Do it and you can beat procrastination

Chapter 17 Don't be in a hurry!Goals come true (2)
Many people end up accomplishing nothing not because they are not smart enough, but because they are not focused enough to persevere in the face of their goals.Like the well-known well-digger, he dug in this place for a while today, and in that place for a while tomorrow. In the end, there were many wells that were not deep or shallow on the ground, but none of them contained water.The same is true for many people. Although they are very smart and can do everything well, they have no perseverance and lack of persistence in their goals. On the way to achieve their goals, they are easily attracted by all kinds of temptations around them, and in the end it is very easy. Abandoning the previous goal, switching to another goal, and so on, eventually achieving nothing.Only those who focus on one goal and the same thing can grasp the direction of success, do not waste time, and keep improving within a limited time.

Most people tend to have many goals, but if you want to be successful, you must set a goal and stick to it.People with common sense know that a good hunter will only choose one prey as the target of pursuit. If he is dazzled by so many prey, and his will is not firm, he chases this one for a while, and then changes his route for another one at a time. It will be empty-handed and nothing will be gained.

· Avoid setting too many medium and long-term goals

The goal is the lighthouse for those who are advancing. Its purpose is to make the advancers see the direction clearly, so as not to go wrong, so as to save time and improve efficiency.Therefore, when setting goals, avoid setting too many medium and long-term goals.

Psychologists have done such an experiment: Divide people into 3 groups on average, and start from 3 different directions but the same distance to the same destination.The difference is that the first group of people only knew the name and distance of the destination; while the second group of people not only knew the name and distance of the final destination, but also set a milestone in the middle of the road; the third group of people, in addition to knowing In addition to the name of the final destination and the distance, a milestone is set every kilometer along the way.

Surprising results were produced: when the first group of people walked three or four kilometers, some people began to complain; halfway through the journey, some people became angry and became irritable; At that time, almost everyone gave up.

The second group of people was much better than the first group. Although some people began to complain not long after the beginning, but halfway through the journey, the milestone appeared and the mood of the people was greatly improved.Everyone seemed to see hope and felt very relieved knowing that they had already walked half the distance; but thinking that there was still half the way ahead, they felt a little depressed.As a result, at the end of the journey, although people finally reached their destination, their mental state was exhausted, and it seemed that they could not hold on for another mile.

The situation of the third group of people is much better. The setting of one milestone per kilometer makes all members know where the road has progressed; and every time a milestone is passed, people will burst into cheers, because everyone knows that they are closer to the goal. One step further.As a result, the whole journey was spent in joy, and when people arrived at the destination, their faces were not tired at all, but full of joy of victory.

This is the difference between the power that short-term goals and medium- and long-term goals bring to people.The process of realizing long-term goals is very long. During this process, people may lose fighting spirit and perseverance. Therefore, timely encouragement and encouragement from mid-term goals are needed.However, the process of realizing the medium-term goals is also a bit long. In order to ensure high fighting spirit and passion, it is necessary to set some short-term goals in order to inspire people in time.Therefore, when setting goals, it is not appropriate to set too many medium and long-term goals.

· Have a special liking, never half-hearted

Many times, when you set goals, you cannot simply set too many mid- and long-term goals, because their direction is not very clear, and their guiding power is not very strong.It often takes a relatively long period of time to achieve such medium and long-term goals.During this period of time, you need to cheer and help yourself from time to time, so as to improve your work efficiency and ensure sufficient fighting spirit and energy.Therefore, when setting goals, you need to pay attention to the following points.

1. Combining long-term and short-term goals
No long-term goal can be achieved in an instant.For example, the goal you set when you were a child: to become a doctor, policeman, scientist, etc. when you grow up, is a mid- to long-term goal, and it will take more than ten years or even decades to achieve this goal.Then during this relatively long period of time, you should set some short-term goals combined with this big goal in order to maintain high morale and energy.For example, in order to achieve the goal of being a doctor, you should set such a series of short-term goals: First, you must be admitted to a certain middle school with excellent grades, because this middle school has a high enrollment rate and strong teachers; The grades to be achieved every year, etc.; finally, to be admitted to a certain key medical school with excellent grades... Any long-term goal should have countless short-term goals set to achieve it, to achieve long-term goals and short-term goals. goals combined.This kind of short-term goal can even be refined to monthly goals and daily goals.The clearer the goal, the stronger the direction of your actions and efforts, the more time you can save, the more efficient you will be, and the faster you will achieve your long-term goals.

