overwhelm, and once you’re in overwhelm, you may not be able to function very effectively anymore.

It’s as if our brain were trying to protect us from doing more than we can handle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always get the priorities right, and so we may find ourselves in hot water…

So it helps to also approach the dilemma by focusing on getting some stress relief….

But whatever you do, don’t beat yourself up. The carrot works a whole lot better than the stick, and making yourself feel bad about yourself is totally counterproductive. Instead, give yourself a break, regroup, and use one of the helpful free resources. Find out more about one of the most powerful ones here:

EFT and Procrastination

and

Click Here for your Bad Habits/Procrastination Quiz

Most importantly, see yourself happily and joyfully completing whatever action you need to do, and then see yourself being glad to have completed it. That will help a great deal no matter what else you do.

Wishing you lots of energy and productivity!

Elisabeth

Self Help Blog Style Time Management

Hello all,

what happened to my self help blog? Maybe you’ve been wondering… Have I been procrastinating?

Truth is, I got swamped. I mean way beyond swamped. Somehow several major “engagements” all came together at the same time, and I was scrambling and begging forgiveness left and right, trying to postpone whatever could be postponed. And no, that doesn’t really fit the regular meaning of procrastination. (hmm, I think I’ll write about that sometime soon too).

What does all of that teach me about time management though? Other than put it in my calendar and beware of making commitments too far into the future?

This: There’s only so much time in the day and so much energy in me. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.

I actually learned that a long time ago — from one of my favorite teachers, the late Roger Mellott. I was going through a very stressful time then too, and was beating up on myself because I seemed to “procrastinate” just about all the time.

I mean, the evening wasn’t half over yet and I had a translation job to do. So why the heck didn’t I do it? Well… yes, there was time left in the day, but there was no more energy left in me. I simply could not do it. I was so tired I couldn’t get off of my bed if I tried. And my brain refused to cooperate as far as the translation went.

I felt that way the last few weeks at times… And I remembered Roger.

He had this brilliant theory — the pie theory of energy management. If you’ve been reading my newsletter, you’ve probably read about it. But if not, I’ll introduce you to it right here, again.

Tomorrow 😉

For now, all I want to say is — it was a life-saver.

Meanwhile, I do have another trick up my sleeve, this one related to Time Management.. It has helped me make myself way more productive. Probably doubled my speed with which I can get stuff done. And it helps give me energy when I need it, plus focus, and more.

Still, I’m human, and my mind can always visualize way more than physical me can get done.

So anyway, please check back tomorrow to read about Roger’s Pie Theory and how it relates to time management.

Have a great evening.

Elisabeth

And here’s a related blog post on time management.

Getting over Intimidation: And then wondering why it seemed so hard…

Getting over intimidation… often has a weird side effect, especially for me. And maybe for you too.  Who knows.

I’ve been dragging my feet for maybe a year when it came to upgrading my WordPress version (which means, procrastination is often born out of intimidation).  I started blogging when it was at 2.2 and never changed it.  I was too afraid to lose it.  The video I had with instructions seemed too complicated.  I was worried the plugins wouldn’t work anymore.

And so now we’re at 2.7.1.  Oh dear.  Now I was REALLY afraid to mess with what seemed to be working fine.

Except it wasn’t working all that fine.  I was missing out on a lot of cool stuff I could be doing with it if only I had the courage to upgrade.

So I took this course and got this really cool plugin.  It came with a condition. I had to install it and use it, and then report back on what happened.

Sooooo I finally installed it and — the installation wouldn’t complete.  I kept getting error messages.  Darn, I thought. Must be my ancient platform.

So now what?

I called www.myfavoritewebhost.info to inquire about upgrading my WordPress version.  About backing up the data base.

And then I went ahead and backed up all the data bases.

And then… I decided to use Fantastico to upgrade a barely started blog that I had all but forgotten about.  It worked fine, both before and after.

Okay, so then I tried another one that actually had stuff on it, a theme, a photo, and miscellaneous other things.  It worked okay too.

Then, I decided to take a chance.  I held my breath as I clicked "update" for this one, my flagship blog.  The apple of my eye, with hundreds of pages (or so it seems anyway).  And it worked.  Yay!

And then I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh or cry.  This was so easy I couldnt’ believe it.  Talk about stress relief.  I had no idea how much stress this thing had been causing me.  But think about it, the anxiety caused by being intimidated and therefore procrastinating, all the while knowing that I had to do this thing.  And suddenly it was all gone.

Either I have progressed hugely or it had always been this easy and I just met someone who explained it to me the complicated way.  What the heck.

What’s interesting is that this sort of thing has happened to me before.  A number of times.  Some of it very recently.

Here I am, dragging my feet on something that intimidates the socks off me and it turns out a piece of cake.

Do you ever have that happen to you? Why don’t you share in the comment section, and if you’d like, I would really appreciate if you could also share what you do to get over it — at last.

In my case it’s often a do or die kind of thing. I had to do this if I wanted to use the action opt-in popup plugin — or pay someone to do it for me, and I"m trying to save my money for other stuff…

So I decided to give it a try — and it was easy.  And fast.  I mean, it took just a couple of minutes each. So I did the rest of my blogs too.

The only ones that are still ancient are ones that I installed by hand (don’t ask), so the nifty tool Fantastico won’t be able to uninstall them.  So I’ll have to call tech support to help with that, and I think they said they would.

Anyway, it’s been an interesting day, and quite exhilarating too.

I just set up two new blogs — one for me (Richmond Web Marketing ) and one for a friend/client (Richmond Handyman Express ).  And now that I’ve got it down, it didn’t take long at all.  The photo on the Handyman blog will need some trimming I suppose, but what the heck.  I might also change the theme, but first I’ll check with him to see what he likes.

Anyway, do leave a comment and share your thoughts about intimidation and what you do about it.

And have a fantastic day!

Elisabeth

P.S.:  Now that I think of it, that’s the kind of stuff that Jason’s Time Management course helps with too…  I should go watch the videos again and re-view it all!

So that’s on the agenda for the next few days.