Avoiding Procrastination

Today is Wednesday, so this post is on outstanding performance.

Outstanding performers get the job done.  One of the main reasons that outstanding performers get it done is because they have conquered procrastination.  Procrastination is one of the biggest roadblocks to success.  Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “The man who does things makes mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all — doing nothing.”

Procrastinators may not make a lot of mistakes, because they make the biggest mistake of all.  They do nothing.  All of us have a tendency to procrastinate sometime.  Outstanding performers have found a way to conquer this tendency. 

Here are some common sense suggestions on how to conquer procrastination.  These thoughts were influenced by a blog post done by Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

It is important to understand why you procrastinate in the first place. Most often, we procrastinate because we are afraid.  We fear failure.  We fear success.  We fear losing our autonomy.  We procrastinate because we expect ourselves to be perfect.  We procrastinate because we’re too busy.  We procrastinate because we usually do something we enjoy instead of doing what we should be doing.

To stop procrastinating, first figure out why and how you procrastinate.  Do you:

• Try to ignore the task, hoping against hope that it will go away?
• Over- or under- estimate the degree of difficulty that the task involves?
• Minimize the impact that your performance now may have on your future?
• Substitute something important for something really important? (For example, cleaning instead of doing what you should be doing.)
• Let a short break become a long one, or an evening in which you do no work at all? (For example, claiming that you are going to watch TV for ½ hour, then watching it all night.)
• Focus on one part of the task, at the expense of the rest?

Once you figure out how you procrastinate, you can begin to take steps to managing your procrastination. 

Outstanding performers get the job done.  They find ways to conquer procrastination.  If you want to be a career and life success, you’ll do the same.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.