AARP Guide for Procrastination
Today we are going to talk about procrastination. I honestly believe that procrastination is the biggest thief of all and it usually robs you of your life. I feel it is like a black hole sucking your life away – 1 task at a time.
Whenever I think about procrastination, I think about a quote from Les Brown, “The grave is the richest place on Earth”. It is the richest place because of all the ideas that didn’t come to fruition because of procrastination.
I have to admit, I have procrastinated for 80% of my life. This habit did not change until I came up with the AARP method. When I look back, I see that I could have done so many things, but procrastination robbed me of all my ambitions and my goals for a long time. I think the worst thing about procrastination is that it makes you lie to yourself. It tells you that you should wait for the magical wonderland of tomorrow, but as we know, tomorrow never comes.
AARP Guide
The reason I named this AARP guide was because it was easy to remember. So, A is Anchors, the other A is for Ask Questions, R is Responsibility and then P is Persistence.
A – Ask Good Questions
Asking yourself questions is a great way to stop your procrastination in its tracks. For example, if you have a paper due in two months and you want to sit down and write a few paragraphs but the monkey in your brains says, “This is not the right time and I would rather get a quick Netflix hit,” that moment before you switch to Netflix is the perfect time to ask yourself questions. For example:
Q – I want to procrastinate and watch Netflix? But what are the consequences?
A – This is my term paper. I’m going to do it. So I’m not rushing an hour before it’s due. If I don’t do this now, I could fail the class.
Q- Why do I want to procrastinate right now?
A – Is it because I’m tired? Is it because I’m having anxiety? Or is it because I’m having uncertainty. Maybe what I need to do is it not clear and does not align with my vision.
The more questions you ask, the better the answers you get and the less you will procrastinate. Clarity beat procrastination each and every time. It is important to keep asking questions. The reason being that if we do not, we are going to fall in the hole called self deception.
A – Have Anchors
The second A is Called Anchors. Believe it or not, we all need anchors. Without anchors, we are like a boat that can get lost at sea. Anchors are things that are going to save you from yourself. Believe it or not, you are your worst enemy. Anchors keep you grounded to your vision.
Anchors are something we all need. I remember watching a video by the Rock. His anchor is his fitness. He needs to have his fitness equipment everywhere with him because this workout keeps him grounded. Anchors give us confidence and a sense of stability. For example, my anchor is my calendar. If there is something that is scheduled on my calendar, no matter what happens I am doing it. My calendar is my binding contract. It gives me a sense of certainty.
If you look closely, you will see that most people rely on something to keep themselves in check because issues such as procrastination and laziness are something we all struggle with on a certain level.
Another anchor that I use is the 5 minute rule. In this rule, if there is something I really have to do and even after asking myself questions, I am not really feeling like it. I will just do for 5 minutes. I say to myself, “Ok, let’s just do it for 5 minutes.” And usually, I always end up finishing the task.
But, you are probably saying, “Well, what if I don’t feel it starting?” Well, this is when I apply the Mel Robbins five-second rule. In the 5 second rule, you count down… five, four, three, two one the moment one hits you got to take action because your brain is just ready to launch. There a lot of research has been done on the 5 second rule. I recommend checking her website.
My recommendation is that you apply the 5 minute and 5 second rule as much as possible so it becomes a habit. Once it is a habit and those pathways are created in your brain, it will be a lot easier when you really want them to work.
Think about good habits as a worker working on a new highway. It is a lot of work to create the new highway, but when it is done, it is a lot better for the flow of traffic.
AARP – Responsibility
Responsibility is one thing that has changed my life for the better. If you hold yourself accountable to someone else, it creates a sense of urgency which can help you beat procrastination.
Think about it, when you are in school or working on a job, you’re doing it even when you do not feel like it because someone is holding you responsible. Right? If you don’t do your job you get fired. You don’t do your homework in college, you get a F and loose financial aid or that scholarship.
So, someone holding you responsible helps you keep yourself in check. For example, there are several projects I started that I thought will take 6-8 months to finish, but the moment I had an accountability partner, the same projects were finished in 2 months.
But, how does one choose an accountability partner? This is where the hard part comes in. The last thing you want is someone giving you a pass on your procrastinating because they do not want to mess up the relationship between you to. Your accountability partner needs to be someone who should hold you accountable and not afraid to call out on your crap.
AARP – P – Persistence
The last thing in AARP is Persistence. It took me a long time to figure it out why people say that you really have to love what you do in order to make it. The reason being that to get good at anything, you have to keep at it even when you do not feel like it.
This is where persistence comes in. The amount of says you do not feel like doing to are going to be a lot more than the days you feel like it – so it is important to push through.
Accountability partner helps a lot with persistence. That is why it is important to have a good partner. Over time, I have figured that persistence is what differentiated people who make it vs who do not make it. So keep on going. Keep on chugging along.
You can check out the YouTube video below