How to Stop Procrastinating – 4 Steps to Start Achieving Your Goals

Have you ever made a decision to do something very important to you and then didn’t take action or have started doing it but left it half way through?

And the strange thing is that you know you should be doing it, you know it will help you improve the quality of your life, your income, your business, get a new job or a promotion, or maybe this is a solution to a health or relationship issue… but you lose motivation, you procrastinate, you don’t take action and you just don’t do it even though you know it’s important. It feels more like self-sabotage and you don’t understand why you do it… or why you don’t… Has this ever happened to you?

The first thing you need to understand is that we procrastinate not because we consciously choose it, but because we are subconsciously programmed to do so. In fact, neuroscience has proven that the subconscious mind guides more than 90% of our behaviors.

You are actually 100% disciplined and committed to what your subconscious mind tells you to do.

And the role of your subconscious mind is to keep you safe in your comfort zone. You unconsciously behave according to your programmed beliefs and habits and therefore it’s so difficult to break through and change.

So whenever you want to create something new in your life that is out of the norm, different that what you have created up to now, you find it difficult because your subconscious mind wants to keep you exactly where you are.

The only way to make a breakthrough in your life and stop procrastinating and is to hack into your subconscious mind and install new programmed beliefs and habits. This will help you take new actions on the goals that are important to you and ultimately change your life.

So how do you do that?  Here are 4 steps that will help you rewire your brain and create new habits and beliefs that will change your life, starting from today:

STEP 1. FIND YOUR WHY. 

You need to write down a big enough WHY you want to do the thing that you keep procrastinating on. If you don’t have a big WHY, a strong enough motive for action, your motivation will last a very short period of time.

Come up with all the reasons WHY you MUST do it, not why you will do it or why you are interested in doing it. Instead, write down all the strong reasons why you MUST do it. It’s necessary in order to give your brain a motive and reason to get out of your comfort zone and take action.

STEP 2. ELIMINATE YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS FEARS AND LIMITATIONS.

There is a part of your brain that is responsible for keeping you safe. If you start a new habit or activity that your brain is not used to, programmed habits and beliefs kick in, and your brain says ‘Hey, what are you doing? I don’t like this, it doesn’t feel comfortable’ and it automatically stops you from taking a new type of action. As a result, you are like hypnotized, you don’t even know why you don’t do it.

That’s why you get that membership to the gym but quit too fast. You decide to start a diet but the next day, you eat the same food. You want to finalize that new website for your business, but you keep getting distracted by far less important activities and so on.

To overcome your limitations, you first need to become aware of them.

So write down your goal: what do you want to achieve that you are procrastinating on?

Then write down all the reasons why you haven’t reached the goal yet and all the fears you have around achieving this goal.

These reasons represent your personal limitations, your excuses and explain why your subconscious mind stops you. Realising your perceived fears and limitations is the first step to overcoming them.

STEP 3. CREATE THE NEW VERSION OF YOUR LIFE STORY WITH THE RESULTS YOU WILL HAVE AFTER ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL AND IMPRINT THIS IMAGE IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 

Write your new life story as it will be when you achieve the results you want, including the new beliefs about yourself which will be the opposite of your present limitations. Then read it to yourself every day in order to create this new image in your mind, a feeling of the new reality representing the moment when you have managed to achieve that goal or complete that project.

Imprint the new image and feeling in your subconscious mind daily, while you are working on your action plan. Regular reinforcement of this new story and new beliefs will help your brain create new connections and new habits, which, in its turn, will enable you to start taking focused action towards your goal.

STEP 4. DEFINE THE HOW – WRITE DOWN THE STEPS ON HOW YOU WILL DO IT.

Many people don’t start or don’t complete something because they aren’t sure how to do it or lack an actual plan. If you are one of them, write down precise steps that you need to take in order to achieve that particular goal or result. In case you can’t define them on your own, look for experts to help you with it. Can’t find any expert? No problem! There is Mr. Google right there in front of you and it’s free. So no excuses.

And next time you procrastinate, just realize that it’s just your subconscious mind preventing you from getting out of your comfort zone. Does it suit you to stay there or is it better for you to stand up, take massive action and do it? And what’s going to happen in your life if you don’t do it today? And if you don’t do it tomorrow? If you don’t do it in a year from now and keep finding excuses?

To sum up, if you have a big goal or a burning desire, find a strong enough reason for your brain to take action on it. Reinforce and program the new information into your subconscious mind and you can make it happen! Remember: change your brain, change your life.