Now vs Later - What separates the best from the mediocre

First of all, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, may this be the one where you can achieve all your dreams or make significant progress towards your highest goals in life. However, that won't happen If you don't adopt a new set of beliefs with regards to action.

You might have a goal of losing 20 pounds at the end of the year, but when It comes the time to actually exercise, run, jog or at least do some light cardio, you say that you are going to do It later or tomorrow, deep down knowing that whenever you promise It, It never gets done. Of course the problem is our tendency to procrastinate and forget to keep us in our comfort zone, suffering though not enough to push us to do something about It.

That's why in this article I will talk about the importance of what's probably what separates people who are succesful from people who are still stuck in ruts, that being the virtue of urgency, doing things right at the moment when you propose yourself to do It, all so you can straighten the path towards your end goals and give you a prosperous existence. Let's begin:

Why It is so hard to be urgent these days?

It is easy, and you can find It at the palm of your hand or right in front of your eyes. Yes, I'm talking about your cellphone or laptop. While these technological achievements of the 21st century are really valuable for us when used the right way, giving us the ability to get access to information that no other generation in history was able to have by just typing a couple words, the sad reality is that most of the time they are used merely for distractions.

Picture this, whenever a student says he/she's going to focus on a particular task, the first thing to pass across his/her mind is to check social media for a couple minutes, which turn into 20 or even hours If we're not careful. With the overstimulation we're subject to everyday, It is easier to just watch videos about businesses than just starting one, all while deceiving us by making us think that we are making progress.

What can I do to become urgent?

This is someone of which I have talked about frequently in my articles, and you surely won't like It. In order to become urgent you have to do three things. First of all, to tell to that little voice in your mind that always make you procrastinate shut change your identity and finally reduce/remove distractions.

Battling Resistance

Whenever you try to do something that's meaningful in life, there will be the part of you that's afraid, too comfortable or even resented against you. If you really want to accomplish things now, you will have to disobey this internal resistance whenever things get uncomfortable.

Change your Identity

If you put two people who previously smoked and don't want to keep up that habit; and then you offer each one a smoke, who do you think will be the most likely to accept It: The person who says that he/she's trying to quit or the one that says he/she doesn't smoke. Of course It will be the first one. That's why, If you think you are a procrastinator or push things too much, you should change your identity so It favours you to one of a person that does things right now.

Reduce/Remove distractions:

As I've said previously, If you want to focus on a task and put yourself to do It, you should combine willpower and an environment which favors It. So, If you are trying to do things now, not in 2 hours or in a day, you should get rid of all those things that will give you instant gratification and deviate you from your work. This means that during your busy time you should keep your phone silent, the TV turned off and all social media closed. In this way you'll find that doing It after all is not that hard.

I hope that this article could have been of use to you, providing you with why It seems to be so hard for people to just sit down and do things right now, all while giving you some strategies you can apply to push yourself to do whatever you propose yourself to. I encourage you to be a person of NOW rather than one of LATER. Thank you for your support and good luck!