Procrastination vs. Motivation

This has been a topic that has been on my mind for the longest time, and I wanted to post about it.

When it came to business, I did whatever was necessary to get the job accomplished. I was goal-oriented, focused, and determined. I did not like loose ends nor did I like unresolved situations. I was a perfectionist in making sure things were done, but they did not have to be done “perfectly”.

In my personal life, I was not that focused. There were certain aspects of my life where I was focused and determined on accomplishing different tasks. Paying bills, doing laundry, going food shopping – the basic necessities. But when it came to organizing my desk, getting clutter off of my dresser and night tables, that’s a different story. I’ve had stuff sitting on there months.

What is the definition of “procrastination” or “procrastinate”:
1. to put off intentionally and habitually
2. to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done

I’m human. We all have our moments. There are times when we’re so into something that we’re running 120 miles an hour and nothing can stop us. Also, there are times when we’re just exhausted, low on energy, and we want to give up because “I don’t feel like doing it today”, or any variation of an excuse that we will provide.

During the weekend at the Tony Horton Fitness Camp, I said that when it came to my health and taking care of myself that “I refuse to quit.” As I was listening to the Anthony Robbins audio cd, I realized that my strongest point to sum up who I am as a person was that “I refuse to quit”.

If I refused to quit, why was my room so disorganized? Why weren’t things put away properly.

Because I procrastinated.
“Yeah, I’m too tired…” “I’ll do it tomorrow….” Or I’ll look at it and think “maybe later…”

I have experienced too many of those over the past few years.

It’s the equivalent of when you ask someone to join you for an event and they give responses such as: “I’ll get back to you”; “I’ll let you know”; or the popular “I don’t know”.

Non-committal.

I wasn’t truly committing to myself and what I believed in. That’s extremely counter-productive when you have goals to achieve.

What is the definition of “motivate”: to provide with a motive.
1. something (as a need or desire) that causes a person to act
2. a recurrant phase or figure that is developed through the course of a musical composition

Synonyms for motive include: impulse, incentive.....

When people think of the term "motive" it's usually used when watching a mystery movie or determinining the reasoning behind someone's thoughts. "Impulse" is always related to shopping for some reason "he's an impulse buyer". "Incentive" gives the implication that people are doing something because they want something out of it.

A motive, or a goal. What happens when you don’t have a goal? You don’t have something you want to pursue or achieve. If you don’t have a goal or a motive, how do you live your life? Without motive, you lose desire; without desire, you lose purpose; and so on. One comment or statement relates to another, and to another. It’s a continuous chain reaction of events. You lose one thing, you can be losing a lot of things. But if you CHANGE one thing, imagine what you can change.

The moment I said out loud, “I refuse to quit”, everything changed. I spent the rest of that night clearing off my dresser, putting stuff away in an organized manner so that it was easier to find. Papers and bills were filed, music CDs were put away, clean clothes were put away and dirty ones were off the floor. When I was finished, I looked around, I was impressed. Yet I KNEW that this was just the beginning of more that needs to be accomplished. If I could accomplish THIS task, I was confident that I could accomplish and complete other goals as well. It’s the same as working out, eating nutritionally, and taking care of yourself daily. I became so good at that, I neglected my room! That night, I went to sleep knowing that I made a huge accomplishment with my room.

The following morning, I woke up, put my workout clothes on, turned on my laptop, filled up my water, grabbed my P90X workout DVDs and off I went! Ninety minutes later, I returned to my room sweating from the workout, but feeling great because I knew THAT workout brought me another step closer to my goal. I made breakfast that morning, and that motivated me for the morning. Plus I ate nutritionally throughout the day, and I drank about 96ounces of water. All healthy things, but it all started from one simple thought. One phrase, one idea. That’s all it took for me.

I’m not a procrastinator anymore. I’m an organizer. I know the way I used to behave and how I used to live my life. I don’t believe in that anymore. My life is different. I like getting stuff done to accomplish the next task, because there’s always going to be something.


I know how it feels to be a procrastinator. I also know how it feels to accomplish your tasks and continue moving forward towards new goals. Just do it and get it over with because if you don’t then the tasks are going to pile up and you’re going to feel overwhelmed. I’ve been through that too.

The first step is always the most difficult. The moment you take the first step, everything will get easier after that because you’ll be doing it and making it happen. Once it’s completed, it will be one accomplishment towards achieving other goals that you have been pursuing! Completing that one goal can be the motivation you’ve been looking for to accomplish your other goals.

Try it out and see how it works. Let me know what happened.