What Are You Putting Off?
One of the key challenges that people raise more often than most with me is procrastination. If it’s a problem for you too, here are a few strategies to help you deal with it.
First, understand the reason behind your procrastination. Why are you putting off a particular task? What is it that you’re resisting? Take a few minutes to think about it - overwhelm, fear, lack of knowledge or skills, poor planning. Looking at the reason for the procrastination can help identify ways in which to stop it from happening or at least to start working on it.
Spending just a few minutes each day planning what needs to be done will make a real difference to how productive you are for the rest of the day. What’s the most important thing you need to do in order to achieve your objective and your longer-term goals.
Making sure the outcome of each tasks is aligned with your goals, whether it’s business or personal, otherwise it's wasting further time and effort. Plan time into your schedule in advance – especially if you’re in the habit of leaving things until the last minute.
Prioritise what's important - be honest. Is it really important or just a 'nice, fun thing to do', when there’s something more important that needs doing? Take your biggest, most important task and make sure you do it first, before anything else distracts you. Nothing else is more important and once you’ve done it, you can move on to the next thing.
If you have a large overwhelming task, break it down into smaller tasks. What’s the very first thing that needs to be done? Do that. Then you’re ready for the next step. This might be as simple as writing down a few notes on paper, making a phone call or sending an email. Just get the ball rolling. Once you get started it’s surprising how much easier it can be to keep going.
Get more tips in my article on procrastination.
First, understand the reason behind your procrastination. Why are you putting off a particular task? What is it that you’re resisting? Take a few minutes to think about it - overwhelm, fear, lack of knowledge or skills, poor planning. Looking at the reason for the procrastination can help identify ways in which to stop it from happening or at least to start working on it.
Spending just a few minutes each day planning what needs to be done will make a real difference to how productive you are for the rest of the day. What’s the most important thing you need to do in order to achieve your objective and your longer-term goals.
Making sure the outcome of each tasks is aligned with your goals, whether it’s business or personal, otherwise it's wasting further time and effort. Plan time into your schedule in advance – especially if you’re in the habit of leaving things until the last minute.
Prioritise what's important - be honest. Is it really important or just a 'nice, fun thing to do', when there’s something more important that needs doing? Take your biggest, most important task and make sure you do it first, before anything else distracts you. Nothing else is more important and once you’ve done it, you can move on to the next thing.
If you have a large overwhelming task, break it down into smaller tasks. What’s the very first thing that needs to be done? Do that. Then you’re ready for the next step. This might be as simple as writing down a few notes on paper, making a phone call or sending an email. Just get the ball rolling. Once you get started it’s surprising how much easier it can be to keep going.
Get more tips in my article on procrastination.
Labels: business, procrastination, work life balance
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