Avoiding Procrastination Thieves – 2

Posted on February 16th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

How is it that a bright, motivated professional can procrastinate day after day, month after month, and year after year? Because procrastination works. It keeps you from having to do the task that you just hate to do. Well here’s the news, folks, you can break the habit!

1. Can you pay (a reasonable sum) to have someone else do these tasks? There might be children in your house who would clean up your linen closet/pantry/storage area for $$. Isn’t it worth that to you?

2. Do you need a professional to help you with a task? What if your carpet is pulling up from the seam and you can’t fix it yourself? Set a specific time every week to make phone calls to professionals to help you with odd tasks like this.

3. Are there tasks that you are afraid of? How about that big project your employer asked you to do? Even if you aren’t going to do the task today, make an outline of what must be done to complete the task. Force yourself to complete one item on the outline before you leave work today.

4. Are there tasks you hate? Accounting, filing, etc.? Get to work 10 minutes early for the next several days until these items are caught up. Then designate an early morning time to complete the item on a regular basis.

5. Don’t allow yourself to whine about your procrastination. In the time it takes you to whine, you can often finish the task.

Read Rita Emmett’s book The Procrastinator’s Handbook.

You may also want to access one of the Third Thursday Productivity Time programs:

Polish Off Procrastination! Bump Off this Obstacle to Productivity (just $9.97; such a deal!)

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