How to Beat Procrastination In Your Business As Perfectionist Entrepreneur

I think there’s almost no person who hasn’t experienced procrastination.

I think you’ve fed up with it that’s why you are here because you want to get shit done,

To achieve these goals and have the business and life you dream of.

In this article, I want to give exactly that.

I want you to move forward with tools and a mindset that will help you beat procrastination as it comes and before it does too.

let’s go 🙂

1-Have A Growth Minded look Toward It

The growth mindset is all about focusing on your effort and the process.

How does it help you beat procrastination?

By focusing on your effort of doing to not procrastinate while knowing things won’t be perfect.

You won’t be able to stop it 100% instead focus on the effort in the moment and the accumulative result

2-Build The Self-Identity Of Non-Procrastinators & Enforce It

To stop procrastinating you need to become the person who doesn’t do that,

Who does things at the first opportunity, who follows through…

Choose s specific thing to build your identity around instead of making it general

Eg. I am the kind of person who does things at the first opportunity

Why is it important?

Because we act in accordance with who we think we are so if you think

“I always procrastinate or I do things at the last minute”>>>

Just lead you to procrastinate no matter how much you plan and

This identity Won’t help you stick to the action/behaviour of non-procrastinators

Start from who you are then action will follow

3-Identify Your Favourite Form Of Sneaky Procrastination That You Do Regularly

Last week I talked about snaky forms of procrastination you can check it out here

Read it and see which one do you do regular then work on stopping it

We can easily fall into doing them because they disguise themselves ad productive work

4-Identify The Thoughts That Lead You To Procrastinate And Change Them

When you procrastinate your brain is thinking something.

You need to become aware of that thought so, you can see it when your brain thinks

From there you can change it and not engage with what your brain is feeding you.

The process of identifying the thought of procrastination and how you can change it 

Bring a recent situation where you procrastinated

(eg. scrolled through Instagram instead of writing your content) on doing your task

And ask yourself  the following:

1-what was I thinking before procrastinating(e.g. I don’t feel like doing it)

2-how was I feeling when I thought that? (e.g. uncomfortable doing the task)

3-did I catch myself or did it take my time and end up moving my task to a different time?

4-how did I feel after I wasted my time? (eg. I felt terrible, guilty)

5- do I want to feel that way again? And why? (eg. I don’t want to feel that again because it

6-what can I think to not procrastinate again?

7- what this thought will make me feel? Do I like it (if not change the thought to match a feeling you want to feel) (eg. happy)

5-Overcome Perfectionism

A major culprit in making us procrastinate. If you identify as a perfectionist

(someone who try to avoid feeling shame, hurt and pain from being inadequate/not enough by trying to make things perfect but not really)

Work on overcoming it because that helped me get out of my own way like never before

All of my content is catered to help perfectionist entrepreneurs stop sabotaging themselves

So, they can build the business they love

Follow me on IG and subscribe to my email list to know about the new articles I put out + you get access to how to create your affirmations guide to help you create ones that help you change your beliefs and identity

6-Plan For Procrasintion

Get similar with each form (see point 3) and plan for it.

1-ask yourself: what other types of distractions hold you /stop you throughout the day?

2-observe yourself, write down these distractions & when do you tend to do them?

3-create simple rules to stick to your work and task at hand

eg. I’ll get extra time at night to watch one more episode instead of doing it now,

Write distractions and things I feel like doing now instead of work and do it later if I want or need to

4-think of what can you do to make it harder for you to fall into procrastination

(think more specifically about the thing that distracts you the most)

7-Sit With The Discomfort 

One of the biggest reasons why we procrastinate is because the task is uncomfortable, hard which require plenty of energy from your brain to execute.

That’s why you find yourself on your phone instead of creating your content,

Watching a youtube video instead of filming your youtube video…

Sometimes procrastination comes down to you not being used to sitting in discomfort for anything

Just think about it. this can be the simple reason for why you’re doing it

For that reason, you need to learn to sit with it

Start with 20 min a time until you can do it for a longer 

Your brain isn’t used to the agitation, distress and you feel you need to do anything else but the task (eg. writing your content)

Practice and build that muscle as you do with the muscles in your body

8-Use Tactics, Tools And Rules Alongside Everything Else

-Timer

It is a helpful tool to help me stick to doing the task while enforcing the identity

(Eg. I am the kind of person who Respects my work hours). It’s about mixing tools with your identity.

Tools don’t work if you don’t work them since you can easily not use them. That’s exactly what I did;

I knew how this tool is great for me

But I stopped doing it because I wasn’t the person kind myself who can do it without when my identity /belief your action and tools will fall flat.

-Do the hardest, most uncomfortable task in a time where you are less likely to procrastinate Or first thing

Choosing a time that you feel energetic and most focused

Is a matter of observing yourself and how you act during your day then choosing that time to do the important task there.

It doesn’t need to be in the morning or the first thing you do if that doesn’t work for you.

-Plan rest & rewards throughout the day

Make time to rest your mind because it needs it.

It’s better to do it intentionally instead of letting your brain force you into doing it through procrastination

( will share my experience and what I did in a future post about rest)

-Give yourself rewards that you want and I advise you to stay clear from doing anything productive as a reward like learning or practising a hobby just give your brain entertainment,

the thing you most likely do when you procrastinate like watching Netflix, scrolling social media, playing games…

Why do I say this? 

Because I made the mistake of switching too really into doing something productive that is not related to business

Which lead me to procrastinate even harder

Because I wanted to watch tv series, play games, read webtoons

And I wasn’t giving myself that. I wanted just to do nothing and do these non-productive things.

Plan them as you do with your business that’s what I did 

9-Setting Boundaries When It Comes To Your Business With Others And Yourself

Set rules/limits that you enforce no matter what when it comes to your work so, you don’t let others or yourself step into it.

Start small (eg. work from 10 to 12 without interruption, doing work first thing)

Start respecting it first and afterwards you can level it up

10-Give Yourself Rewards That Help You Get The Pleasure In The Moment

Our brains have been conditioned since ancient times to seek immediate pleasure that comes from finding food and shelter,

Staying with the group and making it alive at the moment.

From that, you see that achieving your goal and building your business doesn’t fall into that category.

It requires delayed pleasure until you get it. to help your brain progress on a daily basis.

You can play to this fact by giving yourself rewards for completing your tasks and doing your work as long as you don’t let the reward be a hindrance to your work.

Reward examples would be: finishing early to watch an extra episode of your current show you’re watching

or having time to read and relax in the evening…

11-Plan Your Day Based On What Can You Do Now And Stop Being So Perfect About It

The idea here is to not over plan, under plan and not give yourself more than it can do in your current state.

Plan for yourself right now not your future self, plan for who you are now not your idealistic self

plan your day now not your ideal day

Plan your day realistically based on who you are now your present-day self

Focus on the needle movers and what’s important not the fluff and busywork.

How? by knowing which is which depending on which stage of your business you are at.

Just add them to your day

12-Do Not Rely On Motivation

Motivation is fleeting and it is not reliable to count on.

Focus on creating your own motivation by reading your why every day and becoming the person who does things despite how you feel.

peace and love

Wafaa