Life Tips Daily

With me spouting off about procrastination here and here, you might think I’m a shining example of a procrastination success story.

Sadly, I’m not, not even close. I am sure that when procrastination is classed as a disease, I will be invited personally to be a research subject, my procrastination is at that advanced a stage. Due to procrastination, I have had to restart the process of acquiring a driver’s license, I have missed deadlines to apply for jobs and I have failed to get A+s on school projects (the teachers/professors have always informed me that certain work submitted by me would have been an A+ project had it been submitted on time). All of this qualifies me to speak about the benefits of abolishing procrastination, I think.

Here is my list of things to do, with a date beside it in brackets indicating when when I was to have done it:

• File my income tax return for 2006 (April 30, 2007) September 30, 2007
• Get an x-ray of my right foot (March 2007) September 15, 2007
• Sent the winner of some contest their prizes (March, April and May 2007) August 30, 2007

The new dates in bold indicate the new date by which I want to have accomplished these goals. I will rely on the tips such as just doing it, breaking each task down into smaller goals and accomplishing them, and not letting a fear of not doing each perfectly stop me. Clearly I need my tips at least as much as the next person. I will keep you posted on my progress!

Is your procrastination getting on your nerves yet? If not, I bet someone in your life has had it with your ability to put things off indefinitely. Yesterday we attempted to understand why people put things off so easily, today, let’s look at how to turn these reasons into starting points to becoming a ‘doer’.

(For descriptions of the following “problems”, see yesterday’s entry)

Problem: The Perfectionist’s Curse

Solution: Why is the quest for perfectionism called a curse? Because in some cases, perfectionism is simply not necessary! Yes, you should try your best but keep in mind that you can only do your best with what you have. So, in yesterday’s example of the rip in a piece of clothing, let’s say a grey pair of pants, choose the closest colour of thread you have (an exact match is not necessary) and stitch them up! In all other areas, look at the problem, look at your resources, and using what you have, do your best. Rest assured, in only very rare cases will your absolute best not be enough.

Lesson: make the limits of perfection the resources you have at hand. Sure, if you had a ten thousand dollar budget, you could probably do a better renovation job on the bathroom, but using the resources you have to replace the sink, add a fresh coat of paint, or redo the curtains is also a success.

Problem: Laziness

Solution: Nike has had much success with the “Just do it” slogan so why not apply it to getting over laziness. Just (get up and) do it! If you are a longtime procrastinator, you are well aware that putting things off doesn’t make them go away. So get going and save the resting for after the job is done.

Lesson: laziness breeds more laziness, or it leads to panic as you end up not having enough time to accomplish your important goals. Your time is precious; don’t let laziness rob you of it.

Problem: It’s just a temporary delay

Solution: If your temporary delays are never that, you can’t afford to give yourself that time. If you truly don’t know how a short delay ends up being months, set a timer for short time periods (five minutes, 30 minutes, two hours). When the timer goes off, you must get to work. You may also find it useful to break the task down into small elements that you can do and then take a break before moving on to the next element, allowing you to put things off–but not indefinitely.

Lesson: If you start things right away, and stop allowing yourself ‘temporary’ delays, you will get things done. Your rest will be that much sweeter as you’ve earned it due to your hard work.

Problem: Fear (of failure)

Solution: The best way to get over a fear of failure is to fail! You will be shocked to realize that there is life after failure, and this life can sometimes be even better than before. “Show me someone who has never failed and I will show you somebody who has never tried” a saying goes and there is a reason for that. Failure is a part of life. The act of failing always teaches you (and sometimes others) a lesson or two (whether these lessons are learned is another thing), and some are able to use the lessons learned to lead them in an entirely different direction, one that leads to success. Putting off doing something then, can be like delaying reaching your full potential: you never know where your next success or failure will lead you.

Lesson: Fear of failure could very well be a fear of reaching your full potential.

