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  • - So let's talk about procrastination right now

  • and just have a conversation about what it means.

  • You know, procrastination basically means

  • you are not doing what you know you need to do

  • when you know you need to do it.

  • It's putting things off because in the short term.

  • It's easier, it's more comfortable, it's more certain,

  • it's more pleasureful to be distracted or

  • to indulge yourself doing something else, than it is to sit

  • down and do the actual work to create the outputs

  • that matter when they are needed.

  • And I know that every single one of us procrastinates.

  • Me too, so it's okay.

  • The issue is can you set yourself up so you do less of it?

  • I believe you can.

  • So let's talk about procrastination in this way.

  • Three brain hacks.

  • Number one, simple.

  • You're more likely to do something if you have already

  • prepared and stepped it through.

  • You're already more likely to do something

  • if you already prepared and stepped it through.

  • What does that mean?

  • It means, if you wanna not procrastinate on Monday,

  • Sunday night I want you to sit down

  • and do this simple, little thing.

  • Project Plan.

  • I know it's not sexy, please don't make fun of me right now.

  • It's not sexy, I know it's not sexy,

  • and it will change your life forever.

  • The day before the days in which it's required

  • that you really get stuff done,

  • I want you to sit down and Project Plan.

  • I don't mean tomorrow write down your to-do lists.

  • That is one element of Project Planning.

  • But I want a bigger picture.

  • I want you to be thinking about the big projects

  • that you have coming up.

  • And I want you to have written out,

  • these steps that it's going to take, the big steps,

  • that it'll take to accomplish this project,

  • and this project, and this project, with a timeline

  • for each of 'em and then work backwards

  • from that to create tomorrow's to-do lists.

  • But here's what's funny.

  • If, listen to this.

  • If your mind can't see completion,

  • if your mind cannot see completion,

  • meaning you don't know the path,

  • you don't have clarity on the path

  • to fulfill or complete something.

  • If your mind can't see the steps,

  • your heart will ask to pause.

  • If your mind can't see the project through the completion

  • your heart will ask to pause.

  • Even if you're the most passionate, dream-oriented,

  • amazing, high-performer in the world, but you yank

  • away someone's clarity, you know no goals no growth,

  • no clarity no change.

  • And so you find yourself procrastinating.

  • It might not even, you might be like Brendon,

  • I hate myself.

  • I procrastinate and I even know the

  • next three things I should do.

  • I go, not enough.

  • Knowing your next three steps is not enough.

  • Your mind needs to see all the steps

  • through to completion

  • and that's what we call Project Planning.

  • It's not super fun but it's saying, okay,

  • this is the big project.

  • Here are the big key activities,

  • the big buckets of activities

  • that would have to happen to get it done.

  • Here's a timeline those big buckets have to happen, okay?

  • Then these big buckets of activities,

  • those have to be broken down into tasks,

  • and then into, ultimately, daily to-do's.

  • And if we don't have that, like it's just hard to act

  • when you don't have a complete picture, right?

  • You're kind of like, uh, procrastinating.

  • Let me give you a metaphor.

  • You know they've timed people

  • about how long it takes them to complete a puzzle.

  • So if I show up at your house

  • and I give you a big puzzle box

  • and there's 400 pieces in it,

  • and we set it out on your table.

  • And we watch how long different time periods

  • takes to complete it.

  • You know the fastest, most productive time

  • in which people are putting puzzles together?

  • The last 20%.

  • I mean if you've ever done a puzzle, right?

  • You might walk by it three, four times for a couple weeks,

  • you don't do anything, you put a few pieces together.

  • But soon as the picture becomes a little more clear,

  • guess what you do?

  • You hunker down and you complete it, don't you?

  • That's what's going on with procrastination.

  • Even if you see the first couple pieces,

  • it's just like if you can't see where it's going,

  • your heart will go pause.

  • I'm unsure.

  • I'm scared.

  • I don't know what to do.

  • That's just how we think, right?

  • That part of our brain is trying to protect us.

  • That part of our heart that says I wanna do good,

  • I wanna care for other people

  • and do things with excellence.

  • All of a sudden those are compromised

  • when we don't do the most basic thing.

  • So if there's an important project you've

  • been procrastinating in,

  • do yourself the greatest gift I can give you today.

  • And that is tonight, sit down with your journal

  • and step it all the way out.

  • Even if you have to make it up.

  • Even if you're like,

  • I'm not sure this is actually the big activities.

