Nobody likes to be late because it is considered a sign of irresponsibility and lack of discipline.  However, not all people can master how to always be on time, especially if they have a busy schedule or there is a sudden change of plans. Arriving in a certain place on time, or finishing a job on time involves effective task management rather than frequent reminders, alarms or notes on the fridge.

Reminders, time management software or notes don’t have an extraordinary effect if you have no physical possibility of accomplishing a task on time or arriving to a meeting on time. This is why you may want to focus on improving your task management skills rather than being concerned about hours and minutes, which, over time, will translate into more free time available to reach your destination so you won’t be late anyway.

Being Late Creates A Self-Sustaining Negative Loop That Amplifies Anxiety and Frustration

If being on time is not something you can easily achieve, whether caused by poor self-discipline, poor evaluation of your abilities, or a busy, spontaneously changing schedule, then you may have accumulated a substantial amount of anxiety and panic associated with being constantly late for meetings or deadlines.

This anxiety can reinforce your habit of being late because it can keep you disorganized, stressed and less efficient in your task management and daily routine. How can you break this loop of reinforcing your own anxiety and being late all the time? How about advice from people who might pay with their lives if they fail at time management?

Solid time and task management techniques are what elite special forces in the military need to learn during training before they can go on real missions.

Learn to how to always be on time from the Navy SEALs

The US Navy SEALs are elite special forces who fight terrorists and conduct covert operations where timing is critical. If you are late for a work meeting, you may lower your chances of being promoted or receive that bonus at the end of the year. If a team of Navy SEALs is late for a hostage rescue or they miss the extraction helicopter, it may cost them their lives and or the lives of the people they are trying to save.

It is obvious that whatever task and time management techniques they use to reach a target or an extraction point on time is working because they are considered the number one elite force in the United States, and probably in the world.

It is essential to understand that they don’t focus on reminders, notes, hours or minutes. Instead, they focus on quickly and efficiently accomplishing a task, so that they can move on to the next one on time. This actually translates into almost never being late for anything, except in extreme circumstances that are out of their control.

Four Mental Techniques That Can Cultivate “Always Being On Time” In Yourself

Navy SEAL operators use four mental techniques to increase their time management skills and accomplish missions more efficiently, which is why they are never late for a hostage rescue or extraction point. These four techniques are goal setting, mental rehearsal or visualization, self talk, and arousal control. They may sound simple to you, but it takes a lot of effort and discipline to combine them into a set of abilities that can result in always being on time.

1) Goal Settings Involves Micro-Managing Each Step of the “Mission”

Goal setting does not mean long-term goals or exactly what you want to do in life. Navy SEAL members understand the benefits of goal setting and define it as breaking a task into smaller components that are easier to accomplish, and staying focused on each step rather than being consumed with anxiety provoking thoughts about the large goal. Divide your work routine or daily schedule in smaller tasks that you can do easily without becoming nervous or anxious. Engage in micro-managing those small tasks and stop obsessing about your entire busy daily schedule. You are more likely to get things done faster and more efficiently, which can help you to be on time for your next task or meeting. Also, learn to prioritize your tasks, and don’t refuse to start on urgent tasks just because you are anxious about the end results. Instead, break them into smaller specific parts that can increase your self-confidence as you progressively accomplish them. For example, if you are a busy mom with kids at home, you can learn how to always be on time, by thinking of your family as a SEAL team on a mission with its members continuously fighting each other rather than accomplishing the mission. As the leader of the Navy SEAL team, your task is to divide the “mission” into manageable components so that your house does not “explode” from chaos and lack of discipline.

2) Mental Rehearsal Increases The Efficiency Of Your Work

Mental rehearsal involves visualizing each small step or component of your larger goal before you proceed at working on it. You can picture in your mind as clearly as possible what is it that you want to do next in sufficient detail. It allows you to proceed to the next task with less anxiety and doubts because your mind has already pictured a sequence of actions that can result in getting that task done. Try to imagine possible obstacles and how you can overcome them if they occur, which can relieve the fear of the unknown when you actually start doing a specific task. To continue with our real-life analogy, visualizing where your kids are at a particular moment and how to prevent them from “damaging” your “military base” is engaging in visualization, which saves you time for other more useful things and facilitates being on time for other tasks.

3) Positive Self Talk Enhances Your Self Confidence And Contributes To A Successful Outcome

Self talk is a technique that improves your self confidence when you feel overwhelmed with doubt and stress. Saying positive, encouraging words to yourself during your daily routine allows you to mobilize your energy resources and eliminate negative thoughts that cause you to become ineffective and anxious, which frequently translates into being late. If you are already late for an important meeting, engage in self talk to reduce the intensity of fear and panic associated with potential consequences, and promise yourself to change your habits in the future. For example, if you are a candidate for a job, and you are literally “shaking” from fear of rejection during your interview, positive self talk and Navy SEAL toughness can certainly help you.

