Monday Motivation | Use the "Micro-Method" to beat procrastination

Procrastination is something that we all deal with to some extent.  Even people with clear goals & action steps on how to achieve them still have to overcome it.  Each Sunday or Monday, I reflect on what I want to accomplish for the week ahead.  Many times I find myself carrying over some of the same "to-dos" that were on the list last week (and even the week before). That's when I've gotta to come to grips with the fact that I've been avoiding these tasks.

Sometimes I try to pump my self up to do it, or I'll even assign a day and time when I'll get it done, but it rarely seems to work.  And, the longer it stays on my list, the more I tend to procrastinate.  So I'm trying a new strategy.  Instead of re-writing the same actions over and and over again, I plan to practice acting with urgency.

I'll employ what I coined as the "micro-method" to move myself into quick action.  The micro-method looks something like this:

Unreasonable Deadlines//
One mistake I've been making is not including a deadline/due date, when I write down my goals.  Instead of saying that I'll get this thing done on Wednesday, I just write it down and hope that I somehow do it.  Using the "micro-method I basically set unreasonable deadlines to get something done.  For example, on my list of actions was to take some updated product images and format them for upload online.  Days passed and still no images.  At 4:20 pm I decided to employ the micro-method.  I had until 4:35 pm to get it done!  Yep, I had only 15 minutes to have a finished image.  Off I went to meet this ultra tight deadline.  And, to be honest, it was kinda fun...like a game.  Needless to say, I got it done.

With ultra short deadlines, we shift our mindset from making excuses to figuring out how to get it done quickly.  Time is ticking....

Take Micro Actions//
The other aspect of the micro-method for overcoming procrastination is to take micro actions.  Sometimes our minds tend to have the tendency to over exaggerate how hard it is to do something.  We  listen to the excuses and put of the action for another day.  Instead, I urge you to take a micro action.  I've been putting off meditating lately because I lied to myself  convinced myself that I just don't have enough time.

So I asked myself, do you have 1 minute to meditate?  Of course the answer is yes.  So I set my timer for a minute and meditated.  Suddenly, the activity that I had no time for was over in what seemed like record time.  Immediately, I reset the clock for 3 minutes.  Again, the minutes seemed to breeze by.  At first I "had no time" to meditate, now, I wanted to do it even longer.    The same method could be used for physical exercise or writing your book.  Writing is definitely one of those actions that seems daunting if you just sit around thinking about it.  But when you start, you find yourself in  a state a flow and want to keep going.  The hardest part is starting and the micro-method may just be the way to get started.

The absolute best part of the Micro-Method is that it's like a gateway drug to greater levels of action.  You can't have just a little.  Once you start doing what you've been putting off, you feel great and you build momentum. Soon you'll find yourself doing more and more.  It becomes addictive.  Taking the micro-action of jumping on the trampoline led to a walk at a nearby park, which lead to a early gym session this morning.  Last week, I thought I was too busy to work out.  Today, I can't wait to incorporate more physical activity into my day.

 This micro-method is really powerful.  I urge you to become a user (sorry for bad pun).