  • It's not about having the perfect Project Plan,

  • it's having one that is completed

  • with at least the knowledge you know now.

  • Because then you're ready and go, okay,

  • let's get into this and keep making this thing better.

  • But your brain won't get into it

  • if you haven't Project Planned 'em.

  • So this is really important.

  • What I do to avoid procrastination each week,

  • is every single Sunday, for me that's my Sunday review days,

  • Sunday work days, I'll sit down

  • and I'll literally step through the entire week

  • of all the major things on my email, on my to-do list.

  • I'll think about the bigger projects

  • and I'll just kind of step it all the way through.

  • And guess what?

  • I enter the week more engaged, more joyous and confident,

  • cause I know what he heck is going on.

  • So if you keep procrastinating I promise,

  • if it's not lots of worry or it's not, you know,

  • lots of randomness, it's you haven't seen it through yet.

  • Other brain hack.

  • Very related, but a little different and more immediate.

  • And you'll love this one.

  • So number two is this, and it's so basic,

  • but I'm gonna test you

  • and see how often you've been doin' it.

  • And that is visualize.

  • Remember I said you won't do it

  • if your brain can't see it stepped through?

  • Well here specifically

  • what I do to make sure I don't procrastinate.

  • I literally visualize and affirm what I'm about to go do.

  • So if it's Sunday and I'd say, okay,

  • you know tomorrow in the afternoon,

  • I've got all these things, I can procrastinate

  • because I'm the only one holding myself accountable.

  • And could say well, you know what um, let's see here.

  • How would I avoid that?

  • I will sit down

  • and I'll do this twenty, thirty minutes a day,

  • visualizing the next day.

  • Of that morning I'll sit down and visualize the day.

  • And I'll just step it through, Ill say, okay.

  • Let me see myself going into the kitchen,

  • gettin' my little green tea, going over to the office,

  • sittin' down at the computer, opening up that blank page,

  • happily typing along, sensing

  • and feeling those great emotions

  • of doing my calling as a writer.

  • Let me feel the power and the joy

  • of finishing a great day of writing.

  • Let me imagine myself goin' to dinner,

  • gettin' to sit down with my wife and saying,

  • honey, here's what I did today.

  • I wrote this part of the book.

  • Let me hear, see, and feel that interaction

  • with her happiness and her joy that I'm doing my path.

  • Le me imagine myself going to bed that night

  • happy, that you know what?

  • I did what I'm here to do.

  • Now I don't know what your calling is

  • or what you feel like you should be doing,

  • but for me that simple, little activity

  • of just literally walking the entire day through.

  • Not just one thing.

  • I do this with mega athletes all the time.

  • I say listen, I don't want you to just imagine the fight.

  • I want you to visualize yourself

  • on the way over to the arena.

  • I want you see visualize yourself getting laced up.

  • I want you to visualize yourself

  • on the walk down to the ring,

  • entering the ring,

  • your first feelings walking around the ring.

  • The sense that you will have as you are in that fight.

  • That sense that you have

  • when you're gettin' beaten in that fight

  • and how you're gonna feel and respond to that.

  • Because visualization is not just happy-go-lucky.

  • It's also like, okay, see yourself,

  • what do you do when there's a struggle?

  • So for me, okay, what do I do when I get writer's block?

  • How does the Brendon dealing

  • with writer's block deal with that?

  • And I'll see it, I'll imagine myself gettin' back at it,

  • and I'll see it through.

  • How's it feel when you win?

  • How's it feel after the win?

  • How's it feel at the end of the day?

  • How's it feel when you finally lay your head

  • onto your pillow and go to bed?

  • That is a full-day visualization

  • on the things that matter the most for your productivity.

  • And I want you to do that

  • at least either the night before,

  • or the day of, the morning of.

  • And what will happen, these two things together is.

  • I know you might say Brendon that's so basic,

  • but okay, did you do it last night?

  • Because I've found as a high-performance coach,

  • sometimes it is not the big, crazy things.

  • It's that people aren't doin' the fundamentals.

  • And they want me, Brendon, change my life.

  • I go, okay, let's change your life.

  • Let's be accountable.

  • Did you do these things last night?

  • So don't tell me it's too basic.

  • This is me challenging and being honest.

  • Did you do these two things last night?

  • If you did give yourself a shout out

  • down below and celebrate yourself.

  • Good for you.

  • If you're not doing this consistently

  • that is why you are consistently procrastinating my friend.

  • I know sometimes life change can be so basic

  • and you go, duh!