4) Arousal Control Prevents Being Overwhelmed By Chaos Or Unexpected Circumstances

Arousal control involves focusing on your breath rather than obsessing about the fact that you are late. Breathe deeply and be aware of your own breath, which calms down the stress-response regions of your brain. Learn to disconnect from the situation for a few seconds and control your breathing, slow down the pace and think about your priorities. Whether you are a busy mom with children at home, a student before an important exam, or a business person making an important decision, arousal control help prevent “explosions” in your mind and help you stay with your time schedule even when you are surrounded by chaos.

If you are willing to implement these techniques in your daily life, then you may soon forget how it feels to be late and stressed out. It is unlikely that you will be able to use them all at once without becoming distracted by daily emotions, but do your best to make them a part of your work ethic and your will always be on time, which can increase your self confidence and your chances to achieve success in your career or social life.

Are you sick of consistently stopping in your tracks with anxiety, frustration, irritation, dread, and resentment?  Tired of not living up to your full potential and reaching your dreams?  Then, break through the resistance and learn how to stop procrastinating right away.  You can gain control over procrastination by building optimism to increase your expectancy of success, making specific tasks more pleasant and rewarding, and decreasing your impulsiveness.  The techniques below can help teach you how to stop procrastinating today.

15 Ways To Stop Procrastinating Today

1. Give yourself a series of meaningful and challenging, but achievable goals.

When you achieve one goal after another, you naturally gain confidence in your ability to succeed.  So set yourself up for success by doing things you know you can succeed with, over and over.  Then, pay attention to each of your successes and this will help keep your confidence high!

2. Make process or learning goals, ones that require you to acquire or refine new skills or steps

This will replace product or outcome ones that emphasize winning or obtaining the highest score.  Rafting, camping, rock-climbing, and wilderness classes are excellent ways to increase your own expectancy for success.  Cooking, karate, taking your favorite hobby to the next level, and volunteering can also help you learn how to stop procrastinating over time.

3. Listen to motivational speakers, read influential biographies, and watch inspirational movies

This will teach you how to stop procrastinating by boosting your optimism.  Visit multiple community groups in your area that foster positivity and then join your favorite one.  Optimism is contagious!

4. Use creative visualization to vividly imagine what you want to achieve

You can then mentally contrast that thought with where you are actually at now.  For example, if you think about a new car you want, visualize your old car and your paycheck.  You can then jumpstart planning and effort after seeing your current situation as an obstacle that needs overcome in order to achieve your dreams.

5. Try to make boring tasks more challenging

You can adjust their difficulty level to match your current skill level.  This will help increase your self-motivation and in turn teach you how to stop procrastinating over such activities.

6. Make sure tasks are connected to something you care about at least though a chain

For example, read the book, pass the test, make the grade, land the job you want, and obtain a fulfilling career.  Breaking the chain could leave you feeling meaningless about a necessary task and it is imperative to inject value into each of them to teach yourself how to stop procrastinating.

7. Tackle tasks when you feel alert and exhibit the most amount of energy during the day

Exercising regularly, sleeping plenty, and drinking a lot of water can help keep up your physical energy.  De-cluttering your life to reduce exhaustion on your brain processes and listening to music to elevate your mood will help keep up your cognitive energy.

8. Pair a task in which you procrastinate with an interest or treat

This will enable you to reward yourself with completion.  Exercise with someone whose company you enjoy.  Treat yourself to a frozen yogurt or specialty coffee when working on your taxes or other activities you do not like.  You could also take a break to watch a favorite TV show or soak in a soothing spa bath.

9. Whenever possible, focus on doing things you are passionate about

Trying to make a career out of something you love will help you learn how to stop procrastinating with tasks at the workplace.

10. Commit now or in advance to find ways to sail past those tasks that cause you to procrastinate

You know what things cause you to procrastinate and deal with known and upcoming impulsiveness.  You can close off tempting alternatives to productivity by unplugging your TV or router when you have work to finish.

11. Change your attitude from negative to positive

Complete the dreaded deed first and improving your mood.  With the disliked task out of the way, you give your self-esteem a boost and teach yourself how to stop procrastination.  For example, if you work in sales and dislike cold calling, make sure to do this part of your job first thing in the morning so the rest of your day is worry-free.

