A Little Action Often Spurs A Lot of Momentum - Noah Scalin
Do you ever procrastinate?
How many things are there on your to-do list that you KNOW you need to do or
you just know it would really benefit you to do that one something, but you
just think it will take too long?
Or it's something you don't like doing.
Well, today's the day!
Usually, Wednesday is my Anti-procrastination Day. But I procrastinated doing my
Anti-procrastination Day. How pathetic is that! : (
Think of how good you are going to feel when you get even one thing off your list that you've been procrastinating on for... how long has it been???
If you're like me, I've had things on my list for a year even!
And every time you look at it on your list you feel bad about not getting it done!
That is stress... and it is not good for you.
So Stop Procrastinating!
So I'm picking two things
today to make up for it. I challenge you to pick at least one thing from your
to-do list or something from the back of your mind that you know you would feel
soooo much better by doing it.
Why is this important? It's
because those small little nagging thoughts at the back of your mind that can add to
your stress every day. The more of those thoughts you can clear out, the
lighter your stress load will be.
Less Stress = Lower Blood Pressure
The lighter your stress load
is, the easier it will be to lower your blood pressure.
Have you ever done something that's been on your mind for so long that when you FINALLY did it, it was as if you could feel a weight being lifted off your shoulders?
It feels sooo good to have that weight lifted!
What you do doesn't even have to be
something huge!
Just make it something that's been nagging you and on your mind for a while.
For example, I've got 22 things left over from what I didn't do
this week. I was busy tweaking my e-book, and just put everything else off.
So
I'm going to take from that list, get an oil change for my car and start
cleaning out my file cabinet. (It's getting so full it's hard to put more in
the second drawer.)
So the shredder is getting a workout today!
If you've been good about
getting your daily list done, look around the house and make notes of things
that could be improved upon.
Or, who haven't you called in a while that it would
be good to hear their voice?
Or something fun, like have you made your vacation plans for the summer yet?
Or, who haven't you called in a while that it would
be good to hear their voice?Or something fun, like have you made your vacation plans for the summer yet?
Or the dreaded…have you done your taxes yet…..as I
slink away.
The number one reason to stop procrastination... Because it feels so dang good to free those "should do's" from your mind!!!
P.S. By the way – I bet it doesn't take you that long to do whatever it is you are going to do. Set the timer – you'll probably be surprised!Update: Recently I heard about the concept of time-batching, and it feels like a great way to actually see to-do's come off your list.
How it works is you find similar items on your to-do list and set aside time to work through getting those done.
For instance, getting your errands done all in one shot. It feels kind of good to knock one set of to-dos off your list!
When you do this, to the best of your ability, avoid distractions by turning off your phone and concentrate on the task at hand.
Experts have discovered that every time you get distracted, it takes about 20 minutes to get back into the swing and thoughts of what you were doing before being distracted.
Personally, I thought that 20 minutes was a bit extreme, but I did find it took a few minutes to get back up to speed.
The other part that I like to do is to time block along with the time batching. That's where while you are doing similar tasks, you also set a time frame of how long you will do it.
At the end of that time, you decide if you need to set aside another time block to finish up or to move on to the next set of tasks.
For instance... I've been updating this blog and set aside one hour this morning to fix any issues.
That hour passed REALLY quickly, and I wanted a few more links to check. Then... low and behold I found this anti-procrastination motivation article and wanted to throw in this idea of time batching and time blocking... so I added another hour to finish everything up.
And now... I'm off to get through another set of time-batched projects! Yay!
Anyway, I hope that gave you some ideas that might help you get past the anti-procrastination mode and cross those things off your list!
Images: Courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net