How to Overcome Procrastination

Procrastination… AKA dithering, dilly-dallying, dawdling, idling, loafing etc

Are you a procrastinator? You know what I mean. Always putting things off to another day because now is not just the right time? You know who you are!

I meet with potential investors every day and learn from them what they want to achieve both financially and personally. I have come to the conclusion that 90% of people never achieve anything that they would like in life because they are procrastinators.

Making money through property is not an incredibly hard thing to do. Get a little bit of coaching so you understand how the market works and so that you have a grasp of the tax system, buy a property and hold on to it for the long term. Job done. However, because buying and owning an investment property, unlike buying a new car or pair of shoes does not provide us with instant gratification that modern day society is so used to, people just put it off and put it off. They come up with every excuse under the sun why now is not a good time to be investing. I have heard them all. The market is too high, interest rates are too high, building is taking too long, the market won’t increase etc etc. They are all just excuses and are feeding procrastination. Procrastination is a bad habit, but like any bad habit, it can be broken and must be broken if you ever hope to make money from property.

Here are some tips to stop procrastination.

1. Set Goals

Write out what you really want and work out why you want it. The why part needs to be strong to give you the motivation to achieve.

2. Make a plan

Write out a plan of how you are going to achieve your goal and what steps you need to take. Most importantly add dates to this plan and stick to them.

3. Start small

Give yourself achievable tasks to start and build up as time goes on.

4. Finish things

If you start it, you must finish it. Getting into the habit of finishing things so important in life.

5. Just do it!

Like the Nike ad says – “Just do it!”  Don’t get activity mixed up with productivity. Fluffing around is not achieving anything. Just pull the trigger. Sometimes you will make mistakes but better to have a go than not at all.

6. Find a mentor

Research has shown that if you have someone to guide you who has been through want it is you want to achieve, the chances of you reaching and exceeding your goal are much higher. It can help remove the fear and give you the push that just might get you off your bottom to get out there and achieve something special.