Pamela Hazelton

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Question of the Week: How Do You Kill Procrastination?

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We all face it at some point in our lives… Procrastination: the act of putting off even the most urgent of tasks until a later time.

Procrastination is a killer, especially in business. I always thought I was one of those uber-creative folks who worked better under pressure. As it turns out, my creativity level is about the same when I’m not so rushed.

There’s thousands of books, web sites and blogs that cover this topic. However, I’ve found that most “self-help” tools really don’t assist us unless we have our own epiphany. Unless we realize just why we’re doing something wrong, our mind isn’t triggered by the specific issue that needs to be fixed.

So, how do you combat the desire to play games, watch videos on YouTube, even take longer walks than time will allow, in order to get the job done?

Share your secrets to success right here…

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  • I like to kick procrastination right in the butt with a little thing that I like to call my molskine notebook. Now this is not just any old notebook, it is the perfect tool for any entrepreneur that is tired of a little too much technology.

    I make a list of 3 things that I have to do that day. One simple, one medium, and one hard. I don’t go to bed until they get done. I have found that by listing any more tasks than that, I get overwhelmed and don’t finish any of them.

    -Joshua Black
    The Underdog Millionaire

    • Pamela

      Good idea. Inquiring minds, do you ever find yourself up ’til 3 a.m. trying to get that 3rd task completed?

  • My number one trick is to do the things I DON’T want to do first. Once those things are out of the way, I can focus on things I DO want to do. I never feel like procrastinating those things. And, since first thing in the morning is when I’m firing on all cylinders, it helps to have the energy to push me through those unpleasant tasks. Then, in the afternoon as my energy is falling, I can just enjoy the fun tasks.

    • Pamela

      Interesting. I much prefer to get up early, as I’m more productive if I don’t sleep in. But I tend to tackle tasks solely on priority.

      I’m going to try your method, providing no tasks trump boring ones due to urgency.

  • Procrastination can be a killer for me, but I have 3 young distractions who really encourage the matter. The big thing that helps me is to have definite times that I will work rather than read email. My toddler’s naptime is a great time for focused work. When all the kids are awake is a good time for indulging in the online distractions.

    Sadly, overloading on work seems to help my productivity too. The need to get a lot done really blocks any thoughts of trying to goof off for me.