5 Ways to Erase Daily Procrastination in Your Business

According to Real Simple magazine’s survey of 10,000 readers, the average daily to-do list has 5 to 9 tasks on it. Only 5% of the readers are productive for 3 hours during a 9-to-5 workday as a result of web-related distractions. According to the Procrastination Research Group, based on some figures, it is estimated that as much as 95% of the people are prone to procrastination. Amongst them, 20% of them are chronic procrastinators.

Procrastination is generally defined as avoided tasks or activities that need to be accomplished. Poor time management and procrastination can be a direct result of having unreachable goals, having to meet others’ standards, disorganization or the inability to handle the task. Below are ways to erase daily procrastination in your business.

1. Use the first hour or two of your day to work on things that require your attention or have deadlines. Accomplishing necessary tasks will invigorate you to do more.
2. Inspire yourself with insightful reading. Read at least one business article daily and take action. Try implementing a new idea. Don’t just read about it, but do.
3. Afternoon organization can make the next day easier. Take 15 minutes at the end of each day to think about tomorrow’s priorities. Knowing what needs to be done at the beginning of each day gives you focus and direction.
4. Break large projects or tasks into smaller activities and schedule them on your calendar as appointments. Do them in 30-minutes, 1-hour or 3-hour time blocks. You wouldn’t interrupt a scheduled appointment, so don’t allow unnecessary interruptions when working on your projects.
5. Don’t make lofty goals. Be reasonable in your expectations of yourself, your time and your commitments. Overextending yourself can cause you shut down. Be practical and realistic.

It’s always helpful to identify the source of your procrastination. Take some time to think about why you are putting things off and then try one of the above techniques. Procrastination can really be a struggle and challenge for small business owners, especially when they are simply overwhelmed and unsure of their next move. Take it one step at a time and be conscious of your actions AND inaction.

A.Michelle Blakeley is the Founder and CEO of Simplicity, Inc.; a progressive small business development firm. She manages her clients’ business expectations and prevents information overload via Micro Business Therapy™ and Micro Business Action Plans. She is featured in Forbes.com and the Financial Post as one of 30 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter and the host of Simple Truths for Women Entrepreneurs on BlogTalkRadio.com.

A Fun Time Management Technique The Pomodoro

First of all a very Happy New Year to everyone. How did the first couple of weeks of the new decade go for you? Did you do any resolutions and set some good goals? And are you still on track? If not, don’t worry. Simply start over today. You don’t have to wait until the 1st Jan, 2011. You don’t even have to wait until the 1st February this year, not even until next Monday. Simply start over today, now. Put that cigarette down now, start using your diary now, cut down on alcohol and fatty foods from your next meal or do some exercise as soon as you finish work today. Whatever your goal is, keep working towards it. A little bit every single day.

If your goal is time management I found a great little tool on the web recently. It’s called the Pomodoro Technique. The basics are that you use a kitchen timer (the Pomodoro is exactly that, a tomato shaped kitchen timer) and set it for 25 minutes at a time and work on your to do lists.

Here is a little excerpt from their website:

The basic unit of work in the Pomodoro Technique™ can be split in five simple steps:

1. Choose a task to be accomplished
2. Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer)
3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper
4. Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)
5. Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break

On the website you can download the workbook as a pdf for free and there are groups to join and Twitters to follow. You can even attend a workshop in Milan – combine a nice break in a beautiful city with some time management training!

Thursday’s Thought – Start! Begin! Now!

This week’s Tuesday’s Tip didn’t quite make it and since Wednesday’s Wonderings or Wednesday’s Womblings or similar all sound a bit ropy I came up with Thursday’s Thought as a nice alternative.

And it’s all about beginnings. Have you noticed that the most difficult thing about pretty much anything is getting it started? And once you have started it is much easier to keep it going? It’s that first bit of movement that takes the greatest amount of energy. If you have ever tried to push a car (or pull a truck if you’re into that sort of thing) you will have noticed that once you’ve got that thing to move, it’s not as hard to keep it moving. Some physical principles are at play here (google Newton’s First Law of Motion for more information).

And this not only applies to physics but to getting things done as well. Make a start. Find out what the first thing is you need to do to start your project, to get this show on the road and do it. Now! And then simply move along with it while it’s own momentum keeps it going.

Tuesday’s Tip – 5 Bits of Motivation

Motivation is key when it comes to getting organised and taking on a big decluttering project. Here are 5 little tips that will help you get going and keep going:

1. Drink plenty of water: Dehydration can lead to fatigue and mental sluggishness which really does not help when you have to make decisions what to get rid of and what to keep. Make sure you keep your fluid intake up and stay alert.
2. Take regular breaks: making non-stop decisions for too long will lead to burn-out very quickly. Schedule regular breaks. This will keep you more alert and you will get more done in the long run. It can be equated to “sharpening your saw”.
3. Put on your favourite up-beat music: This will keep you in good spirits and it’s always more fun to do anything with a bit of music in the background.
4. Oxygen: Fresh air will also do wonders for your alertness. Make sure you keep a window open while you work. If the weather is particularly bad, try to keep it open for a few minutes per hour at least. It’ll really help.
5. Push yourself harder: If you think a certain task will take 30 minutes, see if you can take off a few minutes. Set a timer for 25 or even 20 minutes and see how fast you can go. Remember: Work will always expand to fit the time available.

