Welcome to the throne room of the king of procrastination. (It’s a little Island country off the East coast of America.) At least that’s what my wife calls me. I admit to periods of procrastination, but I’m hardly the king.
According to Rita Emmet, author of the book “The Procrastinator’s Handbook”, there are several reasons that people have for procrastinating. In my case, I have narrowed it down to two. When I’m told to do multiple things at once I get confused and overwhelmed and I end up doing nothing. What does this mean? I can’t effectively multi-task. The other problem in my case is that I wait until just before a deadline to get things done. Of course, I seem to do a better job when I’m down to the wire, so it may not be a true procrastination.
In today’s blog, I just want to address the problem of multi-tasking and how to overcome this. At Inness Photo, the owner is always commenting on how I can’t multi-task, and how little I get done when I try. I’ve tried to force the situation, but it just gets worse. If I stick to one task at a time, I get it done, and usually early.
My new system is to write down the things I need to get done, and go through the list one at a time. The important part of this system is that I write things down, but I don’t assign specific times. I call this my list of daily goals. I may set my daily goals, but I always keep in mind the unpredictability of life, so I put down just enough to leave time for little emergencies.
This list is especially important, since I have two jobs, a wife to take care of, and I’m trying to start my writing career. It’s also a great way to help with other types of procrastination.
Don’t forget to reward your self after each task, or if you’re ambitious enough, after you finish the list. This serves two purposes. One is it makes you feel good about yourself. It’s a real confidence booster.
The second purpose is it motivates you to do something faster, and in effect, end the procrastination.
Challenge: If you don’t already keep a task list, try making one and see if it helps you get through your tasks faster. Once you finish, don’t forget to reward yourself.
Enjoy,
Allen
Wednesday’s blog will be titled “how to get and keep customers”. Hope to see you there.
Tags: king, procrastination, reward
April 5, 2009 at 9:49 pm |
I also can’t multi-task. I think it was in my 40s that I finally figure this out and realized that it is one of the major reasons that I have had trouble holding jobs all my life.
Your list idea sounds good and I’ll give it a test run.
Hugs,
Neko Kin
April 5, 2009 at 10:28 pm |
With everything going on in my life, multi-tasks can get overwhelming. That’s why I bought “The Procrastinator’s Handbook” by Rita Emmet. It’s already starting to help.
Thank you for the comment Neko.