In an age of information overload, our brains are over stimulated with digital content. A high majority of us are addicted to some form of social media or entertainment streaming platform. Although I have a mostly positive view of the future, especially with how many tedious tasks can be automated due to rapidly improving new technologies, I must confess, I fall victim to a serious case of procrastination.
As it is something I have struggled with my whole life, I have always been looking for strategies and tactics to win the battle with my day-dreaming mind to implement the habits and sustained efforts to reach my goals. From reading countless books and trying many different challenges, I believe these 5 tips to eliminate procrastination are the most effective tools to turn ideas into reality.
1. Write it down *on paper*
Sounds simple, but in reality who actually writes down their ideas on paper the moment the idea arises? If you are like me, sometimes an idea comes to you whilst in the middle of a tedious task or some form of boredom. (and that is a good thing, as explained in the book Hyperfocus) But the problem is, if the idea just lives in your head, you might end up thinking about it all day every day.
However, once you write it down, you are freeing up your mind to think more critically. There have been many scientific studies on the importance of writing down your tasks and goals. Matt Pettit goes much further in to details in The Importance of Writing Down Your Goals
2. Set deadlines – with Rewards
Ok, I know these first two are quite obvious on the surface, but it is the finer details that make these somewhat simple tips so effective. Setting deadlines is one thing that I have done time and time again only to fail miserably from a lapse in discipline. From one of the most recent books I read, The 12 Week Year and he makes a very relatable point that far sighted goals like new year’s resolutions usually fail because the timeline is far too long and there is no reward waiting at the end of that year. Instead, we should set smaller goals with rewards at the end. These smaller goals are then adjusted or refined for the next target.
For example: I hate running. I have issues in my groins and hips from growing far too tall, far too quickly. After relocating to the Gold Coast, my main circle of friends are all avid runners. Admittingly, I only hate running because my body is all stiff and my cardio is terrible, these are issues I really should start to address as the old saying goes “use it or lose it” and I am not getting any younger!
So after a consultation with my physio, he created me a return to running program. I was following it for a while and did see decent improvement, however with no real deadline or reward, I lost consistency.
So I decided to create a master goal of running 5km in under 25 minutes. Then, break the goal down into smaller sub-goals with mini rewards. It looked like this:
1. 3 Weeks to get 3km in 15 minutes. Reward: New Gym Shirt
2. Next 3 Weeks to run 4km in 20 minutes. Reward: 90 Min relaxation massage
3. Next 3 weeks to hit 5km in 25 minutes. Reward: New Laptop
3. Create Habits Related to the Goal.
As many self help gurus talk about, it is not really about just writing down the goal and trying to manifest it. The results come from the habits relating to the goal. So when we write down an idea or goal, the very next thing is creating the roadmap to reality by defining what habits lead to the desired outcome. From the Goal I had of running 5km in under 25 minutes, the obvious habits are to run at least 2 times per week and start eating healthier food.
Business or other self development goals also usually have obvious habits. Having those habits scheduled in our Google calendar or even better, written down on a physical calendar that we have to look at every day when brushing our teeth is the key.
4. Build a Second Brain
Ok, here’s one most people haven’t heard of before. When I first read about this, I was hooked! The first three tips I mentioned the importance of writing things down on pen and paper. There are actual studies that have been made to explain the benefits over digital notes, but I believe there are pros and cons of both. It seems Remarkable has picked up on my interest in a hybrid. The cost is just a little too high to warrant another device! So what is a Second Brain you ask? Basically, a second brain is just a clear note filing system for your highlighted reading, random thoughts and ideas.
There are quite a few note taking apps these days. Evernote seems to be the leader, followed by Apple Notes and Google Keep. The Second Brain Gurus also mention Notion and Obsidian. I spent a little bit of time trying to learn about Obsidian and Notion, but as I had already been using Evernote, I decided to stick with it. I am not going to go too far in depth in building a second brain, as it has been explained so well in this video.
