News - To Keep Creativity and Productivity at High Levels: Kill Procrastination
By Jennifer Paauwe-Riffe, SPHR, Senior Human Resources Consultant
Procrastination slows achievement of current goals and restricts future opportunities. The conscious or unconscious delay of completing assignments or tasks hinders optimum performance and sustainable results. Procrastination is the culprit for putting important items on the backburner until they are unavoidable, or urgent.
How well do you organize your time to avoid falling prisoner to procrastination and deadline driven results?
Procrastination can take many shapes and can easily squeeze its way into your everyday activities if you are not aware of its many forms. Outlined below are some of the most common forms of procrastination.
- Paralysis by Planning: The planning process is drawn out to avoid confronting the issue or task. Plans are reviewed, polished and perfected; however, implementation is delayed affecting results.
- Perfectionism: Tasks are fussed over long after they have achieved an acceptable level. This often serves to delay tackling other important items. Remember the 80/20 rule. Perfection is simply not required and is not cost-effective to achieve.
- Boredom: Boring jobs are easy to delay. Self-discipline is needed to tackle these jobs and get them off your plate. Another way to tackle boring jobs is to align it with the big picture. When a task is incorporated into the bigger whole its importance becomes more relevant and offers the opportunity to enhance the process or insert creativity.
- Hostility: There is strong temptation to delay when given assignments by someone you don't want to help, but need to; the task is something that is hard for you to complete; or the resources are limited to complete the project to its best potential.
- The Deadline High: Brushing up against a tight deadline and meeting, or beating, that deadline is immensely satisfying. It is often associated with strong rushes of adrenaline. The problem with being deadline driven is that jobs are delayed precisely to get a "rush" and on occasion, jobs fail because they have not been given full consideration.
So, how can you maximize productivity and eliminate procrastination?
- First, understand your preferred method for delaying important items until they become urgent.
- Know what priorities you are responsible for delivering and which are the most important.
- Use the "three columns technique," Pro's and Con's. On a piece of paper, write down the reasons for your delays in the list. Challenge your reasoning behind each of the delays. Explain your reasons for each of the delays in the third column. A broad perspective allows you to determine how to overcome your preferred methods of procrastination.
Procrastination can be overcome. Remember that overcoming procrastination does require a lot of patience, persistence and hard work. Also, remember it takes 21 days to form a new habit and procrastination can become a thing of the past.
Article courtesy of AmeriBen/IEC Group
