3 Ideas for Overcoming Procrastination

Kathy Collard Miller is an honest, transparent woman and when she talks about making wise choices, I know she has learned from experience. In this Choices UPGRADE, she deals with the tough topic of procrastination.

“Why do I keep procrastinating?" Kathy said. "I want to be stop delaying but I keep putting things off.”

Truth be known, I (Dawn) am a real pro at putting off the inevitable. At least in some areas of my life. I needed Kathy's refresher course in dealing with this weakness—procrastination!

Kathy continues . . . 

Just the other day I figuratively shook myself by my lapels and asked, “Kathy, why do you let the dishes stack up? It looks so messy!”

I had to be honest with myself that I call myself dependable but I’m selectively dependable. I let things go I should get done and as a result there is increased clutter, dirt and messes. I don’t like the results, but I don’t seem motivated to do what I should.

As I faced my problem, I began making some commitments led by the Holy Spirit.

Here are three ideas He used for me; I hope they are helpful for you if procrastination is one of your weaknesses.

1. Institute the 30-Second Rule.

Even though so much can get done in 30 seconds or one minute, I still put things off. For instance, I pull up my email account on my phone and receive a message that I could easily answer in 30 seconds or a minute. But because I don’t prefer poking that tiny alphabet pad or it’s too noisy to use the microphone, I tell myself I’ll wait to answer when I get to my desk. But then when I get to my desktop computer, so many emails have added up I have a big job—and I delay responding!

If I’d been willing to do “little” things rather than waiting, it wouldn’t be overwhelming.

That’s why I’ve been telling myself, "If something can be done within 30 seconds or a minute, even two minutes, do it right then." As a result, a fast answer to an email or text will save me time later and not feel overwhelming.

Sometimes we don’t recognize the value of little things, but God does. He says in Zechariah 4:10: “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin" (NLT).

2. Recognize your motive for wanting to put things off.

I often wondered why I neglected doing the dishes. After all, instead of putting a dish into the sink or onto the counter, I could have used the same energy and time to stick it into the dishwasher—and it would be done!

Then one day after loading the dishwasher with dishes I could have loaded quickly over a day or two, I paid attention to my emotions. I recognized the sense of satisfaction in that moment. It felt good to transform the kitchen from messy to clean.

In a sense, my anticipation of that accomplishment had been rewarding—and motivating my procrastination. I knew I would feel like I had succeeded at something and so I didn’t complete the small tasks.

To combat procrastination, especially involving clutter, pay attention to your emotions. What emotion does waiting provide?

Whether it’s transforming a dirty kitchen or clearing off your desk, look to God for your satisfaction and joy. Anything that replaces Him is an idol. His approval is what we should seek because He wants to tell us, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

3. I’m afraid of the response I’ll receive for taking action.

Whereas we just talked about the satisfaction of success, we can also procrastinate because we fear the potential “pain” that’ll result from taking action.

Maybe you’ve been putting off responding to that email because you’re convinced whoever receives it will become angry. Or you don’t know exactly what to say to your friend and so you delay—waiting for just the right words to show up in your mind.

But in making those choices of delay we aren’t trusting God.

• We’re trying to control the situation or another person so that we can protect ourselves from pain.
• We’re leaning on our own ideas and that’s contrary to Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (ESV).

If we recognize our procrastination as not trusting God, then we’re saying He can’t be in charge of the results.

Since He’s sovereign and therefore in charge of everything, He could literally bring a good result from our poor words, and He can bring an unexpected result (what seems negative at the time) from our good words.

We can’t control what happens but we can seek Him for wisdom; then take action and trust Him for the resulting “straightened path.”

I know these three ideas have been instrumental in seeing God’s work in empowering me to take action and increase my trust in Him.

In fact, just this morning, I responded to God’s prompting—finally—about suggesting a book idea to my agent. I really didn’t think he would like it and I feared the seeming “rejection.” But he quickly wrote back and said, “I like this and I think I know a publisher who would be interested.”

I don’t know what will happen, but for now I know I didn’t procrastinate (much!) and God may have a surprising result.

Which of those three insights could help you to resist procrastination?

Kathy Collard Miller loves to help women trust God more through her 50 books and her speaking in over 30 states and 8 foreign countries. Learn more about Kathy's unique ministry at her website/blog. Her latest book is Never Ever Be the Same: A New You Starts Today (Leafwood). 

Graphic adapted, Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Find Joy in Being Intentional This Year

I first invited author and speaker Kathy Carlton Willis to write for Upgrade when I read about her formula for setting D.R.E.A.M. goals for the New Year. In this New Year's UPGRADE, she shows us another way to move into 2016, by determining to be intentional.

