Nicole Dean, for being such a faithful friend.

David Purdue, for giving me a chance.

Angela Wills, for the sharpies that drew this message

“i’m surprised…don’t see you as the procrastinating type”

She’s right actually, I’m not a big procrastinator.  I loved that she knows that about me!

I either want to do something or I don’t.  If I don’t want to do something I’ll delegate (outsource) it if it’s important or decide not to do it at all if it’s not.

In this particular situation I wasn’t really procrastinating.  I was mulling over decisions I had to make before we could go forward.  It’s a fine line.  My ‘mulling’ could turn into procrastination if it goes on for too long or I avoid facing some part of it.

Procrastination is a broken promise.

I heard something many years ago when I still worked a regular job.  “Hitting the snooze button is starting your day with a broken promise to yourself.”

When you went to bed the night before you set the alarm and your intention to get up at a certain time.  When you hit the snooze button and close your eyes, you’re procrastinating about your day.  You’re starting your day with personal compromise – you’re not doing what you intended to do!

This challenged me. I’d always loved setting my alarm for say, 7:00am, knowing full well I didn’t have to be up until 7:30am.  Hitting the snooze button two or three times was strangely satisfying.  From that day forward I never hit the snooze button again.  I set my alarm for THE time I needed to be awake and I got up when it buzzed.

This sets a positive tone: Do what you intended to do.

Chronic procrastination may be a side effect of overextending yourself.  You can cure your procrastination problem by being more realistic about your to do list every day.  If you commonly complete about three tasks per day – don’t create a daily to do list with ten items on it.  It’s just asking for trouble.  You’ll feel like a failure when you can’t finish your list.

What I’ve learned about me over the years is that I get stressed when I have more than 5-7 open projects at a time.  As an online marketer I have dozens of sites, partnerships & projects – but I can only focus on a few and keep my head straight.

What qualifies as an open project is hard to define.  It might be an information project I’m getting ready for launch, a book I’m writing, a client project I’m responsible for, etc.

I track my open projects by name and when I have seven in play, I start saying no to new things and filing other ideas away for later.

If I try to push myself and take on more projects I will end up procrastinating about something.

Managing and prioritizing all of my ideas, deciding what to work on now and what to file away for later – that’s tough.  After ten years in this business I’ve got valuable perspective on what will make me the most money.  Still, the world is always changing.  What worked two, five or eight years ago doesn’t work the same today.  There will always be a certain amount of risk in my decisions.

The important thing is this:  I do what I intend to do.

If I open a project, I diligently work it til it is complete.  If I feel tempted to procrastinate at any point I will review the project for continued viability.  I’m fine with scrapping something that isn’t working for me.  Better to realize it now than let it weigh down on my thoughts.

So what about you?  Are you procrastinating too much?  I hope you got some ideas for reducing procrastination here.

Guest Bloggers Include:

• Duane Aubin
• Regina Baker
• Karen Russo
• Lisa Robbin Young
• Darnyelle Jervey
• Diane Cunningham
• Sarah Robinson
• LaTara Ham-Ying
• Silvia Pencak
• Maruxa Murphy
• Karen Coffey
• Sanyika Calloway Boyce
• Rachel Bellamy
• Katy R. Pent
• Janice Johnson
• Melissa Stewart
• W. Terry Whalin
• Tiffany Johnson
• Deborah Skye King
• D’vorah Lansky
• Teresa Romain
• Sage Lavine
• Carrie Wilkerson
• Kelly Thorne Gore
• And Me

You can read my post here.

I would consider it a personal blessing if you visited, read and commented!

I fell asleep last night thinking about it and I woke up with it on my mind.

What is my Ultimate Purpose?

Of course there are a few obvious statements.  “I’m here to honor God and serve others.”

But the author is challenging me to go deeper and get more specific.  I’m going to be giving it some serious thought and prayer over the next few days and I will come back and share.

I’m curious, what is YOUR Ultimate Purpose?

How would you answer the question?

Why don’t more people hire a life coach?

Life coaching was nearly unheard of ten years ago.  I could count on one hand the number of life coaches I’d seen around and two of them were on Oprah.

I love the idea of life coaching, but I’ve never hired a life coach.  I’ve been the recipient of life coaching in the form of mentoring relationships with great women throughout my life – so I supposed I don’t feel like I ‘need’ to pay for it.  At least I haven’t felt that need so far… I’m only 45 so that could certainly change.

I’m a business coach.  My own business experience and dedication to understanding online marketing makes me a good one.  People hire me because they believe I can help them achieve business goals.

There are many great life coaches who have experience and dedication who can help you make progress towards your life goals.  So why don’t more people hire them?

Your thoughts?

Inspiration for this came from a little book I read last night. “Your Spectacular Mind” came with a birthday card from my aunts last month and I’ve had it on my desk waiting for a good time to enjoy.  I’m so glad I finally made the time because it was a very good read.  (Written by Dave Williams if you want to check it out yourself.)

Halfway through it’s pages I realized I’d been lacking in quality input lately – watching too much television, wasting a bit too much time puttering around news sites, etc.  That’s what led to this goal.  I’m going to focus on reading, watching and listening to only the most positive things I can find.

Have you ever done this?  Do you have any suggestions for positive input?

A couple of great sources I’m turning to are Pandora, where I can choose music that makes my heart smile – and iTunes where I can find podcasts on all kinds of topics I enjoy.  I’m also finding some great positive content in my Netflix streaming movie account.

If you have any great suggestions for me, please do share!