How To Stop And Overcome Procrastination

There are various reasons as to why people procrastinate… lack of confidence, fear of failing, low self-esteem, lack of focus, lack of skills or just simply plain lazy. Whatever the reason is, it’s got to be stopped otherwise you will always feel regretful. You will also feel that your life is very disorganized and scattered. Nothing important seems to get done and you will feel that you have no goal in life. Procrastination can ruin your life.

Let’s look at some of the most common reasons people procrastinate and tips that can help you overcome procrastination.

Lack of Confidence

Well, lack of confidence is normally due to lack of knowledge and skills to do something. The only solution to overcome this is to learn and build confidence. Lack of confidence is like a table without the legs. In order to be stable, a table needs to have four legs. Similarly, to have confidence, you need knowledge. This is easy to achieve as long as you are willing to start learning.

Fear of Failure

This is normal as most people are risk averse. People don’t like to take risk and experience changes in their life. Most people prefer to be in a comfort zone. However, in today fast-changing world, the comfort zone is actually the danger zone. Most successful people take calculated risk, it is the only way to get ahead in life. Of course, any risk - no matter how calculated it is - comes a chance of failure. But successful people are not afraid of failure, they understand that failure is part of success. They learn from their failure and then they gather energy to multiply their success.

Lack of Focus

We all know that success needs motivation and hard works… but more importantly it needs you to be laser focused! In order to accomplish something great, you need to put your mind to success. If you don’t put your mind to it, no matter how hard you work or how motivated you are, without focus, you will always feel that you are wandering around and missing out the goals. So, you must set goals, plan and focus on those activities that will move you closer to your goals. That’s the only way you can overcome procrastination and start edging towards your goals.

Lack of Self Esteem and Motivation

Lack of self-esteem prevents you from completing the easiest task. Why? Either because you do not feel you are worthy of the challenge, or because you feel you are not good enough to complete it. Motivation is a good place to begin. Start with an easy task first; then gradually work your way up to full completion. Your confidence will build; you will feel more positive about what you can accomplish, and you will be less likely to avoid the next task at hand.

Last but not least, if you procrastinate because you are simply plain lazy then I have three words for you… “don’t be lazy!”. If you’re lazy, nobody can really help you except yourself. Another good way to deal with laziness is to associate yourself with other people who are not lazy. Hopefully they can help influence and perk you up.

Work From Home Advice For Newbies - Important Self Evaluation Tips And Soul-Searching Questions To Consider.

Many people are interested to work at home and earn money these days. However, before you start evaluating a home business opportunity (especially if you are a newbie), start by EVALUATING YOURSELF first! Do some soul-searching and find out what you really want for your life. Earning money working at home is not as easy as it sounds. There are many challenges that could make it more difficult than having a day job.

Self evaluation to understand your strengths and weaknesses is the first step in deciding a work from home opportunity. This is because most self-employed or home business owners failed because they are lack of focus and self-discipline; NOT because the opportunity isn’t good enough.

Below are some self evaluation tips and soul-searching questions that you need to consider carefully before deciding to quit your day job and work for yourself… especially if you are a newbie and have never ventured in any home business opportunity before.

1. Are you a self-motivated type of person? Self-motivation is definitely a very important ingredient as you must be able to motivate yourself to work without anyone telling you to. When you’re your own boss, there can be myriad of things that can get in your way. If you’re not self-motivated, you will always find yourself putting off doing the works you’re supposed to do. And at the end of the day, you will feel that you’ve accomplished nothing and feel very guilty. This can make you feel very depressed and lead you into a stressful life!

So if you are not a self-motivated kind of individual, earning money working from home is a NO-NO for you.

2. Understand that there is NO “instant gratification” when it comes to doing business at home. You won’t get a constant paycheck at the end of every month like you normally have in your day job. You can become very discouraged very fast when you realize that there are large amount of works (with small rewards) you need to do initially. Of course, it is possible to earn good money with a home business but, you need to remember that it will take hard work, time and persistence to achieve success.

