Reflecting on procrastinating...

Jason,

If the work gets, "broken down,"  things seem more manageable.
Thanks.

Stan

Occasionally, someone pauses long enough to make it all worthwhile. Here's a really short e-mail I received after working with someone a couple of weeks ago.

      

Of course, there are still bigger projects to manage, and more areas to focus on, but here is word from the wise: Take the big things you have, and make them smaller.

Often, I am asked, "How can I stop procrastinating?" The easy answer is to start doing something.

The more difficult part is to understand what that means.

You see, it's easy to look at procrastination and decide that it's something to STOP. The kicker is, what do you start in its place? Here are just two ideas:

1. Stop the moment you realize you are procrastinating. I know a lot of people (me included) have "tells" that we are procrastinating. I will check e-mail "again," or go to a favorite website. I'll be doing something around the house (dishes, etc) instead of working what I need to be working on. (By the way, my house is rarely as clean as when I have 48 hours before a big deadline!) It is powerful to know your favorite procrastination tricks.

2. Start quickly, and powerfully. Have you ever seen the start of a triathlon? That first forward jolt takes the most energy; once the athletes are moving, it's easier to "keep moving." Do something small to get going. I find that if I brainstorming the conclusion to an article, for example, it's easier to keep on keeping on. You'll probably find it's much easier to keep going once you've started.

Comments

[Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA]

I'm always amazed at how easily/quickly an "ah-ha" moment can come in. Great work, and keep it up!

The "2-minute" rule (or 10-minute, or 45-minute, whatever you want to try) is a great way to go about getting started. I know this morning, on the treadmill, I told myself I'd "run for 20 minutes, and then see how I feel." The next time I looked down, over 27 minutes had passed by, and I was well on my way to 35!

Just get started...

[erik]

Jason,
I had this same thought on Friday while in a writing seminar. I had never thought of breaking the writing of articles down to four stages (Prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.)

This enlightenment made me think about my processing in to my GTD system. I rarely take the 2 minutes to kick start something- draft a mindmap, make a project blueprint... I have realized that I am doing myself a big disservice. Breaking everything down to the granular level really frees you up on multiple levels.