Eric Twiggs is a procrastination expert on a mission to help people understand the urgency of spending time efficiently and purposefully. He shares his philosophies and encourages others to spend time on activities that are fruitful, productive, and aligned with their life’s calling. Through his stories and motivational concepts, Eric helps leaders better manage their time so that they get more done with less effort to increase efficiency, productivity and profitability
Who Is Eric Twiggs?
Eric M. Twiggs is a founding partner and president of The What Now Movement. His mission is to build high performing entrepreneurs, authors, and career professionals, who are prepared for life’s unexpected curve balls. He is author of The Discipline of Now: 12 Practical Principles to Overcome Procrastination. The Discipline of Now has been recognized as a Global Top Ten Finalist for the 2020 Author Elite Awards in the category of Best Self Help Book. This recognition was based on the combination of the following criteria: cover design, content, popularity, and social contribution. Eric is also the host of a weekly inspirational podcast titled “The 30 Minute Hour.”
Reasons Why We Procrastinate
Are you a procrastinator? Do you often find yourself working under intense pressure to meet deadlines? Maybe you wait till the last minute to get things done. If this is you, then you might be a procrastinator without even knowing it. In essence, everybody procrastinates. Even the most productive person you know has procrastinated at some point. The difference is that more productive people know when procrastination kicks in and have effective tools for when their attention starts moving in a different direction.
Interestingly, most procrastinators are aware of their behavior and actually know when they procrastinate. Even though they know it’s bad for them and would very much love to stop, they keep doing it. If you’re a procrastinator, the first step to overcoming this is developing awareness of what triggers you to procrastinate. Identify the procrastination patterns, take action, and shift your mindset; only then can your behaviors and attitudes improve.
Five Steps to Overcoming Procrastination Every Time
People procrastinate for one reason and one reason only – it feels good. We don’t talk about this fact because we’re not supposed to enjoy it. But if you think about it, why don’t most people find it hard to stop if procrastination didn’t feel so good? Although we know procrastination will have consequences down the road, the joy comes from the relief of not doing the things you didn’t feel like doing.
Eric Twiggs developed 5 actionable steps to help you take action and overcome procrastination today.
- Attitude – 80% of people’s thoughts are negative. Constant negative thinking is the root cause of procrastination. If you think something can’t be done, there is no way you’re going to make time for it. The key to breaking free of negative thoughts is understanding how you think and removing the self-imposed limitations you put on yourself.
- Awareness – You have to identify the causes of your procrastination. The awareness principle suggests that to deal effectively with any procrastination, first, you must find its roots and be aware of your triggers.
- Animation – Animation is about paying close attention to your energy levels. Focus on how you spend your time in relation to your energy levels. Do the high-priority tasks first, and transition into the low-priority tasks when you feel your energy waning. And always create time for recovery and sleep.
- Automation – Just because something must be done doesn’t mean you should do it. If you don’t like doing a particular task, the easiest way to get it done is to get someone else to do it.
Activity – You cannot overcome procrastination without taking action. Having a to-do list can help you organize tasks instead of trying to remember everything in your head. But at the end of the day, you have to just do it. Motivation and drive will increase as you become more successful at completing each of the smaller steps.
How to Escape the Perfectionism-Procrastination Loop
One of the more common causes of procrastination is perfectionism. When you want to overcome procrastination, you must start doing the right thing at the right time. This means finishing projects and moving on to something else. However, when you are a perfectionist, nothing ever gets done until it’s perfect. You’ll keep accumulating unfinished projects and, as a result, never finish anything.
How to fix it – you need to learn to let go and move on. You cannot allow perfect to get in the way of progress. Beating perfectionism is not an easy feat, but it’s doable. And it all starts with embracing imperfections in areas that are less detrimental to your success.
Links:
Eric’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erictwiggs/
Eric’s website – http://www.ericmtwiggs.com/
The Discipline Of Now: 12 Practical Principles To Overcome Procrastination by Eric Twiggs
The 30 Minute Hour Podcast – https://anchor.fm/30minutehour/