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How many excuses can you come up with before you actually get work done? Excuses help pacify the fact that you aren't producing. It's time to stop making excuses for yourself and get the work done.

Just think of every excuse you make for yourself as a step further down the ladder of success. Who intentionally wants to take steps in the wrong direction? I know you don't!

As a woman you have to accept responsibility and provide accountability for the things you do and don't accomplish. Your main purpose as woman is to reproduce! That doesn't change when it comes to the work world either. This is your time to reproduce, that is multiply. By multiplying you can increase in all areas of your life.

You bring things into existence with your creative abilities. That means you supply your life with the things you desire by making it happen. Why deny yourself that? I challenge you to declare right now that you shall not be denied because of laziness. Declare that you will stop playing and get what needs to get done, done!

Remember F.O.C.U.S.!! Follow one course until successful.

Whether in your business or personal life, do you have the issue of making sure everything is ‘perfect’ before making a move?  

The Next Step

Sometimes we may get stuck – waiting, and waiting, and waiting as we pull together what we think is important before we move forward.  But if you think about it, is it really necessary to wait? Yeah, I know, this can be harsh on those of us who are analytical and have perfectionist tendencies.

Maybe the following is your situation:

You don’t have everything you need to roll out your full vision at the moment and it may take you a little while to unfold all the phases in your plan.

Solution:  Rather than making it a long, drawn out chore, consider what you CAN do NOW. More than likely, you have what you need to take the next step.   Do that -- take the next step! 

Real vs Busy Work

Beware! Speaking of next steps . . .  make it count. While you’re preparing to share your vision or bring your product or service to market, make sure you’re not just doing busy work, working on the shiny bells and whistles, business cards, brochures -- avoiding the ‘real’ work. For real work, externally, how about building relationships -- establishing some one-on-one connections; doing some vision casting over lunch.  Internally, how about establishing business systems – infrastructure.

Fear & Procrastination

Most times, we innately know what to do and how to do it. Sometimes stagnation has nothing to do with busy work, analysis paralysis, or the guise of perfection, but simply has to do with fear and its offspring, one of which is procrastination.  The good thing is . . . we always have a choice.

Choices

1. Bow to fear   OR
2. Move your vision forward, unfold it in steps, tweak it along the way, see the end result.

Question is . . . What's your choice?

Latifah Abdullah is founder of Tibay International.  Using optimism, forward thinking, and passion for a woman’s well being, the Tibay Community provides tools, how to’s, and candid conversation on legacy wealth, business, finance, faith, fashion, and health -- empowering women and women entrepreneurs to live a full, authentic life.

The community  uses a ‘whole person’ approach to provide business and personal resources to women and women business owners.

Seriously, we all procrastinate at some point in time on something and we’re all familiar with this scenario:  You put off doing something and probably have absolutely no idea of how long it takes to do the task you’re putting off.  You can end up living in chaos simply because you’re putting off something that will take you just a short time to do.  Are you one of those people who shuffle through papers?  If so, you probably spend more time shuffling through them each day than it would take for you to sort through them one final time and toss, file or process what’s there in the pile.

Research shows that people spend most of their time and effort working on activities that have nothing to do with the success of their projects.  Procrastination is the biggest reason people fail to reach their goals. It is the #1 cause of stress.  Research also shows us that stress is caused by leaving too many things undone, which is why some habitual procrastinators always complain about chronic fatigue.  Putting things off creates enormous stress in our lives, which manifests as fatigue.

Right now, take a long look at your home and work life.  Where are you spending the majority of your time?  Are you working on things that are relevant to the big picture, or are you procrastinating and spending more time on distractions.  If you’re spending time on distractions, what is it that’s distracting you and why and, the big question is, what is it really costing you?  What’s the bottom line cost of putting it off?  I'm not posing the question just to have you ponder it.  Go do the math!  If you're a coach, multiply your hourly rate by the amount of time you waste putting things off.  If you provide other services, multiply your hourly rate by that amount of time.  What's the cost of putting it off?

So what did you see when you took that long look at your work and home life?  Are you spending the majority of your time working or putting off the things that need to get done?  If you’re working, what exactly are you working on and are those things relevant to your overall goals?  If things aren’t getting done, it’s time to look at your behavior to tell what’s really going on.  Start by keeping a time log and enter everything that you do on a daily basis.  At the end of each day look back to see how much time you actually spent on work and how much of it was spent on distractions.

If you’re spending time on distractions, what’s distracting you?  It might be something else that needs to get done.  If this is the case, look at the priorities and schedule appropriate time to get it done, commit to it and get it off your to-do list.

As I said before, the big question is, what is procrastination really costing you?  Looking at your time log, make note of the amount of time that you spent on distractions.  Multiply that amount of time by your hourly rate.  The result is just the cost for that amount of time.  Multiply that by the additional time that you’ve spent on distractions or on procrastinating and you’ll see what it’s really costing you.  Procrastination will not only cost you precious time, it will cost you monetarily.  You could be paying a pretty big cost for putting things off.

