What's your Anti-Procrastination tip?
October is Anti-Procrastination Month on my blog, The Savvy Entrepreneur (http://blog.cristinafavreau.com/).
I'm looking for your best/favorite procrastination-beating tips, tasks, ideas, thoughts and suggestions. May I quote/link to you on my blog?
Are you an Anti-Procrastination expert? Would you like to participate on my blog and get a little exposure? If so, please contact me at coachcriss [at] gmail [dot] com. Let me know how you'd like to participate/contribute: Interview (live or blog-interview), guest post, daily/weekly tips, assignments, etc... Bring me your own suggestions. Let's talk!
Answers (31)
Greg P.
Audiovisual Services for Corporate and Special Events. Author.
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I'll let you know tomorrow...
Andrew B.
Vice President, Chief of Staff at Morgan Stanley
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One simple rule for me: If it's not a constrained task and it takes just a short time to complete it now, reduce your own stress level by completing it now in the whitespace you have between other big things.
The fine print behind that is to keep one consolidated task list close at hand where you can retrieve it (I'm agnostic on what tool you use for this as long as it's not cumbersome to maintain), and be diligent about marking out time in the day to take 5 minutes and adjust it for priorities, or better still, to mark things as completed. The minute you can do that, you'll find your view of either the project or the assignments isn't quite as burdensome as you originally thought.
I set a timer and work for 30 minutes and take a 10 minute break. Some people do it for 50 minutes. During that break I get up and walk around, do housework, walk the dogs, etc. I always come back refreshed.
Martin T.
Crisis Management§Interim Executive
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No But I am an expert in procrastination and in avoidance behaviours. I've learned that I can turn it to advantage. Especially in something like copywriting I've found my best ideas come to me in the period when I'm despertely trying to avoid getting started. So now I have a small dictafone and when the idea pop into my hed I record them rather than let them fester. And now I can tell myself I was working all along.
Tracey T.
Social Media Specialist at Dynamic Social Media Strategies
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I find that if I just get done whatever it is I've been procrastinating I feel much better. So my tip is to take Nike's advice...and JUST DO IT!
I'd love to participate in your blog!! Let's talk!
Diane C.
Inbound Marketing Specialist at Alternative Office Assistance
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I would say organization is the key.
I use Outlook to schedule all my tasks. Every evening, I update my Calendar and add tasks for the next day. When I start by opening Outlook the next morning, all my tasks have been scheduled in and I add anything which may have come up in the interim. There is nothing more motivational than visually having a list in front of you and indicators of the level of importance assigned in colour to highlight the "must do's" for the day and the next most important and so on.
I also take advantage of the "Notes" feature. I list all the activities, tasks and events for the week in a Note **before** I enter them in the individual days for the week. In this way, no item is overlooked or forgotten. As often happens, if priorities change the Note is edited to reflect the change and the corresponding day's events, tasks, activities are rescheduled. I reprioritize items for the Note for the next weeks activities and they are, therefore, already entered when building the next week's activities.
There is nothing less professional than "dropping the ball" when dealing with clients and addressing their needs to their requirements. Therefore, my prime motivator in NOT procrastinating is my efforts to meet my client's needs when required. Satisfied clients means more business and referrals.
Christine,
I actually wrote an article about procrastination and you can see by following the link below. If you would like to use it in your blog, let me know at tracy at collins-admin dot com.
One of the best things that I found to help me with procrastination was finding an accountability partner. It can be a friend, colleague, business partner etc. Each week I send a copy of my goals for the week and then at the end of the week, I send them a copy of what I did and then if there is something I didn't get done, she will make suggestions as to how to get them done and gently push me to get them done. It has worked very well for me.
Links:
Make a Plan. Without a plan we tend to get caught up in non value added activites like browsing the web or reading magazines. Without a purpose, our mind wanders. Instead of devoting all attention to one important task, we will find ourself distracted by automatic (often negative) thoughts.
I also use the process based approach explained in iso9001:2000 for most of my tasks. It is a form of process mapping / flowchart. It takes a lot of discipline though to stick to the plan despite all of the daily distractions, temptations and interuptions (example: an old friend calls to play golf and you have work planned, what do you do ?). Hope this helps. /jf
Katarina G.
Psychologist
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...rewards, rewards and rewards...but of course only if the task is completed!
Panos L.
Business Relationship Manager / Service Manager & LSO at Mythos Brewery (Part of the Carlsberg Group)
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There is only one answer in my books apart from organizational / scheduling / methodological aspects of task starting / completing :
Motivation
By motivation I mean the positive aspects and not the negative like loosing job, getting a bad evaluation etc.
If you can motivate you have a winner.
I hope it helps
Chris G.
America's #1 Possibility Speaker l Certified ChangeWorks! Practitioner l Tension Management Specialist
The one thing I found to be the most effective Anti-Procrastination Weapon is ACCOUNTABILITY! Having a coach or accountability partner has been the master key for me and people I coach to evict procrastination out of their life for good.
My mentor often tells me "Procrastination is a thief and you must get that thief out of your life before it becomes a murderer". Failing to get it out of your life will result in dead relationships, dreams, goals, bank accounts and all of life's unfavorable situations. We all need help and being accountable to someone who will stay on you case will help you accomplish more and rid yourself of procrastination.