“Do you let life happen to you or do you make life happen?" Kathy says. "If you find your life isn’t changing much from year to year, or that you fall short of your goals, it’s possible you need to adapt a more intentional mindset.

"You can’t just mean well and hope it all turns out okay.”

Kathy had me (Dawn) hooked. I hear that word “intentional” a lot. But what does it really mean to be intentional?

Kathy continues . . .

When we are intentional, we take charge of what we think, choose, say and do. We own it. We don’t blame our circumstances or settle for less because we can’t help our situation.

No matter what challenges God allows in our lives, He also has us here for a purpose. And we can only fulfill that purpose when we operate in His strength and determine not to just float through life.

Living with intention means you are determined. Your decisions are firm and you choose to act on your intentions.

Make sure your intentions aren’t based on self empowerment, but on a determination to be so plugged in to God that you’re ready to follow where He leads and to act on His purpose for your life.

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:8-11 NLT)

You may think it sounds depressing to live with intention, but according to John 15:11, acting on God’s direction leads to being filled with so much joy it will overflow.

One joy-filled way I remind myself to stay intentional is to sing Christian hymns and songs that reflect my determination to follow God’s directions. Being focused on this intention helps me live wholly for Him. What song comes to your mind?

Here are a few that popped into my head:

• I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
• I am Resolved No Longer to Linger
• I Am Determined

Intentional means you don't wait for things to happen; you make choices to help determine the outcome.

Life becomes “on purpose” instead of “by accident.” Not “I hope to” or “I’m going to try,” but “I will!”

I will be more intentional with my:

1. Time
2. Relationships
3. Goals
4. Walk with Christ
5. Priorities
6. Words
7. Prayers

Here’s one word of caution when making plans: Make sure they are God’s plans for your life.

It’s not enough to merely ask God to bless your plans. It’s all about following Him, whether it means staying still when you want to move forward, or moving forward when you’d rather stay still.

Keep in mind this principle when it comes to intentional living:

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:14-15 NLT)

How will you determine to be more intentional this year?

Kathy Carlton Willis shines for God, reflecting His light as a speaker at writer's conferences and women's retreats, and as an author - contributing to three books and writing hundreds of columns and articles online and in print publications. She wrote Grin with Grace with AMG Publishers and has several books releasing over the next few years. She and her husband/pastor, Russ, live in Texas.

Graphic adapted, image courtesy of pixabay.com.

A Fresh Start for Your Finances

Do your finances need a fresh start in the New Year? Ellie Kay, known as “America’s Family Financial Expert”®, is sharing a timely Financial UPGRADE today.

“After the holidays, most Americans face some pretty hefty credit card bills in January,” Ellie says. “In fact, it will take until May of this year to pay off the new credit card debt from the holidays and this doesn’t even include what debt may have already been on the card.”

Been there, done that, and I (Dawn) have “financial scars” to prove it! I had to learn some wisdom from the Bible and practice good stewardship. (*See end of this post.)

Ellie continues . . .

It may seem like a game to juggle debt, but it’s one that you can win if you are determined to get a fresh start. Through the power of prayer and a desire to follow God’s wisdom in your finances, you can get the fresh start you desire.

As a child, I loved Monopoly®. I pretended all the play money was real—and mine! Sometimes we view real money as if it were play money.

When faced with the hard facts about their finances, many families go through five different stages—similar to the stages of grief:  shock, denial, depression, anger and acceptance. Your fresh start is just on the other side of this journey.

1. Shock

Shock depends on what you believed in the beginning. For example, if a family already knew their total consumer debt load (credit cards, car payments, furniture loans, etc.) was around 40K, they would only be mildly shocked at how 40K in debt looks on paper. But another couple may think they are only a couple of years away from being debt free and they discover they are twenty years away. That kind of a severe shock can take time to absorb. 

Use shock as a starting point to make better decisions. There are excellent budgeting and debt repayment tools at my website. I absolutely love the free Mint app.

2. Denial

Denial is not a river in Egypt.  It is the most common stage in financial recovery. Continual denial makes people more likely to succumb to scams such as email phishing schemes or “Payroll Loans.” Once you face denial, you can overcome it.

Several red flags of financial denial include:

• Paying late fees
• Missing Payments
• Balancing or staggering bills, or
• A perpetual lack of cash.

Oftentimes, this stage will find you stuck—you are unable to reduce your debt, or if you do, you are soon back into debt again. There’s hope when you begin to follow God’s principles of good stewardship.

