Seven Steps to Beating the “Someday Syndrome”

1. Identify—what are those things you keep putting off until you have more time? First you have to realize that you never really do get around to them! These could be thing that you honestly want to do, or things that you need to do for your health or business. Things you fully intend to do, but now isn’t the right time for whatever reason. (Ex: exercise, create photo albums, call business prospects, organize your office, clean out your closet, volunteer at church, learn to ski, etc.)

2. Evaluate-- Once you’ve identified them, you can look at each one and ask your self the following questions: 

• Do I really want to do this?
• Are there consequences to me not doing this?
• Will my life be enhanced by adding this?
• Will you be satisified and proud if you did this?

3. Notice Your Attitude—One of the things my friend noticed right away about my desire to cook was my attitude. I held a perspective that it takes a long time. She’d say, “Let’s make up some biscuits.” I’d say, “Oh, it’s already 7:00, and we still want to watch a movie…” She pointed out to me that biscuits are simple and fast. So I began to change my perspective of cooking from one of it takes a long time to it’s simple and fast. Since she left I’ve made biscuits several times! I work with clients who think of calling prospects as something they need to block hours off to do. In actuality, it takes just about 2 minutes to make that phone call. Two minutes! Begin to notice what you’ve made up in your head that affects whether you start something or not.

4. Stop Waiting for “Someday”—The perfect time will never come. If you are waiting for other, more important things to be completely finished before you start, you will never start. Or if you are waiting till you actually have the block of time to do the entire thing and complete it, that will never come either. Start now with what you do have. Clean out one drawer—and realize how good that feels! Then you can tackle another one tomorrow. Take a 15-minute walk/run in your neighborhood even if you can’t go to the class for an hour. (If it is a big project that needs a lot of time, then block off time on your calendar now. But most things can be done in smaller chunks.)

5.  Focus On The Good—Really focus on how great it feels to even do one small thing. It can give you a great sense of accomplishment and relief when you take one small step into something you’ve been procrastinating. This will give you the motivation to do more. Acknowledge yoruself and be grateful for hte wonderful things you ahve done and the fantastic people around you

6. Flip The Switch—When your brain wants to go into dread and procrastination, an old habit that you have held for a long time, you need to break the pattern. The minute you notice that old attitude—Stop. Think about how quick or easy or fun or satisfying that last experience was and consciously flip the switch! Say, “No, that’s wrong—it’s really not going to take that much time.” If you keep doing the same things you get the same results so change the way you think and act and life will have to change.

7. Don’t Get Discouraged—Allow yourself time to mess up. If you find you did great for a week of exercise and realize you missed for three days, don’t focus on the missed ones! Instead of wasting energy being disappointed with yourself, go back to flipping the switch and remember how well it worked and how good you felt and move on from there.