Get on with it!
‘What's the best thing you could be working on and why aren't you?'
Some people say they work better when they leave things to the last minute. I call this ‘gun to the head’ syndrome. For a while I was convinced that the adrenalin of leaving things till the last minute improved my performance. I was convinced I was genetically predisposed to doing things ‘just in time’.
I was wrong. It took a bit of stress, bad health and a few substandard pieces of work for me to realise this. And I got bored of procrastinating, tired of deliberating. I was weary of the creative pursuit of distractions balanced with the mild fear and guilt at what I should really have been doing. Procrastinating is quite time consuming.
Unsustainable
So - to all procrastinators out there- guess what- if you just get on with it- you can have more time, do better work and feel better too! Even if to date it has never let you down- last minute work won’t produce your absolute best. It is not sustainable. A small amount of adrenalin is good for you. But stress is bad for your health.
Act!
- Don’t let fear of failing get in the way. Aim for progress and not perfection. It’s a more realistic goal.
- Go bite-size. Break things down into manageable pieces.
- Set small scale deadlines- what do you want to achieve within the hour, the day, the week?
- Work in small blocks of time instead of long stretches.
- Take it easy to begin with and start with the easiest aspect of a large complex project.
- Don’t be afraid or too proud to ask for help- and make yourself accountable, tell a friend or colleague about your target deadline and ask them to ask you about it.
- Ditch the distractions- put yourself somewhere where you can concentrate- away from phones, people, scenery that will take you away from the task in hand.
- Plan to finish before the real deadline and reward yourself.
- Now get on with it - starting is a good start.
If you are still going to put off things - prioritise and leave the right things undone.
Written by Emma Coffey. Posted on 3rd January.
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