I have a confession to make. I am a master procrastinator. There I said it. Now I’m betting that you may be challenged by it too, so I’m going to share some of my tried and true best strategies for beating the demon of procrastination. The image below is a classic case in point.
#1 Reward Yourself
One of the biggest reasons we procrastinate is that we just don’t love some of the things we have to do. So give yourself a bit of added incentive and create a system of rewards.
For example, if you love to get outside, give yourself a 30 minute outdoor break, once you have replied to all emails, updated your networks, and submitted the two RFP’s on your list. Or perhaps you need to write your ezine or blog post and you can reward yourself with lunch with a friend after that’s done.
#2 Delegate Your Weaknesses
One of the fastest ways to eliminate procrastination is to get rid of the tasks you aren’t good at and don’t enjoy. This means delegation. Find that Virtual Assistant or employee who you can hand off these task so you can invest your time in more profitable activities that you do enjoy and are good at.
#3 Eliminate Perfectionism
Perfectionism is a surefire way to stay trapped in incompletion and procrastination. You’ll put something off until you can do it perfectly. STOP! It isn’t going to happen. Go for good enough and move on. Go for as they say in blue collar comedy “Git’er done.”
#4 Finish What You Start
Are you a starter but not a finisher? It seems like 70% of the globe is afflicted with this challenge while the other 30% are finishers looking for starters. (The good news is that it takes far fewer finishers to complete what we starters put in the works.) Before you launch any new project, agenda, or task, be sure that you have completely closed out any other open ones. Otherwise you will wind up like a dear friend of mine with 11 home improvement projects and counting and none any closer to completion than the first he began.
#5 Get a Maid
Maybe you don’t have this particular procrastination, but I sure do. I love to leverage cleaning house as a procrastination tool and it works too since I work from a home office on most days. The simple solution is to get a maid! If you can’t imagine that someone at $20-$50/hour will save you several hours of your time (which I hope is worth a lot more), well then maybe you need to re-examine your business.
You been hanging around my house? How did you describe my situation so accurately? Love the images. LOL.
Ali,
I have psychic moments!! Hope this helps get you caught up.
Hugs, Melissa
Hi Melissa
What timing on procrastination. In my new book I have a few pages about that subject. I tell folks to play a word game of making words out of one word and find how many words are within the one word.
PROCRASTINATION
Take out the letters P I R O N which is an abbreviation for pig-iron. This is where it NOW gets interesting.
Take the remaining letters and rearrange them and you now have
CASTRATION
What does this tell us?
It tells us if a person is guilty of procrastination he is performing self castration and his business will fall off. Please tell me, if his business falls off, what good is he to anyone.
I bet you never thought of procrastination in this way.
This was a brief overview of what I wrote in my book and the theme is the same as what I just shared with you.
Take care
Roger Neumann
http://www.rogerneumann.com
Go ouit and make it a $ucce$$ful day! 🙂
Roger,
Very clever and very scary, betting that put the fear to reduce the chaos and clutter and get into go mode into your clients!!
Congrats on the book.
Hugs, Melissa
PS. Treat to see you here.
Melissa, #2 (Delegate Your Weaknesses) is my problem it gets me all the time. It’s hard to find good people to do those jobs when it is important for it to be done well and timely!
Peggy,
Start by creating a job description and getting down all the details.
I’ve also learned over the years that it is more important that it get done in most cases, than HOW it gets done.
Micromanaging costs you more time than delegating effectively!
Hugs, Melissa
Let me know if I can help you!
Just Do It!
Sometimes we put something off with the thought of “I’ll do it later”. Stop putting it off any longer just get on and DO IT. Make that phone call, write that email …. whatever it might be. If you keep thinking about it, it must have level of importance or emotional attachment to it so JUST DO IT.
There’s almost a whole chapter in my book on this topic as it’s such a key issue for people and one of the biggest problems many of my clients face.
There are many reasons people procrastinate and one of the biggest is around fear and resistance. Once we start to look at what’s stopping us on a particular task, it becomes easier to break the barriers (often internal) and find ways to deal with it.
Another great tip to deal with it is to Break It Down. We often put something off because it seems to big a task or too overwhelming or will take too long. Just tackle it one step at a time or allocate a few minutes to it and make a start. This makes it easier to make a start and it’s often then easier to keep going.
Hey Clare,
Great advice always. I break things down but then get stalled with how many things I now have to do. LOL. No one is immune.
Hugs, Melissa
Melissa,
I wanted to take the time this morning to do something I meant to do many times before, but didn’t get around to it – maybe I was procrastinating! I want to thank you for all the e-zine support I receive from you through every article and contact. Thank you giving me resources and ideas to make myself a better person and improve my business techniques.
Marianne,
Thank you for such a lovely compliment and I’m delighted to know I’m making a positive difference in your business!
Sometimes we procrastinate with our thanks and compliments, and they matter most of all.
Hugs,
Melissa
Hi Mellissa
I find I procrastinate most when I am doing something new and unfamiliar.It’s that fear and doubt seeping in. Saying to myself…just do it, helps me stop thinking about it so much…and just do it…even if it’s not perfect!
The web site you encouraged me to do was a perfect example. I’m still eagerly awaiting your comments on it! I sent it to you about a month ago…please let me know what you think!
Have a great day!
Rene
Rene,
Thrilled to hear it. My apologies I didn’t see an email with a link so haven’t gone and looked. Please resend so I can have a peek! Know that I do reply usually very promptly.
Hugs, Melissa
There are so many of us that have, at least at times, an issue with procrastination. I love your tips here for dealing with it and overcoming the tendencies to procrastinate. I think many entrepreneurs have to deal with overwhelm sometimes and the way we deal with it is to put things off, even if they tend to be very important things. Thanks for the great tips!
Nita,
The easiest way is to create just 3 High Profit Activities that have to be done every day. We’ll do far more, but never the hundred we intend to. And if we don’t delineate the most important, they get lost in the shuffle.
Hugs, Melissa
I’ve begun to recognize and to use procrastination as a diagnostic tool, a sure-fire indicator that a goal is either not right for me at this time (usually because I’m not ready, at this time, for the consequences of achieving it), or it is a ‘should’ – someone else’s idea of a goal for me, but nothing that’s actually on my own radar.
Victoria,
You are clearly one smart cookie! Procrastination can be a valuable tool and marker.
Thanks for the reminder.
Hugs, Melissa
Melissa,
The first step is the steepest and from there to the bottom of the hill each step easier. Projects, for myself are always considered a downhill effort, especially those I do not want to start. Each step to the completion levels out the hill until I’m on flat land and trying to push the earth away with my feet.
Thanks Jerry,
I know well what you mean and wanted to make the uphill a bit less arduous. Glad you enjoyed the steps!
Hugs, Melissa
Melissa,
Enjoyed your five steps. Thanks
Great tips!!!!!!
Thanks Keisha!
Put them to good use now.
Hugs, Melissa
Great tips! I need to print this and keep it by my desk!
Genna,
Keep me posted on how effective they are!
Hugs, Melissa