Goals play a big part in how we achieve some of the most important accomplishments in our lives and careers. Goals are what drive us towards successful outcomes.
Sadly not everyone is relentless in the pursuit of their goals and many people are slowed down or derailed by procrastination. People can come up with the smallest things to sidetrack them or some massive barriers, they all get in the way of going after what they want and as a result, people become frustrated and give up.
Procrastination is the enemy of the goals in that it keeps people from stating in focused action. There are countless ways to procrastinate and interrupt the momentum to move forward towards our goals.
More often than not, people go into procrastination on autopilot and rarely have the wherewith all to pull themselves out of it until they have wasted a significant amount of time. Procrastination eats time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The aim of procrastination is to self-sabotage and keep people from working on and achieving their goals. Discipline takes a lot to overcome and does not come easily to many people.
Most people are unaware of the ways in which they procrastinate and in fact, they come out of bouts of procrastination like waking up from a long sleep. The time that has been lost while they were in their procrastination space, cannot be reclaimed. And time is a valuable resource needed to achieve a goal.
During the end of the year, many people are scrambling to meet their goals. Sadly, there are more distractions during this time of the year that lead to extended periods of procrastination. Doing the work to stay focused is really hard when the holiday season takes up so much of our thoughts. Those thoughts can lead to checking out and not working towards achieving our goals.
In my experience motivation overrides procrastination. When I am able to find my motivation in establishing and working towards a goal, I am more likely to avoid the pitfalls and challenges of procrastination.
For example, when I am motivated to achieve a goal that I have set for myself with something regarding on the other side, I am more likely to stick with it. My source of motivation can enable me to avoid falling into the distractions that lead to delays in my working on the steps to create successful outcomes.
For many of us, the motivation that we work from might be making the world a better place, making a difference in the lives of those around us, or growing as a person to be more kind in our interactions with other people. Digging deep and finding the source of our motivation can make the difference between achieving success with our goals or succumbing to failure. The decision is always outs to make for ourselves.
When motivation overrides procrastination people are more likely to find the energy and drive to get in and stay in focused action. The actions that they take are all working toward achieving the goal. The distractions become less seductive when they know that reaching the goals has a much higher value and benefit in their lives.
Staying in focused action requires discipline and dedication which people who are easily distracted might lack. The ways in which people can overcome distractions and procrastination might be augmented by having an accountability partner. A person who is willing to hold someone to their commitment to themselves about meeting a goal. The accountability partner might be a friend, colleague, coach, or mentor and could involve investment or not. Be mindful of your willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve that personal or professional goal.
The accountability partner is the training wheels that many people need to stay upright and move in the direction of achieving their goals. Without guidance and support, many people might fail too many times and eventually give up on their goal or worse yet, a dream.
The chances of achieving the goal are increased substantially with the support and guidance of an accountability partner.
Did you achieve all of your 2020 goals or resolutions? If not, have you reflected on what you might do differently in 2021 to increase your chances of reaching your goals? What role does procrastination play in not meeting your goals?
Are you ready to set your 2021 goals? Are you proactively setting yourself up for success or heading in the direction of failure? What role do your feelings play in working towards your goals?
What if you created a baseline of your successes in achieving your goals for the past 1-2 years and realized that your rate of reaching them on your own was lower than you were willing to accept? Would you repeat the same mistakes in the new year or would you do something differently? How important is reaching your goals to you, in reality?
Not only will the accountability partner support you along the way in working towards your goals, but they will also be there to celebrate with you on your successful outcomes!!!
Celebrating your successes might just be the motivation that you need to override procrastination.
After a year like 2020, it seems highly likely that many people will be focused on making some new goals for 2021 that are more are driven by motivation and focused on avoiding procrastination.
How will you set yourself up for successfully achieving your goals in 2021, with or without a set of training wheels?
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This post has been republished on Medium.
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