Giving it a Go

I have been in aww of Jessica Watson and her achievement of sailing around the world solo at the age of 16. This has got me thinking as to what else are the youth of today up to. I have stumbled upon this video. If you have a few minutes to spare have a listen.

My point from this is that their personal achievements to get up and give it a go, in what they are passionate about are to be highly commended.

• How I apply this to my life is asking myself what is it that I want to do (dream of) that I have not yet done? This could be from fear of failure, fear of offending someone, or one of many things.

What I have chosen to do is acknowledge this fear, come up with a strategy to make my dream a reality and give it a go.

• If these kids can get up and play like that and Jessica Watson can sail around the world at 16, I know I can give it a go. The only thing stopping me is me!

I will leave this with what is it that you dream of and have not yet done? What or who is stopping you?

Taking Control - Where do I begin?

Where do I begin to take control of my life?

Begin by recognising that whenever you take an action there will be a result. It may or may not be what you want but learning to look for what you can learn from the result of your actions is very powerful.

Think about something in your life that doesn’t seem to be working exactly as you’d like it yet and ask - what can I learn from this? And how can I use this learning to do something differently next time?

As you work on taking control of your life, it’s not unusual for a little self-doubt to begin to creep in.

This is completely normal so you can relax, after all if we were sure of every outcome before we took the action where would the fun be? It would be like going to the cinema and knowing the end to every film. So next time you find yourself doubting yourself or your abilities why not just take it as a sign that you are growing.

The fact that you’ve noticed yourself doubting yourself or your abilities is great because means that you can begin to work on turning this around now. As a first step just begin to ask yourself more empowering questions, such as:  How could I use this doubt to help me move forward? How could you enjoy taking action today?
How do I control feeling overwhelmed, which leads me to procrastinate?

<h2>Confident Future Newsletter</h2>
Would you like to receive a short and sweet weekly success strategy sent to your inbox? These were made available due to popular demand, they are thought provoking and implementable in your life now. To receive your weekly dose of inspiration from us and begin benefiting from our information now, fill in the box below.  <script src=”http://forms.aweber.com/form/15/641783915.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

Are You Moving Towards or Away?

If you think about your life the chances are that you are either moving towards something or away from something. You probably know people that are striving for a promotion (towards) or just trying to stop themselves being fired (away). Or maybe people that are trying to not be fat (away) while others are aiming for a flat stomach/big biceps (towards).

The interesting thing is that those who are moving toward their goals will find they have consistent results, while people moving away from something will find that their progress comes and goes. Someone moving away from poverty will see-saw between broke and being in the black, while someone moving towards prosperity will leave being broke well behind them.

If you are having inconsistent results and you find your motivation is there one day, but gone the next, then it may be time to take a close look at your values and goals. Once you have them all pointing towards you will be a lot closer to having consistent results!

Confident Future Newsletter

Would you like to receive a short and sweet weekly success strategy sent to your inbox? These were made available due to popular demand, they are thought provoking and implementable in your life now. To receive your weekly dose of inspiration from us and begin benefiting from our information now, fill in the box below.

Success Involves Saying ‘No’

Part of building your character is to learn to say no. Many of us are people-pleasers, people who would rather do something they don’t want to do instead of telling someone no. If you do that in business, you’ll end up chasing your tail more than getting things done.

You can stay extremely busy pleasing people, both inside and outside of your business, and never get around to getting your business done or claiming the success you’ve earned.
No matter what the definition of success is there will be times when you cannot keep everyone happy. By actively and proactively managing your time and saying ‘no’ as needed, you can not only protect your time, but you can ensure that you move efficiently towards your dreams and goals.

Confident Future Newsletter

Would you like to receive a short and sweet weekly success strategy sent to your inbox? These were made available due to popular demand, they are thought provoking and implementable in your life now. To receive your weekly dose of inspiration from us and begin benefiting from our information now, fill in the box below.

Dealing With Time Wasters

There are two main categories that time wasters or time bandits can fall under.

The first category is self generated internal time wasters. These are the things that you do yourself to waste time and are the easiest to control.

The second category is the external time wasters. These are the things other people do to waste your time. This can be more difficult to control, though it can be controlled with a little bit of effort and ingenuity.

