We all do it!
But why do we do it?
It doesnt serve us (well it meets SOME need - the need to DELAY!) but it aint for the greater good now is it?
What am I talking about? Well...
I am talking about Procrastination Plugholes where we let TIME slip down the plughole!!!
We all know that report should be done, that garden could be weeded and the gym membership is burning another black hole in your wallet! But why do we do it? Why do we end up sitting on Google 'researching' (aka surfing for nothing in particular) or social networks like Facebook throwing sheep and Twittering to faceless friends in the virtual world?
Well, it all boils down to two things - pain and pleasure according to Tony Robbins!
Apparently, we will do more towards pleasure and move away from pain so anything we even remotely perceive as being challenging we usually move away from doing it!
This is what I call the creation of a procrastination plughole to avoid doing anything remotely perceived as mind or body taxing!
We may know the outcome of sitting on Facebook for 4 hours is going to be slightly (only slightly) more entertaining AND we may have certainty that we can create a certain outcome! Time passes so rapidly when we are engaged - like anything you enjoy, you dont clockwatch and can do it for hours - when I get my head buried into a good book on the sofa, I do not even see the sun go down or how dark it has gotten in the lounge until I look up!! Time passes as I get lost in the plot! (Note I say lost in the plot and not lost the plot! (Grins).
Contrary, if you have ever sat and watched a real hourglass with sand grains in it or an original egg-timer or as my nan used to say 'a watched kettle never boils', you will think that time does not go that fast because you are consciously watching it, which seems like an eternity!!!
Similarly, a watched clock in school praying for break-time or forward thinking to lunch break - the clock hands seem to stay stuck!!! Turn your back on the clock and do something to take your mind off it and before you know it time has gone on fast forward again!!
So how do we know where our procrastination plugholes lie?
Well, the first key ACTION is to know WHERE they are happening and just like a new slimmer would embark on a food diary to become aware of the true picture, I would encourage you to create a TIME DIARY!!!
This is where you document for 7 days EVERYTHING you do in a day - am not talking about what you would LIKE to do during your day / eve but everything you currently do in a day.
Your day might look like this:
- 8am - drag yourself to shower
- 9am - in work or if self-employed for the first time (11am after a 2hr mooch on facebook)
- 11am - think about doing the report then get on google and research ANYTHING but what you are supposed to
- 12 noon - check emails gmail, hotmail and twitter
- 12.10 - update twitter, send emails and wonder what is for lunch... because after lunch you will get started on the report...
- 1pm - lunch which goes SO FAST!
- 2pm - back to work - just check emails in case someone has replied to yours over lunch!
- 3pm - make a coffee and think about starting the report now...
- 3.10pm - just check back into facebook until 5.10pm as someone might have replied to your posts - blimey - got caught up in facebook - joining groups, pretending to network, adding friends, working out who the new 'friends requests' are, replied to statuses, joined more groups....
- 5.15pm - no point in starting the report as I finish work at 5.30pm.... start it tomorrow...
and before you know it..... your whole day has been unproductive, unprofitable and meaningless AND your report didnt get done!
This rang true for me when I was made redundant as I went from having NO time to myself to having ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD and no 'boss' to tell me what to do and no set time to be 'at work'!
If this rings true for you REMEMBER: you CANNOT buy time back but you can always earn more money to buy YOUR time back eventually by DELEGATING 50, 60, 70% of the admin stuff! INCLUDING FACEBOOK and social networks!
- So, after you have documented your 7 day activities for what they are NOW - it should be blatantly obvious because we secretly KNOW when we are procrastinating but when its in black and white it makes it very real to see how much WASTED time is going down the procrastination plughole!!
- Next you will need to draw up a 7 day plan for how you desire your week to look (if you are in full time work - then its blocking off 'WORK' time and separating your own time before and after work for the things YOU desire to get done during that week.
- If a 7 day plan is too much to think about in one hit, why not start with just one day - to plan for the one day ahead - you may want to get up 1 hour early to get in the gym, you may want to get up 1 early just to be able to relax while having breakfast so there is no more rushing around !!
- Next - USE the 'idle' time as a TREAT - ie GET YOUR REPORT DONE FIRST or your gym session and THEN have an egg-timer to track your time on the social networks as you will feel like you have EARNED the right to twitter on!!! KNOWING the meaningful work is already in hand...
Finally, Dr Demartini talks about 4 key headings to give your activities to prioritise and if you would like these 4 prioritising headings, EMAIL ME at michelle.whaite@gmail.com and I will email you them.
Procrastination plugholes are like time blackholes.....
I have recently had a brush with experiencing how it would feel to be around 80 years old in body with an active mind and I can honestly say its humbled me to make the BEST OF EVER MINUTE OF MY LIFE including being the healthiest I can ever be to stay as fit and healthy as ever possible and to AGE BEFORE MY TIME...
Are YOU AGEING BEFORE YOUR TIME because time is being WASTED?
An 80 year old lady whom I visit regularly used to own her own swimming pool and when I commented a few months ago that I didnt feel like going swimming ... she said she would KILL to have ONE LAST SWIM in her life KNOWING that she now doesnt have the choice. She said to me 'make the most of the time you have while you still have the choice...' and since then I made a clear decision NOT TO WASTE a single moment and to see it as a GIFT - THE GIFT OF TIME.
Where are your procrastination plugholes? YOU DO KNOW..... GET HONEST - is it taking you CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR GOALS?!
Plug them up!!! Seal them !! THEN USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! use them as a carrot while riding the crest of the stick to get the work DONE!
Michelle Whaite
LifeSuccess Consulting
Excellent reminders that whatever challenges we face...usually turn out to be our biggest blessings to grow as a person ... powerfully moving .. I have ordered this movie as these clips moved me!
J-U-N-E A-L-R-E-A-D-Y… ARE YOU READY?
Just an update, I have thus far released 12lb in weight and 3 INCHES from my waisteline! (need a belt now for my trousers!) determined not to buy any new clothes after all I know that they will be too big for me so for now, if you see me in clown pants, now you know why! :-)
Funny how you talk to children they are dying to ADD years to their age to sound older... and then when you get older... you want to shave off a few years and sometimes even HIDE our age on social networks!
We kept in touch by phone and penpals for AGEEES and months went by... Finally he asked me the dreaded question....could he come to Manchester to see me as we had been writing for months and months....and then I had to tell him that I was having my 18th birthday party in 6 months' time! Suffice to say he still came to the party and enjoyed meeting my family (actually my 4 families as I have step-families too!!).