3. Depression

A series of money problems that press in can bring on financial depression characterized by:

• Lack of concentration,
• Insomnia,
• Guilt, or
• Hopelessness.

Consumer Credit Counseling Services is a non-profit organization specializing in debt reduction and financial education. A counselor can get credit card interest rates lowered, payments deferred, and help develop a plan to emerge from the debt depression cycle.

4. Anger

The anger stage is sometimes scary. Anger can be manifested through a wide range of emotions at a high intensity level. It can be as mild as being a grump or as severe as significant arguments.

At this point, some people even get mad at God and blame Him.

When the number one issue cited in divorce today is “finances,” it’s easy to see how couples in this stage end up in the “debtor’s prison” of divorce court.

Refuse to put your anger on someone else. Talk with someone—professionals, your pastor or church counselor. It helps diffuse feelings.   

5. Acceptance

You’ll know you’ve reached this final stage, acceptance, when at least some of these elements are evident:

• Change – You discover what you need to change and you’re willing to make changes.
• Responsibility – You’ve stopped blaming someone or something else and have accepted responsibility for what you and your spouse did to contribute to your current financial status. 
• Accountability – Besides mutual accountability, couples agree to make themselves accountable to another couple or financial counselor. 
• Hotspots –You’ve identified hotspots where you’ve fallen short financially, and you purpose to avoid them through prayer and God’s help. 
• Patience – You have hope. You are more tolerant of your own mistakes and have decided to learn from them. 

Invite God into the equation. Through the power found in a relationship with Jesus, we can be more than conquers, even when it comes to our finances. Take it a day at a time and, in the future, you will be on the other side of this problem.

Then it will be your time to help someone else.

What will you do to get your financial fresh start in the New Year?

Ellie Kay has been a regular expert on national television with ABC NEWS NOW’s Money Matters and Good Money shows. Ellie is also a national radio commentator, a frequent media guest on Fox News, and CNBC, a popular international speaker, and the best-selling author of fifteen books including Lean Body, Fat Wallet (Thomas Nelson, 2014).

* A few scriptures to apply wisdom from the Bible regarding finances (Proverbs 15:22; 21:5; 22:7; 27:12); and stewardship (Psalm 24:1a; Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:42-44; Romans 14:12).

Become Productive in 2016

Pam Farrel is one of the most productive people I know. I'm always amazed by what she has accomplished in her personal life, family and writing/speaking ministry. In this New Year's UPGRADE, she encourages us to consider how we're using our time, because it can have a lasting impact.

"Each day we live the legacy we want to leave!" Pam says. "Because of the ticking clock, we need creative ways to squeeze the most out of each day."

Building a legacy is important to me (Dawn) too. I don't want to fritter away my time. Pam's insights into becoming more productive can help all of us use our time more intentionally.

Pam continues . . .

Eph. 5:15-16 reminds each of us: the time we have to create and leave a legacy is short.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

People have often asked me, “How did you write 40 books, serve your church, keep a happy marriage, and raise sons who have also become healthy leaders with happy marriages and families too?”

So in 7 Simple Skills for Every Woman book, I share my 7 Simple Steps for creating time to P-R-O-D-U-C-E:

P - Plan Out the Future.

Plan each year, each month, each week, each day, and each hour. Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

I like to use Outlook. (I color–code my Outlook so I can find items for family, work, social life quickly on my schedule, and I can input all important details.) I also plan who to delegate task to, or I schedule into my planner the time it will take for me to achieve the goal.  

R - Respond instead of React.  

 I don’t waste time on negative emotions.

Worry, self-doubt, frustration over delays or plans going awry are time wasters.

If I hit a really hard emotional hurdle, I will cry for a few minutes, then plan in time to better deal with the emotional fallout later.

To keep a positive disposition, I also plan in nourishing time off for favorite activities, dates with my husband, my kids, friends, ministry colleagues and days off for solitude. Time for self-care transforms into more time.

O - Optimize Multi-tasking.

I try to link easier tasks: Walk and listen to podcasts or audio books; fold laundry and watch the news; stretch while I listen to scripture songs; walk and pray through priorities or post to social media; dust or do dishes while memorizing scripture. 

D - Deliberately Group Tasks for Efficiency.

If I have to get dressed up for a meeting or speaking, then that is the day I also do other meetings, or filming for our ministry. I also link all my errands on one day.

By grouping similar tasks, I can also enjoy full days at home to be creative and comfy in my sweats!

U - Use every minute.

If I have an extra few minutes I check email, read newsletters, a magazine article or a book that can help me improve an area of my life.