Let’s look at the self generated internal time wasters and some possible solutions:

1) The lack of planning and priorities. Many people never get anything accomplished because they don’t know where to begin or how to proceed once started. It is important that you keep a weekly schedule. List your priorities in order of importance. If needed, discuss the priorities with your boss or co-workers. Make a schedule that starts at the beginning of each week and incorporates all of your priorities into the schedule with goals for completion dates. List every hour and what you should be working on for that hour. Make a tight schedule so there is not a lot of time in between projects. Too much time between projects is wasted time.

2) Disorganisation. Disorganised people spend way too much time looking for lost items. Keep your office neatly organized and free of clutter. If you can’t do this yourself, recruit a friend or hire someone to help you.

3) Procrastination. This is a big time waster. Set a deadline for those projects that you don’t want to do. Plan a reward for yourself when finished. Work on the project in small chunks until completed. Sometimes it helps to work on it first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.

The second category of time wasters is the external time wasters. These are not as easy to control since they involve external factors. Here are some solutions to help control or at the very least, keep them to a minimum:

1) Visitors. If you get a lot of visitors dropping to your work area this could be a huge time waster for you. The solution is to move your desk so that your back is to the door. This will make you seem less approachable. When someone stops in to talk, stand up. This will send the message that you don’t have time to chat. If all else fails be honest. Tell them thanks for dropping by, but tactfully let them know that you need to get back to work.

2) Telephone calls. Screen your calls. Let the voice mail take your calls during the day when you are busy. Schedule time during each day when you will return the calls and let your clients know when that time will be. Keep your answers short and to the point and end the conversation politely when it has achieved it’s purpose. With a little practice you can be personable and still keep the conversation short.

3) Mail. It can flood your desk and take it over before you get to it. Schedule a time each day to go through your mail. Make it a rule to handle each piece of mail only once. Throw out the junk mail immediately, file” information only” mail in a file box to be read later and respond to the others by telephone or fax. Faxing a response is a great idea because the response is immediate and takes very little time.

4) Email. Clean out your email box daily and don’t use your business email address for personal use. Make an auto responder to send people letting them know when you will be checking your e-mails and stick to it (batching your work). Try to deal with each email now if it will take less than 2 minutes otherwise you could be wasting time rereading and reappraising what you might do with it. If you cannot deal with it now ask yourself can I delegate the job?  If not ask yourself is it important, is it urgent and make a time when you will deal with it?

Using these solutions, your productivity will increase and your stress level on the job will decrease. The best part is, you can say goodbye to the time bandits forever!

Confident Future Newsletter

Would you like to receive a short and sweet weekly success strategy sent to your inbox? These were made available due to popular demand, they are thought provoking and implementable in your life now. To receive your weekly dose of inspiration from us and begin benefiting from our information now, fill in the box below.

Types of Procrastinators

This article follows on in our line of articles on Procrastination. If you are interested the previous articles are:

• What is Procrastination?
• Why People Procrastinate
• Are You A Professional Procrastinator?

If you scored highly on the procrastination test, you’re not alone.  In their 1994 survey of procrastination, social researchers McCown and Roberts found that forty percent of people experienced procrastination and just over twenty five percent of people experienced chronic debilitating procrastination.

Whilst it’s clearly a problem that affects a large number of people, we can divide procrastinators into a few broad categories:

Behavioral Procrastinators
Some procrastinators have simply adopted and reinforced a bad habit.  Many people avoid tasks that they find unpleasant or difficult and instead engage in activities that are more rewarding in the short-term.

If you can identify that your procrastination is the result of bad habits or poor time management, then implementing some new techniques can help markedly (Our coaches cover these techniques as part of your coaching).  Avoiding distractions, breaking big jobs down into manageable tasks and training yourself into “getting started” will all help.

It is more likely, however, that you know how to manage your time but don’t make use of those skills; you know what you should do, but don’t seem to get around to doing it.  If that’s the case, read on…

Emotional Procrastinators
Procrastination is unrelated to ability or intelligence.  Instead, psychologists have discovered procrastination to be the result of one of two things:
1.    Anxiety (most obviously, fear of failure); or
2.    A lack of conscientiousness or impulsiveness.