2. It’s best to only set one long-term goal at a time

A long-term goal corresponds to a path to achieve it.If you want to achieve your goals, you must be focused, set only one long-term goal at a time, and then work step by step to achieve this goal.If you set too many long-term goals, you will be indecisive and lack focus.If you want too many things and scatter your energy too much, you are destined to give up halfway and get nothing in the end.

Break down the whole into parts and split the long-term goals

Tokyo, Japan held an international marathon invitational race.In the competition, an unknown player surpassed everyone's expectations and won No.1 in one fell swoop. His name is Yamada Motoichi.

After the game, reporters surrounded the unnamed champion and asked him the secret of his success.Yamada Motoichi said something very mysterious: "Defeat your opponent with wisdom." After that, he didn't make any answers.Faced with such a mysterious answer, the reporters began to bombard it indiscriminately, using words such as "mystery", "pretentiousness" and "playing big names" all on Yamada Motoichi.In an instant, Yamada Motoichi's popularity surpassed that of any previous champion, and he became a household name.

Two years later, in the international marathon held in Milan, northern Italy, Yamada once again won the No.1 good result.As a result, Yamada Motoichi once again became the focus of attention.When the reporter asked the secret of his success again, Yamada Motoichi's answer was still the incomprehensible sentence: "Defeat your opponent with wisdom."

Faced with this familiar answer, people did not bombard it again, but fell into deep thinking, trying to solve this mystery through various means.As a result, some reporters began to investigate Yamada Motoichi's growth history, personality tendencies, and even Yamada Motoichi's love history, hoping to find out the secret of Yamada Motoichi's success.But the mystery has never been solved.

Yamada Motoichi solved the mystery in his autobiography after he retired from football.Yamada Motoichi wrote: "At first, when I started the race, I didn't know how to run the race. I just knew to run forward and usually set my goal on the flag at the finish line more than 40 kilometers away. Such The result is that after running a few kilometers, I feel tired, but the target is still far away, so I feel even more tired. Before each game, I will check the road carefully to find out the comparison along the road. Eye-catching signs, write them down carefully. For example, the first landmark building I saw was a bank, the second was a special big tree, and the third was a red house... In this way, I always remember the sign To the finish line. During the race, I ran to the first mark with all my strength, so that I knew where my next small target was, and then ran to the second mark. In this way, the race of more than 40 kilometers was completed by me. After splitting it into several small goals, it can be easily completed.”

Isn't life a marathon?The decades-long life journey is like the 40-kilometer race, and everyone is like a runner on the field.If you only set the goal of the end point and don't break it into zero, I'm afraid you would have been lying on the track long ago, motionless.Only by splitting the long-term goal into countless small goals, so that each stage has its own small goals, and these small goals are easier to achieve, can your confidence and courage to struggle be guaranteed, and you will not be long-term. Running wears off.

· Quantify goals and improve efficiency

The real purpose of your goal setting is to improve the efficiency of your work and avoid wasting a lot of time because of procrastination, and ultimately achieve nothing.Quantifying the goal is also to achieve the ultimate goal better and faster.All in all, setting goals is to improve the utilization rate of time, so as to better realize the value of life.

Therefore, when you quantify your goals, you need to set deadlines to avoid delays in action.There are often some people who set a goal, and then start to think about specific small goals. After the small goals are finally formulated, they also meet the standard of combining long-term goals and short-term goals, but they still fail.

Where is the reason?Mainly because he neglected the ultimate purpose of setting goals-to make actions more targeted and efficient.They set their goals very perfectly, with long-term goals and short-term goals, and the goals are aimed at what they want to do the most. The only downside is that this perfect goal has become an "art" that is only for people to appreciate. product", has never been applied to actual actions.In the end, this perfect goal failed to exert its due strength.

This situation is not a special case. There are countless examples of this kind of "just wanting not to do" in real life. Many people are immersed in daydreams all day long, dreaming of the joyful scene after they achieve their goals, and from time to time they formulate a series of ideas on a whim. Plans and goals, I decided to start fighting for them; but on the second day, everything was the same, and yesterday's goals became a fantasy.Therefore, in order to avoid this phenomenon, when you quantify your goals, you should set a deadline, connect every link in the goal implementation process with time, and then strengthen the time awareness of achieving goals, and remind you at the same time You must have a sense of time when doing things yourself, and you cannot procrastinate indefinitely.You must know that there are no goals backed by action, even if you set 1 goals, it is tantamount to having no goals.

