From Procrastination to Performance: 6 Steps to Create Shift

Does this ring a bell? 

It's 8 in the morning. I've got my coffee. Just sat down at the desk and I'm ready to go. Another great day in the office with plenty of things to do. I've got my list. And I'm buzzing. 

Fast forward

It's 5pm. I'm tired. Frustrated. Feel I haven't achieved anything today. Had too much coffee. That long, long to-do list staring accusingly at me. With a hollow satisfaction I see only 2 things crossed out. I've hardly done anything. It's raining outside. Without much hope I mutter "it must be a better day tomorrow". 

A while ago that was me… Long on task short on time. Convinced that the harder I worked I'd get it all done. But the truth is the harder I worked the more I had to do. A reasonable thought, right? After all we are taught to work hard!

Absolutely wrong! 

Procrastination - why it happens

The real problem is we are caught between what we need to do and what we want to do.

This is underpinned by feelings of pleasure and pain. When we experience pleasure we want more of it; when we experience pain, we want less of it. Quite naturally we're going to choose the things that give us more pleasure and less of the things that give us pain.

So at work, the things that I want to do give me pleasure. And the things that I need to do? Well, some of them may be hard, they may be a challenge, they may be complicated. All of these things increase the pain for me. And if I can, I'll put them aside on the self-promise doing them later. But later never comes. Does it? 

So, going back to the story. When I sat down at 8 o'clock I imagined myself in the future "I am going to have a great day and at 5 o'clock, I will have achieved everything I needed to do". This is my 'future self' or a projection of my destination. The problem is that right now, where I sit, I am my 'current self'.

Imagine I need to get from Lower Town to Upper Town. I'm physically here and I want to get there. I can see Upper Town, I know what it looks like and I know where I will park. I can picture myself actually being there. Surely, that's all that's needed isn't it? No!

So why doesn't it work? What's missing?

In short… there is no commitment to achieving the Goal, there is a lack of clarity about 'What' the Goal really is, I have not galvanised 'Why' I really need to do it, it's too big and too overwhelming because I haven't broken it down into manageable chunks. I have no detailed plan of how I am going to get there. I haven't blocked out time to do it!

It is not going to happen and it never will!

So what can we do...?

6 Steps to Create Shift

1. Set Specific Goals

Setting clear goals gives us focus.

Be clear about what you need to achieve.

Ensure they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed)

2. Answer the 4 Why Questions

Be clear about why you need to achieve these goals. Setting the goals isn't strong enough. It needs to be underpinned by a really solid reason for why I need to achieve them.

Tip 1: Start with Why? Simon Sinek has written a best seller on being clear about the need to know 'why' we need to do things. If we are not committed because we don't know the 'why', it just won't happen.

Jim Rohn is famous for asking 4 great questions.

Why? Why do I want to achieve this goal? Why is it important? What would it do for me and others? What benefit will it give me?

Why not? Why wouldn't I want to see how much I could achieve today? Why would I not push myself to achieve it? Why would I not want to achieve success today? Why would I not want the satisfaction and the sense of achievement in nailing all these things today?

Why not me? I can do this. I can plan it, I can follow a structure, I can make the decisions and I have time. I can do all of these things. So why not me?

Why not now? There's no reason why I couldn't do it now and achieve these things today. There is no reason why I cannot plan, structure and write down the tasks. There is no reason why I can't do any of it today?

Once we can answer these questions we will know why it is important and why we just need to do it. 

3. Structure it - Break it Down into Chunks

Break it Down into Chunks. Research shows that when we break a big goal down into chunks and specific tasks it becomes far more manageable and achievable in our minds. Remember the pleasure-pain principle? We've increased the pleasure, with a sense of achievement and reduced the pain. Once we focus on the tasks to this level of detail, they become far more achievable and we move towards the goal.

Tip 2: 'Working Backwards'. A simple way of doing this is to start from the big goal and, working backwards, think 'what is it I need to do to achieve this?'. Then take each one of those tasks and, again working backwards, ask the same question 'what is it I need to do to achieve this?'. Keep going until you have the full set of action steps required to get you from where you are now to where you need to get to... the goal.

Tip 3: 'How Long Will it Take?' Now write down alongside each task how long each will take. Once we can see clearly see the time for each e.g. 15 minutes, 30 minutes etc. in our mind they are now achievable. Having done this, I have often caught myself thinking 'that’s really easy, it's only 15 minutes'.

Ok, so now I have a really clear big goal, a really clear reason for doing it, I am really motivated to achieve it and I have broken it down into small manageable bite-size chunks.

Tip 4: Record Your Actions: However you record your tasks is fine if it works for you. I use both paper and Excel. A nice tool I use is a basic Excel Gantt chart (a free one is from Vertex42)

Wow, it's getting easier isn't it? You are probably feeling that you've nailed it….. Yes… but don’t stop there. We still need to make it actually happen!

4. Plan it into your Calendar

Unless we put our plan into our calendar, it's never going to happen. What we need to do is turn this plan into action. Remember the quote…'Failure to plan is planning to fail'. So true!

Tip 5: Diarise It. Look at your calendar. Enter in any fixed appointments and meetings that are important to you or you have to go to. Next, prioritise your tasks into 'what are the most important things I need to do to move towards my goal?' Now schedule your tasks into the remaining slots in your calendar. Go back and look at your task list to make sure you have got a time slot allocated for each one. Only when you've planned exactly when you will do each task is it assured that it will be done.

Tip 6: Colour Code your Tasks. It is easier to see what needs to happen when you allocate colours to every single task and far easier to track. for example, use 'categories in Outlook'.

Tip 7: Plan Next Week, This Week. I do my weekly planning on Friday so that I am ready for the following week. I've got a colour-coded plan on my calendar for the whole week. This means when I start in the office on Monday morning, I know what I've got to do, when I've got to do it and how long it's going to take. I'm already feeling positive about achieving that day as I know it is all possible. All I have to do is stick to the plan. Trust me, it works.

But what if something has come in that I need to do today? Well, simple. Just revise your plan, and carry on. It’s a tweak that’s all.

5. Take Action

You've done the hard work, now all you have to do is do it. Right? Sounds so easy, but we can drift can't we. It's easy to surf the web, have another cup of coffee, look at social media and suddenly we've lost time. I know I do. So how can we stay focused and on track?

Tip 8: Pomodoro Technique. This is a technique to help you to work at a deeper level during your time slots. If you have a 1-hour slot, turn off your email, phone and block out all other distractions, get everything ready to do the task, set the timer for 50 minutes and go. When the time is up take a 10-minute break. Go for a walk, listen to some music, whatever you want to do. Remember the Pleasure-Pain principle, it's deep activity followed by the reward... moving towards pleasure. If it’s a 30-minute slot set the timer for 25 minutes with a 5-minute break etc.

6. Review & Preview

To keep on track it is important to do a review at the end of each day and preview the next day. The following morning, do a quick preview of what's coming up that day just in case new tasks have popped up. Adjust your calendar as needed and get stuck in. This is so important, because reviewing tells us if we're on track or if we need to change something. We also feel more motivated when we can see how far we've come and what we have actually achieved.

That's about it. Remember, these are all small, incremental steps that everyone can each day and are guaranteed to help you move From Procrastination to Performance.

I hope you have found my thoughts of interest and assistance.

John

Some Resources to Help

Jim Rohn - https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/wzvw6-8825a/Jim-Rohn-Archive-Podcast

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Resource - Excel Gantt chart by Vertex 42 - https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/simple-gantt-chart.html

? Growing Vision 2020