How to Beat Procrastination When Creating Your Course or Membership

Procrastination…

You know what happens when you have a mountain of work to do but instead, you sit there and binge-watch Bridgerton on Netflix.

Or that perhaps that Tupperware cupboard in your kitchen needs cleaning out…

Or you scroll through Instagram Reels for 5 hours straight…

You get the point.

Procrastination happens to the best of us, but it can honestly be the number one thing that stops you from achieving success.

Procrastination creeps up on you and can claim huge chunks of your time, that you could be using to move forward instead. The line between procrastination and motivation can be very thin. I always find that once I get going on the task instead of procrastinating that I find my rhythm can get shit done.

You know like that time where you just wanted to watch one YouTube video, but then 3 hours later realised you haven’t checked off one item on your to-do list.

So let’s kick procrastination to the curb. Here are my top tips to beat procrastination when creating your course of membership (or anything in general).

Here are my favourite tips to beat procrastination in your course creation journey:

1. Avoid overthinking things

When you spend too much time thinking about doing something rather than taking ACTION it can lead to procrastination. Overthinking can happen when you fear failing, thinking you are not be good enough, worried about mistakes, and self doubt. Thinking a task is going to be too hard can be a major stumbling block to getting your course created, it is only when you start to take action that you escape these constraints and start on your way to success.

2. Have a plan and give yourself a deadline

Have an overall goal set for yourself, one that your course fits into. For example, if you are trying to increase your recurring revenue in the business then your course is a tool in order for you to increase that revenue. When the course fits into your overarching goal you will be more motivated to create your course.

Having a goal is paramount to keep you focussed and on task, if you know what you are aiming for it is that much easier to achieve.

If you need to get clear on your goals, we have an amazing business planner here to help you achieve your goals. You can download a copy here.

3. Chunking It Down

One of the main reasons we procrastinate is because we see this mammoth task ahead of us, which we might feel is difficult, will involve so much time and so many things to do, that instead of getting started, we push it aside. When it comes to taking action, we want our tasks to seem easy and achievable, and by breaking them into small bite-size chunks the burden becomes much less.

4. Daily Action

Taking daily action leads to success creation of your eCourse. By doing something each day on your eCourse, you are on the road to success. Taking action needs to become a habit and a priority in your day. One of the simplest ways to beat procrastination is to actually START something. By keeping track of our actions and accomplishments, we can see over time the momentum and the closer that end goal becomes until you are able to tick it off as completed. Acknowledge this progress daily to keep your vision alive.

5. SMART Goal Setting

• Review your goals – look at your goals and make them more ‘realistic’. Your goals need to be tangible.
• Make your goals measurable –
• Establish clear time frames for your goals – If your goal is particularly large, you will need to break it down into more manageable chunks. For example, if we look at the creation of your course, one of your goals will definitely be ‘Write your content for your eCourse modules’. Now, obviously, this is one of the most extensive and time-consuming tasks in the course creation process, so simply making it a top-level goal will not be sufficient. You will need to break it down into easily obtainable chunks. So it might look like this; Week 1 – Develop overall module plan Week 2 – Expand on module content Week 3 – Write Module 1 Week 4 – Write Module 2 and so on.
• Review and adjust – By reviewing and adjusting your goals to make them more realistic, you will in turn beat procrastination. For example, after Weeks 3 and 4 you have determined that you can in fact write two modules per week, then you can go ahead and adjust your goals accordingly.
• Begin! Wanting to beat procrastination and actually doing it, are two entirely different things. Take one day at a time and at least start on your first goal today! Even if that goal is as simple as for example ‘Choosing a topic for your eCourse or deciding on your type of eCourse/Membership site.

6. Share your idea with someone

You want someone who is going to be able to support you in achieving your successful creation of your eCourse, someone who will keep you accountable. Sometimes having someone support you through the process can give you the motivation to stop procrastinating. Perhaps share your weekly goals with that person, and then report back to them the following week with an update of your progress.

7. Keep it real

It can be very easy to put off doing something because your end goal seems so far away and unachievable. As the quote goes ‘Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will Take to accomplish it, the time will pass anyway!’.

Close your eyes and imagine yourself in 3 months, 6 months or even 12 months time (the length of time is up to you, as long as it forms part of your plan) and you have achieved your big goal of ‘Creating your very own course. Think of all the tiny mini-goals, those small steps you had to take to get there. Use this as inspiration to keep going, remembering that as each day passes, those tiny totally ‘doable’ baby steps will form together into your big goal.

8. Positive Mindset

A powerful tip is to instead of referencing a task as something that ‘has to be done to ‘I choose to do this task’. By framing the task in a way that gives you ownership of that task, you will in turn be more likely to have a positive frame of mind when actioning it.

9. Done is not Perfect!

Wanting ‘everything’ to be perfect, can very easily lead to procrastination. In many cases, the ‘85% good enough’ rule is sufficient to get your eCourse out there. Although perfection should be your ultimate goal, it is not always possible to achieve this across every aspect of your eCourse. The key to success is the pace of your execution. It is better to come out with something that is less than perfect, than nothing at all.

10. Limit Distractions

Find a quiet place, remove yourself from all distractions; your emails, your mobile, social media, notifications from your favourite apps etc. These distractions will keep you busy, but will only serve to have you feeling more overwhelmed and result in you not achieving the goals you have set.

11. Time Management with a Good to-do-list

Make a list of what you want to do, estimate how long each task should take, pick a task, grab a timer and focus on nothing but that until the timer goes off or you finish the task.

• Focus on the important, not the urgent.
• Daily, ask yourself ‘If I could do only one thing today, what would it be?’
• Based on your top Goals you have set, do at least one task per day for each

12. Reward yourself!

Finally, it is so important to reward yourself. Creating your eCourse is a mammoth task, that requires dedication, a lot of time put in and will push your limits of creation, thinking and action. Taking breaks away from the focus on your eCourse will protect your sanity! Schedule in your downtime; whether it is exercise, reading a good book, snuggling with the kids on the couch, breakfast at your local café or a walk on the beach. Don’t wait till you have achieved a BIG goal, reward yourself for the little achievements also. It’s motivating and will keep your productivity levels high.

13. The key to success is delegating

There are so many elements involved in your course creation, and in order to stay focussed on the big picture, it is important not to get sidelined by the time consuming, repetitive, above your skill set tasks that form part of this process. When deciding on what to outsource in this process it is important to look at the task and ask yourself:

• Is the task time consuming ie. Designing your workbooks and formatting your content
• Is the task repetitive ie. Adding all your videos to Youtube/Vimeo and loading into your website
• Is the task well defined. If it’s not well- defined, then your assistant / contractor will not be effective. i.e a detailed design brief for your logo
• Is the task something you ‘hate’ doing?
• Is it going to take you more time to learn how to do a task, then it is to actually complete the task? i.e Create an intro video for your eCourse videos.

If you answered yes to any of those questions around a specific task, then it is very possible that by outsourcing it, you will be able to save time, money and stress. Contact us today as we have some awesome packages and services available for outsourcing elements.

Procrastination is a really bad habit and it’s one that will keep you from your future success and achieving your goals. The trick to preventing procrastination is to start something and be steadfast towards success.

You can also join us over in our FREE Community group where supportive women that are passionate about eCourses hang out. Come over and join us.