As you can see from my post on November 19, procrastination is not something that is a struggle for a few…it plagues everyone. And, over time, delay can become a harmful habit that gets in the way of our ability to succeed and to experience quality living (how many hours a day do you spend thinking about what you need to do rather than enjoying life?)

With the state of our economy and business world, it has never been more important than ever than to act on those activities which are critical to getting results. The reality is that many people place their focus on things like shuffling papers, reading the news (which I do recommend that folks take a break from the news for about a week just to catch your breath) and doing the easy things rather than tackling the big stuff.

People often ask me how I can juggle all that I do. I am a consultant who sees clients every day, I write for 6 blogs, I speak to the public and I maintain a household. My answer is that I attack my big priorities first each morning, and I am a “do it now” person rather than a “do it later” person. I don’t have any “to do” lists. I get up each day, and I scan my house and office and I literally “just do it”. It is 7:41, and I am writing my blog and drinking coffee. I will write until about 7:45, will feed my dogs, spend some time with Mike, I will go to the gym to work out (another high priority for me), then I am driving to Chapel Hill to have lunch with a colleague and will see my kids while I’m there. So, I find a way to mix business with pleasure.

If you think about what procrastination really does to us, it is actually harmful both mentally, emotionally and physically. Procrastination most often

1) Gets in the way of our ability to focus

2) Causes an enormous amount of worry and anxiety

3) Creates a nagging feeling, which often leads to a head ache, back ache or stomach pain

So, rather than go on and on about procrastination, I am going to share with you 16 tips to help you bust through the cycle of procrastination.

1) Adopt a “do it now” policy. Why put something on a list? Just go do it now. If you cannot do it right now, put it on your list and head out to do it tomorrow.

2) Write down everything you know you have to do in detail. Set a timer for 30 minutes, and knock out as many things as you can on your list. The momentum will probably turn into more like 45-60 minutes of work, which is a good thing.

3) Adopt a “worst in, first out” policy. We often have things on our “to do” list that we don’t enjoy doing, so we keep moving them down the list. I recommend doing the tough stuff first. Then, the easy stuff is a no-brainer…it just gets done.

4) Write down each of your volunteer jobs and resign from all but the one that brings you the most joy. I am a big supporter of volunteer work, but the thing that drives me crazy are the people who sign up to volunteer who never show up. It is better to have one volunteer activity that you can actually fulfill than 5 that cause you to worry and fret.

5) Delegate out as much of your “I hate these to do lists” as possible to someone other than yourself. There may be things on your list that you don’t enjoy that someone else would LOVE to do.

6) Look closely at why you are procrastinating. Is it fear, doubt, overwhelm, lack of knowledge, or because you just don’t enjoy that activity? Once you have identified the cause of your procrastination, talk to a coach about what’s really going on, and design a solution to address the block.

7) For big tasks, break this down into smaller steps, and write out a calendar to get the smaller steps accomplished. With this approach, you will get much more done than if you decide to take on the entire project at once. If you are going to take on the entire project in one block, schedule the time on your calendar to work only on that project. If you are working on it while you are doing other things, you will add about 50% more time overall to the project.

8)Drop the perfectionism. You don’t have to have every task you take on be perfect. Get the job done, and then delegate out the “perfecting” stage to someone who can shine up the project.

9) Work on projects even when you feel like you are in a bad mood. The completion of a project can actually release endorphins that can lift your mood.

10) Before you tackle a project, take a 10-minute brisk walk and drink 10 ounces of water. If you can drink coffee, a cup of coffee will also get you going. The energy and fluid to the brain will get you moving and in the direction of accomplishment.

11) For housework and busy work, turn up a fast-paced piece of music to increase your pace.

12) Invite someone to join you in taking on your task. Getting the job done is a lot easier when you have someone there by your side to urge you on.

13) Take a piece of poster board, and draw a visual of what the task looks like once completed. Keep that visual right in front of you while you are completing your task.