But for a personalized example, my second brain looks like this:
I use the scratch pad on Evernote homepage on my phone if I have a thought or informational website link I should read into further later. The scratch pad has a character limit, which is good because it forces you to go in and take action on these notes.
I have then created 3 Notebooks.
1. Business Development – Within this, I have 3 Folders or Sub Notebooks. These are a folder for this Blog and two other folders for the two businesses I work for.
2. Self Development – In this Notebook I have a folder for Book Reviews, Brain Dumps, and Goals/Progress Tracking
3. Trading – This Notebook needs some work, as I am still figuring out the most effective way to journal and improve my trading process.
Within all of these notebooks, I save any random thoughts, links to interesting articles, key takeaways from podcasts and screenshots of relevant content. The idea is to eventually have different ideas and information start to supplement each other and produce outcomes that couldn’t have been reached had it all just sat in your brain.
The more I tidy up and improve this second brain, the clearer my mind and the better my decision making. Try it and thank me later!
5. Automate Tedious Tasks
Ok, here’s one that surely wasn’t listed on any other similar posts. I truly believe Automating Tedious Tasks is one of the keys to unlocking a more fulfilling life. This is why I have such a positive view of the future. Some of the new technologies we are experiencing are truly game changing!
Some people have a negative view of companies like Amazon and Tesla in regards to their factories having so much robotic automation that has replaced 1000s of factory line worker jobs. But let’s be honest, no human should have to stand in the same spot, doing the same thing for a majority of their adult life when a robot can do it. They shouldn’t have to go hungry either, as we now have AI controlled farming. I will hold off on going further into my thoughts on the macro, and zone in on the micro.
My girlfriend and I are not big chefs. I love to cook breakfast, but I am usually too busy to plan, shop and cook a quality clean meal every night. Enter pre packed meals. We have tried Hello Fresh, Marley Spoons and a few of the Supermarket Label brands but ultimately have settled with My Muscle Chef. Delivered every Monday, for the variety of meals, I calculate this saves us around 5 hours per week had we cooked all the meals included.
Other things I have automated:
- My morning alarm – Once turned off, Google Assistant automatically tells me what I have on my calendar that day, then I get 3-5 minutes of the top news headlines from the news outlets I subscribe to.
- Gym program – I had my physio build me a program and load it into his easy to use app, MichaelBullFitness
- Investing – I have $50 per week automatically sent to robo advisor Raiz, I set the investing goals and will try not to look at it for a few years. This is an Australian company, if in the US **Similar Company* If Crypto is your thing, Coinspot does a similar thing for Australians and **similar company** does for the US.
- Trading Alerts – I won’t go into this too much, as I plan on doing a more thorough post on this subject. But I use Trading View to set trading alerts. I sometimes even set Buy Stop orders in case I am not at the screens.
- Business Automations – Again, I will be expanding on as many business automation tools as possible in the future, however some obvious automations include: Social Media Post Scheduling, Email Campaigns and Website Chatbots.
Automation Goals..
Smart Home Automation
- Automated Blockout Blinds – I am currently renting an apartment, but a dream home would include blackout blinds that automatically open as an alarm clock goes off.
- Coffee Machine – Who wouldn’t like to be woken up to the smell of fresh coffee? I would love to try out the *Automated coffee machine*
- Vacuum – These bad boys are so futuristic.
- Lawn Mower – Similar to the Vacuum, but for keeping your grass perfect!
Money
- One of my goals is to learn to build an Algorithmic Trading Bot that trades from a predefined system.
- Build a Ecommerce side hustle that has automated marketing systems in place that has a return on investment over the long term
- Defi – Has taken a hit recently, but staking coins for yield makes sense to me.
Automating Tedious Tasks help to free up our time to focus on the tasks and goals we seem to procrastinate over (usually, the procrastination takes place whilst doing these tedious tasks!) So if we find ways to automate those tasks, we free up precious time to work on our goals with a clear mind.
