One of the workshops I run is on how to overcome procrastination. Procrastination is the habit of putting things off to the last possible minute. Some of the causes are: stress, overwhelm, laziness, lack of motivation, lack of discipline, perfectionism. However, its root cause is indecision.
Procrastination is one of the number one reasons we don’t get ahead in life, because it keeps us in our comfort zone, it keeps us making excuses for living a less than satisfactory life.
To truly overcome procrastination requires that we become skilled at decision-making. One of the books I recommend to participants is Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”, where chapter 8 is devoted to this topic. Here is a short extract which highlights this point:
PROCRASTINATION, the opposite of DECISION, is a common enemy which practically every man must conquer.
You will have an opportunity to test your capacity to reach quick and definite DECISIONS when you finish reading this book, and are ready to begin putting into ACTION the principles which it describes.
Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of REACHING DECISIONS PROMPTLY, and of changing these decisions SLOWLY, if, and when they were changed. People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, IF AT ALL, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.
Recommended reading: Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”