You just keep avoiding your money and now you’re in some serious money trouble. So you came to me to learn how to stop procrastinating so that you could get back on stable financial ground. You have come to the right place because that is just what I am going to do! First, let me tell you secret … Procrastinating doesn’t mean you’re lazy.
What?! You totally thought this whole time that you were so lazy with your money people were going to start calling you a sloth! I don’t want that to happen because you’re not a sloth. You’re a wonderful human being who just enjoys pumpkin chocolate chip cake too much (oh wait, that’s me!)
I watched this short video that changed the way I work. The guy interviewed in the video was Cal Newport. He talked about how to stop procrastinating, and what it really means in certain cases. Procrastination actually means that you either:
A. Don’t have enough knowledge about the task you are supposed to accomplish,
B. Don’t have the confidence to do it or,
C. You just don’t have a good enough plan in place that you truly believe can help you.
I now see this light bulb going off in your head and you’re like, “Oh my gosh that’s totally true!” Why are you going to want to do something if you don’t know how to do it or you don’t feel comfortable doing it? You’re not … You’re going to drag it out as long as your slothy butt can. (Just kidding, we already established that you are not a lazy sloth.)
I can Attest
First of all, I want to just say that I can totally attest to this newfound truth. I love writing, I especially love writing about anything to do with personal finance. Sometimes I’ll find a really awesome topic to write about, or even one that my readers have mentioned, only to find that I can’t bring myself to write anything. You know why? Because I just don’t know everything I can know about that specific topic. Once I do my research and feel confident that I am giving out the BEST money advice I can then whip out that article in no time. Until then, I’m stuck.
Same thing with going to the gym, if you know the reason why you want to go the gym such as get in shape or live a better lifestyle and truly believe in it than you have no problem going. If you’re just doing it because you know it’s important and you need to workout but don’t know the WHY you’re doing it, then you’re going to find every excuse not to go to the gym.
Cal Newport said that, “If you don’t have a system that makes sense, that you believe in, that you think can work and is going towards a goal that you believe in, you’re going to struggle. You’re going to procrastinate.”
I know that when it comes to saving money, that is something I am super passionate about. I live in a little apartment and although I honestly don’t mind living in it, I would like to move to a home when we start a family. Moving into a home means that we need to have money saved up to put down on that home. Because I know my ultimate goal of WHY I want to save I constantly think about that and make good money decisions that will get me closer to that goal.
How to Stop Procrastinating:
Well for starters, make it specific to you. If you are serious about learning how to stop procrastinating then find out first what you can do and what you do know. Don’t just do something financially because everyone else is doing. You are not the Jones’s and you’re not one of their minions to follow them around. Be your own person, make your own financial decisions. (as long as they’re good ones :)) And find out why you want to achieve your financial milestones. Is there a car you want to save up for? Great! That’s your why. Do you want to pay off your debt so you can be more financially stable and not have to stress about it anymore? Even better!
Find your why and make it super specific to you. You’ll find that you’ll be a lot more likely to not buy that new sweater for Fall and save the money instead.
Find a plan that works for you.
By plan I mean a budget (I felt your defenses go up when you read budget, we can call it a spending plan. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.)
Find a system that works for you and your family. There are so many different methods and ways to budget (cough, cough, spending plan!) Find the one that works best for you. Make your own kind of system that’s unique to your family if you want. Just make sure you are keeping track of your expenses and your income somehow every monthly.
Once you focus on your process and plan, have it down, the results will follow you.
Learn what you don’t know.
We talked above about when you don’t have confidence to do a task you try to find excuses not to do it. There are so many resources for you to utilize if you have questions about personal finance. Honestly, most of the time I just Google my questions. Set out to learn as much as you can about the topic so you feel comfortable enough to move forward and accomplish. You won’t learn how to stop procrastinating if you don’t at least try to learn a little something.
Know how far you’ll go.
In the video that I watched Cal Newport talked about making plan that is realistic to your energy levels. You know you better than anyone else. You know what you will do and what you absolutely will not. Don’t force yourself into a system that you won’t follow. Make sure that it is comfortable, practical and you know exactly how to do it.
You are now ready for the next step! It’s one of my favorites … make some money goals! Learning the concept above not only will help you make better money decisions but will help when setting your goals. You can now set achievable and realistic goals by using that system you put in place.
Look at you learning how to stop procrastinating! I’m proud of you for not procrastinating to read this post 🙂
I truly believe that you can overcome this slothiness you think you have and be able to finally deal with your money.
What do you procrastinate about?
Kate says
I like making your goal specific to you. Everyone has different levels of motivation. I can’t expect myself to accomplish the same project as someone else in the same way. Once I wrapped my head around this, I found I could accomplish more with better results.
McKenzy says
I had the same exact experience as you! I was just following along with what I was told I “should do”. I wasn’t ever motivated enough to actually follow through with paying off debt or even saving money. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Lauren @ Glitter & Grandeur says
This is great! I have been on a super productivity high recently – I have so much to do that I have no choice but to work hard as often as I can. I really need to adopt this mindset when it comes to money. My productivity-high has contributed to my caffeine addiction and therefore my credit-card-swiping problem. Ha! Thanks for sharing this and motivating me to do something about it.
McKenzy says
Of course, thanks for reading it! 🙂 I feel you! When I get super motivated and really excited about things I’m working on I immediately want to go to the mall, and I have to remember that that’s probably not the best option!