Lest you think you are getting tips from a reformed procrastinator, tomorrow I will horrify you with my own to do list that I will need to apply these very principles to!

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Procrastination is a disease that if left untreated, will fester. The longer you wait to do something, the more complacent you become leaving it undone. In some cases, the longer you wait to do it, the bigger the problem itself becomes. An example is fixing a tear in a piece of clothing. If you continue to use the article of clothing without repairing it, the hole will grow larger from wear and tear, and what would have required seven or eight stitches and 5 minutes to fix is now something that requires hauling out a sewing machine, adding some reinforcing fabric to ensure that it doesn’t rip again, and fixing it. Chances are the repair will be more visible than it would have been if you had only had to make a few stitches by hand, and you may find that your efforts just can’t save it, and you have to throw it away after all.

Those of us who procrastinate are well aware we are creating more work for ourselves in the future, so why do it?

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I have a friend who has a tendency to say yes to several events that are all set to occur at the same time. Once she realizes it, she ends up trying to attend all events and somehow manages to pull it off. I have been one of the events she had to squeeze into her busy schedule and I must admit knowing that you were just one of several stops does absolutely nothing to make you feel special.

Sometimes double booking is completely accidental and unavoidable because you have an equal desire to attend two events. In cases where both events are important, I think the involved parties would be understanding if they were told why you will be arriving late or leaving early.

My general rule is when I agree to a plan and a better plan comes along, it’s a case of “too bad” for me, unless the event is a once in a lifetime opportunity or an opportunity deemed Important with a capital I. In that case I tell the person that I will be cancelling on why I am cancelling, apologize for the inconvenience, and ask if s/he would be willing to reschedule. I really think it’s important to let the original person know why you have decided to change your plans with them, rather than having them wonder at your rudeness, or marvel that you picked a bowling tournament over their baby shower (not knowing that the tournament will raise money for a cause dear to your heart, or you will be receiving recognition at the event). People are generally understanding. I recently had to cancel plans to window shop with a friend when I discovered that the date of a birthday party for another friend had been switched and this new date was the only date that worked for everybody involved. My window shopping friend understood and all was well.

How about you? Have you ever double (triple, quadruple…) booked yourself for events? How did you manage it/them? What criteria do you use to determine how to handle the situation?
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So, why are some people never on time? Most people will have a reason that does not implicate them fully but tardiness is a self inflicted infection. Here are some ways to mimize it:

Book fewer things
If your days are crammed with things to do, and the chance of everything being accomplished on time depends on everything running smoothly, then you’re likely overbooked. Try removing one or two things from your daily list of errands and see if that makes you more on time.

Overestimate the time needed for things
How many times has someone called you, tardy person extraordinaire, to inquire where you are. Don’t you always say you’re “five minutes” away from where you’re supposed to be? Five minutes is never actually five minutes; it could be anywhere from 15 minutes to hours. When tempted to give a time estimate, give yourself more time rather than less. Instead of saying you’re 20 minutes away, try saying 30 or 40 minutes. if you’re not too far gone in the tardy department, doubling the time you usually say should be a more accurate calculation. And on the bright side: if you do arrive earlier than planned, everyone will be happy (unless, of course, you are the recipient of a surprise party).

Plan backwards
You need to be at the party at 5pm but you have other things to do. Start by figuring out how much time you need to get to where you’re going, add a cushion of 10-15 minutes, and working backwards, fit in all the other things that need to be done, again adding a cushion of a few minutes. A plan is great but don’t forget to follow it: wear a watch and put measures into place that will keep you on time, even if it means setting alarms to remind you when you should be moving on to a different task.

Buddy system
If you are always late for events, pair up with someone who is also attending (preferably someone who is always on time!). Give them the authority to keep you in line and on time. After a few times with your punctual friend, you’ll have a better idea of things that work and things that don’t with respect to ensuring that you’re on time.

What tips keep you on time?

