Category Archives: Just Start

Fear of Success

Fear of Success

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Many people talk about the fear of failure, but very few people talk about the fear of success. Many people don’t even realize it’s possible to have a fear of success because of the very image the word “success” evokes. You want to be successful, right? So what is there to be fearful of if you do hit that jackpot?

The biggest and most deeply seated issue people have with success is change. You’re comfortable where you are right now. Even if you have problems and struggles, it’s what you’re used to. It’s a lot of fun to dream, but when it comes down to it, you’re never sure you can or even that you’re supposed to truly have success.

Also, those around you might not be encouraging or supportive of your dreams because they’re afraid that you’ll change (which of course you will), because then you might not have as much interest in activities that you’ve shared with them anymore. They might even believe that your dreams will come crashing down on you and hurt you, and they don’t want to see that happen to you. They’re comfortable in the status quo, and you want to rise above that, so sometimes you have to make some tough decisions, which is why you might have this fear of success.

Do you have a fear of success? Again, many people don’t realize they do so this isn’t something you’ll want to immediately dismiss. Do you tend to self-sabotage as soon as you see some success? If you do that, and if you fail to reach for the stars in any way, then you probably do have this type of fear. It’s important that you start to notice these patterns in yourself.

So, how do you get over this? Believe it or not, the fear of success can hold you back as much as or even more than the fear of failure. When you’re dealing with both of them, it’s easy to see why you’re stagnant in your business.

It’s time to let yourself continue to dream, but in a way that has you assuming what is possible and what you can actually bring to life. It might be that incremental changes in the right direction is what you need. Instead of dreaming about releasing 30 kilos of excess weight, focus on the one half or 1 kilo a week at first. Yes, it will take you 30 weeks or more to finally become that much healthier, but will 1. Succeed at it and 2. Significantly increase your chances of keep it off!

Fill your mind with positive success stories of those who’ve come from a similar place to where you are right now. Absorb their mindset and strategies. The more you fill your mind with their successes and the possibilities of your own success, the less “out there” it will seem that you can achieve.

When you’re ready for more success, the sky is the limit. You have to get to the point where you won’t self-sabotage and where you truly believe you can have and that you deserve to have positive, sustained life change.

Focus

Here are 10 More Great Ways to Focus on One Thing at a Time

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  1. Treat a task as an opportunity to excel and not as a burden. If you keep complaining about your work, you will not be able to focus, and eventually you will give up and the rest of the work for others to finish.
  2. Meditate! This helps you concentrate on things more and develop a calmer approach when it comes to dealing with a difficult task. This will improve your concentration “muscles” and will replenish your mind with the right attitude and drive to work harder.
  3. Breathe before your start your work. Breathe calmly and properly – this will encourage your mind to relax and take things one stride at a time. If you come to think of it, breathing becomes forceful, shallow and fast if you feel rushed and if you lack concentration.
  4. Create a normal and steady flow of things. This means that you need to plan and follow your plans by the book. This will keep you from stirring away from what you need to do, thus making your work effectively and efficiently.
  5. Get plenty of sleep. If your body is well rested, so will your mind be. A well rested mind and body leads to a better attitude towards work. Lack of sleep can make you impatient and in a hurry to finish things which will lead to poor quality of work.
  6. Learn how to wait. Take your time and understand that not all things can be done in a snap. Results can or may take time to reflect, so you have to make sure that you wait it out as patiently as possible. Anticipating results is can also keep you from concentrating on what you really have to do.
  7. De-clutter your surroundings. It is not just your mind that you need to organize. You also need a more organized work place – imagine trying to get things done but you keep getting held back by the clutter in your office. A clean work area can help you focus on your work more.
  8. Find a buddy who can help you get back into focus every time you get distracted. Distractions are unavoidable at times, and it would be best to have someone to keep you in synch with your goals. Find a member of your team that you can really trust.
  9. Read your emails before you start your work. If you do this right in the middle of your work, you will obviously get distracted. The lack of focus will deter you from completing even a single task.
  10. Do not be scared to handle one task. Do you know the reason why people handle too many things at the same time? Aside from the fact that multi tasking can help show how productive a person is, it’s also because some people are scared of failing altogether. But you know, if you handle and focus on just one task, it will help you do your best and your undivided attention can almost guarantee that your chances of succeeding will be extremely high.

Finding your focus is never easy, that is if you do not have the right attitude and mindset. However, if you put your mind to it, you will be able to completely focus on the important things first before jumping on to the next one.

Costs of Procrastination

Procrastination Comes with a Cost

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Be honest – are you one of those people who puts things off? It’s ok – we all do it. It’s human nature. “Why do something today when you can do it tomorrow,” or so the saying goes. But procrastination (to give it it’s “proper” name) can cost us more than we can imagine.

Why do we procrastinate? In general, we procrastinate because the task we are putting off is unpleasant in some way. Either we don’t like doing it (like making that phone call…), or there is some physical discomfort (like going to the dentist). The task may even be boring and monotonous, or just plain difficult. Its about avoiding some sort of stress, be it fear, anxiety, low self-confidence and the like.

But the effects of procrastination, the costs, can run deeper than just not doing the task. Other problems it may cause are:

Being branded as lazy: When people notice that you haven’t completed particular tasks, you can be branded as a lazy person. Not only can this affect your job or personal life (promotions and the like), but it may mean the tasks you really want to do are offered to someone else who is considered more reliable!

