Anth Quinn

If you answered yes, chances are you’re not alone. If you answered no, then chances are you may well be. The truth is that almost everyone in the modern world has procrastinated around some things.

I say modern world, because I’d be very surprised if people in the developing world procrastinate anywhere near as much as us in the developed world.

Procrastination in many ways is a luxury.

Can you imagine someone who is hungry procrastinating about going out and finding something to eat, or a subsistence farmer procrastinating about watering his plants?

Maybe these basic needs are just too important to procrastinate over.

It’s also important to remember that these people are just like you and I. After all would you procrastinate at work, if you were hungry and needed to be productive in order to eat?

Procrastination can take many forms, and the form I’d like to discuss today is a particular symptom of the modern word and has a relatively old solution.

People today are faced with a multitude of choices, in fact it would be fair to say that most people face more choice today than almost anyone in history.

We are often time-poor and overwhelmed with choices.

So what do we do? We procrastinate and find other “useful” things to do.

This form of procrastination also typically shows up in the face of a large task. When not knowing where to start many people put off starting and find something “useful” to do.  Now while this creative avoidance is understandable it really doesn’t help the job go away.

So it lingers in the back of their minds causing stress and anxiety.

One simple technique that will help you overcome procrastination is often overlooked and it is time tested and very very powerful.

You’ve all done it before and it’s free.

It’s quite simply to write a detailed plan, broken down into small steps so you can maintain focus and build momentum much more easily.

Many people will scoff at this simple advice because many people seem to think they are too busy to take time out to plan.

This can be likened to the man who is too busy sawing to have time to stop and sharpen his saw.

The paradoxical thing is that taking time out to plan will actually save you time.

Now people differ in their approach to planning, some people prefer to get the big picture first and then chunk down into the detail, while others prefer to start with the detail and chunk up to the big picture. Either approach works so you could try both and see which works best for you.

I often come across clients who have initially refused to plan, because they feel it will stifle their creativity. These are usually the ones who are most surprised by what they achieve when they take a little time out to create a detailed plan.

The truth is that while throughout human history major discoveries have often come as a result of unforeseen serendipities. The exploitation and delivery of useful products, medicines and technological advances has always come out of effective planning.

Your plan doesn’t have to be carved out of stone and can be altered as you progress and see more clearly what you are capable of.

For those who remain a sceptical, I’d simply suggest, giving it a go. Simply pick a task you’ve been putting off and break it down into a detailed plan, then just get started one the first small step and see how much easier it is to move forward.

Who knows, maybe next time you feel like procrastinating, you could procrastinate on getting started and write yourself a detailed plan.

In fact why not do it now?

Have fun,

Anth.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 12:19 am and is filed under Motivation, Personal Development, Procrastination. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.