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Tardiness can seem like an incurable disease at times: even when you start preparing for an event 2 hours earlier than you started the time before (when you arrived late), you still end up being late! If this is a regular occurence, never fear: it is possible to find the punctual person within, but first you have to figure out why you’re late.

Many years ago, Dr. Phil chastized a chronically late person, telling her that she was deliberately late (even if she didn’t make the conscious decision before each event that she ended up being late to) because she believed that nothing would start until her arrival. Some people who are late regularly are somewhat selfish, not thinking of how the person waiting on them might feel, but rather focusing on whether being late will affect their own enjoyment of an event. In cases like this it is advised that those who are ready and waiting start the activity as planned, even if the tardy person is not there, and even if the tardy person was supposed to be a part of the event. Unless you receive a call saying that the tardy indivdiual has extenuating circumstances resulting in a tardy arrival, there is no good excuse to be chronically late.

It is also possible that someone is always late for an event because they find that on rare occasions when they happen to arrive on time, they are the ones tapping their foot impatiently while waiting for the stragglers to show up. Of course this is a vicious cycle: you show up late because you don’t want to have to wait for the action to begin only to find out that everyone was waiting for your arrival before starting the event, and when you show up on time and it’s someone else who is late…you get the idea.

Most people who are chronically tardy are also constantly apologizing. When you keep apologizing for the same thing, eventually people are going to start wondeirng why you don’t make a change to this habit you’re always apologizing for. Your apology then begins to lose its genuine and truly remorseful tone. This is another reason to explore the reasons why you’re never on time.

Are you prone to being tardy? Why do you think this is?

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Here are some time management tips that I heard on the radio, courtesy of John Tesh’s site and from Julie Morgenstern’s book, Never Check E-mail in the Morning:

Cut your workday by 30 minutes
Although this sounds like it would just make you have less time to accomplish that which needs doing, apparently you’ll be more efficient because you’ll know you have less time in which to do things. I guess it would force you to prioritize and determine which items really need to be done and which ones can be put off until a later date. My only question is: who is going to sell this idea to my boss?

Don’t multitask
This tip is music to my ears: I am terrible at multitasking (I can’t even eat or drink and walk at the same time) and it’s great to hear that studies have shown that it takes four times longer to do a task if you’re doing it in conjunction with other tasks. And think of all the errors that can happen when you’re doing a few different things at once! I keep thinking I’ll make a terrible mistake at work due to my attempts to multitask; the fact that we deal with confidential information makes it that much more frightening. Of course in an office setting, where people come to you with requests that they always seem to need “as soon as possible”, it might be hard to avoid having a couple of things going at once. But you can jot down a few things and then go back to the original task and finish it off in its entirety instead of jumping from task to task. That way you’re not losing any brilliant ideas that come to mind and you’re (relatively) focused on one task.

Don’t look at email first thing in the morning
I’ve heard different variations of this tip before. You’re (presumably) your most fresh and energetic in the morning so it makes sense that you spend those precious hours on work that requires you to be fresh and alert. Responding to inane email requests is therefore not the best use of alert self.

I’ve also heard that you should check email only once or twice a day (once in the morning and again in the evening). This is a wonderful time saver; I’ve tried it. The only time it gets tricky is when a coworker sends you an email and then comes to your office shortly thereafter to make sure you got their email! This can end up using more of your time as you’re now forced to read the email in the coworker’s presence and respond right away. But once coworkers know when you’ll be checking emails, they’ll know when to send you an email that requires your immediate attention.

Another related tip I’ve heard is to try to touch something only once. For example, if you pick up a file, do all that needs to be done to the file before putting it away. This means you might have to spend more time with the file than you planned but at least when you put it away you know you’ll be done with it for a while. This is a more efficient way of handling large numbers of files, and it also helps with minimizing the chances of mixing things up when multitasking. This is another tips that definitely works!

What time saving tips that you swear by?

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