14) Declutter. One of the things I love on the Clean Sweep show is the way they declutter. They take everything out of the room, and they put things in 4 boxes: Keep, Give Away, Throw Away and Store. If your space is clean and organized, you will get a great deal more done.

15) Tell at least 3 people that you are going to complete a task. Ask them to hold you accountable to the task.

16) Reward yourself and celebrate once your done. Hey…you deserve it!

If you are someone who is dealing with procrastination, and if you feel you need an accountability partner to get the job done, send me an e-mail to bea@beafields.com. I am happy to offer you a 20 minute consultation to see if I can assist you with breaking through the cycle of procrastination.

As a leadership coach, I talk to clients every day who say they are in the middle of a cycle of procrastination, and they crave free time to do what they love doing. So, I usually coach them on things such as time blocking, managing priorities, handling interruptions and of course, how to break the cycle of procrastination.

It’s quite easy to tell people to “stop procrastinating”, but to stop it is not the easiest thing to do. You see…every person procrastinates about something. And, at the root of procrastination is usually a fear, dread, frustration or doubt.

As an example, I hate folding laundry, and I let clean clothes pile up. The reason? I know that once I fold and put the clothes away, they will be back in the laundry room again in 2 days…how frustrating! I have learned to bust this up by getting Mike (my husband) to help me fold (I give him the socks, which is my worst part of folding laundry…trying to find all the mates, most of which have disappeared into the mo-fo zone…the name we have given to the place all socks go when they disappear in the dryer.)

So, today, I reached out to the people in my life who I know are super productive…as a matter of fact, they make the energizer bunny look like he’s running on dead batteries…to ask them what they procrastinate about, why they procrastinate about this one thing and how they break through the dreadful cycle. Here is what they said:

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Christy Geiger of Synergy Strategies:

1) What do you procrastinate about? Administration things i.e. developing trainings, Billing, database updates, etc.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? I just don’t like to do it. Takes time to figure out what I am doing. Feels overwhelming until I am “into” it.

3) What do you usually do to break through the procrastination? I clear my desk so there is nothing to distract me. Get close to a deadline or end of the “window” of time I have budgeted for this and get focused. Sometimes turning on music, get drink and “dig in”. These are structures I try to use to help me, but usually what does it is a deadline (someone is expecting it).

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Lorraine Lane of Lane Business Consulting

1) What do you procrastinate about? I procrastinate about cleaning my office.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? I procrastinate about this because I don’t like to file ( I put all the paid bills, etc. that need to be filed in a basket that is always overflowing) and putting stuff away requires sorting and making decisions about what to keep and what to throw out. And, I find that this “job” requires lots of time to sort and file, etc.

Also…If my desk is clean, I am fearful that I won’t be aware of what tasks need my attention. It also feels like a waste of time – I could be ‘working’ on something useful instead of picking up my messes.

3) What do you do to break away from the procrastination cycle? I break through the procrastination when company is coming and I don’t want family and friends to see how messy my office is. So, if I want a cleaned office, I invite guests!

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Roger Dewitt of Coaching NYC and Zapprocrastination.com

1) What do you procrastinate about? Doing mundane work that I find dull like gathering everything for taxes or “data entry” kinds of jobs. I also procrastinate about making decisions that feel like I have to pick “the right” choice.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? I find repetitive tasks dull. As for decisions, I am a Libra and we have trouble deciding which restaurant to eat at. When there feels like I have to decide on a “right course of action” — like deciding which info product to create — I roll it around in my head and try to learn more and more until I feel like I know “enough.”

