Have you ever said that you are going to do something, wrote it down in our to-do list, but then despite all of your good intentions, somehow you didn’t do it?

These uncompleted tasks suck our energy, make us feel guilty and don’t let us relax for one second, and yet we continue to postpone them!

Why do we do it?

Psychologists say that it is because we are genetically coded to be “avoidance machines”! We are hard wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. And when I say pain, I actually mean any task that: a) sounds boring or not urgent, b) requires certain amount of effort, c) doesn’t inspire or motivate us. 80% of the tasks fall under all three categories.
As it turns out the most effective way to avoid procrastination is NOT applying inhuman mental effort and force yourself into doing something. Nor it is waiting till the last moment when the task appears into “Urgent! Must be done today! Seriously, it can’t wait!” category and then complete it in 15 minutes. The smartest and easiest way to overcome procrastination is use your weaknesses to your own benefit.

How to make procrastination work for you?

Usual motivational techniques teach you to think of all the benefits that you will achieve after completing the task. This method does work, but for most of us promise of future reward is not nearly as stimulating as a threat of punishment.
Professional self-help coaches know about it and are actively using this information to “motivate” their clients into following through with their goals.

What they do is ask their clients Three Little Questions:

1. The first question is about your goal. You are asked to state what it is that you would like to achieve and figure out step-by-step plan of how you can do it.

2. The second question sounds somewhat strange, “Can I hold you accountable for this goal?”  At this point your mind goes, “Hold on a minute…accountable? Me?!” and you start to suspect that it is not going to be pretty, but you summon up your courage and say, “sure! You can hold me accountable!”

(more…)

I have a dark secret that I have never shared with anyone. I am not a picture perfect woman! I suck at cooking. It does not help that everyone else in my family (including my best friends) love to cook, while my two “gourmet specialties” have always been spaghetti and French toast.

For someone, who teaches others that human potential is limitless I could not just accept this failure.

Yesterday I decided to make Zucchini Curried Cream Soup and try the new blender that I bought just a few weeks ago. This was the first time in my life that I have used a blender for something other than making cocktails.

I discovered that you should not try to blend something that is still hot. As soon as I pressed the “start” button, the steam burnt my hand and I let go of the lid. Big Mistake! Half a second later me and my whole kitchen (including closets, shelves with clean dishes, and even the walls) was covered with a dark yellow liquid that was leaving dark marks as it slowly dripped down.

I felt like crying.  I probably would have, if I was not so angry. Soup preparation time – 20 minutes. Kitchen cleaning – an hour and a half! I was really close to accepting defeat and never setting foot in the kitchen again (this seemed like a good idea, especially after what had just happened there).

I called my mom to share my distress with her, but instead of showing any compassion she kept on laughing. And that is when it hit me – even tiny failures can seem like the end of the world if taken too seriously!

The best way for me to overcome my mistakes and keep my spirits high is to look at them as something that I can later laugh at.

What do you do when you fail at little things that you are “supposed” to be good at? What helps you to stay on track? (more…)