The Lie That Procrastination Tells You—And How To Break Through

Email concept with girl's hands, close up

Do you find yourself frequently putting things off?

Maybe you have a project or a task you want to accomplish, but you cannot seem to find the time or you feel overwhelmed?

Sound like you? Well, there is hope.

Procrastination is a lie that causes you to believe that avoiding something is somehow more beneficial than actually doing it.

Procrastination is deadly when it becomes a lifestyle.

For Instance, Here Is How to Ineffectively Deal with Procrastination:

  • First, you sit down and make a long list of everything you have been putting off for the past few days, weeks, months and years.
  • You prepare yourself to get it all done in 1 weekend.
  • Then you remember you need to “… seek ye first the Kingdom of God, …” so you start out by praying …
  • Then the phone rings, so you answer it and talk with your friend about your list and ask them to pray for you.
  • Back to your list.
  • You pour yourself a cup of coffee and read your list over.
  • Now you are feeling discouraged that your life is so out of control. So, you pour another cup of coffee and grab a cookie first.
  • Back to your list.
  • You start to pray again, but you are interrupted by having to go to the bathroom because you drank too much coffee.
  • Back to your list.
  • You start to cry and let it all out—crying is good, right?
  • While you were in the bathroom you noticed the grout needed cleaning on your countertop. At this point, scrubbing the grout sounds like more fun than your list.
  • Back to your list.
  • Oh, it is time to pray again and give it all to God, but you are exhausted because it is your first day off in weeks.
  • Since the #1 item on your list is to get organized, you think that there might be a TV show on with organizational tips, so you grab a bag of chips and head for the couch!

Yes—this scenario might sound a little extreme, but you can probably identify with parts of it.

A Better Way to Overcome a Procrastination Lifestyle

Time is the one thing we all have in common. So I usually begin my week by asking myself this question:

“What are 1 or 2 things that I need to get done this week that would most impact my life or projects?

I then write a time on my schedule to do those 1 or 2 things, or I get up early once a week to work on those important tasks.

As you accomplish 1 task, and then another, soon you begin to accomplish more. And when you break through in one area, you open up breakthroughs in other areas of your life.

This is what I call developing a Breakthrough Lifestyle.

The Easy Way to Develop a Breakthrough Lifestyle

Developing a breakthrough lifestyle is as easy as doing a few small things consistently. Baby steps add up later if you do them regularly.

[Tweet “Developing a breakthrough lifestyle is as easy as doing a few small things consistently. Baby steps add up if you do them regularly.”]

If you do 1 small thing per week towards your goals or dreams then in 6 weeks or even 6 months you will be way farther ahead than if you did nothing at all.

4 Tips to Break through Procrastination and Not Breakdown

  • Start by making a list of the things you are putting off, things that if you did them—it would change your life.
  • Now list a few small baby steps you can take today or this week towards those few most important priorities.
  • Get in the habit of breaking things down into small tasks.
  • Learn to combine 2 things into 1. If you want to pray and you need to exercise, then pray while you exercise.

The reason so many people procrastinate is that most people are waiting to have a full day to do something.

Most likely that day never comes. And when it does, unless you have a plan, you will most likely spend it doing something else. Learning to break through procrastination each day will keep you from breaking down.

[Tweet “Learning to break through procrastination each day will keep you from breaking down.”]

Blessings,

Doug-sig
Doug Addison
DougAddison.com

P.S. Now is the time to FINALLY get your breakthrough and change your worldeven if you have failed in the past! Want to know more? Check out my self-coaching tool kit, Unlocking Your Breakthrough.

Doug Addison is a prophetic speaker, author and coach. He is known for his Daily Prophetic Words, Spirit Connection webcast, podcast, and blog. Doug’s message of love, hope and having fun reaches people around the world! His powerfully, positively funny style of teaching and coaching helps open people to discover their destiny and experience God’s supernatural love and power. He and his wife Linda live in Los Angeles, California where he is impacting the arts and entertainment and media industries.

admin

Enjoy this content? Share on your favorite platform:

  1. Reply

    We use Game Maker a lot in our curriculum, which has been fatstnaic for teaching control and motivating students. We also look at scratch for a few weeks. I’m a secondary school teacher, but we teach game maker to year 7s so years 5/6 should still be ok with many of the basic concepts. I can probably send you an example of what some year 7s have produced if it’s useful?I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but we also teach HTML from year 9 up, followed by VBA, PHP & SQL and Unreal Tournament.

    • Marcia
    • October 19, 2015
    Reply

    Thanks for this article. When i saw the suggestion about baby steps it reminded me of the movie “what about Bob” have you seen it? The movie is soooo funny. I battle procrastination the time. I think it is just the shear volume of what needs to be done in a large family that gets to me, and I am the default guy. Mom picks up the slack. Or does the job, if I didn’t need sleep all would get done, but the older i get the more i need rest. I can get dragged off doing the most urgent and end up missing a bunch of other necessary things. I hope the most important gets accomplished. If it doesn’t the consequences come hard and fast. So i try with lists and prayer and hopefully an urgent matter doesn’t happen! Much grace and mercy needed here,

    • Gary Deaton
    • October 11, 2015
    Reply

    Thank you for this article. I’ve heard similar things before but hearing it again in a different way is very helpful.