So in the beginning, you must be willing to accept hard works with little rewards. Building a home business is like an investment… firstly, you need to know where to invest your money and secondly you need to be patient to allow your investment to grow over time. Similarly, when building your own personal business, you need to invest your time heavily on activities that will bring in sales and revenues. And you need to continually do it over and over again until you achieve success.

3. Can you set goals and stick to them? Setting goals is important in any business, if you don’t set goals, you won’t be able to stay focused. So if you feel that you don’t have the goal-setting skill, you will need to brush up on this area first before jumping in and wasting your time evaluating any home business opportunity.

4. Are you treating it as a business or a hobby? If you treat your business like a hobby, you’re likely to be disappointed with the results! Unlike a hobby, a business needs to be worked at seriously and professionally. A business cannot allow any personal thing to get into its way. I’m sure you’ve heard this popular phrase: “It’s not personal, it’s business!”.

5. Are you financially responsible? This quality is important for any business owner. When you’re your own boss, you’re a finance manager. You’re responsible in managing and controlling your business budget. For example, when you start making some money, you need to be able to invest and spend the money wisely. Often times, you will want to put that money back into your business to help it grow and expand further.

These are just few things you need to consider carefully before you start telling yourself that you want to quit your day job and start earning money from home on your own. Make sure you really know what you want to achieve in your life. What is your personal mission in life? Ask yourself some soul-searching questions and answer them honestly.

So, take the time to do self-evaluation and soul-searching first before making a final decision to quit your day job and work from home. Hope this article is useful for you.

Tips For Overcoming Stress, Anxiety And Panic Attacks

We are all living in a very hectic world these days; it feels like the time is ticking away faster and faster. Works and family responsibilities are overwhelming us at times. Hence, it’s no surprise that stress and anxiety creep in our lives. Nobody could eliminate stress completely; what we could do however, is learn to control and manage stress before it takes control of our lives.

Stress and anxiety are the major cause of panic attacks. If not dealt with, it can have a devastating effect on our life. Especially for people with A-type personalities, the perfectionism they seek in everything they do never quite measures up to their expectations. Please understand that no one is perfect; humans are all imperfect living in an imperfect world. Don’t stress it out and make yourself crazy, just take it all in your stride.

There are many different ways to deal with stress; just some simple exercises can help stop the onslaught of stress. For example, just focus on breathing properly can take away the anxiety from your mind and bring you back to a calm state. Anytime when you feel stress, put your left hand on your stomach and start to breathe deeply and slowly; you should feel that your stomach expands when you breathe in air; that’s the right way to breathe.

Going outside for some fresh air can also help. Walking or running for 20 minutes can release endorphins which help relieve stress. Listening to classical music also helps as it lowers the blood pressure, and brings calm within.

Sometimes, however, stress reveals itself in other ways. Fear, feelings of presssure, inability to focus and palpitations; all these are symptoms of stress that can lead to anxiety, panic attacks, and the fright or flight syndrome.

For example, you are fearful when speaking in front of a group of people; anxious when a plane’s taking off; nervous during your wedding day, etc. There is really no absolute cure for fear and anxiety. To overcome it, you will have to face your fear; admit that you are fearful, seek to understand it, and do the right thing anyway. Develop faith that you will eventually conquer your fear and anxiety.

If stress is getting you down, examine the cause. Determine the origin, talk to a friend or discuss it with a professional or a loved one. Stress, if not acted upon, can cause serious health problems. Learn to live and cope with it at all costs, if you can.

Remember that there is no such thing as “stress-free” life as stress is always around us; unless of course if we are already dead. As long as we are still breathing, we’re susceptible to stress and anxiety. What we can do however, is to develop a “stress-proof” life. There are many successful self-help techniques you can learn to stop anxiety and panic attacks on its track.