The Art of Procrastination

I have been thinking a little about the reasons why I might procrastinate getting something done.

I sometimes amaze myself at what I will procrastinate. I will put off till the last minute some things that don't take very long in the end. Often times these small things can make me a lot of money if I would just get them done.

Not long ago, I put off getting a time card program set up for my employees because I just didn't want to deal with it.

In an effort to understand why I procrastinate, I have learned something interesting about me.

First. When I complete a project, I get a great sense of accomplishment... even when that project was very simple.

Second. I hate starting a project, because I am afraid that I won't be able to get it complete... because if it doesn't get complete, I feel a great lack of accomplishment.

Third. I am very apprehensive about any project that has many unknown variables. If I don't know how do large components of the project, I don't like to tackle it because I don't know how long it will take.

So, there are a few simple things that I do that have helped (not completely mitigated, but helped):

1. Bite Sized Chunks. If I can break a project down into small tasks, I can get small victories and small bits of accomplishment.
2. Make A Task List. I have found that a written list gives me the added satisfaction of crossing something off. As computer-centric as I am, there is something nice about a pen and paper list.
3. Delegation. The fastest way to get something off your list is to delegate it. If you are an owner or a boss, this may be easy... if not, this may not be possible. Just don't procrastinate getting it delegated.
4. Set a goal to learn something new everyday. I think that the biggest reason for procrastination is that we are afraid we'll have to learn something new. If you already know you are going to learn something new, make your tasks fit to what you are going to learn.
5. "Plow Through" time. Sometimes I find that I get a list of a number of things that will take a bit of time. If I set a block of four or five hours as "plow through" time and unplug, I can get a lot accomplished in a very short period of time.