Effective Productivity

Emigrating from the Procrastination Nation

Every weekend, all over the world, cyclists get geared up for training.  Some jump on their bikes and go for it.  Others load their bike and an armful of gear into their cars and driving to the perfect starting point.   They park under the shade of a tree and lay a tarpaulin on the ground.  On this temporary stage, they assemble their bikes and check everything.  They oil every moving part and adjust anything adjustable.  Next they massage their legs with liniment and coat all of their exposed skin with sun cream.  With the help of the car mirrors, they dress in their matching clothes and set the angle of their helmet and glasses just right.  One more check over everything and then all they have to do is load up their pockets, mix up a sports drink, and check their voice mail, then they are ready.  Unfortunately, this whole procedure has taken longer than the time that they had available and so they get back into their cars and drive away. 

As they head back home, they catch a glimpse of a fellow cycling club member and fierce rival who lives around the corner.  He is also returning from training, on his bike, after training hard all morning.  Tired but content.  And we wonder why some people get ahead in life and others are left behind!

Procrastination is the opposite of effective action.  There is a direct relationship between effective action and achievement, and there is also a negative relationship between ineffective action (procrastination) and achievement.

Procrastination is everywhere in our world, and is particularly common in people who voraciously devour self development knowledge (which may include you and I).  There is nothing so easy as learning without doing.  Self Development Saturation is the condition where we tell ourselves that we are taking effective action but really we are just absorbing more and more information.  After a certain point, making more preparation, or consuming more knowledge, takes us further from our goals rather than closer to them.  It puts off achievement until later, when our motivation has dwindled and we have given up on our dreams. 

It is easy to see why procrastination is such a popular response to a need for action.  Procrastination - often disguised as preparation, further research, or even routine- is a very effective risk minimizer, in the short term.  While we are procrastinating, it seems that we are able to avoid making any risky action.  We are able to remain in the safety of meaningless action while others take all the risk.  Unfortunately, procrastination leaves us open to serious long term risk.  The risk that we might call “unrealised potential “, the waste of a  precious life. 

One of the biggest problems in getting rid of procrastination is that it is able to camouflage itself in the guise of wisdom.  It hides in worn out sayings such as “Measure twice cut once”, “Haste makes waste”, and even the Boy Scout’s motto ”Be prepared”.  While these words are obviously valuable and wise, many procrastinations are simply unnecessary extensions of their meaning.  If it is wise to measure twice before we cut once, surely it is even wiser to measure three times and then call in a surveyor before we cut.  If haste makes waste then shouldn’t we proceed as slowly as we can to be as efficient as possible.  If we are to be prepared then shouldn’t we wait until we have every possible piece of information in our hands before we begin.  Many wise concepts are pushed further than necessary to accommodate faltering, indecision and procrastination.  However, we have all heard that it is better to be safe than sorry, so maybe procrastination is right after all.

As a result of this attachment to apparent wisdom, procrastination is often applauded.  In a large business environment, mistakes are often the seed for sackings, demotions and career stagnation.  The procrastinator can succeed in an environment that hates mistakes because if he or she takes no action, then no action can possibly go wrong.

Of course procrastination is not sustainable for an organisation or individual who sets out to achieve anything significant.  Strong progress is made by healthy action, not hesitant inaction.  When was the last time you achieved anything important by procrastinating?

In my own life, I continue to limit my progress by a few procrastinations.  One example is the hour that I get up in the morning.  I have always been a moderately early riser but since starting Life Goal Action, I have decided that I need an extra hour of quiet writing time in my morning.  This would mean rising at 5:00 before I train at 6:00 to get this extra writing time in first.  Have I succeeded in this simple action yet?  No.  My procrastination has hobbled me.  I have convinced myself that I can only do it if things are just right.  So I wait for the morning when my baby son hasn’t woken me during the night.  I wait for the morning when it isn’t too dark and rainy.  I wait until I am feeling on top of everything, and I keep on waiting.  Will there ever be the perfect time to get up early?  I don’t think so, so what must we do to overcome procrastination?

How to Kick Procrastination

1.  Make a subconscious “Do it” clause.  I will write more about this later, but for now the concept is simple.  Determine, in advance, what you must do and when you must do it.  When the time comes, don’t re-consider, don’t renegotiate.  You have already decided what happens next so simply step up and ”Do it”. 
2. Reap some rewards early in the season.  Rather than waiting till you have achieved your goals, set up some interim goals to keep you going.  For example, it is easy to procrastinate when you are setting up a new business, but it becomes easier to act, if you are looking forward to the day when you register the business name.  Break your big goals up into increments to beat procrastination
3. Use rolling priority lists rather than stand alone day lists.  If something doesn’t get done today, because it wasn’t high enough up in your priorities, then put it straight back into tomorrow’s list after re-evaluating it’s importance.  Stick to each day’s list and you will find that you will not be procrastinating about anything that is important to you anymore.
4. Give yourself a break.  No body can be 100% productive 100% of the time.  Everyone needs time to behave inefficiently and lazily, to “waste” some time every now and then.  Some people day dream, others read trashy novels, some take a long bath.  Whatever you need, do it from time to time, so that when you need to be productive you have the mental and physical resources you need. 
5. Chip away at big “demoralizers” one bit at a time.  Is your tax paperwork due?  Stop procrastinating by simply taking the first step.  Don’t wait till tomorrow.  Take the first productive step and then you will be ready for the next one. 
6. Get help.  All of us can benefit from accountability some times.  If you are having trouble with procrastinating over a particular action, then ask someone you trust to help you.  All of a sudden you have 2 people encouraging you onwards.  If you begin to procrastinate, stop.  Now there is someone else who will be disappointed if you don’t do what you know you need to. 
7. Don’t attack from all sides at once.  Decide which are the most important areas for you to stop procrastination.  Work on these areas first.  When you have mastered these areas then decide what to work on next.  A sure recipe for failure, is to try and beat every habit at once.  This is particularly true for procrastination.  Treat it like a set of separate circumstances and as you solve more and more of these circumstances, procrastination will cease to be a characteristic that defines your life.

Realistically, some procrastination will stay with all of us for life.  Even the most productive people, procrastinate in some areas.  Our aim should be to push procrastination out of important areas of your life.  If writing Christmas cards doesn’t feature in your priorities, then procrastinate as much as you like.  So long as your procrastination is excluded from the areas that matter, you are on the right track.  Just removing procrastination from one or two key areas of your life will have amazing effects on what you can achieve. 

This week, when I have successfully overcome my procrastination about rising at 5:00, I will have liberated an extra hour in each working day.  This will be massive for me now and way into the future.  I can’t wait!  And the benefit for you is that I will be able to spend more time writing articles to help you achieve your goals too.