Do you have things that need to get done but you keep putting them off? Is there a room, office, or desk, that is a disaster and you know it needs to be organized or cleaned out? What about all of those calls and meetings you need to set up but the phone feels like it’s 500 pounds. My favorite is when it’s a beautiful Saturday. You find yourself sitting on the couch, stuck there and completely unmotivated to do any of the things you put on your to do list. Here are five easy tips that can help:
Do it first:
This comes from growing up, shall we say, a little country. I remember my father saying we couldn’t do anything until we had first finished our chores. The same holds true with things you find yourself putting off. Make it a priority and put it on your calendar. Preferably, find a morning that will work and block time to do it first thing that day. The thought here is why not knock it out early so you can have the rest of the day to do the things you are really excited about.
Eat the monster in small bites:
I work with a few folks that all but shut down and get extremely overwhelmed when faced with what they perceive as a huge undertaking. I refer to the phenomenon as the BHBM or the Big Hairy Blue Monster. When I was about 8 years old, I thought there were monsters in the closet or under my bed. Each passing night the monsters would grow bigger and more terrifying until they were so enormous, I wouldn’t dare put my foot on the floor. The same idea applies as an adult. The longer you put something off, the more your brain makes it out to be larger and more daunting undertaking than it actually is. The solution is fairly simple. Start off with a small portion of the project or task and knock it out a little bit at a time. After a few successful goes at it, you might find yourself saying something like; “That wasn’t actually as bad as I thought. I think I can do this!”
Make it fun and engaging:
There is nothing more mundane and overwhelming than cleaning up a HUGE mess. To help illustrate this, imagine a room that has been left behind in the wake of 15-20 five-year olds. How, as adults, do we not just fall to our knees and cry when we happen across such horror? A few enlightened folks have figured it out. They tackle the challenge by enlisting the help of a cute little song or game. Oldies but goodies like “the clean up song” or “see who can put the _______ away the fastest.” The idea here is to persuade the children into thinking cleaning up is fun so they will actually do the task. As adults it still holds true. Think about how you could have a little fun with a seemingly dreadful task. Cold calls might be the procrastination choice of the day. Have fun with it by seeing how many “no’s” you can get. If you want to involve others, have a little competition in the office. The person with the most no’s wins!
If fun is not really your thing, explore the potential learning opportunity in a task. Here is an example. Say you have a mandatory training video that you have been putting off because it seems like a waste of your time. Challenge yourself to find three ideas in the video that are worth remembering. By changing your mindset and making a dreaded task seem fun or engaging, you can actually get some enjoyment out of it. That might be just the right amount of motivation you need to address the thing you have been avoiding.
Tell someone:
This little gem is one of the most powerful. If you are the type person that knows if left to your own devises, you just aren’t going to do something; accountability may be the magic ticket. Accountability is a time honored way to make sure you are held to task by someone you empower to do so. It doesn’t have to be a drill sergeant. (Unless you know that that is what you need.) Think of it more like the buddy system. Let someone know what you want to do. It could be something like walking three days a week, setting client appointments, lining up interviews, submitting and article, or hitting a project milestone. Whatever it is, find someone who is a raving fan and empower them to regularly check in with you. For those of you are in a position of having few or no bosses, this is especially helpful. There can be a lot of satisfaction in reporting to someone about your success or progress on something when you normally don’t or can’t. Sometimes it can be fear of not doing something that motivates you to perform. I have one client in particular that is motivated to complete things because she dreads not having any progress to report to me at the end of the week.
Personal trainers, teachers, coaches, and sometimes even a therapist are great professional accountability partner options as well. For those of you who want to work with someone you know personally, there are plenty of other options for you. Significant others, friends, coworkers, bosses, or even your children can be great resources. Just make sure they are your raving fans and have your best interest in mind.
Deeper purpose:
When faced with the “This just seems like a waste of my time” phenomenon – this is for you. I can speak from personal experience that these tasks may also fall into the following categories: stupid, mind numbing, boring, scare me to death, overwhelming, or just simply I would rather put hot pokers in my eyes. Even if you are a real go-getter, you probably can relate to one of these expressions about something you either have done or need to do. What can help tremendously is really drilling down to the root purpose of the activity or task. Here are a few questions that might help:
- What is my perception of the real purpose of this task?
- When I think about this, deep down, how can this potentially serve to improve my situation?
- How is it meaningful to me in some way?
If you need to keep going here are some things to think about:
- I am doing this because it eventually leads me to___________.
- When I finish this, I will have a sense of ____________.
- I really have an opportunity to benefit from this activity by __________.
Once you have connected a seemingly worthless or dreaded task to a deeper purpose or meaning it can help motivate you to start and eventually complete it.
We all suffer from procrastination in one way shape or form. It might be because your perception is that other things are more important, a lack of motivation, your belief that it’s a waste of time, or it’s just a blue hairy monster that seems to get bigger and bigger the longer you put it off. There are many strategies on how to do the things you don’t want to do. Maybe some of these tips can help. Pick a few that you think might work and go for it!
Great books and a shameless plug:
Eat That Frog, The Willpower Instinct, The Happiness Advantage, and G.Y.S.T. do it!