  • Why haven't I been doing that?

  • But those ones are rally important as a coach

  • for me to call out for ya because I know a lot of people

  • who could be so much more effective

  • if they got back to the fundamentals.

  • Let me show you this last one with you.

  • So first brain hack, Project Plan day before.

  • Step it all the way through.

  • Day before or the morning of,

  • visualize the entire process of the day

  • and you doing it well, even if you meet uncertainty, fear,

  • struggle, hardship.

  • And the last piece is, the other brain hack, don't forget.

  • That not only do we need order,

  • not only do we need the creatively and the visualization,

  • we're also social animals.

  • So I want you socialize your agenda with other people.

  • Socialize your agenda with other people.

  • What does that mean?

  • Well, it's just the same, you know,

  • at this time of year a lot of people

  • are tryin' to loose some weight, or tryin' to go to the gym.

  • And what's the first advice

  • everyone always gives them

  • because it's proven by science to work

  • over and over and over again?

  • Get a workout buddy.

  • Because if you got a workout buddy, you'll show up.

  • It's harder to procrastinate

  • when your name, your integrity,

  • your relationships, are on the line.

  • And so you need to tell people about what you have to do.

  • You'd probably be annoyed hanging out with me

  • cause like if we went out to dinner,

  • I'd probably tell ya like ten things I'm gonna do tomorrow.

  • And I'm not tellin' ya that

  • because I love to talk about work.

  • I know if I speak it, it will become more real the next day.

  • If I don't affirm it and share it with other people

  • and it's just in my head,

  • I'm just not gonna be as productive.

  • And I do know without question,

  • this is a big issue for a lot a people.

  • They're stay-at-home moms.

  • They're work-from-home entrepreneurs.

  • They're you know, the senior leader

  • in their company who does a lot of status things

  • but they don't themselves

  • get to talk through a lot of things.

  • And I can't tell you how important it is

  • to speak through the reality that you want, right?

  • These things you could certainly do on your own

  • but if you shared these thing with other people

  • and you socialize that agenda,

  • all of a sudden you won't procrastinate

  • because you know that you've out it out there.

  • Other people are gonna hold you accountable.

  • Or even just more.

  • Sometimes talking something through

  • makes you wanna do it more.

  • Literally they found in psychological studies,

  • just speaking out your goals

  • makes it more likely you will take consistent action

  • on those goals.

  • You're literally just speaking it.

  • And they've even done it where they took out other people.

  • They just made someone stand in a booth with a microphone

  • and speak out what they were going to do.

  • They were more likely to do that

  • than if they just kept it in their head

  • and didn't speak it.

  • So if like, Brendon, I got nobody who believes my dreams.

  • I'm like, well I bet you have a friend

  • and you could FaceTime them or Skype them

  • and talk through it.

  • It is so important for you to speak through your dreams

  • than you can probably ever imagine.

  • And a lot of people keep that stuff

  • to themselves because what?

  • They're worried how they look.

  • So now, imagine all these things colliding on the opposite?

  • You're worried how you look

  • so you don't tell anybody,

  • so you're not socially accountable,

  • and you have no social cheerleading.

  • You're worried what other people will think,

  • so in your brain you go,

  • well if other people are gonna think I'm crazy

  • why even do this?

  • I mean that's a risk so I might look stupid if I do.

  • So now your brain goes,

  • well why even imagine this for yourself anymore?

  • Then your brain says well if you can't imagine it

  • for yourself anymore, why would you even plan it?

  • And if you can't imagine it you can't plan it

  • and other people might think you're stupid.

  • Why don't you go find something else to do like Netflix

  • or shopping or hanging out or indulging yourself

  • in some other hobbies that aren't relevant

  • to what you're trying to do, a.k.a., let's procrastinate.

  • Because we're worried.

  • You see how these tie together?

  • So the brain hacks are to set yourself up

  • so that you have more confidence and routine

  • and structure going in.

  • These are the three ways as a recap.

  • Project Plan.

  • Night before, week before, day of, I don't care.

  • But if you can do it the day before it sets it mentally

  • in your brain and you have a little more confidence in it.

  • Definitely visualize night before or day of all the time.

  • And then last piece is socialize it.

  • You've got to start sharing your thoughts,

  • your dreams, your agenda, what you're gonna do

  • with other people.

  • And if you do those three things your brain

  • will be more optimized and more likely to get in the game

  • and get stuff done.

  • (upbeat music)

- So let's talk about procrastination right now

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