Procrastination - Good or Bad?

It's probably a good thing if you spend around 5% of your time procrastinating, or goofing off with Facebook or whatever. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.

Most people don't even realize they are procrastinating until half the day is gone before they even get started on tasks that are going to take them towards their goals.

What is procrastination?

Most would say its doing something of little or no importance, instead of doing whats important, ya-di-ya-da.

What procrastination really is, is a sign that something is wrong.

Now you will probably not be consciously aware of what it is that's wrong, It's probably something completely unrelated. Maybe an aunt berated you for being too loud, a primary school teacher embarrassing you in class or friends making fun of you, or worse.

Bottom line is that procrastination is a bad feeling, and you have resistance to doing the task, because you just don't want that bad feeling any more.

Instead of doing something about that bad feeling, we try to make it go away, put a lid on it, bury it, or distract ourselves with something else.

Worst case you try to numb the bad feeling with alcohol, food or drugs.

On a lesser scale, we might numb ourselves with hours of mindless TV, or a good book. Perhaps we'll have endless phone calls or meetings with friends, or get into an argument with our spouse.

Or we'll do what we think is harmless, surfing the net, reading the news, Facebooking, online chatting, etc. But is it harmless, or is it robbing you of time and energy that could be put to good use?

Next time you are procrastinating, just STOP, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, what am I feeling?

It's likely to be an unpleasant sensation in the solar plexus region, but it could be anywhere. It's probably an I'm scared, or an I'm afraid, type of feeling.

And it's nothing to be ashamed of, we all have it in one form or another.

One of the coaches here at Get Centred can assist you with eliminating this feeling.

To your success,
Trevor Long

Write It Down

This fits nicely with what we were talking about in the beating procrastination and overwhelm posts:

Remember that writing stuff down frees up more of your mind for achieving your goals.

To your success,
Trevor Long

Beat Procrastination NOW

Here is a summary of the last few posts on overcoming procrastination to assist you in becoming more productive and smashing out your goals:

• The shortest distance between where you are now and your goals is a straight line.
• Write stuff down, all of it, everything. The things you have to do today, the actions that will propel you towards your goals, the bills you have to pay, the one day I'm going to do that bucket list item, the worries and concerns you have, the little chores that need doing etc. Just brain dump and write them all down, and keep adding to the list throughout the day.
• Get rid of the distractions, at least while you are working. Turn off your phone, email, messages, facebook, skype, etc. and FOCUS for the time that you allocate for productive working.

• Make a list of things to do IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE, things that will propel you towards your goals.
• Start work on the first one. "Started is half finished". "10 Focused Minutes". 
• Don't start on the second one before you finished the first one. etc.

That's it. Write stuff down. Eliminate Distractions, Prioritise, TAKE MASSIVE FOCUSED DIRECTED ACTION!

Simple right? DO IT! IT MAY SEEM DIFFICULT AT FIRST, BUT EVERYTHING IS DIFFICULT AT FIRST.

Did you know that your coach is an excellent resource when it comes to you setting your goals, planing and taking action towards them? Contact NOW for a complimentary 15 min strategy session.

To your success,
Trevor Long

Procrastination - Failure to Launch

So you are ready to get to work, you've written everything down so your mind is clear, you've switched off your distractions.

And your brain has gone into hiding. 

What's happened? You are overwhelmed by your 'To Do' list, so your brain goes into overdrive looking for avoidance behaviours, you know, more coffee, having a 'rest', just one more check of Facebook, or perhaps even some advanced procrastination strategies, like that DIY project that you've been putting off for months. In fact anything at all that is not on your list to take you towards your goals!

So whats the solution? 

Think about your goals, look at your 'list', and decide what is the most important thing on that list that will take you towards your goals? Perhaps it's marketing, or writing that ebook, or setting up a website. 

Then write down the second most important thing, then the third, etc. Hint - filing is probably not going to be at the top of this list.

To help you order your list, here are some ideas and their relative value, for least to most important:

Now, refer to your new list of tasks for the day, in order of importance, that are going to take you towards your goals.

Start on the most IMPORTANT one.

When do you start on the second one? Only AFTER you have completed the first one! That way, even if you only do one thing that day, at least you have worked on the most important thing.

I have a simple mantra - "Started is Half Finished!". Often getting started is the hardest part. e.g. Once you are at the gym it's easy to work out, getting there is the challenge. And you know what, us humans are creatures of completion, once we get going, we like to finish things off. Have you ever gone into the kitchen, just to load the dishwasher, and found yourself cleaning the whole kitchen? While that may be an advanced form of procrastination, it proves the point.

If I'm not getting into a task, for whatever reason, maybe I don't like it, or I don't know how to do it, or I'm considering checking Facebook one more time, I have another mantra - "10 Focused Minutes!". You can do anything for 10 minutes, right? So I commit to spending 10 minutes purely focused on task at hand, nothing else for that 10 minutes. That is usually enough to get engaged in the task, and see it through. Worst case scenario is that at least it got started, and I can throw another 10 minutes at it later. Usually though, the "started is half finished" thing comes into play and the job gets done.

