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Mastering
the art of…doing it now
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| “What
do I have to be afraid of—really?” |
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By Rita Emmett
 o
you put off doing things that are really important to you?
Do you feel anxious or guilty because you can’t get
yourself to do what you know you need or really want to do?
Is your procrastination driving your family, friends and/or
coworkers crazy? Procrastination can take a surprisingly high
toll on your life, causing stress, illness or low self-esteem.
It can also keep you from attaining your goals and fulfilling
your dreams.
The many faces of fear
You may not think of yourself as a perfectionist—but
do you put off things until the time or the mood or conditions
are “just right?” It’s important to realize
that perfect situations will probably never happen. The first
step in conquering a procrastination problem is to cultivate
an attitude of “striving for excellence but not perfection.”
To conquer other fears that might be causing you to procrastinate—fear
of change, fear of success, fear of too much responsibility—ask
yourself these two questions and answer them honestly. First,
“What am I afraid of?” Sometimes simply identifying
the fear and giving it a name can remove the power it holds
over you.
Then ask, “What if my worst fear came true?” Making
a mistake or looking stupid will make you feel bad but won’t
kill you. Whatever your fear, magnify it. Think of the worst
that could possibly happen. You would survive it, wouldn’t
you? And sometimes it’s not as bad as the misery and
frustration you feel as a procrastinator.
Setting
interim deadlines
Here’s another strategy to use when you’re
feeling overwhelmed. Set “back-timed”
interim deadlines for yourself to eliminate
situations where you’re heading down the
final stretch and discover that you need something—but
it’s too late to get it.
How does this work? You start with the real
deadline and work backward to the present, setting
interim, target or even “fake” deadlines
for accomplishing parts of your project.
Back timing makes a project more manageable.
It helps you anticipate obstacles and eliminate
many last-minute stresses. It applies to many
projects from putting out a news release to
planning a wedding.
When approaching a project backward, use your
imagination to visualize what’s happening.
This will help you think of details that could
head off disaster.
For example, when you are planning to write
a report, imagine what you’ll need to
have ready when you get started. Then set a
deadline ahead of time to gather all the vital
materials you’ll need, rather than starting
on the report and then hitting the panic button.
—R.E. |
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The games people play
What if you have something important to get done or you’ll
be in big trouble—but you don’t want to do it?
Do you indulge in some form of what I call Hypocritical Procrastination?
Do you become a Traveler, going back and forth to the coffee
pot and the fax machine?
Or a Perfect Preparer who needs to
do more research, read more books or search the Internet once
more before you start a project?
A Socializer who calls friends
and colleagues you haven’t spoken to in years?
Or a
Happy Helper, putting your own work aside in order to help
someone else?
Once you become conscious of your style, you can watch for
it. Notice, for example, that instead of preparing for a meeting,
you’re cleaning out your desk. Hypocritical Procrastination,
in all its variations, has one characteristic in common: lack
of focus.
When you feel overwhelmed
But sometimes people have trouble focusing because they feel
overwhelmed…deluged…swamped. They have too many
chores or one project that seems so huge or so complicated
that they become immobilized. They stop thinking, stop deciding,
stop doing anything.
One of the secrets to dealing with this problem is contained
in this Chinese proverb: “A journey of 10,000 miles
begins with but a single step.” So make a list of mini-journeys
by writing down all of the little jobs that are part of your
overwhelming project. If your list is too intimidating, break
it down into several lists.
After you have identified all of the little jobs that form
your big project, concentrate on taking “but a single
step”—focus on doing one item on your list. Then
scan your list for other single steps. Determine whether any
job can be streamlined, delegated or eliminated. Is there
a task you could skip without compromising the overall project?
Now you’re ready to chip away at the job, one task at
a time. 
—Adapted from the author’s book “The
Procrastinator’s Handbook: Mastering the Art of Doing
It Now” (Walker and Company).
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