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Inspiration

Kiss procrastination goodbye

e're still in the dog days of summer, but moment-to-moment decision making that guides our lives
throughout the United States children have day to day, our brains are engaged in a different way. Our
returned to school, many greeting the new future self is not uppermost in our minds; it's our present
W academic year with optimism, yet far too self, the one in the here and now, faced with immediate,
many falling back into old habits within weeks, if not days. tangible rewards (or what seem like rewards in the moment)
The same holds true for adults at work. Each new period for the taking.
can be viewed as an opportunity to take stock and make a
new start. But how do you create new habits that will stick? So, really, to follow through on our goals, most of us will
need to sharpen our ability to delay gratification. Adam
Setting realistic goals and determining the milestones Sicinski, founder of IQ Matrix, offers five steps to help in
along the way and steps needed to reach them is a good doing that:
start. But how do you ensure you'll take the steps that lead 1. Know what you want.
where you want to go instead of reverting to well-worn
comfortable paths or new routes that go nowhere near your 2. Identify potential obstacles.
destination? And why is it often so hard to take the actions 3. Build a strong support network.
we know will lead to the best results?
4. Set clear boundaries.
The problem of veering off course is not unique to modern 5. Create a reward system.
life. The ancient Greeks had a word for it: akrasia. James
Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to If you're like me, you're probably already strong in some
Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, wrote that akrasia "is areas and weak in others. That's where Sicinski's third step of
when you do one thing even though you know you should building a strong support network comes in. The payments
do something else. Loosely translated, you could say that community is full of examples of colleagues – and even
akrasia is procrastination or a lack of self-control. Akrasia is competitors – offering each other support. Some schedule
what prevents you from following through on what you set in regular phone or video calls; others meet in person. It's
out to do." great to get support from those in your immediate sphere,
but it's often helpful to also receive input from someone
Time inconsistency who is looking in from the outside.

And the culprit behind this age-old phenomenon? According
to Clear, it's something called "time inconsistency," a term So do you have a clear vision of your goals for the end of
coined by experts in the field of behavioral economics. the third quarter and the all-important fourth quarter to
Time inconsistency refers to the tendency of our otherwise follow? If so, all you need is a good plan to address akrasia,
miraculous brains to value immediate rewards more highly so you can bid farewell to procrastination and be the
than future rewards. dynamo you always knew you could be.

The problem lies in the fact that when we're making plans
and envisioning our future selves, everything is in sync.
We're fully behind what we've set out to do. However, in the Kate Gillespie, President and CEO
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