I also handle small household tasks in those random five-to-ten-minute slots: clean out a drawer, wipe down the kitchen, empty the dishwasher or make a quick phone call.

C - Calendar Priorities.

I carve out and mark down time with God, family vacations, marriage getaways and date nights, our kids’ major responsibilities, activities and celebrations. These all get placed on the calendar as far out as possible.

E - Elevate My Vision.

I pray to get God’s viewpoint on my life, my marriage, my family, my ministry, my business, my friendships, my health—on all my life.

I have found it saves me time to do life God’s way.

God has great things for you to do. Enjoy seeing Him PRODUCE wonderful things through you!

Which one of these ideas will help you PRODUCE more in the next year? Or which will help you PRODUCE with a better attitude?

Pam Farrel is an international speaker and author of 40 books including her newest: 7 Simple Skills for Every Woman: Success in Keeping It All Together.   She and her husband Bill are relationship specialists who help people become "Love-Wise."

Graphic adapted, image courtesy of pixabay.com.

2016 - An Opportunity to "RESET"

As we enter another year in just a few days, I (Dawn) am thankful for a fresh opportunity to reset my priorities and goals. In fact, "reset" is my focus word for 2016, and the topic of this New Year's UPGRADE.

We reset diamonds, reset odometers, reset alarm clocks, but—praise the Lord—we can also reset our lives.

To reset is to "set again" or to "set differently." I'm going to do both.

In 2015, I turned 65. I'm well into the "I want to finish well" stage of life. Whether the Lord gives me 30+ more years or fewer, I want to honor and serve Him with all my heart.

"Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21). "Good and faithful servant" isn't just something I want to hear someday. It's what I want to practice being now.

This past summer, I lamented my advancing age and wondered if God could use me in the coming years. I basically wimped out, weeping, and two Christian women, Anita and Yvonne, had to "prop me up" again with truth from God's Word.

But I couldn't sleep that night. And in the middle of the night, the thoughts that came—could they have been from the Lord?—became my marching orders for the next "however many" years.

At the end of next month (Jan. 21, 26 and 28), I'll be writing more about the three fresh goals I believe God gave me for finishing well, but for now, I just want to list them because they are a huge part of my "reset":

1. Take Courage.

2. Build Strength.

3. Embrace Freedom.

I believe I need a major "reset" in all three of those areas, and I'm going to study these topics all through 2016 in Bible study, scripture memory, prayer and meditation.

But don't get me wrong. It's not about better self-effort!

I'm very aware that no lasting "reset" can happen without God working in and through my life. It's all about Him and what He wants to do ... or not do.

He may hijack my plans and send me in directions I can't imagine right now ... and that's fine with me too, because He's in charge and I trust Him. And I just need to be ready to move forward with Him.

The verse I've chosen for 2016 is Isaiah 43:19:

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (ESV) (*See my note at the end.)

Yes indeed. We may experience dry seasons, but God gives us many fresh opportunities to reset our lives.

Think about it:

• Some embrace New Year's resolutions as a way to jumpstart the year.
• Some evaluate the year just past and make new goals.
• Some, like me, choose a word for focus and change.
• When you think about it, every Sunday is an opportunity to reset as we come together around God's Word and then listen and apply.
• Even better, every morning—as we consider God's faithfulness to us—we can rejoice in a new day to repent of sins and reset our commitment to faith and obedience to God.

The truth is, the Father and the Holy Spirit are working within all of God's children at every moment to make the biggest reset of all: 

• He is sanctifying our lives (John 17:17; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:21; Hebrews 10:14) ... and as a result,
• He is making us more like the Son, Jesus (Romans 8:28-29; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Galatians 2:20).

For many years, I've thanked God for the wonder of His grace in giving me the desire and ability to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He changes my mind and heart. It's been exciting to see God at work.

Are you grateful too?

Thank God for each reset opportunity!

What is God asking you to "reset" this year?

* [Note regarding Isaiah 43:19 - While the context of this verse is the prophecy of God (Israel's only Savior, vv. 11, 15) planning to deliver His people from Babylon, it speaks to me in a powerful way too. It reminds me our Creator God is always doing "new things" in our lives so we can honor and serve Him even better as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit. We simply need to be alert and ready to obey Him!]

Dawn Wilson, founder and president of Heart Choices Today, is the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is the Director of the San Diego chapter of Network of Evangelical Women in Ministry (NEWIM). Dawn is the co-author of a devotional, LOL with God, and contributed "The Blessing Basket" in It's a God Thing. She and her husband Bob have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe. 

Graphic Adapted: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.