    • Gary Deaton
    • October 11, 2015
    Reply

    This article is very helpful. I’ve heard similar things before but hearing it again in a different way is very helpful.

    I’ve just been introduced to your ministry Doug through Elijah List and you are very encouraging. Thank you.

    • Gary
    • October 11, 2015
    Reply

    Really helpful Doug. I’ve heard similar things like this before but hearing it again in a different way helps. Thank you.

    One more thing. I’ve just been introduced to your ministry through the Elijah List and I want to thank you for being so encouraging.

  2. Reply

    Thank you Doug,for this impute on procrastination. It was truly helpful for me.

    • carolyn
    • October 9, 2015
    Reply

    Helpful! Thanks

    • Lucy
    • October 9, 2015
    Reply

    Hey Doug!

    Thanks for the idea of breaking things down to the two things that you need to do to undo the log jam so you can keep going instead of pro…Well you know that uncomfortabe word.

  3. Reply

    WOW… lol… I laughed and smiled when I read the first part of the article because I have done that… my reason for procrastination is fear… fear of the GOOD that will come… having lived in survival mode most of my life… its a whole new way of thinking to now have to build the life God has for me… recently I realised that I am worth the fight… God values me and I am learning to value myself more and more… I know this will help in breaking the fear and procrastination. I am 100% sure that the years of surviving taught me how to fight and so now I have to fight for me… God has already given me the victory…. now I need to choose to walk it out daily. Thanks for the GREAT article.

    • Reply

      YES! Standing in agreement with you Elizabeth, that you will walk out your victory daily with God! Bless you! -Amber for Doug

    • Renee K
    • October 9, 2015
    Reply

    I CAN relate to much of the scenario you listed how a day can go!
    One distraction after the other, phone rings, cat,dog, time to eat, so many things.
    One thing I stopped doing to get my day going better was not to get on the computer in the morning. Before I knew it hours had already gone by and now I’m tired!
    I find if I can do one important thing a day, I feel better.
    It’s getting to the extra important things that are difficult.

    • Menna
    • October 9, 2015
    Reply

    Love it! Thanx for your insight!

      • Menna
      • October 9, 2015
      Reply

      And it came right in time. Had a breakthrough yesterday. Now I understand how to continue doing that 🙂

    • Esther
    • October 9, 2015
    Reply

    When you give the example about the person who keeps on putting things off I swear you were telling my story *cringe*
    Thanks Doug for the great article. I need this and will start disciplining myself in this area. God bless you

    • Anna Jungert
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    My cure for procrastination:
    I pray
    I ask for organizing angels
    Then I wait for them to arrive
    Then somehow it just gets done

    • Reply

      Those are helpful pieces of advice, Anna. Thanks for sharing! -Amber for Doug

    • Deandra
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    Excellent and on time hope to accomplish alot today and this week

    • Jodi Sarver
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    Part of getting sucked into the trap of procrastination is being overwhelmed, and Doug so beautifully wrote how even when you realize that you need to deal with all that you’ve put off, that is also overwhelming and keeps the vicious cycle in place. This was so beautifully written, as the portion of the article about how to deal with procrastination ineffectively struck me as being somewhat humorous – but without taking away the impact. Kinda takes it from condemnation to conviction, and for me at least, the humor aspect also helps bring it back from being overwhelming to breaking it into portions that you can actually deal with it. I don’t know that an article could’ve possibly been written this way without inspiration and assistance from the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Doug, for being a willing and obedient vessel!

      • Rhonda Yeager Acker
      • October 10, 2015
      Reply

      Jodi, I enjoyed your comments on this♥I found it really helpful♥And the humorous part applies to me as well♥I thank God that He has a sense of humor too♥I found Dougs inspired words to remind me to get back on track with the list♥God Bless You my sister in Christ♥

    • Amber
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    That is a very accurate summation of my procrastination tendencies, only I tend to resort to google and end up on facebook rather than in front of the tv with a bag of chips. When I get a free day I go through a mix of lethargy and lack of energy, to feeling like I am bored and have nothing to do and wondering why during the week I’m thinking of all these things I could or should be doing, then when I have the free time I have no motivation or energy.

    The other thing I fend very encouraging, though I can’t say this is giving me revelatory life changing answers in this article, I have recently been focusing on asking myself why do I procrastinate and where does it come from? And then you post this article. God is good. Thanks and keep on keep’n on!

    • Carol
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    Thanks for this Doug I really needed it. I have been a procrastinator as long as I can remember and as a result something won’t get done or is done in a hurry and the end result is shabby. I am wondering if it is a spirit? I find myself even procrastinating when God tells me to do something and then I have to repent and end up beating myself up. I have tried the list thing but then forget to look at it. Woe is me.

    • Vicki Rademacher
    • October 8, 2015
    Reply

    Thank you for this excellent article.

    • Reply

      Thanks for commenting, Vicki! I hope you have a greatly blessed day. -Amber for Doug

  4. Pingback: The Lie That Procrastination Tells You |

Reply to Menna. cancel

Top
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial