Five Radical Procrastination Strategies

The Spanish have an old saying ... “Tomorrow is the busiest day of the week,” and for many of us, it’s too true. Procrastination gobbles up our most precious resource: Time. There are things you’re putting off, goals you’ve been remiss about pursuing, projects waiting endlessly for completion. You’ve tried discipline and will power, but neither have much staying power. Since one definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, it’s time for a new set of strategies.

Here are five radical procrastination strategies to experiment with:

1. Embrace your imperfections…and stop trying to be normal, too!

We all know we’re not perfect, and never will be. But, that doesn’t stop many of us from trying. While most of us are still attempting our own personal version of ideal, or at least as close as we can get to it, we still get tied up in how we’re far less than perfect.

Have you noticed that whenever you find yourself lacking in some way your productivity level plummets? Have you noticed that when you or others make disparaging remarks about your abilities, it negatively influences your effectiveness?

You may be uncertain about what to expect of yourself once you start being more self-compassionate. Don’t worry, that’s a very normal part of the process of change. Instead of disparaging yourself, see what you need to do now to correct the situation, and what you can do in the future to prevent it from happening again.

2. Drop your tired old goals completely.

You know those desires you keep beating yourself up about? The ones you’ve never been able to accomplish or maintain? Drop those goals, at least for the moment. Maybe forever.

These kinds of “historical” goals aren’t typical accomplishments, but rather the result of months or years of continually applying effort and resolve. You must decide daily (with some of them, many times each day), or weekly to persist toward your objective. After all, if we lose weight, we need to keep it off. Once we get organized, we have to put effort into staying that way.