Normally, October is Anti-Procrastination Month here on The Savvy Entrepreneur blog. Since all my time is spent working on my new venture, Mompowerment, I decided not to post daily procrastination-beating tips, tricks, resources and suggestions this time ’round.

However, Chris Lloyd was kind enough to submit an article for me to share with you here!

Enjoy!

Planning To Beat Procrastination

Scientists have conducted research into procrastination and what causes it. You can read the report for one study here (pdf), but I’ll try and sum up the results and what they mean for you without all the big scientific words.

The researchers gave two groups of people a task to open a bank account. The researchers made one group think abstract thoughts about the task by asking them to imagine what a bank account can mean for their life. Researchers tried to make the other group think concrete thoughts about the task with questions about the specific steps of opening an account. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that the second group completed the task much quicker than the first group. In some cases, the first group never completed the task.

This contradicts some procrastination advice. People have advised imagining the benefits of completing a goal to get the motivation to overcome procrastination. This research suggests that advice will make your problem even worse. You probably already know the benefits of starting your own business. That’s why you’re reading this blog. Daydreaming about good things that might happen probably won’t help get the job done.

Instead, when you find yourself procrastinating, try and break down the task into smaller, concrete steps. Write them down or just think about them. This will make you more likely to actually do the task. You’ll be on the road to accomplishing your goals instead of just daydreaming about it.

This has been a guest post by Chris Lloyd. He still daydreams more than he should about helping people find great Austin apartments.