Tackling your To Do List

“Don't get freaked out by the items on your to-do list; think of the tasks in terms of what they'll mean to you once they're done.”
- Merlin Mann (43folders)

When we look on the items on our to-do list we often think of all the work that’s involved, all the time we need to spend until it’s all done and all the fun stuff we could be doing instead. Even though all this is justified, why not try and change your attitude. Think about the pay-offs instead. All the “What’s in it for me?”.

What could be the pay-offs for finishing the items on your list. Here are some possible positive effects:

• peace of mind
• praise from your manager, family members, yourself etc.
• a reward
• a finished project
• a raise
• a well prepared … (fill in the blanks)
• a good grade
• a degree
• a repaired and working item
• a tidy kitchen
• a clean bathroom
• etc.

Stephen Covey’s 2nd Habit of Highly Organised People states: Start with the end in mind. If you keep your eye on the outcome of your task, you always have something to look forward to and motivation and incentive to keep going until it’s done.

Tuesday’s Tip – Quote of the Day

Today’s Tuesday’s Tip is linked to today’s Quote of the Day which is in the little widget on the right of this page.

“To speed your success, twice a day form a clear mental picture for two minutes of the one thing you want; and tell yourself it's already yours. Imagine it is.”

I think it’s a wonderful quote and very suitable to my blog, because this is how you should start every organising project. Visualise exactly how you want your space to look. Where would you like what to be, how would you like your space to be organised. Then think what the first step is to get to that point. Take this step. Then the next, and so on.

And with small steps even the largest project will be achieved.

Tuesday's Tip - Think on Paper

Whenever you are planning your day or thinking through your goals, do it on paper. It makes your thinking sharper and more focused.

A written To-Do List is more likely to get done. A written goal is more likely to get achieved.

With written lists you also have the satisfaction of ticking things off once you achieve them, making you feel more successful, like a winner.

Writing things down also helps you prioritise since you see in front of you all the things that need to be done. It makes you a better planner and helps getting things done.

Tuesday's Tip - Time Yourself

In one of my first posts at the beginning of October I mentioned Flylady's 15 minute rule ("You can do anything for 15 minutes") or 10 minutes if you prefer my way. And this week's main post about Cybercrastinating also has a timing element.

In this week's post I mention a very useful website and just in case you haven't read it, I just wanted to point it out again. It's a free online timing tool and can be found on www.online-stopwatch.com . You can choose from a simple countdown digital clock, but there are also funky visual ones such as egg timers, bomb with a fuse, etc. if you feel a bit more playful.

Go check it out and time yourself. You'll get so much more done that way.

Cybercrastination

Have you ever found yourself "quickly" checking Facebook, MySpace, Beebo or any of the other social networking sites, maybe "briefly" updating Twitter or messaging with a friend for "a bit" or checking one or two blogs and suddenly it's over two hours later? What just happened? Did you get sucked into a time vortex? No, not really, although that would make a great excuse. No, you simply found yourself cybercrastinating - procrastinating the modern way. Putting things off that should really be done, by doing something else, something a lot more enjoyable. And you have also done something for your social life, kept in touch with friends, maybe played a little game, all lovely stuff. Except that it kept you from doing what was on your agenda, on your To Do List or something that simply needed doing.

I really don't know what it is about the social networking sites, they have something addictive about them. I can't say that I am immune to them at all. I frequently visit one of them but I am aware what it can do to my schedule. It completely messes it up if I'm not careful.

What can you do about it? You want to stay in touch with friends via this excellent medium and that's fair enough. Here are a couple of tips what you can do:

• Decide beforehand how long you want to spend on the computer for that reason, but be realistic.
• Set a timer - this could be a kitchen timer or use a useful online tool at www.online-stopwatch.com by opening another tab in your browser or another browser window. Make sure you use the Count Down option, otherwise you simply measure how long you are surfing. Also have your speakers on, otherwise you miss the alarm bell when it goes off.
• Another option could be that you give yourself a treat for things accomplished. Allow yourself a longer session after "being good" with your To Do List for instance.
• If you are working at the computer, make sure you log out of your messenger programme so that that you are not constantly reminded who logs on or off. One distraction less.
• Again, if you do lots of your work at the computer, maybe in your home office, create yourself a "work" user account. Take out all the programmes such as web browsers, instant messengers or chat programmes and other culprits. You are less likely to constantly log off and on as different user just to hop online.
• Set up an aggregate reader programme for blogs such as Google Reader, so that all updates to blogs you like to follow are in one place. You can then decide when you want to look through those updates without wasting time trawling through all the blogs separately.

As you can see you can use technology quite well for this purpose. And why not. Let's fight the procrastination super highway by making use of it.