Procrastination

What have you put off until it’s now staring you in the face?  Recession-proofing your marketing?  Training your staff to be resilient in challenging times?  Completing an inventory so you don’t have an emergency (expensive) order to place?  You are not alone.  Many good people procrastinate.  But it can be a serious enough situation that an account, job or even a whole business can be lost. 

Here are ten ideas for overcoming it:

1. Accept the truth.  There is no magic wand that will make the assignment disappear.  In fact, ignoring it usually makes it worse.  Think you work best under pressure?  Name a day that doesn’t have pressure already built in.  Why purposely add more to it?
   
2. Break tasks into smaller goals and give each one its own deadline. Often the task you avoid seems much too big to tackle which can paralyze you into inaction.  Don’t try to finish a whole project in one sitting.  Write one month’s marketing plan; analyze one quarter’s figures, develop one department’s performance goals/standards.  
3. Give yourself a time limit.  “I’ll work for no more than 45 minutes on this project and then I’ll walk the property for 15 minutes.”  Is 45 minutes too much of a commitment? Use a timer set for 15 minutes and tell yourself, "I only need to spend 15 minutes on it, that's all - 15 minutes won't kill me." You'll find that 15 minutes gets you past the hardest bit (starting), and you'll have less trouble continuing.
   
4. Reward yourself.  After your allotted task time, do something you enjoy.
   
5. Be physically prepared to be mentally prepared.  Have all the project resource materials gathered. Have a place with enough light and quiet. This will keep you on track.. 
   
6. Make a list of all the pieces to a project and work backwards from the full completion date.  Let’s say you have decided to participate in a trade show.  There are many small but critical details to make this a winning venture.  Figure out what will take the longest to accomplish.  Design and printing of special materials?  Planning the food, set-up?  Tackle one at a time, but make sure you start with the one that requires the most lead time.  Your procrastination may not be appreciated by the vendors you put extra pressure on.
7. Respect your biorhythms.  Everyone’s energy level is different at various times of day.  Are your mental juices flowing best in the early morning or early evening?  Plan to work on those activities that require your creativity or focus when you have the most physical resources to accomplish them.
8. If you get stuck, don’t stop.  Pick up another piece of the project with a similar deadline or work in a different way.  When you sit down to write a report, does the computer screen occasionally stare back at you?  Pick up a yellow legal pad and scribble notes, ideas or phrases.  It will loosen up your mind and get you in the right mental groove.
   
9. Sometimes it simply takes good old-fashioned willpower. Grit your teeth and say, "I'm just going to do it, darn it!"
   
10. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. Doesn’t that feel good?

Don’t just plan to prepare and get ready to arrange everything so you can be organized to start.

Do It!

d'Orleans Hospitality Training 7001 St. Andrews #317 Columbia, SC 29212 803.781.4824 (tele/fax)