Creates clutter: Many unfinished tasks can leave a lot of clutter around – books, papers or other items that are needed to perform the job.

Bad for morale: There is nothing worse than knowing you have a job you need to do, and knowing at the end of the day that the job wasn’t done. It can make you feel down, and even preoccupy your mind while you’re trying to concentrate on other things.

You have no leeway: When you put something off, jobs accumulate. This means if an urgent task suddenly comes in, you have no leeway to drop everything and work on it – there are too many other outstanding things that need doing.

The task becomes more unpleasant: The job itself may not change by putting it off, but the feeling in our mind of how unpleasant we think the job will be grows. We think about how we have to explain not doing the job to other people, and the whole situation feeds on itself and becomes ugly.

Now to be fair, sometimes procrastinating isn’t a conscious action. Particular jobs just never seem to get done, even though you never consciously decided not to do them. But at other times you do make the decision not to do the job at the moment, and just put it off.

But you can save yourself a lot of mental clutter, and perhaps even more discomfort later on, if you just adopt a “do it now” attitude. Decide that you’re just going to get the job out of the way when it comes it, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. By doing the job straight away, often you will realize that the discomfort you associated with the task was simply your mind feeding on itself as you were putting it off. And the sense of relief you get from finishing the task is well worth it.

So, now you know about procrastination you have to ask yourself the question – “what am I going to do about it?” Hopefully you will decide to banish procrastination from your life, and reap the rewards of that decision!

Win

Simple Steps To Beat Procrastination

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One of the better means that can be employed to beat procrastination is being aware of how to manage time in the best and most effective manner and though procrastination is a very common occurrence in our lives, there is still a need to overcome procrastination so that many of the adverse consequences of procrastinating do not end up spoiling your life. Thus, any help you can get cure your procrastination would be welcome and so there is a need to look at some of these steps that can do the trick for you.

A very simple step you can take in order to beat procrastination is to do the task that you consider is the worst at the top of all your other tasks. The advantage of taking this option is that much like swallowing a frog, once you get that into your system the rest of the tasks will pass off much better and will be easier to do. A second step that you can take if you want to cure procrastination is to break down tasks into easily manageable smaller tasks, Remember, the best way to climb a mountain is to take one step at a time. The wisdom of breaking down tasks into smaller tasks will make more sense to you and thus prove an effective remedy to procrastination.

Those putting off exceptionally difficult tasks can learn how to overcome procrastination by thinking of the task in small pieces rather than a large problem. Think back to other projects that were completed and relate them to the existing one. To help learn how to overcome procrastination avoid planning long projects, start with ones that can be done in five or ten minutes and do not stop until the either the time expires of the job is complete. Either way it will be a positive step in the right direction.
You can also beat procrastination by delegating work to others including friends, and once you get a task begun, the rest of the task becomes easier to perform and in the same vein you can also try and do parts of a particular task that is more pleasing to do first and then do the rest of the task later. That way, the unpleasant tasks don’t seem so unpleasant and you will have taken a step forward which often is the hardest part about doing your work on time.

Another useful method that can be employed at conquering procrastination is taking just fifteen minutes on every task that needs to be performed in which time you can get the task moved ahead and then a momentum can be built that will make the rest of the task easier to complete. Other steps that you can take to beat procrastination include tracking your goals and trying your best to keep the tasks moving ahead, and best of all you should have a system of reward and punishment for tasks completed on time and those have remained unfinished respectively. The best part of procrastination is that it is something that is not permanent and though you may be successful, procrastination can still affect you, and remember that with some of these simple tips, you can easily beat procrastination.

Writers Block

Painlessly Overcome Procrastination, Foot-dragging And Writer’s Block

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When procrastination nags at you, you need some way to convince yourself to get moving right now. Try these five steps when you’re delaying on a consequential project:

1. Articulate what exactly you are doing or not doing, in place of the label “procrastination.”

Example: I just can’t get started. Or: I keep quitting halfway.

The all-purpose label “procrastination” isn’t as illuminating as a more specific description of your problem.
Get the medicine for writer’s block that gets you writing quickly, easily, consistently and well, and that you’ll enjoy “taking” again and again.

2. Ask yourself, “What could I possibly be afraid of here?”

Perhaps: Fear of talking with strangers; Fear of ridicule; Not knowing what you’ll do once you finish.
Unacknowledged fears are the #1 cause of continually postponed projects. Just naming the fear often enables you to ignore or overcome it.

3. Ask yourself, “Do I really, wholeheartedly want to get this thing done?”

Choices: Yes; No; or Maybe.

Ambivalence is the second major cause of procrastination. If you resent having to do something, or aren’t sure its the best course of action, recognizing hesitations allows you to make a deliberate choice of whether or not to go ahead.

4. Brainstorm ways to get the task done that would be fun for you.

For instance: Invite friends over for a most-hated-task party; do your exercise walking at a favorite place; turn music on and dance while cleaning up.

Who said your task has to be unpleasant? With a little imagination, you can re-engineer it so you’ll have more enjoyment getting it done.

5. Take some step immediately toward completion every time you find yourself thinking about the task you have the problem with.

Do something small right now! Make a phone call; collect your tax records; find the supplies you need.

By taking advantage of the energy of the moment, you make progress.