3) What do you usually do to break through the procrastination? Procrastination is a “thinking problem.” The way we represent something in our mind reflects how we will act on it and what we will feel like while we do. If we really feel like something is going to be dull, we have predisposed ourselves to it being dull before hand. Avoidance naturally follows. The quickest way to break through procrastination is to change the framework of how we see a task. To risk a “Mary Poppins” reference, “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Pairing somethin g we dread or fear with something that has meaning and we love helps to re-wire our perception and makes the job effortless. For example… if you love competition, make laundry folding / put away a race with a family member. If you want more romance with your partner and the laundry needs to be folded, have a romantic evening of role playing as “the butler” and “the maid” that ends with passionate… well… you get what I mean. As silly as it sounds, it really works and we feel better doing it. We predispose ourselves to our experience of a task by what we think about that task before hand. Want to have a better experience, change the thoughts.

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Sue Publicover of Writers of the Round Table

1) What do you procrastinate about? I procrastinate about organizing my mail. Even though I pay my bills on time, I just toss everything in a pile to be organized “later”.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? It’s boring. There’s nothing satisfying about filing.

3) What do you usually do to break through the procrastination? I leave the pile in a place where I have to look at it regularly. When it bothers me enough, I dive in. Then, I feel so great that I wonder why I don’t do it regularly!

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Scott Bradley of Networking Effectively

1) What do you procrastinate about? I procrastinate about organizing paperwork.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? I procrastinate about this one thing because in my mind I tell myself “It only takes 1 minute to organize…so I will spend time doing other things.

3) What do you do to break through the procrastination? I say to myself, “Ok Scott…it’s time to clean it up and start fresh.”

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Corey Blake of Writers of the Round Table

1) What do you procrastinate about? I procrastinate on making tough decisions.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? Fear of conflict.

3) What do you usually do to break through the procrastination? Unfortunately, I often wait until I’m backed into a corner so I feel like I have a more legitimate excuse to act.

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Carol Dickson Carr of Managing Personal Resources

1) What do you procrastinate about? On the days that I don’t have to be anywhere until the afternoon, sometimes I put off exercising as soon as I get up.

2) Why do you procrastinate about this one thing? Lying in bed or checking email and the social networks seems more appealing.

3) What do you usually do to break through the procrastination?
Remind myself that I always have more energy in the morning on an empty stomach (besides green tea!) when I work out and put forth a lot more effort into the workout than when I wait until the afternoon after I’ve had a couple of meals. I also remind myself of the high blood pressure on both sides of my family and getting it over with also gives me more energy throughout the day.

EDGE! A Leadership Story

I am not a productivity expert, but I am well known for getting things done and getting them done well, so I want to share with you a few strategies which have worked for me so that you can also be more productive.

The first thing to know is that we are in unique times. Because of laptops and the internet, our work and personal lives are intersecting unlike they ever have in the history of work. We lie in the bed checking e-mail. We are up at the crack of dawn to write our blog entries (like this one today.) We can have a report faxed or e-mailed to our homes 24/7. The question I hear from leaders each day is “How do I deal with all of this so that I stay as productive as possible?”

My response is always to come back to the leaders I work with and ask them to answer the following questions:

1) What is the biggest project that is on your mind?

If you have something on your mind, and it’s not getting done, it may never happen. The best way to address this is to sit down with a piece of paper and get the project on paper with a list of things to get done, completion dates and the names of people you will delegate out the project to.

2) What is the weakest link in your time management system?

One of the tools I use quite often with my clients is the Time Mastery Profile. With this profile, you will be able to quickly see the area which is your weakest link in your time management system. The weak link might be a lack of planning, procrastination, interruptions or poor communication. Once you have identified the weakest link, sit down and craft a plan to turn that weakness into a strength. Once your plan is crafted, you must be willing to dedicate your time and energy to changing that behavior around for at least one year (hey…it took you 20, 30 or 40 years to get where you are, so it’s going to take time to turn the behavior around.)

3) What commitments are you not fulfilling?

I work with leaders each day who are just simply over-committed. They are not only running a large organization. They are sitting on multiple non profit boards, attending conferences and attending meetings with strategic partners and political decision makers. Many leaders will tell you that they often can’t meet about 50% of their obligations. Look closely at your commitments, rank them in order of priority, and politely decline from any commitments you know you cannot meet (or delegate them out to someone who can meet them.)