Links:
Karen E.
Scholarship RESP representative, Consultant Isagenix detox,cleanse, revitalize your health
My tip is to write a to do list with all the items you need to work on in your day or your week. Write a 'reward me' at the end. On Friday afternoon I will treat myself to a massage, or dining out, or whatever you desire to thank yourself for accomplishing your 'to do list'. Simple and effective!
my anti-procrastination mantra is "I can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes". I commit to plugging away for just 15 minutes - usually that is all it takes to get over the hump.
Well, what I've found to work for me is making a conscious decision to actualy do it. Most of the time, I believe that we procrastinate because the task is not one of our favorite things to do. So we put it off. Doing those things first causes me to remove all the stress from the very beginning of my day. Then, I am so much more productive for the rest of the day - not to mention a lot less stressed!
~Renae
Joe R.
Currently looking for opportunities to deliver highly collaborative, sustainable, and scalable interactive entertainment
Just do it.
Ricki H.
Award-Winning Cookbook Author & Chef; SugarFree, GlutenFree, Vegan, Whole Foods Recipes; blogs at Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Hey Cristina!
I've been using this tip for years, since I read it in an essay somewhere. You tell yourself, "I will just work on this for TEN MINUTES," which seems so little time that it's not intimidating, and most people can do it. But the trick is, once you start actually working on the task, you usually keep going even after the ten minutes is up--you just needed that little boost to get started! It usually works for me. . .
Have children. When your tomorrow could be eaten up by an ear infection or a stomach bug, all you have is today.
Bob M.
Freelance writer/Blogger about Loveland and humor in words, book reviewer, husband, father and grandfather
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May I get back to you on that later?
Take the initiative to decide where you niche is and once you know your niches and strengths, you are essentially on your way!
Christopher M.
Account Executive - Carolinas Region at The Steritech Group, Pest Prevention
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Just Do It. Do the thing you don't want to do and you will be doing it. Then it's over.
You can trick yourself... but in the end you will only be successful by doing the things you don't want to.
I hope this helps,
Chris
Divide a legal/A4 size paper into 9 parts - 3 rows, 3 columns. Cut it out, and staple these along a long edge. This is a simple notepad that'll fit unobstrusively in your pocket.
List your to-do items here in order of priority. Cross out the ones you finish.
When you have a to-do list in front, it's that much easier to "get started" on something to clear it up.
Hi,
I am extremely strict with myself, I generally DO NOT do anythign "fun" - check/ respond to personal e-mails, make personal phone calls etc until EVERYTHING on my "to do" list for that day has been actioned/ ticked off.
It makes you really focus on getting your chores done quickly and efficiently so that you can then spend some time on somethign whcih you really want to do.
GOOD LUCK!
Janet B. suggests this expert on this topic:
Alex hates the word someday. After years of living with his own "someday" Alex sold all his belongings and moved to Europe to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a writer. He now uses his experience to help others get rid of the word "someday" from their lives through his blog http://www.somedaysyndrome.com and through email-based workshops.
I'll work on that tomorrow
Kiss the ugly frog first.
Do the unpleasant or difficult task first and the rest of the project is enjoyable because you are not wasting energy worrying about the unpleasant task.
Pascale R.
Make-up artist for Films, Print & Music videos | Entrepreneur at The Neat Kit | London & Paris
- I think about what is the worst thing that could happen if I don't do the task. Then I try to feel the stress/bad feelings I would feel because of it. Because I've already done that/been there, I can really feel it. In my stomach. And I compare it with the nice feeling I could have if I finish the task quickly and got a tiny treat for it. (from a nice cup of tea with my prefered biscuit to bigger treat, depending on the task to complete).
- I allow me a "catch-up day" where I give myself 2 hours to complete some stuff I failed to do lately. I really try to imagine I'm on a silly game with a timer... and of course a prize. Having a limited time and Indulging yourself when it's finished is always good.
- I've got a software with repeating tasks possible. So anything I want to do often but tend to avoid get listed several times till I do it. It push my guilt button and I finally do it.
- Try to think about something bigger than the task. like I would feel good completing it and that would be a good example for my nephew// X will be proud... and so on. A kind of indirect accountability I guess.
Links:
If you think for a second that you should do something and are about to put it off, drop whatever you are doing right now, and do that first. Make a habit of that process and you'll find you're rarely backlogged on things.
Joanne Y.
Professional Project Manager
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Cristina,
Having been a professional procrastinator early in my adult life, I can tell you that my own anti procrastination motivation plan is to think of all of the missed opportunities I have had over the course of my life due to procrastination.
I then remind myself of where I am and where I have been, and how I finally achieved upward mobility and success in my own mind when I stopped procrastinating duties and tasks.
Even the small tasks we like to pt can lead to huge opportunities, benefits, or rewards if we just get them done!
Stress is less, and life is really a whole lot easier if procrastination is not allowed to inhibit progress on goals, and rob us of opportunities because we have put off something that could turn out to be the next big opportunity for success.
