Everyone has experienced one of those moments where you are so pumped and motivated and you could basically dominate the entire world if you wanted to. No matter what you were inspired by, whether it be the start of a new school year, the encouragement of friends, a new instrument, or even if it is New Year's Eve and you just created the best resolution ever; after a few weeks those goals that you were so ready to accomplish become distant memories in this never stopping world that we live in. Life happened, things got in the way and your priorities shifted. I'm sure everyone has experienced this action called procrastination. The issue with procrastination is that "later" usually turns into "never" and then our goals never get accomplished. This article provides you with a solution focused on keeping that feeling of motivation constantly to eliminate procrastination.
The most powerful tool that any human will ever use is their own mind. Your mind singlehandedly controls every aspect of your life; it determines what you do, how you feel, what affects you and how to process it all. Similarly, like any other tool, your mind can be used in a positive and beneficial way, but if misused it can also prove to be very harmful and detrimental. I am promoting a way for you to use the most powerful tool available to you (your mind) in the best and most effective way possible which will in return make you very successful.
The human mind is constantly developing and gaining new information. The problem is that not all information gained is beneficial. The world is full of other people trying to manipulate your brain to their advantage. Whether it be an advertisement for a soda company that looks oh-so-irresistible, a sales person sweet-talking you into an unnecessary purchase or even your friends peer pressuring you into going to a party, the manipulations are everywhere. There is subliminal manipulation, emotional manipulation, social influences and all other sorts of manipulations that are overlooked and accepted as a part of the modern day. By accepting that, you are losing control of your own mind. What you should do instead is take control of your own mind by becoming conscious of manipulations and choosing which ones to let in and which to avoid. In order to accomplish your goals, you need to control your mind and make it work for you.
As stated earlier, the solution to procrastination is staying motivated. To do this, you will want to control your mind and only allow information in that will benefit your mindset and therefore give you the motivation to accomplish your goals. The key to getting motivated is encouragement, whether it be from yourself, a friend or a complete stranger. The key to staying motivated is exposure to success. The biology behind motivation is dopamine in the brain. People with higher levels of dopamine in their brain are more likely to work for things and are therefore more motivated. Dopamine levels are increased by accomplishing a goal, so the more goals that you accomplish, the more likely you are to stay motivated and accomplish more goals and bigger goals.
I will use my morning schedule as an example of all of this. I wake up at six every morning, and the first thing I do is make my bed; that way I have already accomplished something with my day and it is not even 6:05 a.m. yet! I then get ready for my day by getting dressed, brushing my hair and brushing my teeth. The whole time that I spend making myself look presentable, I listen to motivational speeches to get my mind in a positive place ready dominate the day ahead of me. I then go and work on all the things on my to-do list for that day (that I wrote out the night before). If I ever get discouraged throughout the day, I take some time to listen to more motivational speeches and I envision myself succeeding at my goal. All of this proves to be very beneficial to myself. I manipulate myself to start off my day motivated and therefore I have a much higher success level than I did in my days of procrastination.
To sum it all up: in order to conquer procrastination and become successful you must take control of your own mind by becoming aware of manipulations and using them to your advantage. Get yourself motivated and then keep accomplishing tasks no matter how small to stay motivated. Don't forget to reflect on your accomplishments and be grateful for them as well, you deserve it. If you surround yourself with positive and beneficial manipulations, then you will be unstoppable. We all have 24 hours in a day. Your success is determined by how you spend those 24 hours. Stay motivated and remember that it is all in your head. Literally.
