Procrastination only seems like a harmless habit,
Procrastination has many negative consequences
Procrastination can even have LONG lasting costs!

Hey Tracy Brinkmann here from Your Success At Last .com.  We here we are with entry three of your Procrastination series.  Over the next few blog entries I will share with you tips for overcoming procrastination. 

First, thank you for all your positive emails, tweets and feed back about this procrastination series.  I am so glad you are enjoying it and even looking forward to this and the next entry.

One note I want to share with you right now – which is in response to a comment on why haven’t I actually given you a tool to curb the procrastination habit yet.  So far I have only asked you to list some projects you’ve been putting off and would like to accomplish as well as some reasons to get it done and excuses you have been giving your self etc.

The answer is simple and actually very logical.  In all the group and individual coaching that I have done over the years I have found one thing to be absolutely true.   That one thing is the better I get you to understand the very thing you are trying to overcome the much easier it is and more successful you will be when I give you to tips and tools to overcome it.  The work will still be there to be done but the groundwork to get it done will be more solid and you will be more motivated towards its accomplishment.

So I have spent the last two blogs entries getting you to look at your procrastination from different angles, or excuses etcs.  Today we will talk about the real price you pay for your procrastination then next session knowing that you have looked at your procrastination from all these angles – I will start giving you some tools to begin chipping away at it.

So now let’s talk about the Price of Procrastination

Procrastination like ANY bad habit comes along with a cost or a price tag if you will.  Like poor health habits, eating or drinking habits – that cost might be evident right away. But over time the cost builds and builds usually until it’s too late.  That cost can come in many forms.  Here are seven prices you WILL pay for your procrastination.  This is not a comprehensive list but one that should enlighten you – hopefully before it is too late!

1. GUILT
   Procrastinators are well aware of the guilt factor and feel its price far more then they would like.  They feel guilty for not getting the report done on time, for the flimsy excuses they try and mask that tardiness with and so on.  They feel guilty that they let someone down, or even let themselves down – they feel guilty they can’t break the procrastination cycle.  It’s like quicksand, it slowly sucks you in.  By the time you feel in danger and start to try to escape, you are so deep that you have to work so hard – you often give up.  Resulting in your getting pulled in deeper.
2. ANXIETY
   If you are able to rush around and get the late report in at the last minute – there will be this firestorm of anxiety churning within you.  A firestorm that has an impact on your body.  Studies have shown that procrastinating college students reported nearly 9 illness symptoms a week, while non-procrastinating student report only ½ that.  Procrastination has REAL effect on you even if you have an excuse your body will know the truth.
3. RELATIONSHIPS STRESS
   Procrastination effects more then just the procrastinator – if affect their friends and family as well.  Parents procrastinating a child’s needs can turn that child rebellious, defensive and cynical.  This can cause the parent to resort to more aggressive parenting methods furthering the downward spiral.  Friends and spouses can get frustrated with one anther as a result of unmet expectations or unfinished projects and dreams not realized together.  Which lead into…
4. LOSS OF TRUST
   Trust is eroded with the flimsy and repeated excuses.  The procrastinator might even be blind to the trust fading away – but the word will get around that they can’t be relied on to get things done in time or at all or if does get done the quality of the work will come into question etc.  A bad reputation is VERY difficult to repair and it takes a long to do repair it.
5. OPPORTUNITIES LOST
   Procrastinator miss out on huge opportunities such as job promotions, completion of wage impacting certification and degrees, meaningful relationships, business opportunities and so much more.  They miss nurturing themselves to their full potential.
6. SELF CONFIDENCE
   I would content that is impossible to feel good about yourself when you are doling out excuses for late projects and little white lies to cover your procrastination.  Inside the procrastinator knows the truth and feels like a lair and a failure.  So when the next project comes along their already wounded self confidence does not offer much stimulus change thus causing them to sink even deeper in the low self-esteem quicksand I mentioned earlier.  This leads into…
7. DIGGING THE HOLE DEEPER
   Every time the procrastinator defers, delays or doesn’t even start a project they reinforce the procrastination habit.   A habit is something that you have done so many times that you begin to do it without conscious thought.  So it becomes less and less recognizable as it becomes 2^nd nature.

If you are still with me on this procrastination series I will assume you are a procrastinator or care for someone who is experiencing one or more of these prices of procrastination.  The remaining blog entries, in this series, are going to focus on overcoming this savage success sucking, self-esteem chipping, relationship ruining, performance bogging and job threatening beast.

Here are Your Success At Last actions to take:

1. What is your Price of Procrastination?
   Review the negative consequences you wrote down from the first entry in this series – do you want or need to add anything to your list? 
2. Write down how your life will be different when you no longer have to live with these consequences.
3. Update your list of positive rewards / consequences you will enjoy when you have completed your project(s).
4. Have these two lists up where you can see them as you work through the project and this procrastination series.

Seriously, take these three actions NOW – and in the next part of this series you will be primed and ready for you first tip to overcome your procrastination!

Until next time – think successfully & take Action!
Tracy
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches

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