Stop Messing Around: How to Get Things Done and Crush Your Goals

STOP Messing Around

How to Get Things Done and Crush Your Goals

M.G. David

Copyright © 2022 M.G. David

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]

Cover by Informize

ISBN: 979-8-9881171-0-0 (eBook)

DEDICATION

To you reading this book, wanting to stop messing around. Thank you.

Personal Letter from Me to You

Letter to Your Accountability Partner

Introduction

Part 1

The More You Mess Around the More You Find Out

Chapter 1

It Is Real - Messing Around Has Consequences

You Don’t Have All the Time

Others Are Doing It..Why Shouldn't I

It’s Been Around

Dangers Of Messing Around

Bad Endings

Me:

Chapter 2

Its Antecedents - But You Can Still Break Free: Quitting's on the Table!

You Can Choose to Stop

It's Possible

John - The Student

Wendy - The Entrepreneur

Ben

Linda - The Employee

Smith - The Professional

You

Part 2

The Science Behind Messing Around

Chapter 3

Understanding Procrastination - Why We Do Everything Except What We Should

It is a bad thing

Biological vs Behavioral

Present Self vs Future Self

It is a Habit.

Killer Habit

Quotes

Why We Prefer Messing Around till the Last Minute

Chapter 4

How Procrastination Works - The Engine Room of

F... ing Around

Dissected

Action Vs Inaction

The Switch

Desirableness

Triggers

Desire:

Emotion

Environment

Pleasurableness

Consequence (Imagined)

Passion

Life or Death

Result

Consequence

Part 3

Procrastination Tools

Chapter 5

Desire Tools

Desire Tools

Tool

Negative Desire Tools

Positive Desire Tools

Task Desire Tools

Chapter 6

Emotion Tools

Emotion Tools

Chapter 7

Environment Tools

Environment Tool

Chapter 8

Pleasurableness Tools

Pleasurableness Tool

Pleasurableness Tool 1

Chapter 9

Consequence Tools

Consequence Tools

Chapter 10

Reward Tools

Reward Tools

Chapter 11

Triune-Self Tools

Triune Tools

Take Ownership of Your Future Self

Realize and Implement the Democracy of Self

Hold Regular Round Table Meetings of Yourselves

Chapter 12

Prioritization Tools

Prioritization Tools

Conclusion

About The Author

End Notes

Personal Letter from Me to You

Letter to Your Accountability Partner

Introduction

Hey, teens! Let's talk about how our actions (or lack of actions) define who we are. You know that feeling when you look back and think, Why didn't I do that thing? It's like a heavy weight on your shoulders, right? And if you ask yourself, What did I do instead? and the answer is Nothing useful, well, that's just a bummer.

Procrastination is the enemy of progress, my friends. It's held back so many people, killed careers and businesses, and even made people sick. That's why we got to learn to conquer it! And if you're holding this book, it means you're ready to kick some procrastination butt.

But let me tell you, reading this book is just the first step. You got to be serious about taking action too. Success is all about taking the right steps in the right order. And to do that, you got to know your enemy. Procrastination can be a sneaky one, so we got to get to know it really well to beat it.

I've struggled with procrastination too, and I tried everything from motivation to therapy. But my aha moment came when I realized I needed to understand it better. And now, I want to share all that knowledge with you. This book is full of simple tools based on solid research that have been proven to work. Trust me, they worked for me and for many others too. So, let's conquer procrastination and achieve greatness together!

Part 1

The More You Mess Around the More You Find Out

Hey there, my dudes and dudettes! Buckle up because we're about to learn a valuable lesson: messing around can have some serious consequences. But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom! Despite these consequences, lots of folks have managed to bounce back and achieve greatness.

Chapter 1

It Is Real - Messing Around Has Consequences

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.

Marcus Aurelius (121-180AD)

Y

ou Don't Have All the Time. Hey there, how much time do you think you've got? I'm not talking about your lifespan, no need to worry about that! I'm talking about the time you have, to make things happen. You only have 24 hours in a day, and you can't stretch it any further. You can't press pause to goof around and come back to it later, unfortunately. Time is like currency, and you've got to spend it wisely.

Think of it this way: every morning you wake up with 24 hours in your wallet. Every action you take throughout the day costs you some of that time. From sleeping to working, to eating and hanging out with friends, everything costs you time. And once you've spent it, you can't get it back.

So, what are you spending your time on? Studies show that students like you spend as much as 10 hours a day on social media and only 3.9 hours studying! Yikes! That's a lot of time spent on one thing.¹,²

The good news is that you can reallocate your time to focus on what's important to you. If you have a goal you want to achieve, you'll need to make time for it. That means cutting back on other things or dropping them altogether.

But here's the thing: what you spend your time on will determine your value, happiness, and even your health. So, choose wisely and don't goof around. Procrastination is just another form of goofing around, so don't let it get the best of you. Spend your time on actions that will give you the highest value, whether it's eating healthy or working on a project that could pay off in the future.

Others Are Doing It..Why Shouldn't I

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you act totally irrational and do things that contradict what you know you should be doing? Like, you have a big project due or a test to study for, but instead of working on it, you find yourself scrolling through social media or binge-watching your favorite show. Well, you're not alone! Procrastination is a common problem that affects a lot of us.

But did you know that procrastination can actually have serious consequences? It can lead to missed opportunities, ruined relationships, and even physical health problems like heart disease! And despite all the studies and research out there, it seems like procrastination just keeps getting worse.³,⁴,⁵.

But don't worry, there are ways to overcome procrastination! We just need to find unique approaches that work for us as individuals. So next time you catch yourself putting things off, try to take action right away, break your tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks, and eliminate any distractions that might be tempting you away from your goals.

Together, we can beat procrastination and achieve our dreams!

It’s Been Around

Let’s talk more about procrastination. You might think it's a new thing, but nope, it's been around for a hot minute. And guess what? It's only getting worse as technology makes it easier to do things from wherever you are. I mean, come on, who wants to do homework when you can binge-watch your favorite show on Netflix? But here's the kicker: procrastination has been a problem since ancient times, when people first started working together in groups. Back then, if someone slacked off on their part of a project, it could put the whole community in danger. And even the fancy-pants aristocrats and philosophers knew procrastination was a big deal. They wrote about it, warned against it, and even punished people for it.⁶,⁷,⁸,⁹ But did that stop people from putting things off? Nope, not really. So, why is procrastination still a thing? That's the million-dollar question.

Dangers Of Messing Around

So, it's been around forever because it's just too dang easy to get sucked into doing something fun instead of what we should be doing. And let's be real, social media and internet surfing are just too tempting to resist sometimes. But here's the thing, procrastination is like a wolf in sheep's clothing. It might seem harmless and fun, but it can actually have some serious consequences.

Sure, we like to talk about how we can still get things done even if we procrastinate, but let's face it, that's not always the case. Research shows that procrastination is pretty harmful and can lead to all kinds of bad stuff like stress, anxiety, and even failure.¹⁰,¹¹ And let's not forget about the under-performance and low self-esteem that come with it.

One reason we procrastinate is because we underestimate how long it takes to get stuff done. And when unexpected problems arise, which they always do, we're left scrambling at the last minute and end up with poor performance or even failure. Plus, we always fall for the short-term benefits of procrastination, but in the long run, it can lead to mediocrity, misery, and poverty.

And if that's not enough to convince