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Bill called me a few weeks ago. He'd decided he'd had enough of "never having time" and wants to get organised for living his life. (Prior to this, I used to offer unsolicited advice but he took no notice).
How Bill stopped his procrastination and "just did it" This is what happened:
Bill cleaned out clutter from his original "bombsite". We devised simple systems tailored to Bill's creative personality to cope with mountains of paperwork. Now that Bill has systems he has been able to identify tasks which he can delegate to others. We've worked out simple and easy to implement strategies for coping with interruptions. The "open door" is sometimes closed. Bill now uses a diary (that's right he never used one before) writes a daily list of things to do and scribbles all his notes in it. No more scraps of paper. We worked out where Bill spends his time and prepared a weekly timetable so that he can work in a more structured way and get more done. Such as allocating specific times of week for certain tasks, rather than letting them build up to unmanageable levels. Time for himself was also factored in. He now gets up at 6.00 a.m. and goes to gym near his home 4 mornings a week, has breakfast there and then blasts off to work. Those of you who exercise first thing in morning know what I mean. Bill's now eating more nutritious food. Instead of unhealthy restaurant food he will often have his lunchtime meetings in a "trendy café" where he can choose what he eats. The last time I spoke to Bill he said he had reduced his working hours. He was leaving office by 6.00 p.m. latest and was feeling so good he is considering training to compete in his gym's mini-triathlon.
How's that for stopping procrastination and "just doing it". You can too, you know. We often know what to do, even how to do it.
All you need to do make a decision to stop your procrastination and take action today.
Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including "How to Survive and Thrive at Work!"