Make Forward Progress

You’ve set your goals, made your plans, now it’s just a matter of taking steps in right direction to reach your planned destination. Taking action will help you cross bridge between your goals and accomplishment. One of biggest obstacles in your path is procrastination- failure to begin, to delay start and ultimately leave your potential wasted in end. It’s worth remembering that a week from now – it will be a week from now and you will either be closer to your goals or you won’t. Start by reducing some of procrastination’s best allies. Probably strongest of those has just two initials …TV. Is your TV time cutting into your productive time? Take this little test. Estimate how many hours of TV you watched last week. Be honest with yourself. On average people spend 20 to 30 hours watching TV. If you reduce that even by a little, you have more time to take actions that will lead you to your goals.

Try these 10 steps to get past procrastination en route to your goals:

10 ways to quash procrastination

1.Identify your list of things to do and write them down. Many times we magnify how much we have to do and it overwhelms us. By writing it down you eliminate this in your imagination and take control over your tasks.

2.Prioritize your tasks so you know which has highest potential payoff. Strive to do highest paid work first. It may be tempting to knock off a two dollar task that seems less intimidating than thousand dollar one, but keep payoff potential in mind.

3.Create deadlines for yourself and your tasks. Having a deadline gives you urgency.

4.Break larger projects into smaller parts or action steps. In just a few minutes, you could complete an action step that brings you closer to your goal.

Sometimes it is really difficult to find positive side of a challenge confronting us. When dealing with adversity - a career setback, ending of a long-time relationship or illness of a child - it’s hard to believe there is a sunny side or a silver lining to this experience. But history is full of people who found possibilities through adversity. Reflecting on their achievements can remind us to look for opportunities. If a young Spanish soccer star had not been injured seriously in a car accident and spent months recuperating in hospital, he likely would not have discovered his musical side. The world might have missed beautiful voice of Julio Iglesias. McDonalds and “golden arches” would not exist today if Ray Kroc had succeeded in his first several ventures. Instead they ended in bankruptcy prior to his opportune meeting McDonald brothers and purchasing a little hamburger stand to later become world’s preeminent fast food franchise. Had Walt Disney not failed in his initial dreams to point of bankruptcy, magic of Magic Kingdom and hundreds of Disney related businesses would not exist today. Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache, carries with it seed of an equivalent or greater benefit." - Napoleon Hil It’s tough to take, but sometimes we are taught lessons that will benefit us. Allow yourself to be open to what life is teaching you and apply it later when opportunity presents itself.

What Would MacGyver Do?