4) What small tasks are you worrying about?

What are you thinking about? “I need to make a doctor’s appointment” or “Send that thank-you note” or “The dog needs a bath.” Does this sound familiar?

Last night, as I was going to sleep, I realized I had a radio interview this morning at 7:45. I had been worried that I might miss the interview, so I got up, wrote myself a big reminder and placed it beside the phone. I was then able to go to sleep. Each day, we have small “worries” that run in the background of our minds. They keep playing and playing like a broken record. The best thing you can do to relieve this mental stress is to complete a brain dump. Sit down, and write out a list of everything that’s on your mind (including that squeaky door that keeps irritating you every time you open it.) Then, set out to knock out every “to do” on your list. You will find that your productivity is so much greater once you get everything out of your brain and on paper.

5) What is your magical time of day?

Each person has a time of day that is what I call “magical.” It’ s that time of day when you are the least distracted and the most productive. It’s that time of day when you can focus on one project and get in the zone on that project. Consider carefully what your magical time of day is, and dedicate this time to your most important projects.

6) What do you always find time to do?

There are tasks on your task list which always seem to get done. Look closely at this list. From there, you will want to ask yourself why these things are easy for you to do. Do you enjoy them? Do they help you fulfill a core value? Do they allow you to feel a sense of accomplishment? Do they spark your creativity? There are always “to do’s” in your life which are working, and these accomplishments can boost your confidence. Once you discover “why” they are working, use these reasons as a way to look at why other tasks are difficult to accomplish. As an example, if you value time with family in the evening, and you are committed to an evening meeting that you never seem to be able to attend, it is probably because this meeting is bumping up against time with your family.

7) What projects are the most important to your overall life and career success?

It is so easy to put off bigger projects which may have a huge positive impact in our lives, because they seem so daunting. I know…I wrote two books in two years, and there were times when I wondered if they would ever get done. The thing to know here is that you cannot “implement” or “act on” a project. You can only “act on” each task which is a part of the bigger project. The best way to approach a big project is to sit down and write out each and every step you will need to implement to complete the project and then implement one task each day (or two tasks each day if possible) until the bigger project is complete.

8)What seems to interrupt you?

Life is filled with interruptions. The first step in the direction of reducing interruptions is to keep an interruption log for one week. The log should include:

-The interruption
-The time of day
-The person who interrupted you
-The length of the interruption

At the end of one week, look closely at your data to spot trends in your answers. You may find that a certain person interrupts you or that interruptions are more frequent at certain times of day and so forth. Once you have discovered the repeating patterns of your interruptions, it’s time to start making some changes. Speak to the people who are interrupting you, establish office hours, close the door and turn off the phone during your peak productivity hours.

9) How many hours each day do you spend multi-tasking?

The multi-taskers of the world think they are getting a lot done (I am admitting that I am a multi-tasker. Right now, as I write this article, I am not multi-tasking. I am sitting in my dining room away from my other toys and people). The Journal of Experimental Psychology has discovered that it takes the brain four times longer to process each task you are working on during multi-tasking. So, if you are multi-tasking for one hour, you are actually working for about four hours. The best approach with any task is to carve out the time of day and a quiet location so that you can stay focused on that one project only. Your completion time will literally be cut in half.

10) How often are you checking e-mail each day?

Many people think that checking and responding to e-mail is making them more efficient, yet the reality is that checking e-mail multiple times a day creates distraction and causes us to veer off in a direction away from our most critical tasks. It causes a loss in concentration and causes eye strain and fatigue. The best approach with both e-mail and phone calls is to schedule two times each day to check e-mail and to return phone calls. Use the time in between to work on those tasks which are going to help you achieve your most important projects and goals.

If you are someone who is interested in improving your leadership by improving your productivity, contact me today at beafields@beafields.com to schedule time for a consultation.