The only way to remedy procrastination is to start by taking an in depth look at your behavior to see what you're doing to be able to determine why you do it.  The "why" is the key to stopping your procrastination. If procrastination is a big problem for you, I encourage you to check out my 12-week procrastination program, Procrastination Annihilation.  Click here for details.

People get stuck in a lifestyle of procrastination because they believe their own excuses for not taking action. Procrastination is the main reason that people fail to live richer and more fulfilling lives. If you're stuck in a rut of continual procrastination, make up your mind to stop making excuses.

If you've been making excuses for putting things off, here's how to take charge of your life. First, think about all the things you've been postponing-at work, at home, in your personal relationships, or for your personal development.

Make a list.

Now choose one thing on that list that you can do something about today. Write down every excuse you've given yourself for not having done anything about it yet. Ask yourself if you have considered all the consequences of your procrastination in this area. Do you want to live with them? Do you have a legitimate reason for postponing this job?

You have to be honest about this or it won't work. Forget about what other people think; look in the mirror and ask the hard questions. If you have a legitimate reason for delaying action in this area, move on to another item on the list. Find something that you can make happen today, simply by deciding to make it happen. Now do it. When you've completed this task successfully, your satisfaction will motivate you to repeat this process with another item on your list.  

Successful people know that their accomplishments depend on two things: taking action and staying focused on their goals. People who are successful in any business or profession have an ability to make things happen. All successful people win the war against procrastination because they develop certain traits. To defeat procrastination and get all you want out of life, you must:

- Know what you want.
- Force yourself to take action.
- Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them.
- Stop making excuses!

Now go back to your list and choose another project. Write down every excuse you've been giving yourself for not getting started, or for leaving it unfinished. Put as many things on the list as you can think of. Now try to eliminate one excuse at a time. Ask yourself hard questions: Why do I have to postpone this project? Is it necessary to go on postponing it? If Oprah Winfrey were in my situation, would she postpone it? What will happen if I keep putting this off? If I keep putting this off, when will I get it done? Can I get started on it now? What part of the job could I complete now? If I postpone this job now, what other job will I tackle to make better use of my time?

As you eliminate your excuses, think of what you can do today to make this project happen, and do it. Anne Frank wrote in her diary, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." Make a decision to start improving your world today.

One of the things that I’ve encountered while serving my passion of empowering women are these three words “the right time.”

How many times have you sighed, “Let me think about it, I need to wait for the right time”, “Not now it’s not the right time”?

Did you ever find the right time? Or are you still waiting.

Time fulfills it’s purpose daily waiting on no man. Are you fulfilling your purpose

daily, waiting on no man, no thing? ~ Robin Tramble

The grave is rich with good intentions. Many I’m sure were waiting for the right time. Some of our greatest songs are in the grave, witty ideas and inventions in the grave, Government officials, Men or Women of God “in the grave!”

I’m not trying to be harsh here, however, I’m tired of seeing gifted individuals passing time and refusing to do whatever it takes to manifest their dreams all because you’re waiting for the right time.

I see this a lot in my coaching. Some take me up on complimentary sessions, see the value and talk about how others aren’t stepping up to get the training they need only to say at the close of the session that now is not the right time. Of course at times it may not be the right time, however, you must take inventory of the validity of your statement. Is it another form of procrastination? Do you have a fear of the unknown, fear of success or fear of failure?

Everyday will bring about a change. The question is what change? A change for the better or for the worse? Will it change by default or will you take charge of your future and change yourself so that you can change your world?

Underline, highlight, print in your memory this next statement; “There’s never a right time!”

Children are small at home “not the right time.” You now have teens at home “not the right time.” Your son or daughter is in college “not the right time.” Oh my they’re getting married so much to do “not the right time.” I’m going back to school now so… “it’s not the right time.” My parents are aging so…. “it’s not the right time.”

Life happens and there will always be something else that we are responsible for.

How important is it to you to manifest your desired results in your personal growth, business growth, spiritual growth, weight loss, relationships etc.?

God’s gift to us is life and what we do with it is our gift back to Him. Now is the time. Right here and right now.

There’s an audience waiting to hear your message and realize the benefits of your solutions to their problems.

This is your time. This is your year!

How is your mindset? Your mindset could be causing you to continue to delay taking steps towards your empowering success. I invite you to request my video series “Mindset Secrets for Empowering Success” while it’s available.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mindsetsecretsvid

What are your thoughts on this topic?

4 simple secrets to getting focused, reinventing your life and living Big Bold and Beautiful!!

I will be giving away empowerment resources during my FREE Teleseminar series.All you have to do is register and be on the call to qualify. You will then receive acode via email to send in to redeem your gift award.I awarded 3 $50 gift awards on my last call.Who else wants breakthrough to new horizons in your personal, spiritual and business life?When: January 21Time: 11:00 AM PST 1:00 PM CST 2:00 PM ESTJanuary 285:30 PM PST 7:30 PM PST 8:30 PM PSTRegister for my Call here: http://budurl.com/m8bvYour life is waiting, however time won't wait.Don't look back a year from now wishing you had begun today!RobinThe Dynamite "Authentic Life, EmpowermentMentor,Coach,Trainer and Public Speaker