To your Success,
Trevor Long

Procrastination - Death by a Thousand Cuts

"Death by a thousand cuts" has its origins in lingchi, a highly unpleasant form of execution used in Imperial China, which involved the slicing of the convicted criminal's flesh until death ensued.

Not a very pleasant way to start a blog. And what does this have to do with procrastination?

The 'cuts' we are referring to here are the constant distractions and interruptions that plague us throughout the day.

What are they? SMS text messages, Facebook notifications (and the need to keep checking on Facebook to keep up with who is eating what for lunch with whom and where - all the important stuff required for your success), emails, Phone Calls, following Links and investigating things that have nothing to do with your purpose, eg. the latest Malaysian Airlines disaster, Skype, IM, Youtube, Spotify, TV, Radio, oh look a butterfly, etc. etc.

If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got!

So what can you do about it? You can't live in a bubble, disconnected from the World, right?

Well you can, for short, focused, periods of time.

When its time to work (and you have those periods scheduled, right?), shut off your email, your IM's, your Skype, your Phone, etc. etc.

Then work for your scheduled period of focused time. Simple right? At the end of your allotted time, check your emails, your messages, voicemails, Facebook if you must, and then get back into it again.

Life is not a marathon, it's a series of short sprints.

Oh, and just in case you are not disciplined enough to unplug for a while, there are plenty of apps to download that can help you with that.

To your Success,
Trevor Long

Procrastination - Mind Viruses

Just as viruses and spyware can sit on your computer and without you knowing it, use up valuable resources that could be used for real tasks, slowing down your computer or rendering it useless, mind viruses can sit on your brain and use up your resources that could otherwise be used for getting stuff done.

I had an IT friend who often told me that his relationship problems were using up too many CPU cycles in his brain.

You might have heard someone say they just can't get anything done, because they "have too much on their mind".

Maybe you have bills to pay, you are worried about your health, your partner is nagging you, etc. So instead of getting those important tasks done that will propel you to your goals, you end up organising your desk, then relaxing and having a coffee and cake 'because you deserve it', and before you know it, it's too late to start any real work, so you kick back in front of the TV with a stubbie, recuperating for the productive day tomorrow.

Perhaps you've heard that we can only hold 7 +/- 2 chunks of information in our conscious mind at anyone time? That's why you have to turn off the radio when you park your car, there's just too much going on for you to be able to concentrate, so you remove one of the distractions (hey, there's an idea). This is why it's hard to get stuff done when you are worried, or your brain is overloaded.

 BUT THERE IS A DEVILISHLY SIMPLE SOLUTION!

You could just wait for your mind to clear, it will eventually, but how has that strategy been working out for you? If you are like most people, not well.

OR, here it is... you WRITE IT DOWN!

Technically, what's going on inside your brain is an 'open loop', "I've gotta pay that bill, I must pay that bill, if I don't pay the bill the power is going to get shut off, my partner is going to give me hell about it if i don't do it" etc. etc. Writing it down effectively closes the loop, giving you one more chunk of brain power to use for getting important stuff done. You have freed up your mental RAM.

Here's how I do it. I start every day with my 'Success Six', a list of the six most important things I have to do that day. When I have a thought or idea, I write it down on the list, below my 'success six' list (I'll do another blog on that another time, I just added it to my 'blog ideas' list so I can close that loop and carry on with this). If I get through my list of six most important things to do that day, I can get on with the next things on the list, or add it to tomorrows 'success six' list.

Told you it was simple. Success is not hard. It is a series of small habits that build up to an avalanche of success.

More on procrastination to come... eventually!

To your success,
Trevor Long

Procrastination - What is it?

Procrastination

We all do it, well at least 95% of us on a regular basis. I even procrastinated about doing this post. There were some very important weeds that needed weeding! My worst case in recent times was one day when I was set to finish and submit a final paper. Whilst having my morning shower and getting ready for the productive day ahead, I decided that I just had to steam clean the shower! I knew I had a steam cleaner somewhere in the garage, bought in a moment of considered consumerism from an infomercial many years before. You can guess what happened. I got a very clean shower, and wasted at least half the day on a non urgent, non important task.

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something, often indefinitely. 

It takes many forms, ignoring tasks, hoping they will go away, doing something else not important, telling yourself poor performance is ok, believing that minor repeated delays will not hurt you, becoming paralysed by having too many choices, etc. etc.

It can rob you of your future dreams. 

If you’re completely happy with your life, congratulations. Keep doing what you’re doing. If, however, you look back on your hopes and dreams of 5 years ago and find that you haven’t achieved them, perhaps it’s time to try something different.

We know that the shortest distance between where you are now and your goals is a straight line. e.g. getting fit and healthy does not include detours to McDonalds and the pub. So why don't we just focus on what we should be doing?

The following few blogs are going to explain some of the reasons why, and what you can do about it.

When will I post them??? Eventually!

Ooooo, look - a cute picture of a cat...