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Procrastination Kicking Your Ass? Kick Back With Controlled Rewards

February 8, 2012 By 1 Comment
Angry Face

This Is Your Inner Procrastinator. He Doesn't Want To Work, He Wants A Nap!

Gal’s Note – This post started out as another part in the Diamonds or Dogs series, but it became something a bit more than just about that.  Specifically, it became all about how I deal with my inner procrastinator and handle two blogs, a start up and a full time job.

First, let me be clear, procrastination isn’t something you are dealing with alone.  Every one procrastinates.  In fact, I would say that the natural tendency of the human brain is to procrastinate.  Why?  Because we’re short sighted creatures more interested in right now than in tomorrow.  It’s not our fault, evolution has made us this way.  Evolution has taught us not to spend energy that we don’t need to spend. That’s really good strategy for a creature that lives day to day, minute to minute and needs to think about short term survival, not long term success. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Achieving Success, Introspection, Procrastination Tagged With: , , ,

Screw Reminders and To Do Lists

July 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

To-Do ListI am one of those obsessive people who has to write down everything they need to do.  If I don’t write it down, I obsess about it.  I think about it over and over, visualizing all the bad things that will happen if I don’t get this done on time.  I stress myself out imagining the ramifications of what will happen if I forget to this task and then I obsess about whether or not I will forget it.  This is true for everything.  From the most important task (get an officiant for my wedding) to the least (walk the dog).  Luckily for me, I found a solution to this problem a long time ago.  The solution was actually in a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done which I highly recommend for anyone wrestling with organizational issues.  It was a simple solution and basically called for me to write things down.

I know, I know, sounds stupid simple, but it really works.  Before you start obsessing over a task, just write it down.  That way you have a reminder which you can deal with later.  In the meantime, you’re free to go about whatever other work you needed to do without devoting extra brain cycles to other stuff.  It’s an excellent tip and one that has stayed with me for years.  Unfortunately, it’s also that drives me crazy sometimes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Goals, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Step 2 - Make A Plan, Stress Tagged With: , , , , ,

Oh What A Difference A Week Makes: Lessons In Focus

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FocusI wrote last week about my realization that I was compromising my goals and my newfound drive to achieve them. Well, it’s been less than a week since that post but the difference is remarkable. I don’t want to be cliched and say that I feel like a whole new person but I can definitely feel the difference in attitudes and how it’s changing my life.

In the past week I’ve:

  • Written a new guest post for a major personal finance blogger
  • Met with one of the CEO of a company I worked for and I’m now helping him out with his new idea for a company
  • Explored a new hiking trail with my fiancée, Julie
  • Started training for a marathon
  • Learned how to make a kick ass blueberry cobbler

Note that not all of these are career related. Some of these are just a lot of fun, but that’s the whole point. Being driven doesn’t mean you spend your entire life in front of a computer pounding out presentations and business plans. It means you throw yourself into the important things in life, whether work or fun, with everything you have, holding nothing back. It means not doing things half assed, including relaxation. If you’re going to relax, relax all the way and stop checking email. If you’re going to work, work hard and stop wasting time on the little things. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Achieving Success, Drive, Goals, Procrastination Tagged With: , , ,

Come To Jesus Moment

May 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

motivation-001Ever had a come to jesus moment?  I just did.

First, A Definition

A come to jesus moment is that moment when an individual is compelled by the weight of evidence and looming penalty to admit wrong doing.

Yep, I’ve done wrong.  I’ve lied to you which is bad enough, but worst than that, I’ve lied to myself.  Here I am telling myself that I know it all and I’ve done it all, that my life is perfect and that I have what I want.  I almost managed to convince myself of that, until tonight.  Tonight I had dinner with several executives from the Silicon Valley tech industry, a CEO from Singapore and a VC or two.  I was sitting at one of the best steakhouses in the country with people who run multi billion (that’s with a B) organizations and I was thinking to myself, “what have I accomplished?”  I looked around me and I saw men who are leaders, men who were not given what they have but won it through hard work, intelligence and a relentless drive to succeed.  These men excelled at everything they put their minds to.  They weren’t just great executives, they were also wonderful parents who cared deeply about their children and devoted hobbyists of various sorts.  Some ran marathons, some did iron mans but all of them shared a common trait.  In all cases, no matter what they did, from parenting and surfing to running companies and marathons, these men threw themselves into the task with 110% of their strength.  They held nothing back and never shied from the task in front of them.

Now you may not want to be a silicon valley executive, and that’s fine and dandy, but you still want to be something, don’t you?  You still want to accomplish your goals, don’t you?  What is it that you dreamed about when you were a child?  What was it that you saw in your dreams when you lay down to sleep?  Those are the goals you had, the things that drove you forward, the things you wanted to devote yourself to 110%, as these men did to their dreams.  And yes, sometimes they failed, sometimes they tried and no matter what, they could not succeed.  One of the men was divorced, another had a failed start up a few years back, but they never gave up.  No matter what happened, they picked themselves up and rededicated themselves to their goals. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Confidence, Drive, Procrastination, Starting Out, Step 4 - The First Step Tagged With: , , ,

Be A Better Buyer or: “Why You Have A $1000 Home Gym Collecting Dust In Your Garage”

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Ubiquitous "Before" ShotA few days ago I talked about the value of selling solutions from a seller’s perspective and I mentioned that you need to understand your buyer’s problem and solve it if you want them to buy.  Since all of life is selling, this strategy is effective for anything from selling a product or asking for a raise, to getting a date or asking for a promotion. Always strive to understand the other party’s problem and present what you want as a solution to that problem.

Today, I’d like to talk about that from a buyer’s perspective.

Have you ever paused for a second and thought, “why did I just buy that?” Do you have one of those giant home gym machines collecting dust in your garage even though you spent a good amount of cash on it? Are you spending too much on shopping for things you don’t need? Do you keep finding yourself in a relationship where the other person is not quite what you’re looking for? If so, read on. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Decision Making, Goals, Honesty, Losing Weight, Procrastination, Step 1 - Priorities Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Don’t Use Skepticism As An Excuse For Inaction

December 21, 2010 By 3 Comments

Now Is The Time To Try Something NewLast week Tim Ferris, of The 4-Hour Workweek fame, put out a new book called the The 4-Hour Body .  In it he describes the variety of ways in which he’s hacked apart his body and put together a healthy lifestyle.  It’s filled with a lot of tips, entertaining stories and a variety of pseudo science the likes of which every diet book contains.  It’s even got a great section about sexual performance with a hilarious addendum on sperm donation.  I picked up this book because I like Tim’s blog but I didn’t really have an intention to follow any of the ideas in it.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Day Experiments, Confidence, Decision Making, Losing Weight, Making More Money, Procrastination, Risk Assessment Tagged With: , , , , , ,