Give yourself a well-intended kick (in order to kick a bad habit!)
Datum: 2011-12-07 11:00
Are you one of those who tend to postpone something you have to do, week after week, without really knowing why you do this?
Speaking for myself, I do this even when it concerns tasks which are actually in themselves easily done, but the procrastination seems to happen by itself.
Once I have postponed the task once, it becomes known to me as “a task which I postpone”, and hence I put off completing it again and again.
There is a time for soul-searching and a time for kicking
We could probably go searching deep within ourselves and find the true reasons for why we (or is it just me?) act in this way from time to time.
But I personally think it is more refreshing to sometimes instead give myself a well-aimed kick with every good intention of putting me on the right track again.
One way of doing this is to make sure to do something which requires that you have done whatever you have been procrastinating. You thereby “force yourself” to get something done by doing something else.
Does it sound complicated? Let me give you an example.
When I for instance, couldn’t seem to get around to buying a stand for my portable recording-device, I scheduled an appointment for an interview I was intending to do with a business acquaintance. I needed the stand for the interview, so I will leave it to you to figure out if I finally bought the stand soon thereafter or not. (The answer is yes.)
Do this
If you are stuck with a task in a project, skip it for now and proceed with other tasks. This way you will be required to do it eventually.
- Let’s say that you for example have a text you need to write before you can officially publish your new website. You get a real writers-block and cannot seem get a single decent word onto paper, so you publish the website anyway and, as you can imagine, you will soon have written something at least acceptable since you cannot allow the webpage to remain completely empty for long!
- Or do as the Swedish performer Robert Broberg did, who during a performance at the large concert-arena Globen in Stockholm told the audience of how he once sold a concert with his new skiffle-band before he even had a band! When the deal was done, he headed out to find a few musicians to populate the band with!
- It could also be something as simple as that you make a public announcement regarding something you will have succeeded with within a month and that you then will report it back nice and clear to your clients, friends or family. Since you do not want to lose face, you make the extra effort needed and finally get going with whatever it is.
Let go of the burden
If you force yourself to do something by doing something else, you will finally get the task you have been procrastinating done. Even if you haven’t spent time completing the task, it has been a burden and a nuisance to you. Every time you remember that you really should do that one thing you have been putting off, a few dark clouds pull in and cloud your mind and conscience.
But now you are free. You have shown yourself that you are a person of character, that you have the energy to go through with things and that you no longer need to be known as “a procrastinator”.
If what you procrastinate concerns improvements of quality and service in your business or perhaps even the development of a new product, the consequences of getting things done sooner are as you must realize, significant.
How do you deal with procrastination?
What is your best way of going from being the King or Queen of Procrastination, to being the opposite? To “fool” yourself to do something which you used to postpone?
Leave a comment and tell me and others.
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