Anxious Procrastinators
Anxious procrastinators often feel both an intense pressure to succeed and a fear of failure.  These people feel overwhelmed by pressures, unrealistic about time, uncertain about goals, dissatisfied with accomplishments, indecisive, are blaming of others or circumstances for failures, lacking in confidence and, often have perfectionistic expectations.

The underlying fear of an anxious procrastinator is of failing.  They fear a lack of ability, of being imperfect, and of falling short of overly demanding goals.

These people think that their worth is determined by what they do.  They are often afraid of being judged and found wanting. Thus, this kind of procrastinator will get over-stressed and over-worked until he or she escapes the pressure temporarily by trying to relax.  But any enjoyment gives rise to guilt and more apprehension.

According to Neil Fiore in his 1989 book Conquering Procrastination, if the work pressure is already too great, exhorting the anxious procrastinator to “try harder,” “get yourself organised,” “this is a tough job, so don’t put it off,” or “no friends and no fun ‘til the work is done” is counterproductive.  Such typical advice only increases the pressure and unpleasant feelings about the task to be done.  This kind of procrastinator has to reduce the unpleasantness of the task and then he or she will get it done.

Relaxed Procrastinators
Relaxed procrastinators are often dismissive of their work.  They live in constant denial, avoiding challenging tasks by concentrating on other distracting activities.  They tend to live in the moment, “going with the flow”, chasing a happy life, rather than chasing their dreams.

These procrastinators are impulsive, are often unable to delay gratification of pleasure and lack of self-control.  They may be antiauthoritarian and therefore avoid meeting external demands (from the boss, the university lecturer or a parent).  Relaxed procrastinators may lack motivation, energy or organisation.

This work-avoiding, pleasure-seeking procrastinator will not feel much pressure to change, unless he or she is confronted with a crisis.  This may be failing a course, a serious reprimand from the boss, or a fractured relationship.  As with the smoker who needs a cancer scare or the obese person who needs a heart attack, unless a pleasure-seeking procrastinator can change of his or her own volition, it will take a crisis to bring him or her to attention.

If you identify with what was written above a Coach will really help you to resolve your procrastination and start moving forward. How good would that feel? If you’re interested then take action today and Contact Us about getting started with a Coach.

Are You A Professional Procrastinator?

This quiz follows on from several other recent articles we’ve posted on procrastination and serves as a way for you to find out how much of a problem your procrastination is for you right now. The previous articles are:

• What is Procrastination?
• Why People Procrastinate

Give yourself a score for each question.   Choose 1 to indicate “never or rarely”, 2 to indicate “sometimes”, or 3 to denote “often or always”. Write your scores down on a piece of paper so you can tallly them up at the end.

1. I wait until the last minute to do things.
2. I deceive myself into believing that a mediocre performance or lesser standards are acceptable.  “Near enough is good enough”.
3. I often underestimate the work involved in a task.
4. Sometimes I overestimate my abilities or how long it will take me to do something (I tell myself it “will only take an hour”, when really it needs six).
5. I feel sick when faced with an unpleasant job.
6. I avoid confrontations.
7. I worry that I won’t live up to other people’s expectations, or my own.
8. I avoid making difficult decisions.  I become paralysed when deciding between alternative choices.
9. I focus on one portion of a project (for example, writing and rewriting the introductory paragraph to a paper) to the detriment of all else.
10. I am reluctant to take risks or try something new.
11. I blame others or the situation to avoid doing something.
12. I make big plans but rarely carry them out.
13. I tell myself that repeated minor delays are harmless.  Deadlines are just guidelines, right?
14. My social calendar is so busy that it is hard to get important work done.
15. I distract myself from the urgent, important task with less urgent tasks (for example, cleaning the office rather than writing the report).
16. I act as though ignoring a task will make it go away.
17. I dramatise my commitment to a task or project rather than actually doing (for example, I take work home, but leave it in the briefcase).
18. I find myself making excuses not to do something I know I need to do.
19. If a task is boring, I’ll never get motivated to start.
20. I strive for perfection.  If a task can’t be completed perfectly, I won’t start.

Tally up your scores now.

