In this episode, we discuss the importance of not indulging in procrastination in your life.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons on how to grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually so you can have better careers, better relationships, and better personal finances.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about procrastination. One of the questions that I like to ask prospective clients is “Does procrastination tend to lead to favorable consequences or negative ones? and most of the time they say that it tends to lead to negative consequences and they’re right. Yes, there are times when procrastination leads to a favorable outcome but most of the time, it’s not good to procrastinate.
When it comes to your health, your career, your personal finances, and your relationships, it doesn’t make sense to procrastinate. When it comes to buying something or doing a hobby, then procrastination could be helpful but those things don’t have concrete futures. When it comes to your health, if you procrastinate with working out and getting enough sleep, that is not going to end well. When it comes to procrastinating on about that project for school or work, all it going to do is cause you to stress out at the last moment and you won’t be able to provide your best product.
You don’t want to spend time sharpening your pencils in lieu of sharpening your mind, body, and organization. This is how you’re going to mess things up in the future because you’re not performing at the level you should be. As a person, I focusing on the little stuff that doesn’t move the needle forward. I was reading Bill Walsh’s book on leadership, who was the championship coach for the 49ers in the 80s and he wrote that the Seattle Seahawks spent time during practice to make sure they looked good during the national anthem, even though they were one of the worst teams in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks coach didn’t last much longer. I feel the same way about my e-mail inbox, I don’t really care for a zero inbox and I just delete a lot of stuff and not even look at it because if was truly important, then I would open it. A sharp pencil doesn’t mean you have a sharp organization or life.
The details matter but they have to be the right details and by procrastinating on the important things, it just going to cause you time, money, and even worse your relationship or career.
To help me get over procrastination, I use the following techniques.
My first technique is to take cold showers. When I take a cold shower in the morning, it is very uncomfortable but I feel really good afterward. It is also very good training. When you do something uncomfortable, you’re also training your body and mind to continue to do uncomfortable things. I think I’ve been good at having uncomfortable conversations lately because I’ve been taking cold showers for the past two years. Usually, when we procrastinate, it’s because we don’t want to be uncomfortable and so we kick the can down the road.
It also helps your goals and values clearly stated. If you don’t know where you’re going in life, then it’s really hard to make decisions. I know exactly what I have to do every week. Do I accomplish everything for the week that I wanted to accomplish? Hardly ever happens for me because things pop up and then I have to adjust my schedule but at least I’m moving in the right direction. If I accomplish 10% of a project every week until I get it done, then that is better then waiting until I have enough time to finish it in one week. That’s never going to happen and it’s best to do things in chunks. It’s like eating an elephant, the best way to do so is one bite at a time. So that is what I’m going to do. I’m working on my Grow with Joe business, I’m doing this podcast, I’m working on an online course, I’m working on finishing two books, and I have family obligations to do. So I have to do things in chunks but knowing what is important for the week, helps me get the work done.
By having your goals written down and knowing the outcome you want to have, makes it easier to identify the unimportant stuff from the important stuff. We don’t have all the time in the world and the longer we wait to do the important things, the longer we stay away from the person we aspire to be. If you think you have all the time in the world, you really don’t. So get started on those important things in life as soon as possible, whatever it is. It could be with your family, your career, or your body, but you just need to work at it.
Another thing to remember is that the easiest thing to do as a human being is to get distracted. Sharpening your pencils in lieu of sharpening your life is a distraction. My phone is a big distraction but it can also be a valuable tool, you just need to know how to have control over it. Same thing with your e-mail box, social media, television, and even books. You just got to make sure you’re using them as a tool and not as a distraction. If you want to have favorable consequences in life, you just need to have control over your mind and have the self-awareness to realize when you’re going down the path of procrastination. Do this and you’ll be unstoppable as a person.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it if you want to have favorable consequences in life, you want to get rid of procrastination in your life when it comes to your health, career, personal finances, and relationships. In stuff outside of these areas, procrastination can happen because they’re not affecting who you are as a person. So learn how to learn to be uncomfortable by dealing with the resistance of procrastination. Remember that today is the oldest you’ve ever been in life and today is also the youngest you’ll be for the rest of your life so make sure you make use of your time on this planet and not being wasteful of it. If you’re wasteful of it by procrastinating, it won’t be favorable to you in the end. You have the choice right now to make the future favorable and it starts with working on yourself and being the person you’re supposed to be.
To get a free copy of my book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and just pay for shipping and handling.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
I’m also trying to do a feedback Friday episode, so if you have a question that you would like to have my answer on the air, just e-mail me at [email protected]
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Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
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