How many
times have you sat down to tackle that daunting project only to find yourself
distracted by something else to do — at the end of the day you still haven’t
gotten the project done. And with deadlines looming the stress keeps building,
it just keeps feeling harder to get the job done. The blasted thing is, you
knew exactly how this was going to work itself out the first time you told yourself
to get it done. What are your options at this point? Miss the deadline with a
devil-may-care attitude or excuses and blame? Maybe you’ll make a half hearted
and rushed attempt and even if you do finish the project, you won’t have the
time to review, self-edit, and present your best work?
Why do most
of us procrastinate when we really know better? There are many reasons:
boredom, fear of failure, lack of discipline, lack of self-confidence, feeling
overwhelmed, spite or rebellion, and others. There are probably as many reasons
as there are techniques. There’s a cost to procrastinating, you lose respect in
the eyes of potential employers/clients; the added stress of not being able to
meet your commitments, a breakdown of teamwork and possible resentments, and
most of all, missed opportunities. Most of us prefer to party over work, but we
need to find a way to put procrastination off and not our work. We can change…
really, but it takes work.
“One of
these days I’m going to write a novel…” How many times have you said that and
how many novels have you written and seen through to publication? It’s hard to
sit for hours pouring your heart out on paper, it’s scary to think someone
might criticize this thing you’ve created, and you really do (think you have)
too many other things on your plate to take such valuable time away. One way to
help get beyond all the excuses is visualization. Close your eyes and picture
this, you are holding a beautifully bound book in your hand and you turn it
over and see, right after the little word ‘by’ your very own name. Damn don’t
you feel proud! The next time you sit down to write and find yourself checking
emails, updating social networks and playing online games, picture that book in
your hands.
I am a
proponent of making lists. If you prefer fun or reward over tedious work, make
a list of must-do tasks and decide on a small but enjoyable reward for yourself
every time you complete any five of those tasks and a bigger reward if you’ve
completed the entire list. That should give you some incentive towards finishing
the job.
Eliminate your
distractions, that’s a lot harder than it sounds. Many people will say to turn
off your email, Facebook and ignore the phone but let’s face facts, sometimes
we can’t if it’s part of business or life. I have editors who contact me via
email (mostly non-fiction work) and sometimes I have as little as a 24-huor
turnaround for an assignment, or just 10-minutes to accept that same
assignment! I can’t afford to turn off my email for hours. My publisher requires
all of the authors in that house to promote on social media every day, so I
need to go on Facebook, Twitter or other sites. And of course there are
unexpected emergencies in everyone’s life where you need to be reached in a
hurry.
You can
reduce procrastination by limiting time on each so-called distraction. Here are
some ways I try: Scour your email once every hour for sender names and subject
lines and open only business related emails, save all of those internet jokes
and personal notes until the end of the business day; pick two peak times every
day to go through your social networking sites and post only your promotion
material using a timer so you don’t get lost, again save all the fun friend
stuff for the end of the day. Finally, use caller ID and voice mail for random
phone calls, answer only close family, doctor offices or your child’s school
and keep those conversations brief.
Writing Exercise: Set a timer for 30-minutes and free-write
about your goals. Don’t stop.
Writing Prompt: Make a list of “annoyances” that
seem to distract you; imagine confining each of those distractions in a box,
suitcase or drawer until you’ve finished what you started out to do.
Challenge Assignment: Write out a schedule for
your work-week – OVER Schedule yourself. Now as that work week begins, note
where you vary from the schedule and WHY. Next week revise the schedule to be
more realistic, but don’t make it easier, remember you want to achieve things.
Keep doing this for a few weeks until you have a practical timeline to go by.
