Are you a goner?

Intro
For those of you short of time or with short attention spans – read, mark and act upon the Carpe Diem Haiku posted earlier this month.

For those of you who do and then say, ‘ah yes, but how? How do I get off my derriere and Make Progress?’

Read on – 8 helpful procrastination beating tips.

Are you a goner?

I don’t mean have you shuffled off this mortal coil, or are you about to. I mean, are you someone who’s always ‘gonna’ do something only to find the thing you do best is procrastinate? Most of us suffer from this at some point or other. For some, it’s a way of life. We’re always going to get around to it.

This is a
round tuit. Guard it
with your life. Tuits are
hard to come by, especially
the round ones. It will help
you to become a much more
efficient worker. For years you've
heard people say,
"I'll do it, when I get a round tuit"
So now that you have one, you
can accomplish all those
things you put aside
until you got your
round tuit.

And even when some well meaning friend or relative (or not so well meaning joker) buys us a round Tuit we still find ourselves busy – and yet not making progress in key areas of our life. Procrastination has many causes including resentment, anxiety, indecision and perfectionism.

At best, it drains us of energy. As author Gita Bellin, recognised, ‘Every time we say 'I must do something' it takes an incredible amount of energy. Far more than physically doing it.’

And at worst? It can cost us our health, relationships, liberty, financial well being and more. It is, as Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby remarked, ‘hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.’

So, what can you do about it? Well, it should be easy – if you’re good at procrastinating you’re good at putting things off. So how about you put off putting things off? Or to put it another way, how much better will things be when you start procrastinating about procrastination. And if you were to decide to do it now, here are eight tips to get you started.

1. Be honest with yourself
About why you’re doing something and whether you’re really committed to doing it. If you’re not – then ask yourself
• What will happen if I do this
• What won’t happen if I do this
• What will happen if I don’t do this
• What won’t happen if I don't do this
And then see whether you feel more or less committed than before.

If you’re not committed and can live with the consequences of not doing it – take it off your to do list. My ‘to do’ list used to be cluttered with things that I felt I ‘ought’ to do but they held no great attraction, required considerable effort and there were only minor, if any, negative consequences of not doing them. Taking them off my list freed up a lot of emotional energy that had previously been wasted.

And if you’re not committed and are unwilling to live with the consequences of not acting? More on this another time (ask me if you really can’t wait !)

2. Be honest with others
About where you’re focussing your energy, whether you’ll undertake a task or not and the time and resources needed to complete it.

And keep them up to date with progress.

3. Know that you always have a choice
In the past (and, if I’m honest – I’m still a work in progress as far as this is concerned) I’ve had a tendency to put off tasks I consider unenjoyable, onerous or which I feel have been forced upon me. Completing my annual accounts and tax return is a good example of this. I have resented time spent on this (and therefore put it off as long as possible) because I considered it was something I ‘had to’ do rather than something which I chose to do. The reality, of course, is that I do have a choice. I don’t ‘have’ to complete a tax return. Sure, there are consequences if I don’t – so I can choose which I prefer, completing the form or living with the consequences of not completing it. It’s my choice.

4. Take a first step
Note I’ve said ‘take a first step’. Not ‘take the first step’. One of the things that can sometimes hold us back is feeling we don’t know where to start, or feeling that we can’t start unless the whole path is mapped out before us. Focus on what you can do right now.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.’

Sometimes we hold back because we think that if we just plan a bit more, and put a bit more effort in then the result will be so much better. There comes a time – often before we recognise it – when it’s right to stop planning and start doing. Taking a first step opens up possibilities and options and takes us nearer our goal.

‘A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.’ ~General George S. Patton

5. Divide the task into bite size chunks
The first time management course I attended (which seemed to me to focus largely on making lists of lists...) advised us to divide our tasks into ‘bite sized chunks’. Our task(s) was likened to an elephant and we were encouraged to divide it up into ‘elephant burgers’ to make it more digestible. Faced, it was argued, with a whole elephant to digest at one sitting was too awful for most of us, vegetarian or not, to contemplate at one sitting.

And I’ve found it to be a useful principle. You know that as you take action each day on your project, you only have to focus on one step at a time. This prevents any feeling of being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the project. Because today’s project – the only thing you need focus on – is just the right size.

6. Invest in a kitchen timer
And use it. I’ve been clearing out my study recently. This is a Big Task and until recently had been in my Too Difficult To Do pile. I just couldn’t see how I’d ever make progress and get to the end of it. Now I’ve chosen to break it down into bite sized chunks and committed to spending half an hour each weekday actively working on it. For half an hour each day, that’s all I focus on. And knowing that it’s only going to be for half an hour makes the whole idea and act of starting – of actually doing it, bearable.

At the start of the thirty minutes I set a kitchen timer. It’s accurate, if somewhat elderly and makes a satisfying tick as it counts the minutes down. In the last few minutes of each session I find myself racing to beat the clock – can I just get this lot filed or these papers sorted before the ‘pinger’ pings?

As soon as it does, I stop. And begin work on something else. This discipline is important – it helps me make progress in several areas each day rather than using one area as an ‘excuse’ to procrastinate elsewhere.

7. Reward action as you go
NB reward action. This is particularly important for long/multifaceted projects where it may be some time before you see results. So, give yourself permission to stop procrastinating about feeling good about how much progress you’re already making – and celebrate it now. And then? Move on to the next task.

And, of course, you can also reward yourself when you get the desired result

8.Know when to stop. And do so.