Obstacles to Procrastination


Procrastinators are very familiar with resistance, but surely that?s the same as obstacles? Well, no actually it is not, and here is why. I see resistance as the internal blockers that hold us back, usually emotionally based. With resistance your whole body objects, so notice if you have clenched your teeth or folded your arms as you read that last bit, or even got up and wandered off to do something more important.

It is about how you feel about the task that identifies resistance, but obstacles on the other hand often, but not always, have solid form. If you want to be more efficient and organized, then one major obstacle is if you have not got the right storage space for everything. Is the floor of your workspace is covered in papers and boxes and books all waiting to be dealt with? You can see them, and therefore, technically, you can tackle them ? and will when you get around to it. That?s called procrastination.

One major obstacle that procrastinators face is that there are only 24 hours in a day. Honestly, I kid you not and obviously whoever designed that made a major mistake because we just need more time to get done all the things that are on our to do list. Well actually, no we don?t need more time.

We need to use the time we have more effectively and one way to do that is to start a Not to Do list. Stay with me, it will make sense, because how good are you at sticking to your actual To Do list?

Here is what I would put on mine, and I suggest you make your own and put it somewhere prominent, preferably in the area where the procrastination usually occurs.

The Not to Do list.

Today, I will not: ** Continually check my emails ** Phone a friend before writing my ABC list ** Move papers from one place to another without dealing with them ** Imagine I have plenty of time to finish my top priority ** Open all my post first and read it through, including any catalogues,no matter how interesting ** Tell myself that my top priority will not be hurt if I put it off till this afternoon


Any of that ring a bell? We create obstacles to act as roadblocks to delay us on our journey to that final destination of finishing the task. How to proceed? Well we first need to take one small action to start clearing that roadblock. For example, those papers or books on the floor? Get a box and put them all in it and write on the top of the box that you promise to deal with it in 48 hours or bin it unseen.

Believe me the terror of binning something without looking at it first is enough to force most procrastinators into action. Nor am I asking you to do the whole box in one go, you could allocate just 15 minutes to the task, and keep allocating that until you have finished. In practice, once you have got over the obstacle of tackling the box itself it is much easier to keep going because you have engaged yourself with what you are doing. You will also feel virtuous and you have my permission to give yourself a reward ? that is something most procrastinators also delay.

Once that obstacle is cleared, admire the space and move on to the next thing. Think of it as a treasure hunt, you never know what you will turn up. I am still looking for my prescription sunglasses that I put out to pack for my last trip and, although they haven?t reappeared yet, in one box I found the adaptor for my ipod that had vanished a year ago so you never know.


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