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Bootcamp: Day Five – How to finally stop procrastinating

Hey,

The subject line for this email is a bit misleading, because I
actually think procrastination isn’t that important.

We’re all going to procrastinate. Your goal should be to make
procrastination irrelevant. If procrastination isn’t a necessary
psychological component of how you work, then you can get a lot
more done without the stress.

What do I mean by that, “necessary psychological component”?

Well I’d like to argue that most people procrastinate have a strong,
unconscious reason for procrastinating. If you remove that
underlying driver, you get rid of a lot of procrastinating.

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Why You Procrastinate

As I spoke about briefly in the video yesterday, most students
procrastinate because that’s part of their SYSTEM for working. They
may not realize it yet, but procrastination is built into the
system they use for getting work done.

The reason many students procrastinate is that it forms a brake
against overworking. That is, when they start to feel overwhelmed
by the task ahead of them, the body naturally brakes their momentum
to save energy.

Eventually guilt and pressure override this internal brake, but it
operates nonetheless.

Think of it like a car that tries to conserve fuel by putting its
brakes on all the time. Eventually you might be able to push the
accelerator hard enough to snap out of it, but in the meantime you
spin your wheels.

—

How to Make Procrastination Irrelevant

You can cut out a lot of procrastination simply by regaining control
over your own internal brakes.

The reason most people have this internal, emotional braking system
is that they don’t develop an external, rational braking system.

Most students feel it is their duty to be working as much as
possible. Any breaks or procrastination are decided upon
emotionally–i.e. when you’re too tired to work more.

The problem is that when you rely on this highly emotional braking
process, you don’t control it. Sometimes it saves you from burnout,
other times it causes you to waste hours before starting work that
urgently needs to be done.

—

Gaining Control of Your Brakes

The best way I know to gain control over your brakes is to have a
productivity system that doesn’t just tell you what to work on, it
tells you when to *stop*.

Unfortunately, most productivity systems don’t do that. To-do lists
are infinite, GTD obsesses you with next actions, and schedules are
better, but they can fail if you don’t actually finish your work in
the designated time period.

One of the reasons I highly recommend Weekly/Daily Goals is that it
provides such a braking device. Once you finish your daily goals,
you aren’t allowed to work anymore.

I cut a huge amount of procrastination out of my schedule when
switching to the system because I didn’t have to rely on my emotions
to tell me when to stop working.

It the difference between sprinting a 400 meter race and being told
to sprint until you get tired. Not only are you more efficient in
the first situation, you don’t feel as exhausted afterwards.

—

Creating a System to Reduce Procrastination

First, if you haven’t already watch the second video module click\
below. It’s only 5 minutes, but if you don’t have time, there’s also
a PDF transcript:

http://bit.ly/hVKIkg

Second, get your Weekly/Daily Goals system set up. This doesn’t need
to be complicated. All you need to do is:

1. Write out a list of daily goals for tomorrow
2. Write out a list of weekly goals for this week
3. Each night, write a new daily goals list
4. Each Sunday, write out a new weekly goals list

—

Permanently Cutting Procrastination from Your Life

One of my realizations in making Learning on Steroids is that MOST
people don’t follow through on advice.

You can get someone to completely agree with you on what the best
course of action is, tell them exactly how to accomplish it and give
the best written explanation… and still nothing.

Some people will start with an idea, but give up shortly after.

What matters isn’t just having great ideas (although that counts)
it’s IMPLEMENTING those ideas. Actually taking action and making the
ideas a *permanent* part of your life.

—

That’s how Learning on Steroids can help. Not only are there dozens
of new tactics and in-depth strategies I haven’t covered in this
bootcamp, but there’s a system for IMPLEMENTING the advice to make
it stick.

Each week I send out new ass-kicking emails designed to give you
one more way you can solidify the tactics in your life. The weekly
format makes sure you don’t get started with the ideas and forget.

Next, when we start the program on Monday, I will run group
challenges in the forums. So not only do you get access to coaching
and exclusive content, but you get to work with hundreds of other
people on the same types of problems.

—

Learning on Steroids will be reopening in just two days, but because
the program will begin on Monday, I can only hold open registration
for 72 hours and for a maximum of 500 students.

The price is student-friendly, and there’s a 60-day money-back
guarantee, so I take on 100% of the risk if you don’t like it.

I know that some of you are still on the fence about Learning on
Steroids. Here’s my request for you: hit REPLY and tell me the #1
thing holding you back from joining on Thursday.

I’m not into giving the hard sell, but I do want to make my program
and all the free content I give away even more valuable for you.

If you have read this far and still aren’t sure, please hit REPLY
and give me the #1 reason holding you back.

—

Stay tuned, tomorrow is the last day of the bootcamp, and I’ll be
offering more advice for learning faster and becoming insanely
productive.