There is hope though!

To gain success in life I believe conquering procrastination and mastering your ability to deal with it is important. If you want to make the most of life in general you have to take opportunities when they present themselves and not put them off for something else. Even more importantly, you need to train yourself to recognize when opportunities present themselves and recognize your own behavior upon seeing them.

Recognize those times when you don’t quite feel like doing something and saying to yourself ‘If I REALLY want success, if I REALLY want to achieve my goals, I have to put in 100% of the effort, even when I don’t want to.’ Be definite and specific about your targets when you’re doing this. Any goal is easier to follow when you’re specific.

Start trying this out whenever you feel like procrastinating something. You may be very surprised by just how much procrastinating behavior can limits us otherwise: it can effect our careers, our friendships and even our general happiness.

If you stop procrastinating and start doing however… in time, you will learn to see that by DOING… as opposed to THINKING about something while wishing you didn’t have to do it…is more positive, constructive and actually LESS tiring than procrastinating about it. If you start doing, you will live more in the moment, and will not live your life with regrets thinking ‘if only I had started working on this sooner’ or ‘If only I had prepared more’. You will see yourself achieving and progressing with your goals and with your life.

The biggest opportunities you get in life are to recognize what needs to be done and when. When you can figure them out and act upon them you can truly give yourself the time you need and deserve, to REALLY give yourself the best chances in life. In short, stop allowing procrastination and the fear that comes with it from sabotaging yourself.

Like the sign says “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Mind Maps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

Firstly, I will be discussing Mind Maps, as we are only at the beginning, we need to start by writing down our goals, or plans we have for ourselves. They can be little things, or the most grandiose of ideas you can think of.

Whatever you have in mind, mind Maps are fantastic for setting out what you want out of life. It allows you to put down, on paper, ideas or thoughts that would otherwise stay in your head in a huge mess and not go anywhere. By putting down your ideas, or in my case, goals, you are one step closer to actually fulfilling them. Knowing what you want for yourself, your best self, is the first step. And by writing down what you want, it suddenly becomes a lot more solid.

Below is an example I did for one of my Business Advantage Units at QUT. We used it in the Big Bang Executive Thinking Module. The idea was to write down our goals for the different areas in our lives.

Using a Mind Map you can easily visualise multiple goals

As you can see, I have placed goals for myself for all different aspects of my life. As I go on, I will end up changing bits and pieces of this Mind Map as I complete goals or I change my mind about them (plans change all the time). The idea though is to be honest with yourself and write down whatever you truly want to achieve.

So take a second to do it. Write down your goals or plans for yourself. Link them to different areas of your life. This is the first step, from then on, you will start to make plans in order to achieve these goals. An example would be that you would like to travel overseas. So therefore you will need to start saving up and budgeting to get the money for a ticket. Then look up travelling accommodation and dates you would like to leave and return by etc.

I hope this helps you, as it helped me, in getting a sense of direction of where to go in one’s life.

Firstly, introductions are in order. My name is Stuart Atchison, I’m currently in my third year of a double degree in Law and Business (Majoring in Accounting). For the greater part of my life I have been interested in self improvement. Bettering myself in every shape and form possible.

Making myself more adaptable. Giving myself an edge.

This website is partly an extension of giving myself an edge. I want people to be able to read this and see that I am more than just a student and a casual worker. That I am a person with a smart mind and a strong will that is ready to jump into the workplace to help myself and my employer pursue every endeavour and reach every success possible.

As well as that, this website will be a journal of the things I have learnt from going to workshops, reading books and attending seminars. I hope that what I learn will benefit others and help them achieve the success they desire for themselves. Motivation is important and I hope, that I can in any way possible, help motivate others towards their goals.

I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do, between all the trials and tribulations, the successes and the realisations.

- Stuart.