The principle of Do It Deliberately works for all areas of life but I’m talking about how to use it for procrastination today.
One of the problems with procrastination, is all that wasted time.
Faffing about with social media platform {add your go to time-waster platform here}.
Flicking through the channels trying to find something to watch, but not choosing anything too long because you’ve got that thing to do, but wasting 40 mins and you still haven’t watched anything.
We’ve all been there.
Make a plan and stick to it.
Now these words are usually aimed and trying to motivate you/beat you into getting on with doing the work.
But I have a twist on this old classic.
Usually when we procrastinate we “accidentally” lose time on other things.
“I was just quickly checking Facebook”
or
“Oh I just wanted to see if my post got comments on LinkedIn”
45 mins later….
“Oh crap! gotta get back to that presentation”
and we feel guilty for wasting time. And we still don’t want to do that email.
A twist on that old classic: make a plan and stick to it
If you really want to avoid writing that email, preparing that presentation, talking to that person….
make a plan of what you will do instead, and stick to it.
I mean, if you are committed to avoiding the task, do it properly. Have some self respect and avoid it like a professional
Want to avoid that uncomfortable conversation? And instagram is calling your name? Then go ahead and feast your eyes on instagram. Do it deliberately.
Maybe set a timer if you don’t want to lose two hours.
But do it on purpose.
Plan your escape. Do that thing. And enjoy it.
The weird thing is this: when you are done with instagram, you get to check of that item from your to do list. Which will set you up for doing the next thing on your to do list. You can use your reward system in your favour.
This is an expansion on the Productive Procrastination Method I’ve spoken about in the past. You can read about it HERE
Being deliberate about recreation time instead of work pays tribute the feeling many of us have in winter of wanting to slow down and just do less work.
This post is part of my specialΒ Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership.Β Want to talk it through with me?Β Call me and letβs make a Game PlanΒ together.