How to Overcome Procrastination Part 2
This is how to overcome procrastination Part 2 Continued from Part 1:
Do write out a timetable for the job so that you can organize the work in a sensible sequence.
Sometimes jobs seem to be just too complicated to deal with. If breaking it down doesn’t make it seem easier to tackle, try and find one part of it that you can do, and get that done. Then see if there is another bit you can do, and tackle that. Keep thinking about how you can organize the rest of the task so that it becomes less and less difficult in terms of complexity, and more manageable in terms of sub-tasks.
One way of dealing with things is to organize them into categories of A, B and C tasks.
The A tasks are the ones that are the most important, but they can be the ones that are most complex and difficult to start.
A tasks are tasks that generally cannot be done in one period of work, and that almost always need you to spend time gathering information from other people.
B tasks are of secondary importance, but still need to done, and might take time, and might need some input from someone else.
C tasks are the easy ones to do, but not necessarily the most important ones.
The easy thing to do is to start on the C pile. This gives us a sense of achieving something, but frankly doesn’t get the important things done. Not only do A and B tasks not get done – they don’t even get started!
However, sometimes we need to get into it a bit. Let’s say we get into the office in the morning, and while we are settling into ‘work mode’ with a first cup of coffee, we need a straightforward job to get into. So we do one or two things from the C pile.
The trick is to leave the rest of the C pile for another day, and to start on an A task. At the very least spend an hour working on an A task – even if you don’t complete it, but enough to make a dent into it. If at all possible, get to the point where you are ready to start on phase 2 of the A job.
Although the A jobs are the most daunting and generally the most complex, it is the completion of these that gives the most satisfaction. So when you begin the day, spend a moment consciously considering how good it will be to leave the office at the end of the day knowing that you have made a real start on that A job.
The next morning, do the same thing. Review your A B and C piles of tasks. Start by picking one or two of the C jobs to do first. Then identify the A job and a B job that you can start when the C jobs are done.
Each evening, review the work of the day, and list the priorities for the following day. Keep thinking of the jobs in terms of A B and C priorities. Review the timescale needed to complete the A and B tasks. Make sure that when you pick your A and B tasks, you don’t avoid the ones where you need to do something yourself in order that someone else can do their part. Always ensure that you give other people the maximum opportunity to do their bit.
This applies at home too. Allocate an hour or two one evening when there is nothing worth watching on the TV and you are not out at the gym or doing anything at all.
Make lists of the tasks you need to do, and rate them in terms of importance and the time they will take.
Don’t include the every day tasks that you do as a matter of course and don’t even need to think about. This is not a list of everything you have to do. This is a list of the things you need to do and need to make yourself do.
Don’t include the shopping you will do on your way home from work tomorrow because you will do that anyway.
Don’t include sorting the laundry if you are the one that sorts the laundry every morning while checking the kids’ activities for the next couple of days.
Do include checking the kids have the right things for school if you are unexpectedly responsible for child care this week
Don’t include washing the car if you do it every week end.
Do include checking the car tires if you are taking a trip during the weekend.
Seriously, this list should be the jobs that you need to do but generally put off doing. Once you have your list, identify the most important, and try and start on one of those. Try not to leave the most important tasks while you concentrate on doing the less important but the easiest ones. Somehow you could postpone the important ones for ever that way.
