Procrastination -- Get Round to Things You've Been Putting off with These 10 Action Tips
What are you going to do tomorrow? It's a funny thing, but nearly everybody, even people who haven't a clue what they'll do on any other day, seems to know what they're going to do tomorrow.
The reason of course, is that tomorrow is when you'll do all the things you haven't got round to today...yesterday...for the last few weeks, months, years!
Many people, it turns out, confess to losing money, opportunity, failing exams or even losing jobs just because of not getting around to things.
Things you're putting off nag at you, stress you, distract you. You feel guilty and weak. It's hard to relax and enjoy yourself with them hanging over you. You may even feel that you can't embark on any project till the stuff you've been putting off is done. So a few tedious letters and a couple of overdue phone calls can acquire horrific proportions and become a logjam which puts half your life on hold.
Getting going starts with looking beyond your excuses. You´re too busy, it´s not a good time, it doesn´t really matter, you´ll do it after this and that has happened ... You can´t deal with the issue till you face the fact that you are actually putting something off.
Then, ask why this task or project is stuck. What will happen if you don´t do it, and does that really matter? Maybe it´s something someone else thinks you should do when your own instincts are against it. Perhaps you´re rebelling against someone else´s agenda?
But maybe you´re putting something off because it will start a process of change. Change is scary. But looking the consequences full in the face takes a lot of the fear out of it. Studies of successful change show that moving from meaning to do something, to doing it, is the most difficult step of all. If you don't make it, you are going nowhere. But you can hesitate a long, long time first.
Whatever you´ve been putting off, here are some tried-and-tested tips for getting around to it. Good luck!
* Face up to change. Change is scary. But vividly imagine the gains you'll make from getting that put-off stuff out of your life -- and your head. Imagine the benefits of a clear desk, done paperwork, a clean house, application forms sent off, projects handed in, phone calls made ...
* Face up to the costs! Make a clear picture of the results if you DON´T do something. Keep reminding yourselves of all the negative things which will happen if you don´t do it, and all the positive things which can´t happen.
* Break up big tasks so that every day, in however small a way, you get nearer your goal. So if the idea of getting fit is too overwhelming, plan it out by scheduling today for finding the phone number of a health club, tomorrow for asking a friend if she´d like to go with you, and so on.
* First things first! Make this your daily motto. Stick it up all over the place to stop yourself getting sidetracked and make sure you do what matters TODAY, not tomorrow.
* Bin the mouldy oldies. Head cluttered with trivial half-done projects you were never that keen on anyway? Bin them or do them, but get them out of your life.
* Set a time limit you can definitely keep to. Don´t try and do something in one fell swoop but allocate half an hour a day for doing a bit of it. Or twenty minutes. Even fifteen. At the end of that time, STOP-- even if you want to go on. But get into the routine of spending that 20 minutes a day EVERY DAY.
* Or try the five minute technique. Tell yourself, you'll just spend five minutes doing whatever. At the end of that time, decide whether you'll spend another five minutes. And so. This way, you don't have to make a big commitment.
* If you can´t face a project as a whole, then pick around the edges of it. A bit of this today, a bit of that tomorrow. You´ll soon find you´ve picked at so many bits that you´ve dealt with the worst of it ...
* Are you putting something off because there´s just one really difficult bit? Do it first. Can´t make yourself do that? OK, then decide to tackle it last, using the energy and strength you´ll get from having got everything else out of the way.
* And finally, take something you´ve been putting off. Isolate one task that´s part of it. And do it now!
Jane Firbank's site, http://www.sescretsofchange.com has over 100 fascinating and helpful problem letter replies, plus scores of articles and book reviews.
Jane Firbank is a psychotherapist working from the new Human Givens approach to counselling. This unites cutting-edge psychological and brain research with the new insights of evolutionary psychology and the ancient insights of the traditional healing and spiritual disciplines. The Human Givens approach is powerfully and rapidly effective in helping people move on from depression, stress and anxiety, obsession, psychosis, relationship problems and addiction. Phobias, traumas and Post Traumatic Stress can often be removed in one or two sessions using the latest knowledge of how the brain works.
Jane Firbank, BSc (Psych), HG Dip, GHR, is in private practice in London, England where she also regularly writes and consults on psychological matters for the Press, TV and radio.
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