eTip #29

On Procrastination

I thought this was an appropriate subject seeing that several of our subscribers have written and asked what happened to eTips these last couple of months. I was quick to start into my ‘excuses’-life caught up with me, everyone is on vacation and won’t read it, and junk mail filters are a new challenge. They all sound pretty good, don’t they? The fact is excuses are reasons for non-performance---period. Excuses don’t produce results----period! OK…..I’ve confessed. Now, let’s look at a couple of things that will help me (and possibly others) to improve in this area.

We all know the common causes:

Following someone else’s goals instead of your own. – People rarely are inspired to work diligently for a cause that has little meaning for them.

Being overwhelmed by the size of a project. - Try to assess realistically how long it takes to complete assignments/chores. Break down large projects into smaller, more manageable sections and work on them one at a time.

Poor time management-. Try to resist the temptation to distract yourself with a trivial task instead of beginning the real work.

Perfectionist expectations of oneself. – Don’t avoid getting started due to worry about how good your results must be. A reasonable amount of interest and effort almost always ends up in a satisfactory outcome.

Fear of failure/success – Yes, we are just as scared that we will succeed as we are that we will fail!

You should have goals, a to do list that is prioritized and broken down into doable parts. Or you can say, “don’t ‘should’ on me!” If you keep your list in your head, it’s like the monster hiding under the bed when we were kids. In the dark it gets bigger and bigger. Having your list on paper takes it out of your head and makes the monster not so big.

But, for the true procrastinator, the list itself becomes a problem and we look at the most important thing on the list and decide that the best use of our time right now is to sharpen our pencils or clean outour sock drawer.

You can also try following exactly the wrong track. Try to minimize your commitments, assuming that if you have only a few things to do, you will quit procrastinating and get them done. The few tasks on the list will by definition be the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing-- thus the definition of ‘bumming around’!

No matter what……the thing I have found that works best is the Ten Minute plan.Work on a dreaded task for ten minutes, and then decide whether or not to continue.
The act of STARTING has magical powers! Good luck!

Extra:
We’re not born winners- We’re not born losers-
We’re born Choosers! So, Choose Wisely!