How is Procrastination Impacting Your Business?

Procrastination affects us all at some time and can become a major problem in both your business and personal life. Getting ready for April 15th is one of the biggest areas of procrastination but it impacts us in many other areas too. Some of the symptoms of procrastination are stress, anxiety, resentment,guilt and last minute frenzy. Here's two practical tools to overcome it.

First- replace "Do It All" with "Just Start". Seeing a task as one big monster that must be done all at once will virtually ensure that you put it off. If you focus on completing a task when you can't even see all the steps to get there, you bring up a feeling of being overwhelmed. Then pain becomes associated with the task and you delay as long as possible. I used to say to myself, "I've got to do my taxes today", which instantly led to a physical pain in my neck, added pressure and finding reasons to put the task off. When I started thinking of one small piece of the task I could do instead of telling myself that I had to finish the whole thing, my neck pain subsided.

What task are you putting off right now? Instead of asking "How am I going to finish this?", ask "What small step can I do right now?" If you simply work with small pieces enough times, you will eventually finish it. For example, if organizing your home office is a project you keep putting off, stop thinking about it as a big project that must be done all at once. Go to your office and jot down some quick short tasks you could do to make a dent in the paper stacks or clutter. Pick one of the ideas on your list and do it! Don't worry about finishing - just focus on what you can do right now. If you do this enough times, you'll eventually be done.

Second - For tasks you've been putting off for a while, use the Timed Method to get started. Here's how it works: Select a small task you can work on for just 30 minutes. Then choose a reward for immediately after the end of the 30 minutes. The reward needs to be something you would really enjoy. For example, let