Overcoming Procrastination: How to Finally Get Things Done

Jun 23, 2025

Are there tasks in your life that you continually avoid? 🙋‍♀️Does your avoidance make you feel guilty? Or does it cause problems in certain areas? 😕

Let’s figure out how to make yourself do something you just don't want to do, also known as overcoming procrastination. Please know you can conquer procrastination and motivate yourself to tackle those tasks you'd rather avoid!

What Exactly is Procrastination?

Let's get clear on what procrastination truly is, because you might be dealing with something else entirely. Procrastination is intentionally avoiding or putting off an action, activity, or task, even when you know that doing it will improve your life in some way.

This is crucial: procrastination is different from legitimately delaying something for a valid reason. Procrastination is pure, willful avoidance. It's like a teenager refusing to make their bed just because you told them to – that's the essence of it.

When It's Not Procrastination (and What It Might Be Instead)

Sometimes, what seems like procrastination isn't. You might be avoiding a task not out of pure avoidance, but for two other reasons:

1. Lack of Clarity 🔬

It might be that you don't know what to do. You understand the big picture of what you need to accomplish, but you're unclear on the actual steps required to make it happen. People often get stuck because they don't know their first step. You might know the ultimate goal, but you just don't know exactly what to do to get there.

This is an easy fix! Don't procrastinate on figuring out those steps. This isn't true procrastination; it's simply a lack of clarity, which is very different from intentionally putting something off.

2. Lack of Resources 😐

Another reason people sometimes put things off, which isn't procrastination, is a lack of resources. For instance, maybe you desperately need a babysitter and can't find one, or you require something from someone else before you can move on to the next step. You simply can't proceed until you acquire this external element. That's not procrastination; you genuinely lack the necessary resources.

However, be honest with yourself here. Are you procrastinating on pushing that other person to get you that item? Are you procrastinating on finding another babysitter, or perhaps not being overt enough in asking for what you need? There might be underlying issues that create the illusion of legitimate roadblocks. So, drill down and be honest: "Why am I avoiding this? Do I truly have everything I need? Do I know all the steps?"

If the answer to both of those questions is "Yes, I really do, there's no excuse other than I just don't want to do it," then we're firmly in the procrastination realm.

The Real Cost of Procrastination🤑

As I mentioned, procrastination is the willful avoidance or negligence of a task that you know will benefit you in the future, or even immediately.

For some, this can have health consequences. You might be avoiding losing weight or quitting smoking. These can lead to serious health issues down the line.

Procrastination can also have severe, though not immediately felt, long-term consequences for your financial health and that of your entire family. If you put off doing what your business needs you to do, and a year from now your family isn't in a much better financial position, that's procrastination. You need to figure out how to overcome that.

The Most Important Step to Overcome Procrastination: Just Get Started!

Moving on tasks you have avoided can change your life. So let’s focus on arguably the most important step:

You need to shift your mindset out of the mode of "having to finish something" or "accomplish something" and into simply saying to yourself, "I just want to get this started. I just need to focus on getting this started."

So many people look at a large task, and it makes them shut down because it feels so big and overwhelming. No one enjoys the thought of doing some of these things, right? You might tell yourself, "I have 100 follow-up phone calls to make, and I hate making follow-up phone calls." Or maybe you need to make cold calls, which very few people enjoy, so you keep putting it off.

The reality is, it's not about "How can I make 100 cold calls?" The real issue is the mindset shift I want you to make: "I'm just going to make one phone call. I'm just going to focus on making one. I just want to get started with the phone calls."

Most of the energy and motivation required to accomplish something needs to be directed towards just getting it started. You don't need the same level of motivation to continue through the entire task. If you have to make, say, 15 phone calls you really don't want to make, once you make the first two or three, you'll make the next 15—it's almost a given. You just have to focus on getting started. Make that first phone call. After that, you might need to push yourself for the second, but the third one will be so much easier, and you'll just breeze through until you reach your goal of 15 or whatever it is.

My Personal Experience with "Just Getting Started"

This strategy has personally impacted me. Several years ago I worked with a coach to get my online business moving, and she assigned me to generate a "power 100" list – a list of 100 people I was supposed to call and connect with for referrals, speaking gigs, or collaborations.

One hundred good quality people is a lot to sit down and figure out, especially a targeted list. It's not as easy as it sounds, and I was avoiding it. For a whole week, I didn't do anything. I was excited about the idea, but I was avoiding the actual doing.

What I realized was that I was looking at this list of 100 people, thinking, "Oh my gosh, 100 people, who are they going to be?" And that was making me shut down.

So, I focused on: "Alright, I'm just going to get started with five people. My goal today is to make a list of five people."

And you know what? Once I made that list of five people, it wasn't necessarily easy. In fact, it was kind of hard. I had to figure out who would go on this list, what criteria I'd use to include or exclude someone, and how I'd find them (LinkedIn, personal contacts, etc.). Figuring out all those little decisions along the way helped me get those five people relatively quickly. The hard part was making those initial decisions. Once that was done, actually making the list was much easier.

Then I set a goal to do five a day, chunking it out to make my life easier. It really isn't hard for me to make myself do it because the decision part—the part that required all my attention and energy—was already done. The beginning is always the hardest part in any journey.

Ready to Move Forward?

Take FIVE MINUTES today to identify a task you have been procrastinating on and make the effort to find out WHY you are putting it off. Is it actual procrastination? Or are you putting it off for one of the reasons I discussed earlier?

I’d love to hear your comments! Do these ideas resonate with you? Do these seem actionable?