Highly Effective Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination In Your Pilates Business & Life

In this day and age we are so inundated with choice and opportunity that you might even say we are spoiled for choice. There is just so much that we could do that we often end up not doing anything at all. Procrastination is one of the biggest dream killers. I sometimes joke when asked how my day was with the response "I got so much procrastination done today, you wouldn't believe it!" In a world where there is so much demand for our attention it is becoming ever more difficult to stay focused and act on the things that would truly give us an extraordinary quality of life. Time is, was and will always be our most valuable asset and the way you use it will determine what you create or fail to create with and for your Pilates studio. Having an effective strategy for overcoming procrastination is critical if you truly want to push past short-term obstacles to create the studio you desire.

The abundance that modern life offers us tends to overwhelm us which leads to an emotional overload that will distract and scatter our effort and concentration. There simply isn't enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time for the most important things in your life and Pilates business. Remember that you can do anything but you can't do everything. Success at anything in life, whether it be finances, relationships or your Pilates business, requires an investment of time and effort. We need to focus and concentrate our physical and emotional resources on creating a desired result.

The first step in overcoming procrastination is to get clear on exactly what you want from your Pilates business and your life. This clarity will give you the power to look past distractions that may throw you off course. It gives you a direction and a target and will help to build a mental picture for your life. One of the most destructive effects of procrastination is that it makes us feel out of control; like the events of our life are controlling you. If we don't know what we want it is all too easy to jump from one task to the next. Apart from knowing what you want you should also develop some strong reasons why you want it. This gives us a sense of purpose and motivation that is critical for staying focused long term, especially in our business.

The truth is that most people know what they need to do to create their life the way they want it. The challenge is not with knowing what to do, but in doing what you know. The only way you will create any result in your Pilates business is by taking action and procrastination is what prevents action on the very things that would give you a better business. The reason why any of us procrastinate is primarily because of fear, especially fear of failure. By not taking action and postponing important actions we avoid the potential for failing, so it might seem! The only reason why procrastination happens is because at some level we link more pain to taking action than we do to not taking action. The ridiculous truth is that these "links" are mostly conjured up in our mind and they are not even real. When we make a task too big in our mind it will overwhelm us and it would seem too difficult and too big so we end up procrastinating.

One of the most powerful strategies for overcoming procrastination is to learn how to break tasks up into bite size pieces. Any task, no matter how big, can be broken down into small manageable tasks that are easy to do. If you focus on bringing in 100 new clients it may put you off as being a huge task to accomplish, but if you focus on creating a workshop, telling people about what you do, giving a talk, having an open day, providing people with useful information etc. small achievable tasks that you know you can do, the overall goal becomes more believable and achievable. The power of chunking down your "big" tasks empowers you to take back control of any overwhelming situation – you cut it down to size. Your size.

One of the quickest ways to overcome procrastination is to learn and utilize the power of immediacy. What can you do immediately? What action can you take right now that will move you closer to your goal? Doing something, no matter how small, will immediately break your mental pattern of procrastination and put you back in control. Taking the first step, even if it is small will create momentum and you will almost automatically be driven to take another step. Don't wait for everything to be perfect before you take the first step. Just do it. Just get it going and improve as you go along. It transpires often that we only know what to do next after taking that first step.

There are many strategies and skills you can use for overcoming procrastination. You don't have to be stuck or spinning your wheels. Like any skill we develop we need to learn and practise it until we get good at it. Eventually it will become an automatic response and you will develop the habit of taking action despite your fears and apparent limitations. If you focused on that first workshop, learned from it and honed your delivery could you repeat it? Of course the answer is YES and now could you repeat it monthly? And if you did that for the next 12 months how many of those 100 new Pilates clients would you have secured over that year!

If you’re still not sure email me and I will give you one task right now that you can take to improve your Pilates business and it won’t cost you but a few minutes of your time. But you may just overthink that offer, let procrastination win and do nothing at all!!!

To Your Continued Success

Brendan

PS. There's a whole lot of value in knowing what not to do, in eliminating rather than adding.

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1. Join the Free FB group "The Pilates Biz Forum" dedicated to Pilates Business Owners ONLY to get free resources, information, support, training and much more.
   

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3. Book a no obligation Pilates Profit Acceleration Jumpstart call with Brendan and see for yourself the proven steps he’s taking with other Pilates business owners to transform their business and lives. In this session Brendan guarantees to uncover anywhere between €25k – €75k of hidden profits within your business. Book your session (info@peakperformancecoaching.ie) today and change the direction of your business and your life forever.