12. Breaking up your goals into many smaller sub-goals

This will also help you learn how to stop procrastinating.  Daily goals and immediate deadlines can aid in breaking through the starting threshold and ensure achievement.  First start with 5-minute tasks and then gradually work yourself up to those throughout the day that take much longer.

13. Managing stress by slowing down and taking care of yourself

This will help keep you from feeling overwhelmed and procrastinating even more.  Humans are naturally creatures of habit so it helps to maintain a routine.  For example, prioritize nutrition and try to exercise and go to sleep at the same time every day.  You can also take half an hour every day to relax and recharge.

14. Break down tasks into small parts and your overall plans into achievable steps

Learning sections one at a time in a piece of music rather than trying to memorize the whole song is a great example of how these smaller successes tend to build on each other.

15. Most importantly, stay positive!

If you do not think you can succeed, you will have little motivation to do a necessary task.  However, keep your guard up against too much optimism by planning for the worst and hoping for the best.

Keep in mind, small changes in all these areas will make a big difference in your life.  It is extremely important you do not over-regulate yourself, try to be perfect, or completely eliminate procrastination.  Your strong will power will help prevent you from sliding back into those familiar and unhealthy patterns.  Staying realistic and finding a nice balance in your life will help you remain happy while also finding success.  So, do not make your life more stressful and postpone the inevitable by waiting until the last minute to complete your tasks.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are”
– Roy E. Disney

Values are the ideas and beliefs that we consider to be most important to us. However, not many people are actually that clear about what their most important values are.  Many of us have a general sense of what we value, but would have a hard time making a list of our top 5 values.  When you clarify and align with your values, you will take an important step towards living a more fulfilling life.

Why Is It Important to Clarify My Values?

We often want to aspire towards every quality that we can think of.  Because by choosing just 5 values, we’re worried that somehow we’re saying that the other values are not as important to us.  For example, let’s say that my top 5 values are health, personal growth, family, love and faith.  I didn’t have honesty as one of my top 5 values, so does that mean that I’m really a dishonest person?  Absolutely not.  Honesty is very important to me, but the other 5 values are more important.  And that’s the key.

But do I have to select just 5 values, you may be asking?  It doesn’t have to be 5, but it needs to be a small number, so having somewhere between 3 to 5 values is a good goal.  And there are a number of reasons for that.

1. Firstly, there are probably hundreds of possible values that might be important to you.  How can you possibly do a great job with each one of those values?  Focusing on the most important ones, gives you an opportunity to be outstanding in a few critical areas, instead of being mediocre in lots of different areas.

2. Secondly, knowing your top 5 values will make it much easier for you to make decisions.  You have a fantastic new job offer that will dramatically advance your career but will mean you will have a lot less time to spend with your family.  How do you choose?  Well, when you’re clear about your most important values and whether career is a more important value than family or vice versa, then the decision becomes a lot easier.

3. And finally, the third reason for clarifying your top 5 values is that it will make you happier.  I made this mistake for years.  I set goals that I thought were important to me, but weren’t really aligned with my values.  And after months or even years when I finally accomplished a goal, I still didn’t feel any happier.  When your goals are completely aligned with your values, you will be able to live a more fulfilling life.

How To Identify Your Top 5 Values

The process of identifying your top 5 values is fairly simple, but not necessarily easy.  If you’re anything like me, then it will be easy for you to pick 10-15 values, but it will be much harder to get to your top 5 values.  But getting to those top 5 is where the gold lies, so it’s worth the effort.

1. Review the values list at the end of this post and write down the 10 to 15 values that you consider to be the most important for you.
2. Reduce that list down to the top 5 values.  Ask yourself which values are really the most important to you.  How do you want to be remembered?
3. Put your top 5 values in priority order i.e. put the most important one first, the second most important one second and so on.

Tip: one way that I like to prioritize is to use Post-It notes (or index cards) and write one value on each note.  I layout the notes next to each other in an initial priority order.  I start by comparing the 1st and 2nd notes i.e. is the first value really more important than the second one?  If the answer is no, then I swap the two notes.  If the answer is yes, then I move onto comparing the next pair i.e. the 2nd and 3rd notes i.e. if I think that the value on the 3rd note is more important than the 2nd note, then I swap the notes around, otherwise I move onto comparing the 3rd and 4th notes.  And then the 4th and 5th notes.  I repeat this process a few times, until I can compare all notes in my list and don’t have to swap any more around.

Your Top 5 Values List

At the end of this process you should have a prioritized list of your top 5 most important values in order.

Keep this list handy — write it down somewhere so you can easily refer to it when needed.  It will help you when you’ve got a difficult decision to make.

Example Values List