WOW! Every once in a while, time goes by so fast that I’ll suddenly realize it’s been a long time since I sent out one of my “weekly” news emails to my subscribers — YET I have a commitment to send them every week!
When that happens, whether I’ve missed one week or three months, I always find that I have no legitimately good excuses… I just got super busy with other things… and my best excuse is simply it’s THE REALITY OF HOW LIFE IS — which relates to YOU!
Let me explain.
If we’re calling a spade “a spade,” I would have to call what I’m doing procrastination. Sure, I think I have good excuses about what has kept me busy. I’m not sitting around being lazy.
But I think if we consistently prioritize other things over something we say we’re committed to, then it’s procrastination.
And I don’t like to admit it, but it’s the truth. Sometimes I procrastinate on things I honestly feel I’m committed to.
I am sharing this with you because the fact is… the person reading this message right now (you!) very likely can identify something you are currently procrastinating on.
We ALL procrastinate at one time or another on things we’re committed to… it’s human nature. But more interesting and importantly, what can we do about it?
There are two ways to go about discussing the subject. We can dig in and do some deep psychological analysis about the fear of success of that thing we’re committed to… and so on and so on. Or we can just get to taking action. I like working on it from both ends, but this post is going to cut to the chase so you can get in action.
To get in action as quickly as possible, here are THREE REALITIES related to it.
Procrastination and Three Realities
PROCRASTINATION REALITY #1 — Procrastination does NOT mean we aren’t committed.
Sometimes, for no really good reason, we resist doing the very things we REALLY WANT or know we NEED to do. If we do a deep dive into our psyche, we can often identify why we are resisting and work through it, and that is important to do. But then again, sometimes we just have to take action.
Contrary to some teachings, procrastination does NOT mean we aren’t committed.
Sure we lose “power” and we lose “time” but rather than PRETEND we had a hundred good reasons to procrastinate, there’s power in owning that we didn’t make it a priority, even though it’s important to us and just leave it at that.
When we accept this reality, it frees us up to move on and do something about it.
PROCRASTINATION REALITY #2 –You can start taking action toward your goal again at the exact moment you choose to.
If you have a dream or goal, no matter how much you get side-tracked for positive or negative reasons, you have a choice to GET BACK TO IT at any moment.
If you waste time feeling badly about the time you put it off, you’re continuing to waste more resources and not do it. Instead, at that point, JUST DO IT! GET BACK TO IT!, and the sooner the better!
I’ve had ACTORS come back to Smart Girls to do an Agent Mailing after being away for 10 years! I’ve had Screenwriters who’ve been working on their script for 20 years come to me and say, “I’m ready to market my script.”
And I say, “GOOD FOR YOU! Let’s do it.”
When you realize you’ve been procrastinating, whether a month or two or a year or two or a decade or two has gone by, the best time to take action toward your goals… and to reactivate your career again is RIGHT NOW.
There will always be times when LIFE DOES ITS THING. You’ll get off track, get behind, lose confidence, life will happen and take you away from your commitments. But THEN… you will have a choice — at THE MOMENT you think about your goal — to GET BACK TO IT with no further delay.
You can choose to jump in and Just Get To It!
If you want to do this, let this blog post be a GENTLE SHAKE to remind you to take action on something that is important to you that you’ve been procrastinating on. I’m writing here in the context of your career, but it can apply to any area of your life.
REALITY #3 — Sometimes you need more people to support, help, or assist you.
At Smart Girls, I’ve been hiring Virtual Assistants to do some of the things that take a lot of time that I can more easily offload. Doing this lets me focus on my highest level skills in serving my clients. I’ve also hired/employed contractors and services to facilitate saving me time.
For example, I just renewed my contract for the third year with the Best Buy Geek Squad to solve some technical issues that I might have been able to do on my own, but I would have wasted a LOT OF TIME on — hiring the Geek Squad to help was well worth it!
The Reality is… If you have a big goal, you CANNOT do it all on your own.
SO ASK YOURSELF: “Who can I hire to assist me or support me so I no longer have to put off doing what’s most important to me?!”
Smart Girls may be someone you want to have on your team to do just that. Some things I CANNOT help you with (like babysitting, fixing your breakfast or changing your oil) but…
IF YOU’RE AN ACTOR…
,,, Have you been procrastinating on getting an agent? Could you use help Getting a New Agent, Getting a Manager, Redoing your Resume or having your Actor’s Access setup? My team and I can help you with those things. Smart Girls has been providing those services for over 20 years… so allow me to help you so you don’t have to procrastinate anymore if that’s something you need!
IF YOU’RE A SCREENWRITER…
… Do you need an outside opinion to tell you have your script is coming along or maybe get you unstuck? If you could use a script analysis to help you sort things out, if you need your screenplay retyped or proofread, or if you need to know what to production companies your should target or if you need a query letter to market your script, my team and I can help you with those things! For over 20 years, we’ve been helping screenwriters in this exact way.
Most importantly…. here’s the takeaway.
In a career like acting and screenwriting, if you are not yet making a living at it, it can be easy to PUT OFF and procrastinate on taking the next steps to move things forward.
If you’ve procrastinated prior to now, you can’t do anything about the past. But you can change your future by taking action toward that thing you’ve been putting off.
If you’d like more info on any of the services I mentioned above, go to the links at the top and select Actor Services or Writer Services and click on the link you’re interested in. You can also call me at 818/907-6511 to discuss the services.
AND just for fun… I invite you to comment below about what you have procrastinated on and what action you’re going to take now!!
I’d love to hear what’s going on with you and see where you get stopped!
Cheers,
Melody Jackson
Chief Smart Girl