Daping is the department manager of a company. One year ago, Daping was recognized by the leadership because of his steady and meticulous work, and was promoted to department manager.After being promoted, Daping still continued his work habits as an ordinary employee. He likes to do everything by himself. He is not afraid of hard work, and he works overtime until late every day.But for some reason, things just couldn't be finished, and the original work plan couldn't be implemented.Looking at the messy desk, Daping felt dizzy for a while, and he felt that he was about to collapse.

In order to change this situation, Daping decided to ask a very successful manager for advice.On this day, Daping came to the manager's office. After explaining his purpose, the manager kindly invited Daping to stay in his office.Soon, the day's work began, and the manager quickly opened his notepad, and saw that it read:

At 8:[-], sort out relevant business information;

At 9 o'clock, discuss business with Manager Zhao;
At 11 o'clock, inspect the sanitary conditions of the staff canteen;
At 11:2, the financial summary form of the employees in other cities was accepted; at [-] o'clock in the afternoon, the department was called for a meeting;...then, the manager began to carry out the work step by step.During the period, some employees reported problems temporarily. The manager picked up the phone after listening to the employee's feedback. After some instructions, the work was handed over to the employees below.In this way, Daping sat quietly in the manager's office all morning and then came back.

After returning, Daping immediately prepared a notepad, carefully filled in his daily plans and work, and set a time limit.Soon, there was no mountain of documents on Daping's desk.

This case shows that everyone's energy is limited. When there are too many goals, if you want to improve efficiency, make better use of the role of goals, and let others help you achieve your goals when appropriate; at the same time, when quantifying goals, set Set a deadline and implement it step by step.In this way, there is no "opportunity to take advantage" of delay.The manager in the case set a time limit for his daily work goals, and strictly followed the time limit during implementation, which not only ensured work efficiency, but also guaranteed work quality.

Battle procrastination skills: the goal must be quantifiable
Setting goals is to allow you to act better, so you need to set deadlines on quantifiable goals to ensure the smooth development of actions.If you blindly dream and do not take action, then the perfect goal is just empty talk.Therefore, when you quantify your goals, you need to pay attention to the following points.

1. Put an end to the mentality of "it's still too late, I'll do it tomorrow, if it doesn't work, the day after tomorrow" I believe many people have said this to themselves, but the unfortunate result is often caused by this inconspicuous sentence.Do you have time tomorrow?There is no way for anyone to give a definite answer, because tomorrow is still an unknown day, and no one knows what will happen.If something unexpected happened tomorrow, for example, a very important guest came to the house, can you still spare time at this time, leave the guest behind and do the work left over from yesterday?

In fact, the safest way is to grasp the present, today's affairs, and today's completion.Therefore, when you set goals, you must strictly set deadlines and not "take advantage of loopholes" for procrastination.

2. Do what you want without delay

Many times, people like to leave things until the last minute to deal with. It is precisely because of this bad habit that procrastinators appear and mountains of to-do items appear.If people can implement the plan in time and as early as possible according to the plan, this kind of delay will not appear.

Therefore, after you set a goal with a time limit, you must adjust your mentality, insist on "doing everything sooner rather than later", never procrastinate, and resolutely resist any excuses for procrastination.In fact, when you think about it afterwards, you will often find that the reason why many things are not done is not because of lack of time, but because of your own inertia and procrastination habits.

3. Be a problem solver

In life, you will often be asked "why didn't you finish it".Your first instinct at this point is to quickly make excuses.Why didn't I finish it myself?It turned out that it was because I was in a bad mood recently, or I was not feeling well, or I was disturbed by others, and so on.In short, if you want to find an excuse, anything can be a reason for procrastination.

And successful people never do that, problems arise, avoiding responsibility is the biggest and most stupid mistake.Successful people never look for excuses for themselves. They firmly believe that there are no unsolvable problems in the world, only people who can't solve them.Therefore, they will quickly find their own deficiencies, learn from them and change themselves, so as to avoid bigger problems.

Navigate to goals with a plan
There must be a plan in doing things. No matter what the matter is, from the beginning of the plan to the final success, it always takes a certain amount of time to implement it.If there is no plan, work is like a mess.To achieve your goals, let the plan navigate them.

(End of this chapter)