A score of between 30 and 45 indicates a tendency towards procrastination (but you’re really still an amateur). A of score of more than 45 indicates a serious procrastination problem!

If you feel like procrastination is a challenge facing you then you should read about the different Types of Procrastinators.

Why People Procrastinate

You may have already read our article on What is Procrastination? This article continues where the previous article left off and explains why people procrastinate.

While the term “procrastination” technically refers to the avoidance of a specific task that needs to be accomplished, this explanation doesn’t begin to capture the emotions triggered by the word.  For most of us, the word “procrastination” reminds us of past experiences where we felt guilty, lazy, inadequate, anxious, or stupid - or some combination of these.  It also implies a value judgment; if you procrastinate, you are bad, and as such, lack worth as a person.

Procrastination is quite complex.  It involves emotions, skills, thoughts or attitudes, and subconscious reactions to various events.  Furthermore, the causes and dynamics of putting off an important but unpleasant task vary from person to person and from task to task for the same person.  Just some of the myriad of reasons we might procrastinate include:

• Lack of Relevance. If something is neither relevant nor meaningful to you personally, it may be difficult to get motivated to even begin.  The task may be boring.  If a project has been imposed or assigned to you and it is not consistent with your own interests, you may be reluctant to spend the necessary time to see it to conclusion.

• Perfectionism. Having unreachable standards will discourage you from pursuing a task.  Perfection is unattainable and perfectionists know this, so are often reluctant to start.

• Evaluation Anxiety. Since others’ responses to your work are not under your direct control, overvaluing these responses can create the kind of anxiety that will interfere with work getting accomplished.

• Ambiguity. If you are uncertain of what is expected of you - your priorities, goals or objectives are unclear - it may be difficult to get started.

• Fear of the Unknown. If you are venturing into a new realm or field, you don’t have any way of knowing how well you’ll do.  Such an uncertain outcome may inhibit your desire to begin.

• Fear of Failure. You may think that if you don’t get an ‘A’, you are failure.  Or that if you strive for something and don’t achieve it that you, as a person, are a failure.

• Inability to Handle the Task. If through lack of training, skill, or ability you feel that you lack the personal resources to do the job, you may avoid it completely.

• Feeling Overwhelmed. The task is so momentous that it seems impossible to achieve.  Where to begin?  Why even start?

• Fear and Anxiety. You spend so much time worrying about the task rather than completing it.

• Negative Beliefs about Yourself. Your inner critic tells you “I cannot succeed in anything” or “I lack the necessary skills to perform the task”, ensuring you never start anything.

“A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last.  Both do the same thing; only at different times.” - Baltasar Gracian

In order to understand and solve your procrastination problems, you must carefully analyse those situations where your work is not being completed.

Now that you have an understanding of why we do it you may want to see if you are a professional procrastinator… We’ve got a quick online quiz that will give you an idea about whether you are a Professional Procrastinator.
Takes the Professional Procrastinator Quiz!

What is Procrastination?

To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness; to postpone or delay needlessly. - Webster’s Dictionary

Procrastination is a strange phenomenon.  Its purpose seems to be to make our life more pleasant, but instead it almost always adds stress, disorganisation and frequently failure.  The process has been described by psychologists as:

1. You have an objective, usually something you and others value and respect.  There may be a deadline, so you say to yourself, “I must start.”

2. You delay, briefly thinking of real and imagined advantages of starting later - “I’ll do it tomorrow when I don’t have much to do.”

3. You delay more, becoming self-critical - “I should have started sooner” - and/or self-excusing - “I really couldn’t have left the party early last night, my best friends were there.”

4. You delay still more, until finally the task has to be done, usually hastily - “Just get it done any old way” - or you just don’t have time - “I can’t do this!”

5. You berate yourself - “There is something wrong with me” - and swear never to procrastinate again and/or you discount the importance of the task - “It doesn’t matter.”

6. You repeat the process almost immediately on other important tasks, as if it were an addiction or compulsion.

The wisest course of action, most of the time, would be to simply do the unpleasant task as soon as practical, while we have enough time to do the job right and get it over with, not prolonging our agony.  But we put it off.  Why?

Now you have an understanding of what procrastination is you might want to know Why People Procrastinate?