Category Archives: Change and Personal Empowerment

Ten Tips for Tackling Procrastination Tendencies (pt 2)

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Why is it that you can’t get everything done? Is it because time just seems to fly, or you’ve set unreasonable goals,  or are you just not good at managing your time?  Did you know that there is a procrastination equation?  Piers Steel, PhD, one of the world’s foremost researchers and speakers on the science of motivation and procrastination writes, “There are two ways to find out where you land in the ranks of procrastination. Are you a garden-variety dilly dallier or are you hardcore with “tomorrow” tattooed across your back?” Take his survey and get specific information on how much of a procrastinator you are and what you can do about it.

My final five tips for tackling your procrastination tendencies are below.  If you missed first five tips be sure to check them out too.

My Final Five Tips for Tackling Procrastination Tendencies

  1. Make the goal a priority. If it’s not a priority and not as important as other things, stop beating yourself up.  Take it off your list and discard or delay until it is the highest priority.  If it is a priority, be disciplined at putting it first and putting off those things that are not as important to your success.  It’s also a good idea to start working on that plan when you are most alert and productive.  Why sabotage your goal by trying to jump-start it when you are deflated yourself.
  2. Know what your next step is. Sometimes looking at all we have to do is overwhelming.  So you might want to just identify the next step.  From that step you’ll more easily see the next step and so on and so on.  Commit to just doing the next step when the whole project overwhelms you.  Once you get started it’s easier to keep going.
  3. Get Yourself an Accountability Partner. Some people just aren’t self-motivated and need a progress partner. If  you need a muse, mentor, or friend to encourage you, hold you accountable, or to guide, get one or get all three.
  4. Specify a regular time to work on your goal and make it a habit. Habits only happen with regularity and action.  Do something regarding your goal every day, even if it is just to remind yourself of its importance and the time you’ve scheduled to act on it.  For example, I set a goal to pray at midnight.  I’ve found that if I do the same thing every single day around the same time, it becomes habit.  Once working on your goal becomes a habit, then it’s only a matter of time before you finish.
  5. Be clear about how procrastination is affecting you. Have you lost opportunities because you procrastinated?  Have you lost money and had to pay more or fees or jeopardized your credit because you waited until the last minute?  What about your relationships.  Has your chronic lateness caused problems with those you care about?  If you said yes to most of these questions,  your procrastination causing you stress and is a problem.  Your response to any problem should be….do something about it!

“In scientific terms, a person’s intention alone is not enough to see anything through–a condition called “preference reversal.” That means that unless an individual has some knowledge of his or her motivational weaknesses and can create a plan to counteract them, those promises of losing weight or writing a novel will fall to the wayside, Steel said.”  Steele came up with a mathematical formula to overcome procrastination.   Read more: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1008_3-6149636.html#ixzz1ECAsoP9T

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Ten Tips for Tackling Procrastination Tendencies

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It’s human nature to do the easiest, the most enjoyable, or the work we feel the most confident doing, but that doesn’t make it the most important.  Denis Waitley describes procrastination as, “The fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy.” Ten tips for tackling procrastination tendencies are below:

  1. Have a compelling WHY?–  Are the reasons for working on this particular goal more compelling than what you are already doing?  Because if what you are doing is more important, there really is no good reason to abandon what you are doing to do something else.  If you don’t have a compelling enough reason to start, persevere, and to finish, you won’t!
  2. Create a plan to keep that reason visible and front and foremost in your consciousness.  If you have a compelling WHY and still find yourself procrastinating or forgetting, get a plan.   Constantly remind yourself of why you chose this goal.  Write the reasons on index cards, place them in strategic locations where you know you will see them, affirm your goals, and spend time thinking and acting on them.
  3. Tease yourself. Sometimes the hard part is to just get started.  In this case, give yourself a simple doable time limit, say fifteen minutes.  Usually you will get a momentum going and continue past the time initially proposed.
  4. Be clear about the benefits of achieving this goal and the consequences of not doing anything. Sometimes it is that clear vision of the benefits that provides the motivation to keep moving in the direction of your goals. While positive motivation is my preference, some people are motivated more by fear.  The fear of failure or the fear of the negative consequences is enough to get them motivated and continually motivated.
  5. Have a plan  of what you need to do. Just having  a vague idea of what you want and how you are to do it is not enough. – It’s easy to get distracted or sidetracked, a plan of action is critical to making sure that you stay on task.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Dream Derailer #3: Procrastination

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Scott Peck wrote, “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

Napoleon Hill described procrastination as,  “The bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

Do you have a problem with procrastination?

