The Spanish have an old saying: “Tomorrow is the busiest day of the week.” For many of us, it’s too true. Procrastination gobbles up our most precious resource: time.
There are things you’re putting off, goals you’ve been remiss about pursuing and projects waiting endlessly for completion. You’ve tried discipline and willpower, but neither have much staying power. One definition of insanity is trying the same thing again and expecting a different result. It’s time for a new set of strategies.
Here are five radical non-procrastination strategies with which to experiment.
Embrace Your Imperfections
We all know we’re not perfect and never will be, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. Because most of us still are attempting to accomplish our personal version of ideal, we often get tied up in how we’re less than perfect.
Have you noticed whenever you find yourself lacking in some way, your productivity level plummets? Do disparaging remarks about your abilities negatively influence your effectiveness?
Instead of beating yourself up, see what you need to do now to correct the situation and what you can do in the future to prevent it from happening again.
Drop Your Tired Old Goals
Forget about the desires you’ve never been able to accomplish or maintain, at least for the moment. These types of goals often are long term and only can be accomplished by applying months or years of effort. After all, if you lose weight you must work to keep it off; if you create a financial plan you must follow it for decades.
Instead, focus on accomplishing new short-term goals. When you succeed, you’ll be so relieved to have accomplished a goal, you will have more energy and enthusiasm for other important long-term goals in your life. You also may realize the old goal is too important to not achieve and you’ll be re-energized to find new resources, support and tactics to get on a sustainable track of accomplishing it.
Give Yourself Motivation
A news article about an overweight man is a great example of how to motivate yourself. The man wanted to lose weight but hated to cook and usually ate in restaurants. To avoid restaurants, he created “Wanted” posters featuring his photograph and offered anyone who saw him in a restaurant a $1,000 reward. He posted these in all his favorite dining establishments and other places he often patronized. This was powerful motivation for him; the man accomplished his goal to lose weight and his story landed in the news.
Who or what is your motivation? What works for someone else may not work for you. Be frank and truthful with yourself to reveal the answer. Your motivation has to hurt at least a little or it won’t be effective. Once you find a successful motivator it may work forever or it may lose its punch after a while. That’s normal. Be creative and get help in devising a new motivator. The bottom line is you want to make putting off your goal more difficult than following through.
Don’t Take “Yes” For An Answer
Most of the time when we add something to our to-do list, we don’t give much thought to whether it’s something we really need to do, how we might accomplish it or whether we’re really committed to it.
Before you include anything on your to-do list, examine the task. Determine whether your intentions are serious and realistic. Could it be you’re just telling yourself you’ll do something without real intent and strategy to follow through? If so, don’t bother.
Going from a knee-jerk “yes” to a well-executed and finished task is a pretty short leap. Usually, all it takes is the use of a calendar, reminder system and fitting reward and consequence plan. The system takes less than one minute to set up, and it’s certainly worth a minute to ensure you complete your task.
Stop Trying to Finish
Although you want to finish, making the end goal your focus often overwhelms you. The next thing you know, instead of sorting through your piles or opening the document you’re supposed to be working on, you’re checking your e-mail or procrastinating in some other way. When your eyes are trained to see only the finish line, it looks like you’ll never get there or it will be a long, painful process.
Focusing on the next step is manageable and you’re more likely to take the next step when you’re not staring down a grueling path to the finish line. Eventually, you will finish and it’s likely to be an easier and earlier finish than if you were only focusing on the end from the beginning.
Kerul Kassel is the author of Stop Procrastinating Now and Productive Procrastination. She is founder of Harmony, Fla.-based New Leaf Systems, a consulting firm dedicated to creating high- performance outcomes and business profitability. Kassel can be reached at kerul@newleafsystems.com or (407) 957-1494.