Anth Quinn

Ok so you put things off and you’d love to be organised but if that’s always been a struggle then you’ll be interested in the rest of this article.

You see, we seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that if you want to get your life in order you have to be super organised, set clear goals and work a rigid plan over time to achieve these goals.

Why is this a trap?

Well, this appraoch can work fine for some people but there are very real dangers associated with this approach. When you lock onto a goal and the plan for achieving it, you also mentally lock out a lot of potential opportunities that could pop up on the way.

The real skill in working on creating results that matter to you is moving forward taking action, staying flexible and being adaptable on the way.

Habitual procrastinators can be great at this given the right approach and support.

If you have habitually procrastinated in the past then chances are that you are also highly adaptable and a master of getting things done at the last minute.

While you might “admire” people who can structure their day and follow through on their plans, deep down do you find being tied down to rigid plans and rules irritating?

Personally, I followed this fly by the seat of your pants approach for years and never seemed to be able to get on top of things and stick to the rigid time-management systems and plans I set.

Sure I could stick to them in the short-term to achieve a very specific goal but over time I found I drifted back. Truth is I just seemed to prefer the flexible, what about you?

Even now I might not be achieving everything I could in life, and yes I still procrastinate from time to time - but heck I’m doing pretty good and having a great time :o)

If you have habitually procrastinated think about this.

• Do you want flexibility in your work?

• Do you enjoy starting tasks but tend to leave them open including as much as possible even to the point of delaying completion?

• Postpone decisions in case other options come up?

• Open minded and feel restricted by too rigid a structure?

Me too and I learned to work with my natural strengths by recognising that when a task required me to follow and meet a deadline I would focus for that period and then allow myself to explore adapt and be flexible again.

Maybe you could begin to relax and enjoy your playful flexible nature while you develop a style that works for you.

My top tip this week if you are not someone who enjoys rules, systems and structures stop trying to fit into them all the time!

To be honest when I first started coaching 5 years ago, my training and hence my coaching structure was very rigid 3 goals, 3 months, coach just asks questions and maintains “distance” – true my clients got their results but I didn’t enjoy it and I’m not sure all my clients did either.

I actually got to the point where even though my clients were getting good results I thought I didn’t enjoy coaching and almost packed it in completly in favour of speaking and training.

Luckily, as my skill and comfort grew I began to relax and go with the flow, guess what, I began to really enjoy coaching, and my clients got even better results as we laughed and enjoyed the process together. I still believe it’s important to get clear on what is important to you, but it’s now a much more fluid approach, adapting and learning while having fun on the way!

Now, I know a lot of personal development coaches and gurus preach the need for discipline and structure and that’s fine for them, but I’ve found it’s possible to be flexible and have fun at the same time – bottom line? It get’s results and I prefer it that way!

What about you? Have you been beating yourself up for not being super disciplined? Maybe you’d get more done if you loosened up on yourself?

There are some other keys to making this approach work and I am working on a new project to make this far easier for people, but for now, if you have been following a similar pattern maybe you could give yourself a pat on the back and congratulate yourself for being flexible and adaptable in a world going mad trying to force status, rules and structure down our throats.

What have you got to say? Has a light bulb gone on for you? Are you going to loosen up and see how it feels for a week?

Here’s to your success and happiness - on your own terms! ;o)

Anth.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under Myths and Lies, 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.