Procrastination......

Is procrastination one of the seven deadly sins? If not, it should be. We are all guilty of dragging our feet on occasion, well I know I am. It seems like the human thing to do, right?

I attended a very interesting and informative teleconference today. One of the topics of discussion was procrastination. I want to share the information I learned with you because I feel it is highly valuable and I think we could all benefit from it.

To start the discussion my mentor started by addressing the 4 causes of procrastination:
1.) fear
2.) the "should do"
3.) no strategy
4.) higher priorities

Lets just start with #1. FEAR. The fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment, the fear of ......well you name it. There are so many fears out there that actually cause people to not take action. Think of a middle school kid procrastinating on a presentation assignment, perhaps the procrastination is not due so much to the intelligence of the child but more so the fear of doing the presentation in front of the class.

#2. The "SHOULD DO IT" mentality is a very uninspiring feeling. When you feel like you should do something opposed to wanting to, love to, excited to, etc... things just feel like a drag. Nobody likes to feel like they are having their arm twisted into doing something and sometimes the things we "should do" feel just this way. The uninspiring feeling of "I should do this" leads to procrastination.

#3. Having NO STRATEGY is where I find myself on occasion. Lets say I/you have a mental list of 5 or 6 things I/you need to do by the end of the day. I/You know I need to get them all done and I have plenty of time to do them, but I don't get a strategy together and I don't write it on paper. I spend a third of the day trying to remember the 5 or 6 things on my mental list and another third of the day I spend trying to make sure my least favorite thing is at the end of my list, so I potentially don't have to do it, and the last third of the day is used for actually getting a few things on the mental list done. I have actually came up with a strategy system that works very well when implemented. Instead of a mental list, I get a piece of paper and a pen and write a hard copy list. I then prioritize by level of importance and flow of accomplishment. For instance, if I have to do laundry, mop the floor, do dishes, go to the grocery store, and get gas, I will start the laundry and let it wash while I do the dishes, then mop the floor. Then I put the laundry in the dryer, run to the gas station, and stop at the grocery last (so the ice cream doesn't melt). When I get home and have the groceries put away I will fold the laundry and put it away. Having a well thought out strategy always works better for me. Having a hard copy list is a must for more than one reason, first I can't trust myself to remember everything that needs to be done and second it feels good to cross of each task as it gets accomplished.

#4. Having HIGHER PRIORITIES is the last common cause of procrastination. When something ranks low on your priority list it is easy to push it aside. We have all fallen into the rut of having something better to do. The thing is if we just take a few moments and get that nagging task out of the way it would free up so much more mental energy and make us more productive in the long run.

Along with giving the 4 common causes of procrastination my mentor also went over 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination all together. They are as follows:
1.) get into action
2.) set consequences for yourself
3.) have an accountability partner

The simple act of getting into action is the most fundamental. If there is something you need to do, just do it! There will be times when I don't feel like doing the dishes, but they need to be done. After I start doing them the momentum starts going and by the time I leave the kitchen the counters and table are cleaned too. The act of just starting the process is the hard part, once you start finishing is easy.

Setting consequences for myself is new to me, but I feel it has potential. The example he used was a student of his that kept saying she wanted to start a business cleaning and organizing people's garages. She had been thinking about this business idea for approximately 3 years, but never acted on it. He asked her if she thought it was possible to find one friend, family member, or neighbor within 2 weeks time that would let her organize their garage. She said "yeah". Then he asked her teenage daughter if she would be willing to accept $200 from her mother if within 2 weeks she had not accomplished this one task, of course the daughter said "yes". The next time they spoke his student had accomplished her goal and had more garage organizing jobs lined up. It was the painful consequence that motivated her to move forward with her business idea.

Having an accountability partner sounds like a great idea. He explains an accountability partner as somebody who will hold you accountable for the things you say you are going to do by the time you say you will have them done. This does not need to be someone you know intimently and will usually work better if it's not a spouse. He says in the 7 day live events that he holds people get paired up with accountability partners. The requirements for a good accountability partner are to find someone consistent and interested in personal development. They also have to have the ability to dish out some "tough love", which means they will not except your excuses when you slack off. And of course the 2 of you have to have good chemistry, you have to at least like each other to help each other especially since you will be talking to this person everyday. He says to set a time of day (typically in the morning) where you meet on the phone for a few minutes , discuss the prior days goals and how you reached them, then discuss your goals for the day ahead. Your partner writes your goals down and you write their goals down and the next day you make sure each other accomplished the list. And so on.

I think the accountability partnership is a great idea. I want to get set up with somebody who can/will hold me accountable for my daily goals. I think it would make my days and weeks more productive. If anybody is interested let me know either by posting it in the comments section for this thread or by sending me an email (tonya.therightdirection@gmail.com). If I get a lot of people interested I can probably pair people up with partners in the same time zone so the phone calling doesn't present a problem.

Now that we all know and understand the 4 common causes of procrastination and the 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination we should all become much more productive.