If you do, you are not alone for about 1 in every five people procrastinate.  Procrastination is not doing what you know you should be doing.  It is ignoring something important and instead doing something less important.  Are you surfing the net when you should be working?  Are you watching television or playing a game when you should be cleaning, studying,  or spending quality time with your family?  One of my personal favorite quotes paraphrased from the Baha’i Writings is, “When the most important work is before you, you must learn to let go of the important.”

An important question to ask is, “Is this the most important thing I can be doing right now?

Is this action moving me closer to my most important goals?   Everyone procrastinates from time to time, but if are a chronic procrastinator, then you need to figure out why. Some of you have probably started on a goal and ran into a roadblock and haven’t been able to get back on track again.  Others have not even gotten started.  Whether you have started and stalled or never started at all, the challenge is the same.  You’ll never succeed if you don’t start and finish.   Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with so much to do that we are paralyzed with indecision.  If too much is on your plate, take off the least important stuff.  When you finish you can put it back on again if it is still important to you.

If you are a chronic procrastinator, click to read about ten tips for tackling your procrastination tendencies.

What are you waiting for?  Get started on that dream.  You’ll never see the finish line if you don’t get started.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Dream Derailer#2a: Ignoring the Body’s Real Needs

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Your dreams and goals can be derailed if you forget to take care of business.  I’m not talking about getting your hair and nails done, clothing yourself with the best, entertaining the body, or even the abode, trinkets, or transportation you work so hard for to make the body comfortable. “There are only three gross substances that we consciously take in to support our life process: food, air, and water,” wrote Gabriel Cousens in his best-selling book ‘Spiritual Nutrition.’

If we don’t eat, we die.

So, obviously eating is critically important.  And if eating is critically important, it stands to reason that what we eat is critically important as well. There are healthy foods and unhealthy foods.  Just as you would not put any type of gas into your car, you should not put just anything into your body.  There are super-foods and junk foods.  There are live foods and dead foods. We must make eating a conscious affair and be aware of what we are putting into our temples if we want to be healthy, energized, and pain-free.

If we don’t breathe, we die.

If breath is vital to life, and it is, clearly the quality and quantity of the air we take in is also vitally important.  How many times have you caught yourself holding your breath?  Our body needs oxygen to live.  We must get outside and breathe fresh air.  I love yoga because it forces me to breathe deeply, to send oxygen to all parts of my body, to relax, to tune into my spirit life force, and to mentally let go of the negative forces around me. Everyone is aware of the negative impact of pollution and air quality, but few are willing to acknowledge their contribution. Check out Annie Leonard’s video for a wake-up call on our role in trashing our planet.  Then answer the question, “Are you contributing to or fighting against the polluting of our planet?  Finally, we must be conscious of the water we are drinking.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Dream Derailer #1- No Energy (continued)

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The Body, Mind, and Spirit Are Partners

Your body, mind, and spirit all require energy.  If your body is tired, run down, exhausted, or drained,  you can’t do your best work or in some cases can’t do much at all.  If you lack spirit and are dispirited, discouraged, depressed, or disheartened, you won’t be able to do what you want to do either.  The spirit gives us the will to do something.  That’s why they say, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” And if there is no will, there is no way you will succeed.   Many physically healthy people don’t have the will to do something about their dreams.  And many intelligent and spiritually minded people are not healthy and have no energy. The mind,  body and the spirit are partners and all must be taken well care of if you want to be able to succeed in this life.

Inspiration is Energy

You’ve got to keep yourself inspired and you’ve got to keep yourself healthy.  In my book, ‘The Excitement of value-based Living’ I discuss twelve sources of energy creation and energy drain.  I’ll share just a few here.  For the body, we must eat healthy foods, exercise, and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.  For the mind and spirit, we must pray, meditate, spend time consciously thinking, and have worthy noble goals.  If you take the time to take care of your mind, body, and spirit, you’ll have the energy you need when you need it.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.