In a world where everyone brags about never getting tired and forever posts about being on their shit, let me be the first to admit that I procrastinate. Especially when it comes making my ideas come to life. For 2015, I made it my personal mission to stop procrastinating once and for all. Here are a few practices that are helping me get there:
1. Being strategic about who/what I follow on Instagram. Think about how many hours you spend on Instagram over the course of a week. Probably a ton. When I'm already mentally done with whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing, I turn to social media for entertainment. To combat this, I began making a conscious effort to follow all of my favorite bloggers, business owners, authors and inspirational people (basically anyone at the level I'm trying to get to) so that if I do get distracted, I'm looking at things that remind me of my end goal and help me get back on task. It's way easier to stay focused when you have a timeline full of people making moves, rather than one full of party fliers, memes, and drama you can screenshot and send to your friends.
2. Working at my desk, rather than in my bed. This one is self-explanatory. Sitting at my desk keeps me inspired and helps me push through even when I'm tired. If I'm working in my bed and get tired, it's a wrap - the laptop is hitting the floor, the light is switching off and I'm sliding under the covers to go to sleep.
3. Utilizing my Business Best Friend (BBF). Since freshman year, my friend Nishikwa has been the one I turn to to bounce ideas off of and to go to networking events/workshops. Talking about our dreams and encouraging each other to achieve them was a part of our friendship, it was just something we did. I never realized the impact our friendship could have on our professional lives until I read this post about finding a BBF by The Alisha Nicole. I realized that Shik and I were already BBFs, we just weren't using each other effectively - so we made our BBFship official. In addition to whatever time we spend doing normal friend stuff, Shik and I schedule time to get together once a week, listen to Podcasts, write out our weekly business goals and hold each other accountable for getting them done.
Building your empire is optional. By that, I mean that if you procrastinate on building your blog, business, or side hustle, nothing happens. You're not going to flunk out of school, like you would if you missed too many assignments or get fired from your job, like you would if you didn't listen to your boss. There's no real consequence, which makes it easier to put things off until tomorrow. But we all know tomorrow doesn’t exist. Do it now, get it done. You'll thank yourself later.