Total Wellbeing Blog

How to stop procrastinating

Even the word 'procrastination' is a painful one - and rightly so! When we procrastinate and put things off, it often feels like quite a painful experience - one where we feel stuck and not sure what to do next.

There are many reasons for procrastination from a fear of failure to not knowing enough about what we are working on to total overwhelm - to name but a few. For instance, I have a tendency to get over enthusiastic about all the things I want to do and end up having so much on the go that I end up not knowing where to start!

Your experience with procrastination may be similar or may be sparked by totally different circumstances - we all have our own reasons but I'm sure we have all experienced feeling stuck like this at some point?

I think it is important that we all realise that it is normal human behaviour and that the first step in overcoming procrastination is recognising that we are doing it in the first place - only then can we put together a plan of action to help us move forward.

Click here to read Arina Nikitina's article for more tips on motivation and overcoming procrastination...

The New Year Resolution Survival Guide!

Millions of us start the New Year full of good intentions about what we want to achieve only to have our resolutions fall by the wayside midway through January - sound familiar? So why is it that resolutions tend to be so difficult to keep...

New Year resolutions tend to be more of a ‘wish list’ than planned goals and for this reason that they are not always taken very seriously, or end up very successful. We have very high expectations of them (or should I say ourselves!) in very little time and with very little planning involved.

It’s no wonder that with our top resoutions being things like getting out of debt, getting in shape, giving up smoking, a new career or finding the love of our life that we fail at the first hurdle - hardly things that can be tackled with a quick fix and a lot of wishful thinking!

To help you along with yours - whatever they may be, here are my 5 top tips to giving those resolutions a better chance of survival this year...

1. Focus on what you do want rather than what you don't want. Many of us focus on what we don't want when we set resolutions - things like giving up smoking and losing weight may seem like great motivators at the time but they cannot sustain our focus for long. Instead, think about what you do want, for example - to save money, smell nicer, have more energy. We tend to get more of what we focus on so make sure it is something positive!
2. Give them a fighting chance. Know how you are going to achieve your resolutions - if they are important to you then they are worth giving some extra thought to by planning in advance.
3. Try something different. Chances are, you have tried to tackle a certain area before and there is reason why it didn't work. Sometimes we lose faith in our abilities when something doesn't go to plan and this means we struggle to give it our commitment this time round. If something didn't work for you last time, it may not be the right solution for for so you will need to find out what is.
4. Think small steps - quick fixes don't make for lasting change and there aren't many things out there that bring us overnight success. What does bring success however, is consistency and action. Working towards what you want one day at a time - small steps for big results.
5. Don't start on January 1st - most of us enjoy celebrating on New Years Eve with a few drinks or a very late night so we aren't always on best form to start working on our resolutions on New Years Day. Pick a reasonable date that gives you enough time to plan how you are going to achieve what you want and then you will be able to give your resolutions the attention and commitment they deserve!

If you need more help with your development and goals for the year ahead, our FREE weekly wellbeing tips might be just the dose of inspiration you need. Click here to find out more…

Your Inbox Will Always Be Full!

This morning I decided to stay home - I have a whopper of a cold and besides not wanting to inflict myself on everyone, I just needed some time relaxing to help my poor head recover! This morning, the debate in my mind about whether I could go to work started. I have things that are important this week that need to be done, things I have asked people to get back to me today with and I won't be there and things that must be done by Monday that I don't fancy the prospect of doing at home this weekend!

It reminded me of something I read once that said 'Your inbox will always be full' - I can't remember where I read it or who wrote it right at this moment but in other words, it is reminder that no matter how much we do, there will always be things that are more important or urgent that need doing and that if we don't do them today, they will still be there tomorrow.

Sometimes, no matter how pressing and urgent everything seems, we just have to push it all aside for a while and just focus on ourselves. The more we try and make ourselves do things when we are feeling ill, tired or run down, the worse we feel eventually. So if like me you are not feeling your normal self today, stop, put your feet up and relax for a while.

Everything will still be there tomorrow. Today, you can just concentrate on you...

Personal success

A comment on my last post inspired me to write about how success comes in many different forms and following many different events in our lives. We tend to think of success as something that only follows a positive goal but success is also about how we react to life when it doesn’t go so well.

Most of us can relate to loss of some kind, whether we have lost someone close to us, a relationship has come to an end, we lose our job or our business goes wrong etc. Although these events are traumatic at the time, the way our lives evolve afterwards is down to our own attitude and choice.

It takes time to get over losing someone or going through a major life shift and it isn’t a process that can or should be rushed. It is as time passes that we either choose to remain stuck in the past and bitter about certain events or we choose to learn from our experiences, be grateful for having what we had (and what we still have now) and choose to move forward.

The choice and determination to make your life a good one despite hard times and major setbacks is an amazing success and definitely one that should be recognised. Success comes in many forms and we don’t always stop to take pride in our progress and acknowledge just how far we have come.

The 80 20 principle

...better known as the 80-20 rule, is based on the fact that 80% of what we achieve well is from 20% of what we do. This principle is more commonly applied to business efficiency but can be applied just as easily to any aspect of our day to day lives.

Successful people achieve more by concentrating on the 20% that matters. This means that we can eradicate up to 80% of activity during our daily routine that does not contribute towards our success by starting to do less. If you look at most successful people in the workplace, they are not the ones running around chasing their tail, staying all hours and making sure everyone else around them knows exactly how much they have to do. These people are successful because they concentrate on what matters. People who are always 'busy' are not necessarily effective. We often create a lot of work for ourselves because we don't stop to focus on what’s important.

The same is true about the rest of your life. Consider the things you do each day and think carefully about whether they need to be done or are adding any value to your life. If things are adding no value whatsoever, think about why you still do them? Maybe it's just a habit or maybe it seems important on the surface but is not really benefiting you or anyone else when you take a closer look? The best question to ask yourself is 'what is the positive or negative impact on myself or others if I stop doing this task / activity?' If the answer is 'none' then it is adding no value whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong - sometimes we all enjoy doing tasks or activites that don't seem to produce any real significant benefits but there is a benefit nonetheless and that is the fact that we are enjoying doing it! Spending time doing things we enjoy, no matter how trivial they may seem is always a benefit!

Don't underestimate the power that the awareness of the 80-20 rule can have on your life. Anyone who cuts out everything that has no benefit is one hellava disciplined person but if freeing up just some of your time each day from the mundane and insignificant means you can spend more of your time on the things that will benefit you and those around you then it is well worth considering!