Procrastination (Sounds interesting, I'll read it tomorrow)

[LottomagicZ4941]

"Procrastination (Sounds interesting, I'll read it tomorrow)

Allow me to start this with a quote:

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva Young

“I’ll do it tomorrow”. Does this sound familiar? Getting something done is easy when it is something we enjoy. Unfortunately, we all have lots of tasks that we don’t particularly enjoy. Even when a thing simply must be done, almost all of us are pretty good at coming up with excuses for putting them off:

· So I’m getting a little over-weight! Who isn’t?

· I'm just not in the mood right now.

· I’ll go for a run tomorrow, the weather isn’t that good today.

· I’ve got plenty of time to get it done.

· What’s the point, I’ll just have to do it all over again in two days.

· It's not like they can’t do it without me.

· I’ll leave it until the day before. I work better under pressure.

Do any of the above points sound familiar? I’ll bet you can add a few to the list without too much trouble! I know it sounds funny when you look at the issue like this but the trouble is procrastination wreaks havoc in most of our lives.

Why do we procrastinate?

Some reasons are easy to spot but others are not so obvious:

· some things just aren’t fun!

· we are uncomfortable about doing some things (e.g. preparing a speech)

· we don’t feel up to the job

· we are angry that we have to do it in the first place

· we have had a bad experience in the past

What can we do to procrastinate less?

Okay, this is a tough one to kick-start because the first inclination of most of us is to put it off. That’s my idea of a joke! Procrastination is simply a habit. Like most habits, we tend not to notice them (our own at least) most of the time. One way to break the habit is to replace it with another one. A good habit to replace it with is to examine your reasons for putting things off when you catch yourself doing it. Most of the time the excuse you were using to procrastinate just won’t stand up under examination. If you have to, make a list of the pros and cons of doing vs. not doing the thing you are procrastinating on. I’d be willing to bet that a good percentage of the time you will just get on with the task.

There is a trap here! Try not to put yourself down when you are examining why you procrastinate. Negative reinforcement is depressing and leads to bad self-image. There is nothing to be gained by telling yourself you are lazy or you are stupid or you aren’t capable of ding something. It is self-defeating. Instead, list the positive things about getting it done straight away. Look at how it will make you feel if you get the job done. Examine how others will see you in a more positive light. Consider how much more you will enjoy your leisure time when you know you have your jobs done. Realize how much grief you will save yourself by being proactive. In short, focusing on the positive aspects will have a much more motivating impact on you.

How can we make things easier?

Don’t expect yourself to be perfect

Perfection is difficult to achieve at the best of times. Most often it is not only unnecessary, but counter productive. The law of diminishing returns comes into play here. Do the job well and get the result. Don’t shoot for perfect unless there is a reward equal to the effort.

Get you goals and priorities straight

Be clear about what is the most important thing to get done and do that first. Leave the less important stuff for last. It is far more motivating to know you have the hard or important things completed. Once you have the job broken down it is easy to prioritize.

Break the job down

Tackle the job in bite-sized pieces. Don’t take on more than you can get done in the time you allocate. This guarantees that you feel good at the end of the task because you have completed it.

Reward Yourself

Make sure that when you get a job done you give yourself a pat on the back. Reward yourself in some way for accomplishing what you set out to do. It gives you something to look forward to.

Let me generalize a bit. The thing is, we are all built pretty much the same way. A carrot is better than a stick even though they can both accomplish the same thing. But what is more motivating? What make you more likely to tackle the job at hand? If you like carrots and you associate the jobs at hand with getting a carrot at the end, you are less likely to procrastinate.

I started with a quote so let’s finish with one I really like:

Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow. ~Gerald Vaughan"

found on

http://futuremagic.blogspot.com/2005/08 ... g-ill.html

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PS Thought of the day if God wanted us to ues the metric system Jesus would have had 10 deciplies:)

[Jives]

Well, that was informative. I guess I figured most of that out a while ago, I never procrastinate. (It drives my wife bonkers, especially when I want to unpack the luggage the second we et home.) The reason I don't is because I get task saturation easily, so I always try to clear everything from my "To Do" list as fast as possible before something else comes up!

At the end of every day, I clear my desk, so that I can start the next day all caught up. Falling behind is psychological death to me.

[actionfigurestepho]

I'm such a bad procrastinator that I've been driving around with no hubcaps for over a month, yet I have a box of hubcaps in my trunk!

[Lon]

PROCRASTINATION & YOUR HEALTH-----That's one that men seem to put off. Unfortunately for some, too late. Not me guys. I'm 71 and fit because I believe in Preventive Maintainence on my body like most guys would treat a car. I am alive and healthy becasue I believe in regular check ups. That means going to the doc and having a few tests even though you feel well. I see many of my peer group that are terminal with one thing or another and if their condition had been caught early they would never of had a problem. Enough preachin------go get your rectal digital exam and a PSA.